Fitted Lo Suspension 40mm drop
Discussion
The other week my Roadster seemed to develop a broken front spring. I'd been considering a suspension kit, but money was tight, so with some umming and arring I decided to take the plunge and opted for a 40mm suspension drop using Lo Suspension springs for the Roadster and retaining my stock dampers (for now at least)
I bought the springs via eBay for £83 including shipping. A bargain considering buying just two standard Roadster springs would have cost me about £78.
Did I do wrong? Well time will tell, however this is how far I've got so far.
Front Springs
For this I needed to buy an e14 Torx socket and I also purchased the clamp used to hold the front shock shaft. You will also need new stretch bolts. You could replace the dust boot and all of the rubber components but I didn't, they all seemed fine and serviceable and I'll replace them as/when I replace the shocks.
I highly recommend using the right tools, you will suffer or fail without!!!! Spring clamps are IMO essential for this despite what some guides may claim.
Removing the broken spring was a nice challenge, as top of the spring had left the mount and jammed itself in the turret. This took me a long time and lot of swearing to remove!!!!
Once removed you can see how much of the spring had broken. Broken on on the right, standard one in the middle and the new lowering one on the left (red one):
Oddly despite the new spring being a lowering spring its uncompressed length is quite a bit longer than the standard spring. This did prove to be an issue...
While on the subject of the new springs, I feely admit I am no spring expert. But to my eye these Lo Suspension systems springs look at least equal quality to the OEM ones. They are plastic/powered costed in red and for all intensive purposes look like quality items.
Now to refitting the springs. First you pre-assemble the shocks and springs and simply locate them and do up the bolts. Sounds easy, but this is where I found that extra spring length to be a real issue. Locating the top shock mount is easy, but compressing the assembly to get the bottom shock mount on was a huge headache.
Maybe with standard springs this is a lot easier, but as you can see from these pics I had the spring compressors fully compressed and still had to think a few extra ways to compress them.
Event then it still took a LOT of brute force to locate the bottom mount. This was not a pleasant part of the swap.
If any of you are wondering why I didn't put the spring compressors higher up, well the angle of the coils meant the kept jumping and slipping. This was dangerous and just not working, hence the locations you can see in the pictures.
Rear Springs
Onto the rears. First up this is a lot easier job. You'll need an 18mm spanner and an E18 Torx socket. You'll also need a 16mm spanner, of which I didn't have so used a bug set of adjustable's (I do hate these Euro cars using non standard sizes compared to all my other vehicles... lol
) I did still require the use of the spring compressors to remove the old springs but it was fairly trouble free.
The new springs easily fitted in place without the need of the spring compressors. The first and only issues I had was relocating the X-Frame bolt bar. Basically the hole on the X-Frame and the hole on the axle tube bracket don't line up!!
My solution was to put a 2nd jack at the back of the axle tube and jack up the suspension until it is on the stops. This will get the holes close to lining up, but not 100%. The final tweak comes from being able to apply some leverage to the bolt.
For this I used a large cable tie. Loop it over the bolt and have a hammer at hand. Give a really good tug and when lined up tap it and it should go straight in. I spent about 20 mins faffing about on the first bolt until figuring this out. The second bolt when straight in on the first attempt and took all of 30-45 secs to accomplish
All done!!
And for reference, this is what it looked like before the suspension drop:
As you can see it does look lower, more noticeable at the front than the rear maybe. But I'm actually fairly pleased with the end result and the stance.
Test Drive
So how does it go? Well it's still early days yet. But I can say I'm very impressed so far.
Ride quality is almost as good as standard believe it or not. Not quite as smooth and maybe just a tad more bouncy. But I'd say it's a good 90-95% the same as before. It feels like a sports car - which is good as that is exactly what it is! If you want a smooth ride buy a barge
Big pot hole do make a bigger thud than before. But in truth I'd sort of expect this. I've also been over some road humps and so far no grounding issues either, although the car is a lot lower so I will be more cautious.
I've done a small bit of B road driving so far and on the bumps and off cambers it seems better than ever. Minimal body roll, very good turn in and still very predictable. It simply has loads of grip too. With the TCS off it'll corner quicker than it used too (tested on a good size quiet round about).
I am running 185/55R15 tyres all round, so I suspect these might be helping the ride quality. But I have no plans at all in changing the wheels or tyre sizes. Loads of grip, great handling feel and a good ride. What more could I ask for?
I do wonder if it'll wear the dampers out quicker, but only time will tell. I'll post back with an update once I've got a few more miles on them under some varied conditions and with a loaded car.
Overall at this point in time I'm quite pleased.
I bought the springs via eBay for £83 including shipping. A bargain considering buying just two standard Roadster springs would have cost me about £78.
Did I do wrong? Well time will tell, however this is how far I've got so far.
Front Springs
For this I needed to buy an e14 Torx socket and I also purchased the clamp used to hold the front shock shaft. You will also need new stretch bolts. You could replace the dust boot and all of the rubber components but I didn't, they all seemed fine and serviceable and I'll replace them as/when I replace the shocks.
I highly recommend using the right tools, you will suffer or fail without!!!! Spring clamps are IMO essential for this despite what some guides may claim.
Removing the broken spring was a nice challenge, as top of the spring had left the mount and jammed itself in the turret. This took me a long time and lot of swearing to remove!!!!
Once removed you can see how much of the spring had broken. Broken on on the right, standard one in the middle and the new lowering one on the left (red one):
Oddly despite the new spring being a lowering spring its uncompressed length is quite a bit longer than the standard spring. This did prove to be an issue...
While on the subject of the new springs, I feely admit I am no spring expert. But to my eye these Lo Suspension systems springs look at least equal quality to the OEM ones. They are plastic/powered costed in red and for all intensive purposes look like quality items.
Now to refitting the springs. First you pre-assemble the shocks and springs and simply locate them and do up the bolts. Sounds easy, but this is where I found that extra spring length to be a real issue. Locating the top shock mount is easy, but compressing the assembly to get the bottom shock mount on was a huge headache.
Maybe with standard springs this is a lot easier, but as you can see from these pics I had the spring compressors fully compressed and still had to think a few extra ways to compress them.
Event then it still took a LOT of brute force to locate the bottom mount. This was not a pleasant part of the swap.
If any of you are wondering why I didn't put the spring compressors higher up, well the angle of the coils meant the kept jumping and slipping. This was dangerous and just not working, hence the locations you can see in the pictures.
Rear Springs
Onto the rears. First up this is a lot easier job. You'll need an 18mm spanner and an E18 Torx socket. You'll also need a 16mm spanner, of which I didn't have so used a bug set of adjustable's (I do hate these Euro cars using non standard sizes compared to all my other vehicles... lol
) I did still require the use of the spring compressors to remove the old springs but it was fairly trouble free.The new springs easily fitted in place without the need of the spring compressors. The first and only issues I had was relocating the X-Frame bolt bar. Basically the hole on the X-Frame and the hole on the axle tube bracket don't line up!!
My solution was to put a 2nd jack at the back of the axle tube and jack up the suspension until it is on the stops. This will get the holes close to lining up, but not 100%. The final tweak comes from being able to apply some leverage to the bolt.
For this I used a large cable tie. Loop it over the bolt and have a hammer at hand. Give a really good tug and when lined up tap it and it should go straight in. I spent about 20 mins faffing about on the first bolt until figuring this out. The second bolt when straight in on the first attempt and took all of 30-45 secs to accomplish
All done!!
And for reference, this is what it looked like before the suspension drop:
As you can see it does look lower, more noticeable at the front than the rear maybe. But I'm actually fairly pleased with the end result and the stance.
Test Drive
So how does it go? Well it's still early days yet. But I can say I'm very impressed so far.
Ride quality is almost as good as standard believe it or not. Not quite as smooth and maybe just a tad more bouncy. But I'd say it's a good 90-95% the same as before. It feels like a sports car - which is good as that is exactly what it is! If you want a smooth ride buy a barge
Big pot hole do make a bigger thud than before. But in truth I'd sort of expect this. I've also been over some road humps and so far no grounding issues either, although the car is a lot lower so I will be more cautious.
I've done a small bit of B road driving so far and on the bumps and off cambers it seems better than ever. Minimal body roll, very good turn in and still very predictable. It simply has loads of grip too. With the TCS off it'll corner quicker than it used too (tested on a good size quiet round about).
I am running 185/55R15 tyres all round, so I suspect these might be helping the ride quality. But I have no plans at all in changing the wheels or tyre sizes. Loads of grip, great handling feel and a good ride. What more could I ask for?
I do wonder if it'll wear the dampers out quicker, but only time will tell. I'll post back with an update once I've got a few more miles on them under some varied conditions and with a loaded car.
Overall at this point in time I'm quite pleased.
c0ldpl4ya said:
Love the look of these roadsters, your black on grey scheme looks very nice especially now its been lowered!
what mpg do you get from yours btw as when I've always looked on autotrader it states 70mpg+ which is immense
mpg wise, pottering about (3 miles to the station) and some B road bashing is an easy 44-48mpg. Any motorway trip 52-55mpg without trying. Best I've had is 67mpg, but that was trying. Equally the lowest I've clocked is 38mpg and that was trying too. what mpg do you get from yours btw as when I've always looked on autotrader it states 70mpg+ which is immense
Update 1
Put some miles on that car yesterday. All 2 up and most on some of my favourite B, C and unclassified roads. Overall still very pleased, it didn't ground out once. It is a harder ride and more bumpy, but I guess that is to be expected.
That said it is still fairly compliant, maybe more like 85% of the standard set up. And not so uncomfortable I couldn't live with it.
Handling wise, it definitely feels sharper and has absolutely no body roll at all.
I've also been into my local town which is road hump galore. This was again two up, although nothing in the boots. All good so far and it didn't ground out once!
I admit none of these road humps are the short steep plastic ones, which I suspect might prove more of an issue. But so far so good
Put some miles on that car yesterday. All 2 up and most on some of my favourite B, C and unclassified roads. Overall still very pleased, it didn't ground out once. It is a harder ride and more bumpy, but I guess that is to be expected.
That said it is still fairly compliant, maybe more like 85% of the standard set up. And not so uncomfortable I couldn't live with it.
Handling wise, it definitely feels sharper and has absolutely no body roll at all.
I've also been into my local town which is road hump galore. This was again two up, although nothing in the boots. All good so far and it didn't ground out once!
I admit none of these road humps are the short steep plastic ones, which I suspect might prove more of an issue. But so far so good
RobCrezz said:
Looks good. Might be worth taking it to get the geometry checked, lowering can alter the camber.
I'd say it's absolutely essential to, as the geo will, in all likelihood, be all over the place. You could also be in line for some potentially nasty handling traits at the limit.It does look better but I don't like after market lowering springs on cars as the dampers were never designed to work with such a reduced stroke and the damping will suffer. Lowering the car can also affect the roll-centre too which means that the car will want to roll more rather than less.
Get a geo done ASAP before you start pushing on.
rhinochopig said:
I'd say it's absolutely essential to, as the geo will, in all likelihood, be all over the place. You could also be in line for some potentially nasty handling traits at the limit.
It does look better but I don't like after market lowering springs on cars as the dampers were never designed to work with such a reduced stroke and the damping will suffer. Lowering the car can also affect the roll-centre too which means that the car will want to roll more rather than less.
Get a geo done ASAP before you start pushing on.
Thanks. It does look better but I don't like after market lowering springs on cars as the dampers were never designed to work with such a reduced stroke and the damping will suffer. Lowering the car can also affect the roll-centre too which means that the car will want to roll more rather than less.
Get a geo done ASAP before you start pushing on.
I've tested the car with the TCS off and at the limit (in a safe environment) and it's more progressive if anything than it was before. It also certainly rolls less from the drivers seat. It feels very, very planted.
Brabus models where lowered compared to std Roadsters and the only change was shocks/springs I believe.
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