fiestaturbo.com

[heeman10]

Since Brunters, I've been keen to get my car handling properly. I've been content with the Gmax for quite some time, but good balance and level turn-in is more important now I have some power to put down, and Bruntingthorpe really showed up my setup.

So, what coilovers do people have? I'm not entirely ruling out a good suspension kit, such as Bilstein's offerings, but the adjustability of coilovers would be welcome. My car isn't particularly low, and I'd love to be able to tweak it as low as it could go without scrubbing on high speed bumps, so from that point, I'm strongly "pro" coilovers.

So if people have feedback about build quality, reliability, company reputation/rapport etc, please let me know. I'm looking to spend about £600, which puts Leda and (I think) Tein out of my budget for this area of the car, so AFAIK we're pretty much left with Gaz and Avo! Any others? A firm ride is what I'm after!
Thanks,
James.

[Fezzy Turbo]

I personaly dont like coil overs on a road going FRST. It was too unpredictable on the bumpy roads, which i mean it jumped about on corners.
I would go for a good road suspenion package and poly bushes.

For mine, im going for Spax PSX, poly bushes on ARB's and the rose joint stuff from Zoo motorsport.

[heeman10]

Unpredictable how? I've poly bushed my ARB and got rose jointed lower arms, so that part of the suspension's nice and stiff, but the shocks and springs aren't living up to what the rest of the suspension can do now, so I need firmer damping and stiffer springs together.

I've just been browsing the net and found FK coilovers, a company linked with Koni, and they have about five different stages of coilover kits, which is interesting. They're not answering their phones (clearly don't open on a Saturday! ) but I'll be back in touch with them.

[Fezzy Turbo]

What i meant was, if the car hit a bump in the road, especially on a corner the car would literaly skip. The coilover setup, i thought, was way too stiff for road use. Okay, the guy who had it fitted to his car might have had a very hard setup, but i didnt like it.
Im sticking with Spax PSX as i have used that on my car for a long time now and it is stiff, but its not as bad as coilovers, there is some give.

Just my thoughts

[heeman10]

Are you going to help me at all by telling me which coilovers they were? I'm assuming they sell springs of different stiffnesses for them so you don't have to put up with such problems. Bit pointless having coilovers if they don't supply springs so you can spec just how it handles

[Oranoco]

Koni T/A's mate with Eibach springs and you WILL be laughing without all the unneseccary cost of coilovers.

Took you long enough to realsie G-Max were shonk though mate

[Raymondo]

Ive got H&R's. But only because i got them at a very reasonable price brand new. Best money ive ever spent IMO. I dont know if i would cough up the full price (£900+ ), but they havent missed a beat.
They are stable and predictable even on rough ground, and the ride is even pretty good too. The only problem i have is not having enough power to use them properly . But they have cancelled out any understeer i had before, and the rear end is much more stable, although if you hit a big bump whilst cornering hard, the back steps out but its controllable, which is fun.

The build quality is spot on, they had Bilstein gas inserts. And the good thing about coilovers is you can keep tweaking them to get the most out of them, and you even easily replace the springs for harder/softer ones.

So i say do it, but invest in a good brand. Hope that helps you

[heeman10]

Steve - I still refused to say Gmax are crap! They've been great for me, but as with most things, they are usually suitable up to a certain level, and I'd say the TDI engine was about the top end they would be suitable for. They were an enormous improvement over standard for me, and they've served me extremely well!

Cheers for that tip, though after thinking more about precisely what I want, the adjustability of coilovers is a must for me. I'd like the car to sit lower to get the most out of its cornering ability, and being able to wind it down further still for track use would be spot on. I have heard nothing but things about what the Eibach springs to do the Mk3 Fiesta though

Raymondo - Yeah you were a lucky git with those!!! H&R, Tein and Leda do some very nice stuff, but it's hard to justify a grand on a car that does the mileage mine does, and with only 230bhp I'll save the GOOD good stuff for a future car Cheers for the feedback though..fancy selling/swapping?

[j7aoc]

Im running avo coilover's and they where second hand when i got them and been on the car over a year. Ive heard bad thing's about avo's but mine have been very good might need a service but i taken a few people out that are into there fiesta turbo's and they said mine is the best at handling that they have ever been in all the rubber parts has been re-newed with gen ford parts the only part uprated is the gearbox mounts and p7 tyers so it must be the coilover or tyres

[heeman10]

I must say Avos are coming out on top for me at the moment. The FK coilover kits allow 45-75mm lowering (could've been 85mm), and since mine should only be lowered 35mm or so at the moment, 45mm could be too big a drop to be starting from. The Avos allow for a high ride height than standard down to over a 100mm drop I think..tried calling them but got no reply. I've found them for £540 delivered so far, so my hunting will continue after some more calls on Monday I think

[j7aoc]

£540 is good woodford garage have got them for £530 that's with vat but not p+p some time do discount when you order a few thing's

[Xr_Dub]

I would go for some Fk coilovers let me knw if u need any i can sort you out.

there smoother than my old springs and shocks that was gmax and koni u can adjust the height in mins... so much better in my opinon..

[Faith]

H&R

might be able to get some cheap off ebay - seen some sets go for like £500

Ade

[heeman10]

Cheers boys

Atif - Yep, as I said above and on MSN, FKs only allow a 45mm drop minimum, and I want -35mm at the very least, preferably -30mm to start from, down to about 80mm max drop. FKs just wouldn't give me that unfortunately, thanks for the offer though, let me know if I'm wrong about 45mm being the smallest drop!

Ade - I've been watching eBay for a bit, no success yet. I've seen Avos on there for £490 posted Buy It Now, which would be nice Haven't finished looking into all the different makes yet though, so won't jump at those too soon! H&Rs are a fortune brand new, as you'll know, you bargain-snooping git!

[xrsi]

unfortunatly if you buy a coilover kit you are stuck with the springs that come with the kit, you can however buy different springs afterwards to get them just how you want them tho.... i think the extra springs are something like £40 a pair from demon tweeks if i remember rightly as i asked lots of questions about them there last summer as i thought my shocks were goosed but they werent so didnt get any in the end.

will give you a pm aswell about something

[heeman10]

Current state of play is that I've found a supplier of the Gaz coilover kit for £525 delivered, and Avos for £540 delivered. The hunt is still going on, will hopefully have a good idea of things by the middle of next week

[heeman10]

Update

I've just got off the phone to Dave and Dampertech, and he was very useful. Too many people stock stuff, and have no idea what it does! He's a (if not the main) dealer of Gaz suspension, and after a pretty long chat, I'm convinced they're a good choice for the following reasons:

~ Spring rates specced by Dampertech, so should be good from the start. If not, replacement springs of any stiffness that I spec will be £40/pair.

~ The dampers are such a length that at a 60mm drop, the piston's in the mid-point of its travel, so compression and rebound travel are the same. I'm hoping to be able to drop mine as much as 60mm without any scrubbing, I don't see it going any lower than that.

~ They come with a 2 year repair/replace warranty, as opposed to Avo's repair-only stance.

~ I'm paying extra for the units to be nickel plated for a better, more durable finish. God knows my car gets used in every condition possible..sun, rain and snow/ice, so I don't want corroded threads. (To throw some geeky info at you, the standard Zinc-plated units take 400 hours of salt spray testing, the Nickel-plated units take 2,000)

~ Dave was very knowledgeable, open to questions, not keen to slate the opposition (but keen to point out advantages of Gaz units), a nice bloke in general, and reasonably local (Yorkshire). If I have any problems, I know he'll be sound to deal with.

~ Even with the nickel plating, the full coilover set, fully bolt-on, has come to juuuust over £550. Avos were available at £490 on eBay, but I'd rather buy something as substantial and costly as a set of coilovers from a reputable dealer such as Dampertech, plus the Gaz coilovers sound better!


In terms of time, Gaz are going to push to make them up for me in time for FITP, so fingers crossed I can get them, fit them and adjust them in time. It's not the end of the world if I don't, but it'd be a nice post-uni stress treat!!

[Raymondo]

Are they gas or hydraulic?

[DaveMCMkIII]

Intresting, posted a similarish post a few months back so will be very kean to see your opinion of the Gaz items, like the idea of replacement springs of variable stiffness if there required. Should help me with my future purchases

[heeman10]

Raymondo - Hydraulic, unless they've hidden something major from me! Will check though...

Dave - I was happy with Dave from Dampertech's assessment. He used to sell Avo stuff, he switched to Gaz five years ago and hasn't looked back. Remembering what people on here have said in the past about Avo's customer service (horrible customer service, unwilling to repair/replace) and hearing the same said in the odd online forum, I'm happy with dealing with someone as personable as Dave. You can't beat the human touch when things go wrong and the correct solution needs to be found

£40 is very reasonable IMO for replacement springs. If mine are too stiff (which I don't reeeeally expect to be the case, but it's possible) then I'll buy a set of softer springs and save the hard ones for the track or something. Opens up a whole new world of really tuning the suspension, corner by corner Will let you know how they go if you get in touch or see me at the shows

[CRF]

Good chioce James

I've got Gaz coilovers on mine, never had a problem with them and its great having all that adjustment potential.

They do need setting up properly though but no point just yet until I fit my new set of bushes and get the tracking done again after thats done.

Chris

[heeman10]

Good to hear I can't remember what the ride was like in yours really, well over 6 months since I was in it! Must get over to see you lot again, will come over some time later on in May. I only thought last time that I'd have to get the tracking re-done...no idea where I can do that anywhere near where I store the car! Might be a long, wobbly drive into Preston to get it done at Ford What setting are yours on at the moment, what drop, and how hard's the ride? Any scrubbing ever?

[CRF]

Cool and the gang

Theyre set on medium front and back at the moment, rides nto too harsh

The back was set on hard when I first put them on and the ride was bone shaking so had to turn them down a bit.

Since then i've not touched them to be honest, im waiting until ive done the full set of bushes and had it tracked up at the end of may until i change the settings again.

No scrubbing at the moment but did have a little at first so raised it slightly and reduced the width of the hub spacers I had at the back.

Probably down approx 60mm at the moment but didnt measure it as such, just got it down to a level that looked good and dint scrub at all.

[heeman10]

Cool, thanks for that I'd wind it down to the deck for shows, but Fiestas look stupid dropped to the ground on 15s :lol:

[CRF]

Best get some manly 16s ordered while you're in the spending mood!!!

[mmorgan88]

Its good when people tell you honestly about products looks like you got what you wanted heeman. I like the way you always update your posts as well letting the good folks of FT know what you found out tis a nice touch.

[heeman10]

Chris - Not just yet, though when I come to consider braking at the rear (at long last, had a brand new Mk5 Escort master cylinder for ages now!) I'll be sizing discs etc for 16s I think, so can fit bigger discs and new caliper brackets up front too once I go 16"

mmorgan88 - It seems wasteful for me to spend a while hunting around on the net, speaking to people via PM's, on MSN and on the phone to assess what's best...then leave everyone else to do the same thing over again! Gaz have shone out to me as the best choice for what I wanted (-30mm min drop, -70mm absolute max drop, sub-£600 with adjustable damping, good customer service), so hopefully what I found out about other makes above will help some people too. Thread title should help when people search too

[mike_wall15]

I've heard the Gaz ones are quite good, upto you though

[heeman10]

Umm yes, they are, that's why a set will be turning up here at halls tomorrow morning. What are you on Wall?

[mike_wall15]

Umm yes, they are, that's why a set will be turning up here at halls tomorrow morning. What are you on Wall?

Glad you made a good choice
Searching this tuning, handling, and braking board is fun!

I think the exams are causing me to turn into a strange metal state, I can't remember the last time I used my brain effectively!

[heeman10]

I think the exams are causing me to turn into a strange metal state

What metal state are you in today? Ore? Maybe a smelt of some sort? Nearly there Mike, the gayness will shortly be over! Since I finished yesterday I've spent £75 on a whole day out, and have an assignment for my sister's mate to proof read, then a dissertation to proof read for a mate, and am doing a CAD assignment with/for a mate at the mo lol

[mike_wall15]

I think the exams are causing me to turn into a strange metal state

What metal state are you in today? Ore? Maybe a smelt of some sort? Nearly there Mike, the gayness will shortly be over! Since I finished yesterday I've spent £75 on a whole day out, and have an assignment for my sister's mate to proof read, then a dissertation to proof read for a mate, and am doing a CAD assignment with/for a mate at the mo lol

Talking about proof reading, I usually look through my post, but must have missed that error!

Man you sound busy, fancy adding into that a trip down to B'ham for a few exams?
I been spending lots recently too, bought another laptop yesterday! Hope you didn't spend £75 on drink young man!

Must be nice helping other people and knowing you won't be staying up until whatever hour to get it finished!

[reisskahn]

Raymondo:

Do you know what type of them H&R coilovers ur using?? My cousin knows some guy thats got a set of used H & R Slimline Adjustable coilovers for a fezzy turbo and i was really intrested in them. Ive searched everywhere and cant really get much info on them!!!!

What they like once there on the car and how low can you lower the car???

Since there used what should you be looking out for and is there anyway you can tell if there knackerd???

Is there anything else i should be asking or looking out for if i decide to purchase them????

Would you recommend them as i cant find much dealers for them here and they aint very common on the mk3 fiestas.

Why is that?? Could it be due to the costs of them or they dont specailise them for the fezzy's???

Just that i havent heard much about H&R compared to AVO and Konis etc and just wanted to know if the would be any good???