Hi All,

Recently, I lowered my car (a 1.9 Tdi Elegance) 30mm using PI springs. I'm very pleased with the looks, and performance on half-decent roads is fine, but the catch is that where I live, the Isle of Lewis, has many roads that are just knackered.

It's not a huge problem, but is there an alternative spring which will give me the looks, with a slightly more compliant/softer ride?

Please don't bother telling me that this is why cars shouldn't be lowered it would be a waste of time!

Thanks

Cars shouldn't be lowered!

Basically all the set ups ive used on all my cars have been hard.

Upgraded suspension is really to stiffen the car up to isnt it.

AirRide! HA!

I was just curious, I mean I can live with it

Guess it's just a pain that Skoda made sure the Fabia was on stilts!

To clarify, I'm not looking to make a change immediately. I just want to know what would be a good mix of looks and ride comfort (I'm not expecting OEM ride comfort obviously) whenever sufficient funds are available

Surprise me

Edited 23 September, 200817 yr by Leodhasach
More info

eibac/koni fsd combo.

Might also be worth seeking advice on different tyre sizes.

The shocks have a massive impact on ride quality - I'd suggest changing for some more supportive ones

tyre size does make a BIG difference, i went from a 195/45/15 to a 195/50/15, the car now drives so much better it doesnt follow the road as much trying to tramline anymore! and it soaks up the bumps better, improved the ride now end, a worthy mod!

Thanks guys

eibach/koni fsd combo.

I'd definitely second the Koni FSDs, but if you're happy with the existing springs, I'd try them first before I bought the Eibachs.

Ok, I'll certainly look into the FSD's but before I do, can I just ask what the ride quality is like with them with regard to hardness/softness/compliance? :confused:

If I go for them, I'd try them on my PI's first see what happens...

This is one expensive hobby

Have a search

Awesome - Koni Suspension Products

Renown to be alot smoother

Sarah

I get a LOT of customers asking the same thing, they want lower looks and improved handling over the standard setup. Most aftermarket stuff is a bit hard.

Recently I have been getting springs made with an extra 10% in spring poundage and using a very progressive rate with a slightly shorter spring.

The progressive aspect of the spring works like this:

the lower and upper coils are actually slightly lower poundage than standard coils and closer together but not close enough to sit on top of each other under low loading (normal straight line driving) this gives a very comfortable ride. The centre coils of the spring are around 10% higher poundage than standard.

As the car leans into a corner the lower poundage spring compress and the higher poundage centre springs are then in control, which reduces body roll and feels a lot more stable.

The effect of the above is simple, smaller bumps and holes in the road are soaked up easily by the lower poundage coils and as soon as you put the car into a bend it all firms up and gets a lot more stable.

the overall poundage of the spring is similar to standard its just distributed differently accross the coil, ride height is lowered by around 20-40mm on most cars depending on spec.

Hi

The majority of the lowering springs these days are progressive springs

There is a little info on progressive springs in the pic

Koni , Eiback , Weitec are all progressive springs

The way that it will help with body roll is all down to the fact that you are lowering to start with

The ARB`s are far better at reducing body roll as that is what they are designed to do

I hope that helps?

Sarah

Well, it's progressive PI springs that went on the car, and I'm not entirely happy with them (standard shocks, prob a bad plan to begin with )

Thanks very much for the info and input, I'll have a look around on Awesome

OK, having had the look around... I think I'm looking forward to payday