[FocusBoy949]

I had the eibach suspension (springs and dampers) installed on my car. And now everytime i hit a good pot hole or gap (like between bridges) My car feels like i have no suspension, like the tires are bolted to the frame, it just seems like its hard as a rock. Is this normal?? By the way i am running 215-45-17's.

 

[Timmeh!]

well when you hit a bump hard like that, yeah its gonna bottom out....
that bump you feel is literally your suspension hitting the bump stops... hence the name.... but without them you'd screw up your car even worse....

 

[luvachevy2000]

alotta of your hard hitting is also with the low profile tire you got shorter walls more harder the ride

 

[SkaAddict]

^
Agreed...when I switch over to my 45 R17 tires in the summer from my 55 R16 winter tires the ride is much, much harsher. You'd be surprised what an extra 10% of sidewall will do for you. That and performance suspension like you have will add to the harshness of the ride since they're stiffer and don't absorb the hits as much as stock suspension.

 

[Geezer]

If its a sportline kit you bought, you have significantly reduced the suspension travel you once had. The odds are good you will be hitting the bump stops more often on big hits because of this.

When you put on lowering springs you effectively reduce the amount of original travel by the amount you lower. A focus only has about three four inches of travel (compression or rebound)to start with. You reduce that by two inches and now you only have 1 to 2 inches of travel. I have only addressed shock travel. Its also possible that the springs can fully compress (bind) quicker than the shock will. You can measure the distance between coils (while the suspension is loaded). This is also an rough indicator of how much travel you have.

Your only choice is to slow down and avoid potholes and speed bumps when possible.

 

[lanting90]

true, but the increase in spring rate usually compensates for the shorter stroke. I also have teh sportline kit and prodampners, but w/ a 215/40-17 tire, and have yet to hit teh bumpstops. the ride is decently harshand desently sized bumps do jarr the car some, but that is to be expected w/ a performance suspension..

 

[hkysk8r07]

get used to it. it's not gonna go away.

my cd's skip, everything rattles. your suspension components (ball joints/control arms) will wear quickly. get used to it or get rid of it.

you're probably not hitting the bump stops since you do have quite a bit of travel still it's just the suspension is really stiff.

i have to get my car up on a lift this week i think i blew my front left shock or something. and i know my ball joints are pretty much trash (which means complete new control arm assembly) and some other stuff will need replacing as well which i'm not too happy about.

 

[SkaAddict]

^
Are you routinely wearing out your ball joints, or is this the first time you've had to replace one? Considering your car is six years old (or so) in addition to the stiffer suspension, its not out of the norm to have to replace the ball joint. What I'm trying to get at is, while the suspension might've contributed to the ball joint failing, I seriously doubt thats the only reason it did.