Originally Posted by massivewangers

Ignore those saying buy a better car, I bet the MK6 Escort would out-handle most of the Fords that came before it, it just suffered because of the reputation of the MK5. The MK6 was actually a pretty good car. It's no 306, but it's quite reasonable. I've owned loads of them and they're decent enough, apart from rusting like mad.

Avoid poly bushes in the lower arms on a road car, as they don't tend to last that well. If you can find some, fit the Royal Mail van spec arms, as they're a bit stronger and should overcome the issues of premature wear that you get with the standard items.

Don't fit big wheels, and don't fit low profile tyres. 15s is fine, and a 50 profile tyre will give you compliance, which is what you need on our crap roads. 16/17" wheels with 40/45 profile tyres is just going to make the ride hard. They might look nice, but they do nothing for handling.

As said above, the best thing you can do is stiffen the bit that all the suspension is bolted to, as this helps keep geometry more constant, which gives more linear responses, hence better handling. Obviously a cage might be overkill, but strut braces aren't a bad start. Ford made a front one (upper and lower), so they're worth buying, and one of the fixed rear ones, like MDA Motorsport etc. I'd avoid the adjustable ones. The point of it is to be a stiffening member, so putting bolted joints in it just makes it less stiff, which defeats the object.

I'd also avoid going too low. Definitely no more than 35mm in my view. If you can find a set of the Eibach RS Accessory springs, they wouldn't be a bad shout, as they'll be relatively forgiving. If you combine that with some decent dampers then you'll be in a reasonable place. You have to be careful with lowering, as a lot of the cheaper stuff is pretty poor quality, so it makes the ride very hard, and wears out quickly. I think people often confuse stiffness with good handling, and that isn't always the case.

You can poly bush the front anti-roll bar, but there isn't too much else you can do without getting into big expenses. The rear beam is fixed so not much can be done there. Some people fit the MK5 RS2000 rear axle to the MK6, thinking it's better as it has a separate ARB, but the standard MK6 beam is stiffer already, so it's a bit of a pointless change unless you desperately want rear disks instead of drums.

Worth upgrading the brakes too. The fronts can be swapped for the 280mm Mondeo V6 ones (basically the same as an Escort Cosworth). They'll fit under 15s and should make it stop a lot better than the standard 240mm ones.

Originally Posted by 1-PD

had more mk6s than I care to remember but at moment I dont own one apart from one I'm breaking lol, have modded them and restored them for past 10 years so theres not much I dont know about them as does massivewangers above