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SVT Focus ride height

9K views 42 replies 12 participants last post by  sailor 
#1 ·
New member here. I've had my 2003 SVT Focus for about four months. I'm having a few problems though. First, this thing has some SERIOUS negative camber both in the front and the rear. Is that normal? I haven't taken it to be aligned yet as I fear it may have been lowered by the previous owner. I read somewhere (probably here) that the SVT models have no factory camber adjsutment, which leads me to believe that excessive negative camber is caused by lowering. Could someone give me a measure ment to the bottom of the front fender from the ground going through the centerpoint of the wheel? I don't know any other way to tell if it's lowered. If it is, I need to find some stock springs pronto. It eats tires like there's no tomorrow.

Also, my driver side inner fender likes to rub the tire sometimes while braking or making a harder right turn. This further supports the lowered theory. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
 
#32 ·
Moved to "Wheels, Tires, Brakes & Suspension - Sponsored By Tire Rack"
 
#33 ·
Small update. I had noticed some slight play in the left front, like a bad ball joint or something. Upon some further inspection I found that either I or someone else had not fully tightened the strut to spindle bolt thus allowing movement of the spindle around the strut. After applying Chinese monkey death grip it is noe sufficiently tight and there is no free play at all. So lesson is...don't forget to tigten things. :)
 
#34 ·
Those rear springs are SVT springs, for sure.
Don't know about the front springs.

If one side (fender) is higher than the other, try disconnecting one end of one swaybar endlink and see if it settles out even. Reconnect it after the test.
 
#36 ·
If the car isn't level, the reason can be a bent swaybar or mismatched end links forcing it to lean.

It just eliminates the whole swaybar setup from the possible causes list during troubleshooting.
 
#38 ·
Hi 2 all from Moscow. Owning ST170 for 2 months, and have some questions about coilovers) now it has KYB UltraSR shocs + Eibah springs. I need to have some opportunity of adjusting height of a vehicle from stock (or Rus Spec FF1 = +1,5") to height of present Eibah spring height.
Does anybody know some coil kit for this terms?

photo of present setup:



Thx)
 
#39 ·
Sorry to bump a dead thread, but I bought this car from the OP last year in October. The car still has the same suspension and same problems, plus it's eating tires (inside wore down on the fronts in about 6500 miles).

I guess the thing to do is at least install new springs, if not just go completely stock. The car will be mostly DDed, but I will take it to an auto-x occasionally.

Edit: After looking at this post, http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1680015&#post1680015 and measuring my center to fender, it's sagging pretty bad in the front. My measurements are:

LF 12 15/16"
RF 13 1/4"
LR 13 3/4"
RR 14"

Guess I really need to replace these worn out springs.
 
#41 ·
Read it all, most severe tire wear is from poor alignment &/or worn suspension joints.

Checking ball joints & tie rod ends in front, looking at bushings & checking for play in the rear, then checking alignment would be the first step IMHO.

Luck!
 
#43 · (Edited)
You can check/adjust alignment with nothing more than some fishing line & a mechanic's ruler (measures in 32's of an inch).

Tie the line to a couple jack stands (or equivalent), at hub center height.

Now, get it parallel to the car by setting the front 2" out from the wheel center cap & the rear 2 5/32 out (rear is 5/32 narrower per side). The only important measurement here is that 5/32, even inches for the other part just makes things easier. I set the slider on my rule to that second setting, makes it easier.

Then measure to the front & back edge of the wheels, and write it down. This will tell you which way they're pointing after you do BOTH sides.

I was lucky with my SVT wheels,on the '04 ones the center cap is level with the flats at the edge, so measuring the front is all that I needed to do at each wheel. (it's really all that's needed with any, but I thought with all the measurements you could see it easier the first time)

now when comparing numbers, rear should be "in" a couple 32's vs. the center, front should be "0".

If it's typical, steering won't be quite straight, so you'll likely be "in" a little on one side & "out" on the other the same amount

With your tire wear, it wouldn't be surprising to see the front with both sides pointing out a bit - and your problem would then be obvious.

Takes less time to do it than to explain....

Luck!
 
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