Tweet
After driving my Festiva for some time now, i've come to the conclusion that the stock ride height is flat out UNSAFE. The car feels absolutely out of control at 65mph when you go over bridges and any big bumps. It felt like a big old floaty boat car feels, only half the size and half the wheel base and with a higher center of gravity....body roll is putting it lightly, more like damn near rolling over. There's a highway by me that i travel a lot that is almost nothing but a big curve, and it has a lot of humps and uneven spots in the pavement and lots of bridges, and you're in this constant turn motion, and when you hit those bumps it feels like you're going to fly into the next lane.
So, keeping with the trend of not spending a bunch of money on this car, i decided to cut the springs. I went by ejp2fast's thread on how much he cut http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=19901 and i swear either he posted what he cut from his front and back backwards or something is really odd about my car (i'm certain i copied what he did because i printed it off the internet and took the page with me) because when i cut the springs, i went by what he cut but i subtracted a half coil so it wasn't quite as low. Well, my end result was the back was on the ground and the front was barely lowered at all! So i had no choice but to cut more off the front, and here's what i've got so far (sorry, crappy cell phone pics):
The nose is still around an inch higher than the back. Those are the stock 12s...and the rear is tucked, so you get the idea how low it's sitting...it's on its nuts. I haven't had to navigate any speed bumps so i don't know if it rubs or not. The ride quality is about as stiff and hard as you would expect but IMO it's 100% better than what it was and feels much safer. I'm gonna cut another half coil off the front and try to level it out with the back...but i'm gonna get another set of springs too just in case. Funny thing is, i kinda like it
So, keeping with the trend of not spending a bunch of money on this car, i decided to cut the springs. I went by ejp2fast's thread on how much he cut http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=19901 and i swear either he posted what he cut from his front and back backwards or something is really odd about my car (i'm certain i copied what he did because i printed it off the internet and took the page with me) because when i cut the springs, i went by what he cut but i subtracted a half coil so it wasn't quite as low. Well, my end result was the back was on the ground and the front was barely lowered at all! So i had no choice but to cut more off the front, and here's what i've got so far (sorry, crappy cell phone pics):
The nose is still around an inch higher than the back. Those are the stock 12s...and the rear is tucked, so you get the idea how low it's sitting...it's on its nuts. I haven't had to navigate any speed bumps so i don't know if it rubs or not. The ride quality is about as stiff and hard as you would expect but IMO it's 100% better than what it was and feels much safer. I'm gonna cut another half coil off the front and try to level it out with the back...but i'm gonna get another set of springs too just in case. Funny thing is, i kinda like it
Comment