Cobb Tuning lower springs
At this point I had to make a decision. Am I going to keep this car beyond the lease term or am I going to get a new car? I think I'm just going to keep it. I really really disliked the SUV wheel gap of my car, but didn't know if I wanted to invest in a good set of coil-overs or try my luck again with lowering springs. In the past I've almost always gravitated towards lowering my vehicles with lowering springs. Unfortunately most "modern" vehicles manufactured today don't have factory adjustable camber so my last couple of cars have developed camber issues. I don't want to invest in camber kits. I put a set of Corksport mild drop springs on my 2011 Mazdaspeed 3 and began to have excessive camber on the front. The only solution was to buy high dollar camber kits that required extensive modification of the strut/shock mounting. I just didn't want to do that. As a result, I was having to buy new tires every 10,000 miles. With the Fiesta ST I once again decided to take my chances and go the cheaper route. I decided on a progressive rate Cobb specific Eibach lowering spring for this car since it only lowers the front 0.8 inch and 0.7 inch rear (that's significantly less than the drop on my MS3). There also seems to be camber kits for the Fiesta ST that doesn't require an arm, a leg or your first born child (and no extensive ie: permanent) modification to the strut/shock towers. I had Cobb install the springs and then do an alignment. After the alignment, the camber specs were still in the acceptable stock range. Hopefully it will stay that way... lol. Experience tells me that after a few thousand miles camber issues can sometimes rear their ugly head.
I have to say, I'm really impressed with the ride quality. I would even go as far as saying it is an "improvement"over stock with noticeably less body roll and ride height. Where the springs really seem to shine is in steering response and feedback. There is a noticeable, albeit subtle on/off center steering feedback improvement which dare I say, gives my car "BMW" steering "feel". People who have driven early 2000's model BMW M3s will understand what I am talking about. Steering tightens up much more just off center and you get much better response and feel. I was not expecting that much of a difference.
The subtle lowering really sharpens up the way the car looks too, especially with my new wheels....I really love the new stance!