[Drivesthebeast]

Well, I've had this suspension setup on my car for a while now, and after several 1000 km's on it (and a good portion of them are hard km's), the ride height has settled, and the springs and dampners have broken in now too. The ride is still fairly smooth like a stock Foci, but it's a lot more taught like an English Ford. I think this is due to the dampning of the shocks and struts, and the higher load rating of the springs. When driving over potholes, undelations, etc, the car doesn't bottom out, or seem to go crashing into, or out of them. It hits, then rebounds once under excellent control. Sometimes the car does ride a little on the harsh side if it's cold out, or you just started driving and the nitrogen gas in the dampners needs to warm up a little. But other than that, it's totally livable. When it comes to the ride height, the car does appear to have been lowered, but it doesn't look slammed...it just has a sportier stance than it used to. Clearance so far has not been an issue for me. I've not scraped on any curbs, speedbumps, etc. Only observation I have when doing either is that the suspension creaks or squeaks slightly, but that's exactly the same as any other car I've driven with aftermarket suspensions...just gotta live with it.

Cornering stability is excellent, with the body roll reduced by more than 50%, and the lateral grip of the tires has improved as well. Taking left turns through intersections or going through on/off ramps for the highway is done with greater ease and speed. The car is just genuinely fun to toss around on the road, whether smooth or rough, and never seems to be unsettled or bobby at all while doing so.

At the price that this kit retails for, and for the amount of hassel it took me to get it installed 100% as most of you know already, made the decision to buy the suspension kinda awkwards to take at first. But once fitted, and settled, this suspension kit pays for itself. Especially after you can mess around with turbo Volvo's or other cars on the highway at high speeds, and make it look easy...it's a lot of fun. I also have had people think I had a typical compact car with an exaust done and nothing else, until they couldn't keep up with me on the twisty streets of Pembroke, and ended up backing off or looking the car over more carefully afterwards...this suspension kit definately adds to the whole sleeper effect, if that's what you are going for.

I think now I would like to get some lightweight wheels and some higher rated tires to extract 100% of the cars abilities...

In short, this kit, while pricey, is definately a good performance bargain once you've had it a while and it's had time to break in and settle. I don't regret buying it one bit, and now have an even closer love affair with my psuedo pocket rocket...lol...

Now if only I had some brakes and FI to complete the sleeper theme....muwah ha ha ha....