lowering springs with the biggest drop

[TDem73]

i have a 2012 red candy 5 speed hatch and im trying to find springs that will lower it the most i cant afford coilovers, and i do not care about ride quality. the eibach sportline are the ones ive found that will lower it the most, if you know of any springs that will make it lower than those lemme know, thanks... id like to go at least 3 inches

[eRic]

good luck driving it 3 inches lowered. I have the Ford Racing b-spec coilover kit that has a range of 30-50 mm lower and I installed it set too low. my front tires hit the wheel arch when cornering. and the front air dam scraped the ground. Oops. for the money [$993 msrp] the coilover kit is a great deal since you can adjust the ride height as needed. also the springs and dampers are matched. there's no pogo stick effect here.

[BRGT350]

lowering a car 3" is a horrible idea, unless you have a method to change the suspension geometry. The car's roll center will be far too low, and I would expect some major bump steer issues. Besides the terrible handling you will get from a "drop", the car will bottom out on all sorts of things and the tires will impact the fender wells, as Eric has mentioned. I have been down the path of lowering a car too far before I understood the effects of what I did to the geometry. To effectively lower a car 3", the suspension pick-up points will need to move upwards to maintain the control arm angle, which determines the roll center. The steering rack and or spindle tie rod pick up point will need to be moved to adjust for bump steer. The tie rod and wheel need to move on the same arc to prevent toe change in bump and droop. The axles and CV joints will also most likely be impacted from the lowering, and the joints will have premature wear. So, doing a 3 inch drop is just not a great idea.

[TDem73]

so i should just get the eibach sportline? im used to what we do to all my friends vws where the front bumper drags and you can only barely get your index finer under the rockers... lots of camber to prevent the tires from
rubbin and rollin the lips on the fenders, its all about the looks hah

[BRGT350]

I am sure those VW's have horrible suspension geometry with overstressed joints and terrible handling. Camber is not for making your tires clear, it is to promote traction of a tire when it is loaded in a corner. It creates the largest foot print possible as the suspension is in its arc of motion. Just going with springs by themselves is not the answer, the dampers need to be matched to the spring rate. To take one of the best handling compacts in the world, and mess it up to look cool seems wrong to me, but to each their own. I went down this path when I was young, and once I corrected it, I found a whole new respect for suspension setup and design.

[TDem73]

yea ive got a porsche and a pro touring 77 firebird for good handling though... quite honestly im more into big jacked up trucks as i have a 74 highboy lifted and a cummins, i just have the fiesta cause i drive 200 miles a day so i wanna make it look less like a lesbian car

[Fiesta_Mafia]

I think the lowest drop you can get from an aftermarket spring is the H&R Super Sports, which is 2 inches in the front and 1.9 in the rear. You can get them brand new on eBay for about $200 shipped which is a good price for any aftermarket spring. I don't have these but these are my choice when I do get springs in the next month or so.


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[eRic]

here's a link to suspension bits on the Tire Rack
Suspension Products for 2011 Ford Fiesta Hatchback SES

hmm... I noticed these comments on the H&R coilover kit
"Wheel offset critical; Spacers may be required when the standard wheel/tire combination is used."
the Bilstein coilover kit on my Fiesta is working fine my standard 16-in. wheels and 195/50-16 tires.

[70sstrat]

Ok so from what I gather you want an agressive drop on a budget.You also mentioned you don't really care about ride quality or suspension alignment. At this point why not just cut the stock springs? It seems the normal reasoning for not cutting springs aren't really a priority here.

You might also want to look into this.
Found a Fiesta Air-ride kit!

Air ride probably isn't in your price range but for an extreme drop it is the best solution. At the very least it should give you some inspiration .

My personal caviats 1) a 2'' drop looks pretty darn good, 2) not sure about the car looking "lesbian", I remember people making jokes back in high school about Subarus but I'm not sure about subcompacts.

[BondiBlue]

Originally Posted by TDem73

i just have the fiesta cause i drive 200 miles a day so i wanna make it look less like a lesbian car

Less lesbian = ghetto suspension setup?

Gotcha.

If you have all this money for a Porsche, a Firebird and a couple of big trucks why not do the Fiesta's suspension right instead of like some teenager with a paper route budget?