[tracingspirals]

The shocks on my Puma are completely shot and I need to change them. Now I was thinking this would be a good time if I decide to lower the Puma as it does look like it sits quite high on its wheels.

So I'm asking the question, is there any big difference in lowering the Puma apart from the visual aspect?
Does it make the handling any better or worse?
Or would it be best to stick with the stock set up and replace it with the suspension it came with.

Cheers.

[bendunn]

What setup are you thinking of standard dampers and lowering springs or coilovers? Mine on AP coilovers atm as low as it goes it does stick to the road a lot better but its pritty stiff I've heard if I raise them up by 15mm the ride is a lot better

[t783vkj]

The real benefit of lowered springs is the fact generally speaking they are of a higher lbs/in rating,(I did have eilbach springs on first puma & found them way too soft personally) If I was going that route I'd be more interested in what strength the springs were.

[volcomstone411]

lowering your car moves all your lower arm locations and everything, there is no way that the car will work as well as it did before. like already said, it would be better to get the same ride height but stiffer springs.

[ScubaSteve]

i agree and disagree, agree that altering to much from the standard geometry setup is a bad thing, but disagree that lowering, correctly, wont have an advantage over the standard ride height.

millions is obivously invested in the cars chassis and design, but millions is also invested in making the ride comfortable for general public roads that are potholed to naughty word.

also the car will have to have passed strict testing tolerances at places such as millbrook proving ground, so the suspension will have to be forgiving enough to take this and not break else the car would never be allowed to be released, iv visited when i got invited by VW to test drive the golf gti mk 6 before it was released and seen what goes on there, its utterly ridiculous but thats another story.

back on point, most cars will benefit from a lower center of gravity,and stiffer suspension, when talking in terms of driving in environments that will push the car to its limits, ie a track, its basic physics. Just look at that eibach test video for proof, i can probably find better examples but atm i really cant be arsed

This post has been edited by ScubaSteve: 18 August 2010 - 09:09 PM

[tracingspirals]

I'm really not going to be driving it around tracks or anything.
I think I'll just go with the standard set up and leave things the way they are.

I'm planning on changing the shocks + springs myself so I wouldn't wanna mess with the suspension geometry much, if the ride height would change it.

What shocks + springs do you recommend for the puma?
I don't wanna spend too much on it so I'ld prefer something not very expensive. I'll stick with the stock set up but I wouldn't want a soft fiesta either.

[crispy1980]

personally i would lower it around 30mm, there is always talk that lowering will put extra strain on thinbgs, but if you dont go daft with the drop it really is very minimal. at the end of the day there must be loads of people on this forum who have fitted lowering suspension ( myself included) and have noticed NO additional problems with other components. plus, as you said, the standard set up looks way too high for the car.

[tracingspirals]

Actually I've decided I'll leave it the way it is.
The lowering springs are fairly pricey and its not worth spending on my puma. Its only a 1.4l it handles fairly well the way it is.

Do you recommend any good struts + springs I should replace the ones I have on my puma with?
And are they the same as the Fiesta ones or are the puma ones stiffer?

Also I was wondering if I'ld be better off changing the front suspension arm instead of just changing the bushes? Its quite an old car (99 model) so its probably worn out.

Thanks.

[ScubaSteve]

i doubt there will be anything wrong with the arm itself, bush replacement would be cheaper

[tracingspirals]

ScubaSteve, on 19 August 2010 - 05:02 PM, said:

i doubt there will be anything wrong with the arm itself, bush replacement would be cheaper

It could be a pain to replace the bushes on the wishbone by yourself though.
I'll see if it'ld be cheaper to get just the bushes replaced on the wishbone or just buy a new wishbone. Most garages around where I live charge ridiculous money for labour.

Would there be a big difference between these ones:
http://pumabuild.co....roducts_id=2077
and these:
http://pumabuild.co....products_id=629

The original ones are more than double the price of the other ones...

[WezzyG]

racing puma lowered by 35mm so yes handling is better