Yikes. I'm 5.5" lower than you, lol.


I wouldn't worry so much about height as I would about worn bushings and alignment (though judging by the dust line on the tire alignment looks good).
Also if the car doesn't have a rear sway bar, you might want to invest in one and a bracket kit. It does wonders and really brings more driving confidence to the car.

Also keep in mind that tires play a very large roll. Not just sidewall height but actual tire design. I've had 'performance' tires that felt squirmy; almost like they were twice as tall as they were. You can somewhat rule out tires by over-inflating them for a short time.

 

I wouldn't worry so much about height as I would about worn bushings

the ride height is bugging me because it could suggest that the vehicle is oversprung or has some suspension component binding-up, which would also explain the ride stiffness. This isn't my first Ford hatchback, so I am fully acquainted with pothole/bump harshness; what I am not fine with is a car that flutters up/down on seemingly perfect pavement.

maybe this "stock" ZX3 had some junk in the trunk?

yeah, I considered that, but I've always noticed that other ZX3's don't seem to sit as high as mine. And your measurements & Kodyston's reinforce that.

 

Huh, I'm reading 25" in what I believe is stock suspension... Cool, I must have a low rider B)

EDIT: maybe this "stock" ZX3 had some junk in the trunk?

 

I'm reading like 25 1/4 all the way around, with some junk in the trunk also. But I don't think the junk weighs a whole lot so... lol

 

I'm at 22.5

 

in a 2008 sedan lol, that means nothing to his mk1 hatch [~]

 

Ya it does coilovers will help lol. 08-11 are 4x4 as well

 

yes, coilovers will be nice, but he needs the stock ride height of his mk1 hatch. i'm guessing they may be close but not the same

 

My suspension = stock (Monroe); springs & dampeners on front & rear about a year old. (No junk in my trunk, except factory spare tire & jack; photo taken with ~1/4 tank of gas.)

The Monroe springs & dampers, I'd be looking at. Did you not notice the ride height difference when you installed these at the time? What was wrong w/ the oem springs?

 

I didn't pay attention to the ride height until after I installed the rear shocks, because that's when I noticed that the ride got harsher (too firm). But, that's a natural reaction when a person's been driving on old shocks for a long time - the new shocks can seem harsh because you were accustomed to the soft, sloppy feel of the old ones. (I installed Gabriel shocks first, and they were super firm, so I returned those and got the SensaTracs, which were noticeably softer.)

I replaced the rear coil springs because a) they were deteriorating, b) the LCA's were being replaced, and, c) there was some bad camber going on back there. The new LCA's & Moog springs didn't improve nor worsen the ride quality (but they fixed my camber).

Monroe has been supplying OEM-like ride quality for forever, so I don't think they're to blame. Plus, the Gabriel's were even worse, so it's not likely that I got ahold of two different brands of defective parts from two different stores.

On the rear, I did not replace the upper control arm nor the trailing arm. I rarely see those mentioned on the forum - would they contribute to ride quality issues while driving straight on smooth, flat pavement?

 

The ride quality depends on your springs & shocks. If you had poly bushings in your trail arms & a pair of aftermarket camber arms, it'd just feel tighter then oem rubber bushed parts. For the height= it depends on what springs you have for their determine your ride height. Say like frpp's springs drop the ride height down 1.5'' from stock height. So the springs you have are the wrong springs for a focus. You could take then out & cut a whole coil out to get your ride height down. Is your front ride height the same or what?

 

measured @ top of wheel well lip: rear = 27.5 inches, front = 26 inches (see post #1 on this thread)

10-4 on the coil springs determining ride height. But, I'm wondering if some other component could be contributing? Eg., if something is binding-up. IIRC, I thought it was the Focus Haynes manual which mentioned a need to manually check/adjust ride height.

I'm discounting the springs as the source of the problem, because Moog wouldn't make that kind of glaring mistake - and if they did, they would have fixed it years ago.