I know I can post this on the open forums but I am wanting opionins from ppl I somewhat know.

I will be dropping my car on either Espelir ASD springs or Eibach. Not sure which one yet. I had eibach on my Focus and they performed great. Espelir is recommended by Mike and the reviews of them are good, not to mention a cheap price tag. 170 shipped.

Springs aside do you guys recommend the purchase of axel spacers? I am getting so much mixed info from the forum. Right now I am not sure if they are needed or not, I am leaning toward no.

Thanks Guys/Gals

 

I can understand lowering a Focus, but why do you want to lower the S? Not judging, just asking - I have no idea what lowering would actually achieve on a car like the S... or is it just a 'looks' thing?

With your height I'd have thought you'd be in danger of tripping over your car if you slam it

 

Pretty much just looks, not that it looks bad just would be better with an inch or so drop. As far as achieving anything I am not looking for an increase in handling but I do not want a noticable decrease.

I will be careful not to trip over it.

Keep the opionins coming, I like others input.

 

When the $$ are ready -- I want the "looks". But after Mike road with me on the last day trip, I wonder if the "looks" are worth it. First thing he noticed is how "civil" the ride was -- instead of stiff. (Sorry, Mike, if I'm over-interpreting your comment).

I think what Hondassport did might make mores sense -- get bigger tires for the wheels to fill the fender area.

Still undecided...

 

Go with H&R and your ride will change very little. Not as drastic of a drop as Eibach but the ride is perfect.

 

Some people dont like the "BIG" gap between the top of the tire and the top of the wheel well. The space there seems pretty large. There are many options to fix this. Lowering and/or increasing the wheel diameter assist in reducing that gap.

Check out these before and after pics






See the difference. In this case the are was lowered.

I took the approach on getting larger wheels to get the same effect. Because I have the side effects as well, lowering is no longer an option as I would be scaping on every little bump.

 

If you think road construction is bad now wait until you have the car lowered....Bobble head is the first thing that comes to my mind. Although if I was given the chance to do it over again and put on bigger tires instead I would still drop it. I would just invest in some better springs. I think it does make the car "look" better, and it also makes mine differnt from some of the other s2k's out there.

I don't know if it really matters to you too, but you need to also think about tire wear. The rear tires on mine wear much quicker on the inside than outside. For instance right now I've got about 40% tread on the outside of my tires, but the inside is bald.

 

On some cars when you lower it you also need to put a camber kit on so the car can be properly aligned so your tires wear evenly!



(Hmmm.... not to self, look into springs and shocks! )

 

I was told a while ago by a mechanic that builds race cars that any time you lower the car - regardless of the amount - you change the steering geometry, creating bump-steer and other handling issues. The reason being that the steering knuckle is no longer at the center point or were the engineers intended the center point to be. I had this problem on my last car and he told me he could machine some spacers that would put the steering knuckle back on center. I eneded up just removing the lowering springs in the end. As mentioned above, you WILL get increased inside trie wear due to the increase in negative camber. My tires looked fine on the mid-outside but totaly bald on the inside after 6 months. If I were lowering an S, I would definately buy the spacers for the steering (and I have seen some mebers that make them) and the axle spacers. my .02.

 

You guys are making way too big of a deal out of this. You don't need a caster camber kit on the S as it already can be changed from the factory. Also, if you have it aligned by someone who actually knows what they are doing after the springs, you will have little change in tire eating. Finally, you won't get bumpsteer until you go for a dramatic drop. A 1in or less drop and you'll be fine.