Well I finally got around to fitting the front lowering springs to cure my balance issue, as the back was slightly lower making the car look and handle crap.

I set aside an hour and a half for each side...oh how wrong was!! I ended up getting a mechanic mate round to sort in the end, started the drivers side at 14.00 on sat, finished that side at 20.00!! what an a**e of a job...broke 3 T40torx bits etc etc. I released the shock and detached the top mounts only to find that the wishbones won't go down far enough to get the shock fully out! so then began a process of removing ball joints, in the end we completely detached the hub to get it out... anyway, passenger side attempted today on a massive hangover, only took just over 2 hours....hardest thing was undoing the ball joints amongst other things - easily the worst job i've ever attempted!

After dropping the car i found i couldnt actually get the jack from the jacking point beneath the engine!! oh dear.. slightly too low? I'll let you judge....its growing on me tbf, and it drives absolutely superb in comparison - M sport bumpers went into the bodyshop on Sat so hopefully they will be going on next week!

My only debate is the rear, before i take it for the 4 wheel alignment i want to get the back sitting slightly higher perhaps...

before:



After!

 

IMO it certainly looks way better now and once you've changed the bumpers it'll look even better....Handling and ride will be far better as well as I learned from experience.

I used clamps to clamp the spring in situ so as to allow the shock to compress enough to get the strut out without removing ball joints etc.I found that the quickest way to change fronts over.

 

Thanks Col...

Yes I'd seen a build thread on here using ratchet style clamps - i couldn't work out why they needed them

Needless to say, once I'd started the job, sourcing some clamps wasn't really possible - luckily though i now have no front end knocks like before so i've tightened something worthwhile

And yeah totally agree with the handling, loads better! im just a little concerned now as its quite a bit lower than even the M sport...resale etc? (although its not going anytime soon)

 

Just fine But you need bigger wheels....

 

Go away haha.....

 

I think it looks great, but it's a little too low for me. Especially with the standard wheels and offset.

It's also too low for me from a practical point of view. My standard MSport suspension has the car grinding over some speed bumps.

I only hope it's smoother in Sheffield than in High Wycombe.

 

my sentiments exactly Kell.... and i think we both know, life isn't going to be good with the humps!

 

Might be so low that you'll damage the undercarriage if traveling over speed humps or crossing sharp inclines like driveways.

Lowered a bit (in my opinion) is ok but the "Low Rider" look doesn't do it for me - especially a touring.

 

yeah im no massive fan - I normally buy cars with sports supsension so I dont have to touch it!.... my aim was to get similar to M sport, bit of a shock when i dropped it off the axle stands i can tell ya!

Knowing the work that went into the spring replacement, i hope not to tackle that again anytime soon...awful job

 

I think it looks pretty damn good, as long as it is at the final height. If you had just lowered it then you'll need to be really careful, it will settle more.

Curious, why did you have to remove so much of the suspension when you took out your shocks? I have done around a dozen coilover installs and never had to completely disassemble the suspension. All you need to do is loosen the strut bolts (top and bottom) and push down on the caliper and it pops out in the front, in the rear you may need a buddy to stand on the rotor to push it far enough out of the way. However, they do come out relatively easily from there.