I am thinking of upgrading the suspension as the car has done 120000 miles on originals.

However after a recent issue with tyres i am worried about lowering the car.

The original wheels are 16" with 205/45's, the wheels i have now are 17" with 215/40's which from my calculation is an increase of 19mm.

I tried to put on 215/45's for i bit of extra comfort which over the originals is an increase of near enough 30mm and as soon as any weight was in the car the rear passenger arch liner lip was catching slightly so god knows what would have happened if i went over a bump, had to change them back to 215/40's.

So i dont under stand how people have managed to lower the car with 17" wheels.

Is there any good suspension that doesnt lower?

Any advice appreciated.

Just my 10p worth, most will be looking to lower. If you want good suspension that doesn't lower, replace it with OEM lol

 

The problem you are having is with your choice of tyres, those of us that lower obviously take that into account.

I'm on 17s with 215/40s which is the alternative choice instead of 205/40s

 

Why 214/45s? You are running very different tyres to most and your speedo will be most out, and you are wondering why it won't work ?

 

As far as comfort goes I might like to opt in future for 16s (powdercoating or just spraying the originals in anthracite) and go for more of a comfort tyre like 195s ? These 17s can be a bit of a harsh ride.

I have now and had 215/40's on but i thought the 45's might offer a bit more comfort and also more protection to alloys as i have had a few pot hole issues in past year.

The 215/45's were only on for a very short distance due to them catching on rear arch liner.

Just wandered if people were running 17" wheels and had 215/40's and its lowered how far can you lower it.

The kits i have seen lower by 25mm which i would think would make them catch at the rear.

Why not just overhaul the shocks and leave the standard springs in, or get some cheap low mileage standard shocks.

Then keep your tyre size you are happy with?

 

You practically can't give away the standard OEM suspension on the fabia (except for those selling up and they won't want to pay much for them). So if you were looking for nearly new OEM springs you could pick some up, but I can't really see what benefit they would have over your mileage ones.

Its the shocks surely that will have all the wear and tear (unless your springs show any signs of damage).

 

From a personal perspective I'm not sure if the HR I bought was a step too far (possibly reducing up to 30-40mm apparently), in regard to comfort.

I wonder if with the standard tyres or 195s on my 16s gather dust it may be a fair bit more comfortable, just feels like it wants to fall into potholes at every near opportunity and wonder if I might have actually been better with Eibachs than H&R but no one else on here seems prepared to comment on it.

They are probably all young and don't put any value whatsoever on comfort

Why not just overhaul the shocks and leave the standard springs in, or get some cheap low mileage standard shocks.

Then keep your tyre size you are happy with?

 

You practically can't give away the standard OEM suspension on the fabia (except for those selling up and they won't want to pay much for them). So if you were looking for nearly new OEM springs you could pick some up, but I can't really see what benefit they would have over your mileage ones.

Its the shocks surely that will have all the wear and tear (unless your springs show any signs of damage).

 

From a personal perspective I'm not sure if the HR I bought was a step too far (possibly reducing up to 30-40mm apparently), in regard to comfort.

I wonder if with the standard tyres or 195s on my 16s gather dust it may be a fair bit more comfortable, just feels like it wants to fall into potholes at every near opportunity and wonder if I might have actually been better with Eibachs than H&R but no one else on here seems prepared to comment on it.

They are probably all young and don't put any value whatsoever on comfort

i havent riden on the eibach but i agree the h&r's are quite firm(solid) and a mildly bumpy road can seem like an offroad course and speed bumps need to be taken alot slower to stop you going through the roof 

I had new shocks on rear in january, but for a few months now i seem to be able to feel every bump especially when fuel tanks getting low.

the standard 16s with 205 /45s on are sufficient if you want comfort and reasonable handling 

Richard, the wear is more likely to be the fronts if you only did the rears ?

The rears don't take much weight hence why they are puny compared to the front.

Replacing my front shockers made quite a bit of improvement to the shock absorbing capacity at least which was worn at close to 100K.

 

Unfortunately that has been coupled with the H+R's which seem to diminish much of the improvement made by replacing the shocks.

The 17 spiders do look good though so I'm quite loathed to change them! but also the ride height does look so much better....catch 22. Which is why I wondered with the Eibachs being somewhat more of a compromise whether they were much better.

I did notice my top mount bolts were a tiny bit loose on the offside though which I've nipped up which may help improve some of the crashing but I doubt that anything short of switching the wheels will help that much. I'm interested though just to see what the 16s on 195s would be like on comparison. Also you can get spiders in 16s which would look similar-ish so wonder if that may be another route.

I wandered about the fronts, reason back ones got changed is because i had a slight knock at the rear and i asked a garage to look at it while it was in for some modifications and they said the back shocks looked like they had been leaking a bit. I asked bout the fronts and was told fronts were probably fine because the front springs take more of the force.

My 17's arent spiders but i like the look of them really dont want to go back to originals.

Short answer...

17s should be fine with 205/40s or 205/45s. Depends to some degree on the wheel offset as to what might catch and where. Though 45 is "too big" in theory, it probably just means the speedo's more accurate. Means being a little extra careful around speed cameras though.

 

As to the suspension question... ummm... Have read that cheap coillies are terrible when used high. So I suppose that leaves spring/dampers combos and higher end coillies. £500-£1000+ for parts.

 

J.