sccsiouxland

With my new rims + autoxtires + street tires totaling a decent bit over a grand (not too bad for all that stuff really) and me being poor and planning on doing some traveling this summer, new suspension basically ain't gonna happen this year unless I blow my current stuff. But I do wanna know which systemwill be the best decision for when I do upgrade. And who knows, I'll be making a ton more money in the summer so maybe I'll change my mind then.

The spring/shock/strut setups I've been looking at are ~650-~700 and the coilovers are ~990-~1,200 to give you an idea of the cost diff.[/list]

Check with the Focus boards. Find out who races them and see what they suggest for a primary street occasional nasacross car. I liked the Tein coilovers I had on a couple of my cars. Me personally, I would splurg, but also look at how long you will be keeping the car and racing it.

Lesson 1

coilovers have three characteristics that the shock/spring don't.
Firstly, the coilover spring is likely smaller in diameter yielding more clearance for a larger tire and wheel combo. However, this may not be the case! YMMV You make not need it.
Second, coilover springs can be found in spring rates in say 50 lb increments vs. 100 lbs. Again, you will never mess with it.
The third is more control of ride height. Once you have it where you want it, leave it alone.
So, given has there probably is a properly engineered shock/spring setup, I'd go that way. It will be cheaper and you won't spend all your time messing with it.

Just my opinion.

The flip side to having all this adjustablity... just more stuff for me to screw up!!

The coilovers I'm primarily looking at are the H&R ones whose only adjustability is ride height. But I have yet to find someone on the focus boards who says anything but good about them.

Coil overs are a great thing and add more adjustablity into the mix even changing ride heights will change how the car handles. granted take some time to consider if this will be the car you will autox for sometime since there a considerable upgrade if not then save them for the next vehicle

you will see alot of different in just tires this year along so have fun with that and learn the even more

I've considered upgrading to a better car for a better platform but the parentals always gimme a nice solid thumbs down. I could care less really, I like the focus however slow it is and am starting to really know it's ins and outs. Plus I can't see changing to an entirely different car helping me learn auto-x better.

http://www.nestreetscene.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=79524

found this stuff for ya man. Its pretty cheap and might work out really good on the foci.

My Suggestion Tony... This is the best advice I can give you... Koni Yellows or Billstein HD's and Ground Controls...
Or worse case a cheap Ebay sleeve over setup and buy custom spring rates. Cheap, Effective, and probably best bang for buck setup on any car.

Granted I plan to go with FCM Coilovers for my miata- which is really only Billsteins that are custom valved and custom spring rates with matched bump stops and custom top hats.

Really only height adjustable for corner balancing with the HD's. The Koni's are adjustable, and you can also get these custom valved later on.

Basicly what I am suggesting. Koni's or HDs (off the shelf) and a generic Ground Control setup for now. Later you can get the struts revalved (once you learn more about what the struts are doing right and wrong) and can get custom spring rates later once you learn where you need more spring or less spring.

Cost will be 350 for Ground Controls (ish), 600 for Koni's (ish) and about 400-500(ish) for HD's.

The thing I don't like about most coilover setups is the inability to be rebuilt or upgraded later. Tein's can be rebuilt but the process is sort of a pain. H&R you are SOL once you buy them. not upgradable (in case in the future you want to).

Update- Billstein does not make struts for focus. I say Koni Yellows

http://www.tirerack.com/suspension/susp ... perfCode=A

And from the looks of it, No GC's either. However did find a couple great deals on Eibach Springs and sway bars as well on ebay...

Just a thought.

The thought of me getting the H&R's was before I talked to Brent about his H&R coilovers, and read/heard/deduced some other things about them. Now the ksport kontrols are sounding pretty good, cheap & rebuildable, and while their springrates (504lb/in front and 284 lb/in rear) sound kind of effed up for a fwd car people say it works and works well; if not i can always buy different springs.

Another good place to search for suspension components like shocks/struts, springs, and coilovers is http://www.shox.com. That's where I picked up the struts, springs, and swaybars for the Miata.

I may not have any specific info for the focus. But what i can say is that ksports do not hold up to being full relieved back to compressed in a short period of time (3 wheelin') i know this becuase i blew out a set in 3 months on the SER. Even though they are cheap, and rebuildable. it may be a headache that is not worth the hassle, if you are rebuilding them for $200 ever 3 months.

KSport has gotten better, but I still don't trust them. At that rate go Tein Super streets. I can atleast vouch that they hold up. That and they use a 390 front and rear spring rate.

Anybody heard anything about Gaz shocks? They're british so all i can find is people with elises that have/like them, but they're a solid 300 bucks less than super streets and the elise guys like them!