Lowering Springs with decent ride?

[BeezerDiesel]

Yes I've searched, lots.

I've advertised for some standard springs but if that doesn't come off due to prohibitive postage costs I will look into getting some mild lowering springs.
I'm not 100% on what springs are on my car, it used to be owned by ScottyP's missus and he bought if off Steve on here too. It sits very low, coilovers low, but rides reasonably well however I drive over a route which is about 3 miles each day in both directions with no less than 20 speed humps of all types both ways. With the springs that are on the car now it bottoms out quite a bit on the worst ones so the dampers aren't going to last very long and nor is my spine at this rate. These humps killed my long serving Polo GT.

So if all else fails I could do with some mild lowering springs that won't cause the car to bounce about over manhole covers and feel every bit of grit in the road. Say -25mm at the lowest ideally.
Eibachs would be the obvious solution and I'm not sure if that's what's on the car now 'cos I don't think they're cheap springs as they ride quite well. But Eibachs weigh in at about £150 plus fitting so that's worth more than the car!!!

Do any of you have any good experience of springs that won't break my car and my back?
I had some Apex springs from TSR fitted to a couple of my Golf GTIs many many years ago and they rode really well but I'm not so sure they are so good on an Ibiza?

The car is sitting on Bilstein dampers BTW which aren't exactly the softest of things but I have generally found that it's the springs that make or break the ride quality in a car and I've had an awful lot of suspension kits over the years.

And nobody suggest H&R as I had these on my old MK3 Beezer way back when and they were harsher than what I have now by some margin!!!

And yes I should have bought a more suitable car for the job but I happen to like mk2 Ibiza GTIs to there

 

[Dolly_Gti]

ive got front and rear off an R reg 16v, 26k miles ish, been in dry storage for over a year now. very standard very original minus top mounts

no idea how much postage would be but i could do with them out of my dads garage lol.

intrested??

 

[orangemuffin]

My route to work has about the same amount of speed bumps and in a car that's lowered by about 65 mm all round it can be a nightmare. I either drive very very slowly or just go a different way.

That may be a cheaper option mate , lol

 

[surcalation]

I know what you mean on the hardness of bilsteins. I had a set on my last one!

From what you saying you must have 60mm lowering springs because I had no problems on my old bilsteins on a 35mm drop. They were Eibach springs I am sure. Then again I either had 16"s on or 18"s on at the time.

If your route's only 3miles to work you might as well cycle

 

[BeezerDiesel]

No, work is two miles in the other direction and only three speedhumps!!! Stuffed if I'm going to ride and face the morons on the roads with three cars at my disposal!!!

The three mile speedhump trip is family mileage often done with passengers so I really need a decent ride quality set up.

 

[Dolly_Gti]

can probably get it posted fairly cheap, but youll get one shock at a time lol! let me know if you want them i keep meaning to throw them out.

 

[BeezerDiesel]

If you could have a look into postage costs and overall costs I'd be grateful as it could be a good option. I'm guessing 16v suspension would be okay on an 8v as there can't be that much difference in front axle weight???? I've got 16v spec front brakes anyway - well 20vt ones actually.

Maybe I'll have to bungee strap a concrete block under the bonnet to raise the front axle weight and lower the suspension a bit!! LOL

 

[BeezerDiesel]

Update: Jonathan aka Copper Cupra had a good poke around the car on Saturday and threw up a few pointers from its history. He remembered from when Steve and ScottyP had it that it had a Bilstein Sprintline kit fitted and sent me a few links he'd managed to search out of SCN's archives (thanks Jonny!).
The springs are ECP Terras or Venturas which sit very low at the front. It looks really mean and rides surprisingly well for how low it is however there is minimal spring travel hence making it a bit rough over speed humps. The good news is that the dampers are Bilstein B4 Yellows so hopefully these can be kept if they are not completely knackered from 5 years of daily use (despite the car's low mileage).
Parking the car nearby to Copper Cupra's copper Cupra which is also lowered my Beezer is quite a bit closer to the tarmac at the front.

I need to have a think now as to whether to put it back fully standard which will ride well but look rubbish or to find a kit that looks a bit lower but still drives okay, and I'm very fussy with ride quality.

 

[Dolly_Gti]

forgot about this lol, definatly got the original 16v springs struts, and my old man is threating to chuck them in the bin this spring when he clears out the garage. they ride very well only thing is the car does sit high when on them.

ive currently got weitec 40mm springs/struts all round £300 but they are the muts nuts.

 

[BeezerDiesel]

What's the ride quality like on the Weitecs? They seem very well priced (assuming they can still be got at that sort of price).

 

[BeezerDiesel]

Update, and an answer to my original question: Managed to source some new Eibach springs off German ebay for sixty six quid plus postage, and the Bilstein dampers were still in okay condition so the car was dropped down to Volkscraft (forum member) to get the bits changed over.
No wonder the ride was harsh, the front offside spring was snapped in half! It was MOT'd just over a month ago but they obviously couldn't see the snapped spring as it was still clamped tightly in position and hadn't budget at all. It wasn't until the strut had been dropped out of the car that it became visible.

Oh and the Eibachs ride quite nicely thank you.