Why the change in ride quality??

[whoaizmyflow]

Ever since I replaced my 18's with 17's I feel EVERY bump. Feels like my struts/shocks are gone! I only have 4,000 miles on the car. Did I mess up something? I do have drop springs on the car but it never dropped the car even a centimeter. I am sure you all remember me bitching about that.

What should I do? Anyone recommend any good struts/springs? Quality coilovers?

Also, is it bad to have coilovers on your ride in the winter? Should you always go back to your stock suspension in the winter months?

[Sponsor]

[Disturbed ZX3]

http://www.focusfanatics.com/forum/s...=&threadid=834

[GonFishin]

aahhh..Disturbed, you took the rally look away! I swear that's what Ford was going for with this stock suspension..lol.

[whoaizmyflow]

The H&R kit on Focussport.com seems like a nice package. $650 though is a little high, I'll have to ask for dealer pricing on that. Includes the springs, shocks and struts. Or am I wrong?

[Disturbed ZX3]

The H&R kit is definately nice. Only problem is, it's really low. And living in New England like we do, that might not seem like the best option. It does include everything.

[scironzts]

h&r cup kit oWNz!!! heh heh.

as for the 18's/17's difference, think about your sidewall. i think you were running 215/45's on the 17's, correct? and now running 215/35's on the 18's? big difference in sidewall, so the tire is going to be a lot stiffer, and you'll feel more of the road.

[Troublelucky]

Thought he said he went from 18s to 17s, prolly a mistype?

Another factor is tire quality, if you went from a high end tire to something on the low end of the scale then you'll notice a difference as well.

[Disturbed ZX3]

He did go from 18's to 17's. As a matter of fact Whoa, why the change ?

[whoaizmyflow]

I made the change because I simply thought that the rims were too bulky and they weighed too much. 17's just look better on the focus in my opinion. As for the quality of the tires.. I went from Nitto to Proxies... so I gained a little quality. The 17" tires retail about $200 each and the 18's retailed at $550 total.

[focaltech]

Umm you have lowering springs that didn't lower your car. Interesting.

You changed from 18's to 17's and ride quality decreased. Very interesting.

First off changing from stock suspension to an aftermarket one is not for everyone. I have had to return customers vehicles to stock b/c the $ 1000+ coilovers they bought were unbearable on the street.

Do it right with quality parts. If you are only going for looks then ride quality will be horrible, 17's + H&R cup kit in a daily driver in NH may not be a smart idea, especially come winter time.