Festiva ride quality?

[ericsmith32]

Just wondering what everyone thinks of their Festiva's ride quality.. tire size and strut info would be nice. I have 155/80/13's and the original struts on mine. I have them pumped up to 32psi. The struts needs to replaced not sure how that would help. Going with the Aspire struts and springs when I do. I've been told it would ride better with 175/70's. Personally if I could get it to stop shaking (metro junk wheels) I didn't think it was extremely terrible. Is a bit choppy but it's a small car.

Well I drove my sister's 02 Focus today.. man that puts both the Festiva and Escape to shame. It has 86k on it and the original struts it rides like a Lincoln. Most of those are on country roads. Got to say that's one nice car even better than the 98 Escort I had. The 'stiva is better in town though.. the low speed gearing really sucks on the Focus. But on the highway that thing will fly!

Don't get me wrong I don't expect a Lincoln type ride out of Festiva... wrong car for that. It's weird that my dad's 91 GL rides better than both mine and his other 91 and it's spent it's life on way rougher roads. Not sure what the difference is. In the past I've used Monroe but I've heard they're not good.. Gabriels no way.. KYB's sound a bit stiff. If I could find low mileage Aspire struts does that sound like a solution? Maybe just the wheels itself? I don't remember it riding this bad when I got it with 12's. Man it's going to take some adapting when I get back the 'stiva.

[Evil D]

Well...mine is lowered by cutting the springs. Basically, it's all fine and "to be expected" as far as a 22 year old car goes, until you hit a decent sized bump and then it jolts you pretty good but it's still not too hateful. It's 100 times better than when it was stock height and floaty like a boat on the ocean...it felt dangerous at highway speeds hitting bridges and big bumps, it felt like the car was going to roll over. Lowered is the lesser of 2 evils for me. Mine's all stock down to the 12s.

[Occhty]

My shoes are 205-60/13 on steelies with alot of offset, stick out the wheel wells like an inch, stock chassis is to soft and rubs bad, fixed rear with two twist spring lifts on each side evenly spaced. Raised the car about two inches and stiffened it up just right, not to hard not to soft, Front doesn't rub at all. ( I drive alot of bumpy and curvy roads faster than recommend.

http://i1187.photobucket.com/albums/z397/occhty/4c242e50.jpg

[Aaronbrook37]

Just wondering what everyone thinks of their Festiva's ride quality.. tire size and strut info would be nice. I have 155/80/13's and the original struts on mine. I have them pumped up to 32psi. The struts needs to replaced not sure how that would help. Going with the Aspire struts and springs when I do. I've been told it would ride better with 175/70's. Personally if I could get it to stop shaking (metro junk wheels) I didn't think it was extremely terrible. Is a bit choppy but it's a small car.

14x5.5" Protege steel wheels with random econo 185/60-14 Hankook tires. No rubbing ever, it has some random rear spacers that work fine.

KYB GR-2's and uncut stock Aspire springs
Full Aspire swap front and rear

Front Aspire swaybar (26mm)
Front control arm brace
Rear threaded 5/8" beam swaybar

It rides very high, but it's very comfortable and "tight" in terms of handling. From the half dozen Festivas I've ridden in, mine is one of the best in terms of ride comfort, but not definitely not performance.

There's significantly less body roll now that I've added the bottom three beams/braces/bars. All three can be built for under $50 total with a little creativity and some elbow grease. Check my build thread for information on them. It eats up on-ramps now and is very smooth over bumps and rough pavement.

I've purchased some coilovers (175/150 8") that I'm going to put on it to lower it, improve weight transfer, and reduce body roll a little more. The uncut Aspire springs give me a little bit of camber trouble up front, which has been irritating for tire wear in particular. After that, I'm looking into some high performance all-seasons and then maybe a strut bar up top. Bushings to round things out when the time comes and I should be in business!

[TominMO]

Front: Festiva KYB GR2s, stock Festy springs, Aspire swaybar
Rear: Aspire Monroes, stock Festy springs

I had Festy GR2s on the rear too, but switched to the Aspire Monroes (there are no Aspire GR2s) to get the taller lower spring perch, so I could run my 185/60x14 tires without spacers. I like this setup very much. I prefer GR2s front and rear for the firmer damping, but can live with the rear Monroes. I like the Festy springs since they were designed for this car's weight.

[ericsmith32]

I forgot to mention the Aspire swaybar and the rear threaded sway bar is on my list of "to do's". I think I even have a strut mount sway bar from the Escort.. forgot about that one. What do you guys think about the Aspire springs and the heavier auto trans? Or would it matter? Tom with the Monroe rear and KYB Front's the car isn't off balanced?

[TominMO]

Tom with the Monroe rear and KYB Front's the car isn't off balanced?

No, it's fine, but I can tell a little bit of difference; the rears have less dampening, but it's more important that they are new struts than that they match up perfectly with the fronts. Looking at the GR2 and Monroe side by side, the GR2 shaft is noticeably thicker, and it takes more effort to compress by hand. If I ever get another Festy and keep fairly narrow tires on it, I would get GR2s for the rear as well as the front.

[drddan]

I have 195/60/14 on my festy. Aspire struts/Aspire springs front and rear. I like the ride from them. Actually smoothed the ride quite a bit. The front sit just the right height, but the rear is to high. I need to install a Lo-Loc lowering kit on the springs or cut a coil from the springs.

[chrisofna]

Tom's car rides very well, I rode in it from FL to NC with no complaints of roughness.