Lowering My Car?

[Jo Allan]

Going from 15" to 17", worked out bore, off set etc..... however i'm now thinking of lowering my car. Been told to get some coilovers.

I have not got a clue, what i need or how many lol. Done some research and it seems like a good idea getting the coilovers so my car don't look like a tractor lol.

Will i need 4 coilovers? I need an idiots guide to lower a ford focus Mk 1 lol.

Can anyone help? and point me towards some nice coilovers and what brands are good and bad.

Cheers guys

[ukphillad]

Hey Jo!

I know exactly what you mean, had the exact same problem when I first started to think about lowering my wee Focus.

The best thing to do is get a set of height-controlled coilovers and these ones are the exact ones I have on my MK2. They're a very good value for money and you can be sure that the quality of them is outstanding (After all they are manufactured by FK AK :-D

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/FK-AK-COILOVER-SUSPENSION-KIT-FORD-FOCUS-MK1-98-04-DIESEL-PETROL-/270869158801?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3f110f5b91

These coil overs IMO are the best value around and can lower the car from 30mm to 100mm depending on your preference and/or style of driving.

Once you have this set you can either do the installation yourself if you're up for the challenge and have the right equipment and time. I decided to go for the proper job and ended up going to a mechanic who really did it well as I wasn't that advanced back then!! :-/

If you want to do it yourself this guide is pretty decent but you might have to do some more research yourself depending on what height you want and things like that :

http://www.ehow.com/how_7999742_lower-ford-focus.html

You also asked which brands are good and which ones aren't. The best answer to that is it depends what you want to lower your Ford Focus for, whether it's for taking it out on the racing track or just an optical modification which will make your car stand out. If you have a wee look around eBay and the europerformance.co.uk website you will be able to find a lot of different brands and then you can make a choice yourself. :-D

Hope this helped even somewhat

[Jo Allan]

Thanks for that.

I want to lower the focus only slightly. Getting new allows 15" to 17" and i want to lower the car to almost sit on top of the alloys. Want the car to be lower but not that much so it effects the drive too much.

Been told to get coilovers that u can adjust for when you have loads of mates in your car. Thanks for the advice, do u know how much i'll be looking at for a set of 4 coilovers?????

[artscot79]

i had the ford Eibach lowering springs which were on the car when i bought it and to be honest i got them taken off with a laden car it was a pain having to crawl over speed bumps constantly .

why 17s you could go with 16s which is what i have at the mo and they dont make the car look like a tractor then get the lowering springs coilovers are in my opinion a pain they are adjustable but do you want to have to mess around with them all the time?

[ukphillad]

Thanks for that.

I want to lower the focus only slightly. Getting new allows 15" to 17" and i want to lower the car to almost sit on top of the alloys. Want the car to be lower but not that much so it effects the drive too much.

Been told to get coilovers that u can adjust for when you have loads of mates in your car. Thanks for the advice, do u know how much i'll be looking at for a set of 4 coilovers?????

Yeah that sounds like a really good idea, I was helping my mate with lowering his MK1 the other day and it wasn't too bad of a job. He got a set of 17's on it and lowered it using the coilovers I sent you in a link there, and it looks the business. He has to be really careful when going over speed bumps but that's primarily due to the fact he put an excessively big body kit on the car.. still, nice to see he takes the pride in it..

Your best bet is to actually get a set of those coilovers or do a little search on the internet to see if you can get a set of any cheaper ones (but just remember it's worth investing a bit and then not regretting it later on!!) and go to the mechanic. What you will need to do first is to get the alloy wheels you want and fit them on .. also make sure you choose between low profile tyres or the normal tyres. Personally, low profile tyres are great but make the ride much firmer than original and with a lowered car looks much nicer. Again, this is up to you. Once you have the alloys and tyres ready the mechanic will put the car up on 4 jacks, take the wheels off and then install the new coilovers. Then he will be able to adjust them to a milimeter and you will be able to decide how high or low you want them. The only thing ill advise you not to do is don't go too crazy with the lowering because you might find yourself scraping the body work with the wheels if the car is lowered too much... (As seen on most focuses around Dublin city!!)

The set i send you previously is a set of 4, so you're looking at around 250 pounds p&p included ^_^

Any other questions don't hesitate to ask..

iwhy 17s you could go with 16s which is what i have at the mo and they dont make the car look like a tractor then get the lowering springs coilovers are in my opinion a pain they are adjustable but do you want to have to mess around with them all the time?

It's all a matter of preference. Some people find 16's too small and want to have that extra size. :D

Once you decide on the height of your coilovers you don't have to constantly mess around with them, unless they are not done properly..then you will find yourself going up and down like an elevator :P