Hi, Guest
05-27-2006, 02:03 PM
ZTWsquared,
I still stand by my original suggestion of the H&R Touring cup kit and H&R 24mm Rear bar over the SVT kit.
I posted that long post because everyone seem to start posting hearsay and opinions as fact which does not help anyone really....
"don't bring your rear anti-sway up without bringing up the front accordingly... oversteer like that in a front-drive is... entertaining to say the least, especially at speed."
I'd be curious to know how many cars were driven with front and rear bars, with just rear bars and without bars at or near thed limit to formulate such a statement...?
these are comments not based in fact but bad word of mouth speculation with what sounds like no real world exp. i have driven my car with a stock front bar and 25mm Eibach rear bar for years at very high speed on and off the track, in wet and dry and the only time i get oversteer is when i want it. if you get "snap-oversteer" propperly called "off-throttle oversteer" in a FWD car then you have no idea how to propperly drive said car in the first place. Yes, it does take more driving skill to handle such a setup but if you are not capable of handling it, then make a point of LEARNING to or just don't waste the money in the first place.
This is my opinion, based in fact... tried, tested, proven in my car and countless other track-slut focus. you would be hard pressed to find a Focus that is competitive in AutoX or track events that was running a 24/25 or 24/24 f/r sway bar combo. last i checked P51 was running a 24 or 25mm rear bar and trying to find an even samller front bar from a SPI for his Focus...
and for the record, what ever Mach5 decides to get, it's his choice. if he does listen to me and go with the H&R kit i have no doubts that he will be nothing short of delighted with his choice! now if he wants to buy them from me or any other H&R dealer, that is up to him. i'm not fishing for a sale, just offering my honest opinion on the subject at hand and trying to answer his questions with fact-based answers. :)
Mach5,
i have driven a lot of SVTs and while the suspension is very nice for a stock car, i sell a lot of the H&R cup kits(mainly the bigger drop kits) to SVT owners who are nothing but smiles after the the kit is on the car. only down side to the big drop kits is you will need to roll the fendes with the EAP and SVT rim offsets to eliminate any rub. not a lot as rub only seems to happen under hard cornering but enough to be an issue for some! again why i suggest the Touring cupkit with it's 1.5" drop for you.
it all comes down to personal pref but if more than a few SVT owners are "upgrading"(if some want to call it that) to aftermarket kits and are impressed and pleased with the difference...then what does that say about the SVT kit?
is the SVT kit better than the stock focus kit, hell yes. is it better than an aftermarket kit, yes and no... some aftermarket kits are JUNK! ;)
the SVT kit is a sporty compramise between a serious performance suspension and a very compliant commuter suspension.
i'm not trying to flame anyone or anything like that, it's just if i told you the sky was purple, even if i was colour blind, it doesn't mean it is true. if some people have issues with just rear sway giving them serious oversteer, it's not the car and it's not the parts, it is the driver.
Some people think the SVT kit is a great kit!
Some people think the SHM kit is a great kit!
Some people think the H&R kits are great kits!
just remember to take it with a grain of salt and look at what they drive, where they drive and how the drive.
a good way of telling if someone has serious under their belt is by asking what sort of rims and tires they run. if they are running heavy 17,18 or 19" wheels with Nexxan or cheap low profile tires, chances are they are building for "LOOKS" rather than performance. not to say they didn't get some better handling out of it, but rims and tires like that would not do much in the way of helping performance at or near the limit.
Now if the person was running some light weight 15s, 16s or 17s with something like Toyo T1S or T1R's, Falken RT615s or RT215s or FK451s/452s, or any other high end "MAX" performance tire, they would probably be the person i would tend to listen to about an opinion of what does and/or doesn't work.
Sorry for the long post.
:)
I still stand by my original suggestion of the H&R Touring cup kit and H&R 24mm Rear bar over the SVT kit.
I posted that long post because everyone seem to start posting hearsay and opinions as fact which does not help anyone really....
"don't bring your rear anti-sway up without bringing up the front accordingly... oversteer like that in a front-drive is... entertaining to say the least, especially at speed."
I'd be curious to know how many cars were driven with front and rear bars, with just rear bars and without bars at or near thed limit to formulate such a statement...?
these are comments not based in fact but bad word of mouth speculation with what sounds like no real world exp. i have driven my car with a stock front bar and 25mm Eibach rear bar for years at very high speed on and off the track, in wet and dry and the only time i get oversteer is when i want it. if you get "snap-oversteer" propperly called "off-throttle oversteer" in a FWD car then you have no idea how to propperly drive said car in the first place. Yes, it does take more driving skill to handle such a setup but if you are not capable of handling it, then make a point of LEARNING to or just don't waste the money in the first place.
This is my opinion, based in fact... tried, tested, proven in my car and countless other track-slut focus. you would be hard pressed to find a Focus that is competitive in AutoX or track events that was running a 24/25 or 24/24 f/r sway bar combo. last i checked P51 was running a 24 or 25mm rear bar and trying to find an even samller front bar from a SPI for his Focus...
and for the record, what ever Mach5 decides to get, it's his choice. if he does listen to me and go with the H&R kit i have no doubts that he will be nothing short of delighted with his choice! now if he wants to buy them from me or any other H&R dealer, that is up to him. i'm not fishing for a sale, just offering my honest opinion on the subject at hand and trying to answer his questions with fact-based answers. :)
Mach5,
i have driven a lot of SVTs and while the suspension is very nice for a stock car, i sell a lot of the H&R cup kits(mainly the bigger drop kits) to SVT owners who are nothing but smiles after the the kit is on the car. only down side to the big drop kits is you will need to roll the fendes with the EAP and SVT rim offsets to eliminate any rub. not a lot as rub only seems to happen under hard cornering but enough to be an issue for some! again why i suggest the Touring cupkit with it's 1.5" drop for you.
it all comes down to personal pref but if more than a few SVT owners are "upgrading"(if some want to call it that) to aftermarket kits and are impressed and pleased with the difference...then what does that say about the SVT kit?
is the SVT kit better than the stock focus kit, hell yes. is it better than an aftermarket kit, yes and no... some aftermarket kits are JUNK! ;)
the SVT kit is a sporty compramise between a serious performance suspension and a very compliant commuter suspension.
i'm not trying to flame anyone or anything like that, it's just if i told you the sky was purple, even if i was colour blind, it doesn't mean it is true. if some people have issues with just rear sway giving them serious oversteer, it's not the car and it's not the parts, it is the driver.
Some people think the SVT kit is a great kit!
Some people think the SHM kit is a great kit!
Some people think the H&R kits are great kits!
just remember to take it with a grain of salt and look at what they drive, where they drive and how the drive.
a good way of telling if someone has serious under their belt is by asking what sort of rims and tires they run. if they are running heavy 17,18 or 19" wheels with Nexxan or cheap low profile tires, chances are they are building for "LOOKS" rather than performance. not to say they didn't get some better handling out of it, but rims and tires like that would not do much in the way of helping performance at or near the limit.
Now if the person was running some light weight 15s, 16s or 17s with something like Toyo T1S or T1R's, Falken RT615s or RT215s or FK451s/452s, or any other high end "MAX" performance tire, they would probably be the person i would tend to listen to about an opinion of what does and/or doesn't work.
Sorry for the long post.
:)