Swift Spec-R Springs Installed

[LILIKE16ST]

Would this be the same for 2017 cars? I've read that there was a 30% reduction in damping and spring rates for the late 2016-2017 cars. Since Swift specifically matched these to the stock shocks on the earlier(stiffer) models should I assume that my best bet would be to get some B6 or B8 shocks to go with these springs on my 2017?

I have a 2016 I bought new April 2016 and I haven't heard of them having softer suspensions vs earlier models...is this 100% factual or Internet heresay? Mine rides pretty rough stock hard to imagine the earlier ones riding worse than this with a stock suspension lol. I would suggest getting springs and dampers or coilovers just springs will work but the best way to do it is replace both if that is an option for you financially even the install is easier when you replace both particularly with coilovers. Plus you won't have to worry about going in there later and replacing them anyways when they blow out later. My car has 42k on it now so if I just did swift springs like my previous plan I'm probably going to have to go back in there within 1-2 years and replace the dampers anyways so I decided to do it all at once and go for ksport coilovers.

If I were to do a fixed spring and damper combo no question the swift spec r and bilstein b8....without a doubt that's the best spring and damper fixed setup (non adjustable). That was my front runner for my next combo for a bit until I intimately decided on those ksport coils which are just 850 shipped, are fully adjustable on height and dampening, and come with adjustable sway bar end links too. The springs are also linear too that was important to me that's why it was between these and b8s, the ksports and the meisters, I ultimately have decided on ksport for my particular application I feel it's the best bet all around....good luck

 

[Driver]

There are several threads on this forum talking about the differences in the shocks and springs starting in 2016, some even include the different part numbers. The newer setups have softer shocks and springs but a larger front sway bar and a larger beam in the rear. I understand my options, I've put complete suspensions on several of my cars and my current Miata has MeisterRs....which I really like. I've had ksports on a 91 Civic Si and I was VERY disappointed in them. They rode like crap, the shocks started leaking a couple months in, and 2 of them were blown in less than a year. The car wasn't slammed and I didn't drive in extreme conditions. This was also not long after the company had started (almost a decade ago?), they could be much better now for all I know.

The reason I was asking about the Swift's is because I'd like to get the springs first and install them with the stock shocks until I get shocks. I don't mind the extra work of installing the springs and shocks separately. My brother owns a shop and we're both capable mechanics. If the Swift's are built around the early shocks then I feel they may be underdamped with the newer/softer shocks and I don't want to just lower the car and still have the bouncy ride. From what I've read I think you're spot on about the Swift/B8 combo being the best all around spring and shock combo for these cars. If I need to make the investment of springs and shocks all at once I feel that MeisterR may be my better option since I've had such great luck with their product and service. So the deciding factor for me is how well the Swift's will pair with the newer/softer factory shocks.

 

[SpiceyorangeST]

I plan on buying swift springs to put on my 17 in a couple days. Wont be able to comment on how they ride tho, until I can get them installed when the weather is nicer.

 

[Truth in Ruin]

There are several threads on this forum talking about the differences in the shocks and springs starting in 2016, some even include the different part numbers. The newer setups have softer shocks and springs but a larger front sway bar and a larger beam in the rear. I understand my options, I've put complete suspensions on several of my cars and my current Miata has MeisterRs....which I really like. I've had ksports on a 91 Civic Si and I was VERY disappointed in them. They rode like crap, the shocks started leaking a couple months in, and 2 of them were blown in less than a year. The car wasn't slammed and I didn't drive in extreme conditions. This was also not long after the company had started (almost a decade ago?), they could be much better now for all I know.

The reason I was asking about the Swift's is because I'd like to get the springs first and install them with the stock shocks until I get shocks. I don't mind the extra work of installing the springs and shocks separately. My brother owns a shop and we're both capable mechanics. If the Swift's are built around the early shocks then I feel they may be underdamped with the newer/softer shocks and I don't want to just lower the car and still have the bouncy ride. From what I've read I think you're spot on about the Swift/B8 combo being the best all around spring and shock combo for these cars. If I need to make the investment of springs and shocks all at once I feel that MeisterR may be my better option since I've had such great luck with their product and service. So the deciding factor for me is how well the Swift's will pair with the newer/softer factory shocks.

The suspension differences are noticeable, and I prefer how my 2016 rides- which is why I’m buying pre 2016 OE dampers, and springs for my 2017. I figure with the stouter front sway bar, and rear twist beam the 2017 has- this set-up might be awesome. And if it isn’t, I’ll know I have the right dampers to be paired with the Swift springs if I decide to go that route

 

[LILIKE16ST]

Wow this is the first I have heard about the suspension being different but I haven't really do much reading on factory suspension but more about suspension upgrades. I was under the impression that they were all the same. That's cool knowing I have a stiffer sway bar and beam so theoretically with an aftermarket suspension it may actually handle better on 16-17 vs earlier models. That's kind of cool. I was thinking about meisters everyone says good things about them but up until your post I had heard all positives about the ksports as well. I only have heard of these exact coils being used on the st from Ron from whoosh as he just installed them on his 17. Others say they used them on other cars and love them. Maybe the quality has improved since the beginning. I'm going to do some more reading on everything over the next couple weeks before it's time to purchase. I may end up going with the swift b8 combo. I am going to do both at once but like you said that puts me close to coilover price so that's where mine and I'm sure many others delima lies. It is more cost for the coilovers I'm looking at but not by much.

Imo I seriously doubt the suspension is so much diff between the 14-15 and 16-17 that the swifts wouldn't match well with stock shocks. They're still overdampened and could benefit from some springs like this imo. I don't know from experience obviously but I'd say you'd be just fine and they'd work fine if you would rather get the swifts now and dampers later. Personally I'd rather do them both if that could be fit into the budget. You know the swift/b8 combo is tried and true and simple. I may end up leaning that way. I don't track the car other than very occasional 1/4 mile runs and I prob never will so I'm not so sure the added adjustability would even matter alot to me. Then again having never had that type of setup before and knowing it's close to the same overall price makes me wanna spring for coilovers (no pun intended lol). Back to doing more research lol

 

[Truth in Ruin]

Wow this is the first I have heard about the suspension being different but I haven't really do much reading on factory suspension but more about suspension upgrades. I was under the impression that they were all the same. That's cool knowing I have a stiffer sway bar and beam so theoretically with an aftermarket suspension it may actually handle better on 16-17 vs earlier models. That's kind of cool. I was thinking about meisters everyone says good things about them but up until your post I had heard all positives about the ksports as well. I only have heard of these exact coils being used on the st from Ron from whoosh as he just installed them on his 17. Others say they used them on other cars and love them. Maybe the quality has improved since the beginning. I'm going to do some more reading on everything over the next couple weeks before it's time to purchase. I may end up going with the swift b8 combo. I am going to do both at once but like you said that puts me close to coilover price so that's where mine and I'm sure many others delima lies. It is more cost for the coilovers I'm looking at but not by much.

Imo I seriously doubt the suspension is so much diff between the 14-15 and 16-17 that the swifts wouldn't match well with stock shocks. They're still overdampened and could benefit from some springs like this imo. I don't know from experience obviously but I'd say you'd be just fine and they'd work fine if you would rather get the swifts now and dampers later. Personally I'd rather do them both if that could be fit into the budget. You know the swift/b8 combo is tried and true and simple. I may end up leaning that way. I don't track the car other than very occasional 1/4 mile runs and I prob never will so I'm not so sure the added adjustability would even matter alot to me. Then again having never had that type of setup before and knowing it's close to the same overall price makes me wanna spring for coilovers (no pun intended lol). Back to doing more research lol

The suspension differences are very noticeable; night and day. I think the 17’ would have a rigid advantage if you got rid of the soft springs. The 17’ drives smoother, especially over bumps, but the body-roll, and loose steering feel... no thanks.

The nice thing about the B8 + Swift combo is you don’t have to cough up all that money at once, and you’d be able to compare damper differences if you got the springs first (looking for a positive).

 

[LILIKE16ST]

After much thought I think I'll just go with swifts and b8s. Its prob best with my situation not tracking the car and dding it 15+k a year. Simpler setup that won't rub and perform great with greater longevity. I wanna replace dampers too since I'm already at 42k they may need replaced sooner than later anyways. This will look and perform great for my needs and should be good till at least 100k. I plan on keeping this car for good. Plus since 16s have softer suspension prob best to replace both anyways...

 

[Truth in Ruin]

After much thought I think I'll just go with swifts and b8s. Its prob best with my situation not tracking the car and dding it 15+k a year. Simpler setup that won't rub and perform great with greater longevity. I wanna replace dampers too since I'm already at 42k they may need replaced sooner than later anyways. This will look and perform great for my needs and should be good till at least 100k. I plan on keeping this car for good. Plus since 16s have softer suspension prob best to replace both anyways...

Not a bad decision. You can always start out with the springs, and add the B8s shortly after.

Are you sure that YOUR 16’ has the softer suspension?

 

[Turbo65]

After much thought I think I'll just go with swifts and b8s. Its prob best with my situation not tracking the car and dding it 15+k a year. Simpler setup that won't rub and perform great with greater longevity. I wanna replace dampers too since I'm already at 42k they may need replaced sooner than later anyways. This will look and perform great for my needs and should be good till at least 100k. I plan on keeping this car for good. Plus since 16s have softer suspension prob best to replace both anyways...

Good choice that’s what I did after much debate, mines a 16 not sure about softer stock suspension I would say mine stock was terrible to the point I was going to sell the car bouncy/crashing etc. people complain about stock fostrs I would say after driving both several times stock 16 fist is worse. I’m a happy camper now; is it coilover good no but 100% better than stock and looks way better

 

[LILIKE16ST]

Not a bad decision. You can always start out with the springs, and add the B8s shortly after.

Are you sure that YOUR 16’ has the softer suspension?

No actually I'm not sure about that the first I'd even heard about the later models having softer suspension was just the other day in this thread. Is it all 16s and 17s? Or was there a certain date they started building them different. Mine was built in Jan of 16 and purchased April so it definagely isn't a late in the production run car as far as 16s. Production for 16s went through what November of 16? So if that's so mine is ons of the earlier 16s. So I'm not sure honestly....

 

[LILIKE16ST]

Good choice that’s what I did after much debate, mines a 16 not sure about softer stock suspension I would say mine stock was terrible to the point I was going to sell the car bouncy/crashing etc. people complain about stock fostrs I would say after driving both several times stock 16 fist is worse. I’m a happy camper now; is it coilover good no but 100% better than stock and looks way better

Yes I think this setup will be more than good for me and my needs. It's a nice drop and I'm sure it rides better than stock. The bounciness is one thing about the stock suspension that I don't like. I can take stiff I'm used to that but that bouncing around is really annoying and I hear this setup takes that away which is very good. I'm sure it performs great. I like the longevity of springs and dampers vs most of the coils near the same price range. They have more upkeep and maintenence and usually need rebuilt or replaced long before bilstein b8s would need replaced based on everything I've read about the subject (I've never actually had coilovers myself).

I feel the swift b8 combo is a good one that alot of people rave about and is just an all around good choice for a spirited daily that won't see track use and sees 15k or more a year. I can't wait to close up on that fender to tire gap it's going to look much better. I'll be ordering very soon just waiting on my tax refund to arrive

 

[Turbo65]

I got mine from Ron he gave the best deal, I did not trim the bump stops down not sure if I was supposed to or not.

 

[Genya]

I opted not to trim the bumpstops and no issues here.

 

[M-Sport fan]

No actually I'm not sure about that the first I'd even heard about the later models having softer suspension was just the other day in this thread. Is it all 16s and 17s? Or was there a certain date they started building them different. Mine was built in Jan of 16 and purchased April so it definagely isn't a late in the production run car as far as 16s. Production for 16s went through what November of 16? So if that's so mine is ons of the earlier 16s. So I'm not sure honestly....

YES, THIS!!^^^

Telling us '16s and '17s have the softer damper/spring setups (and other changes) without giving PRECISE cutoff build dates, is USELESS info!

 

[neeqness]

[MENTION=4597]Turbo65[/MENTION] [MENTION=5509]Genya[/MENTION]

How would you rate the ride overall after switching to this setup? I am also considering switching to this setup once my Konis begin needing replacement.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

 

[neeqness]

YES, THIS!!^^^

Telling us '16s and '17s have the softer damper/spring setups (and other changes) without giving PRECISE cutoff build dates, is USELESS info!

I've been looking into this and the only suspension changes I could find were for the euro/uk version ST200. No suspension changes seem to have been made for the US version. There was even some talk in another FiST forum that the changes were only for the euro/uk version.

If anyone finds different please post a link for us.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

 

[M-Sport fan]

[MENTION=4597]Turbo65[/MENTION] [MENTION=5509]Genya[/MENTION]

How would you rate the ride overall after switching to this setup? I am also considering switching to this setup once my Konis begin needing replacement.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

How many miles/type of rough road use are on the Konis?
Are they the street oriented STR.Ts, or the adjustable yellow Sports?

IF the latter, I had a set on my Z28 for about 15 years (in both a standard spring mount setup, AND a front GC coil over, HIGH spring rate, conversion setup), for 150K+ HARD miles of everything, and only had one rear damper go bad/leaking in that time, which they replaced after all that time, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
So, even though their longevity 'rep' may not be as great as Bilstein's, they STILL are pretty damned long lived.

 

[Genya]

So far no complaints at all, I changed alot with it, such as endlinks and rear spring mounts to poly.

Took the stock weights off the shocks and so far the ride is no WORSE than stock, and to me a bit preferred to stock, no complains on the normal mountain runs with the wife and she hasnt even mentioned it riding any different aside from the ride height.


Other rando bits:

I dont scrape any more or less than I used to.

Took to local motorsports park(Adams motorsport park) time decreased from :52 to :49 on 3/4mile track.

Less bouncyness.

Transitions from uneven bumpy pavement much firmer controlled (like a hump going 80 on the highway is more like a firm drop, not a drop then bounce bounce if that makes sense)


Once I put the rear B6 on, ill have a better idea, but so far I feel a wonderful choice.

 

[Dpro]

How many miles/type of rough road use are on the Konis?
Are they the street oriented STR.Ts, or the adjustable yellow Sports?

IF the latter, I had a set on my Z28 for about 15 years (in both a standard spring mount setup, AND a front GC coil over, HIGH spring rate, conversion setup), for 150K+ HARD miles of everything, and only had one rear damper go bad/leaking in that time, which they replaced after all that time, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.
So, even though their longevity 'rep' may not be as great as Bilstein's, they STILL are pretty damned long lived.

I have a full Ground Control/Koni coilovers setup on my M3 and love the ride. My previous M3 ran a Koni based coilovers setup as well and they were practically blown and still rode great.

I am a big fan of Koni Yellows. I would not bother with the Orange as those are pretty Koni aftermarket OEM replacements.
The Yellows are specifically sport shocks.

Do not get me wrong Bilsein are great. I think it's a lot easier to get Koni's rebuilt and valved though vs Bilsteins. I would consider a Bilstein setup for the right price but would not hesitate to throw Koni Yellows on.

I am sure Koni Yellows and Swift Springs would make a killer combo on the Fiesta and be quite trackable. One does not need adjustable ride height to make a car perform on track.

It's nice if you want to get into corner weighting and whatnot, but once you go down that road your getting pretty serious about dedicated track time.

Personally I feel these cars handle really great right off the showroom floor to the point that Springs and shocks make it a serious contender already.

Back in the day with 510's and 240z's they won races on Springs and shocks. I can tell you that a dropped 510 on springs and shocks could pretty much kick ass on a lot of cars in the corners. In fact it did to the point of 3 years straight under 2.5 liter Trans Am championships as well as IMSA series wins.

I point this out because I really feel Fiesta ST's for most drivers on here do not need coilovers. Unless your car is complete full track machine.

To add to the point how often are you going to adjust your ride height? Most set and forgot and like I mentioned earlier, few bother with corner wieghting. If you are not going to be playing with ride height, dealing with corner weighting, going to the track every other week or week, do you really need it?

Rant off

P.S. Watch me wind up eating my words because I got a killer deal on a coilovers setup. Lol guess that would just mean I will turn my FiST into a track monster. Lol

Though seriously I am planning on a spring shock combo.

 

[Turbo65]

[MENTION=4597]Turbo65[/MENTION] [MENTION=5509]Genya[/MENTION]

How would you rate the ride overall after switching to this setup? I am also considering switching to this setup once my Konis begin needing replacement.

Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk

The main difference for me is the reduction in bounciness but it’s still there just no where near as bad and it has less roll around the few decent corners round here. It doesn’t dive now like before and rotates much better. I think the damping is a bit firmer you definitely feel more of a thud going over say expansion joints or dips in the road at speed that I didn’t feel before on the OEM set up.