hi there , i am thinking to upgrade my shocks and springs setup to arrange a bit the handling so , what do you prefer is the best setup for the road with 18 inch wheels.

 

Escorts need dropping by an inch really even with 18"s. They look more like off roaders than hot hatches as standard. Some people, including me have fitted Konis with Ahmed springs. You'll need ET18 wheels or below for them to fit with minimal modding to the spring cups.

 

i have tried koni but ended up with bilstein shocks and eibach springs, super combo

 

Just put this setup on mine and is superb. Was like a boat before

 

I got Koni's on mine but i think they need stiffening up coz they are all on then softest setting and it dont feel that planted on the road

Just out of intrest what settings are your Koni's on?

 

Never owned an escos but every car I have been in with KONI have always been on hardest setting, still too soft IMO.
I used AHMED springs on my sapph for three weeks whilst doing some work a while ago, NOT a patch on AVO COILOVERS, not even in the same league.
I have used bilstein/eibach(still on g/f's car) LEDA/KONI/SPAX/AVO.
IMO KONI, better than billies/eibach, but nothing comes close to AVO, why I use it.
tabetha

 

That's why they're adjustable you muppet .

You need to experiment with what you think is best suited to your roads and driving style.

If they are close, but not quite there, stick the rears on the mid setting and then adjust the fronts to match. If they are way to soft for you, then wack them straight to full hard on the rear and then experiment with the front until you are happy.

I must be getting old, as I drove a Sapphire 4x4 with brand new Ahmed springs and Koni dampers - wound up to full hard, and I was convinced it was on coilovers, as the ride was too firm for the road .

The only thing I don't like about the AVOs is that the adjusters sieze up after one winter and the spring rates are way too hard on the rear and too soft for the front for the road and cause a pogo-ing effect if driven hard down back roads. Obviously it is easy to rectify this side of things with speccing different springs than they normally supply, but I think the Gaz equivalents are slightly better made and cheaper.

 

I have uesed bilstein shocks and eibach springs for a few years
now and they have been great for the road

 

I have the Bilstien sprintline kit which I fitted about 8 years ago ( are these still available ) and I find the ride height terrible.
There is about 5 or 6 cm gap on the front and 1cm on the back and it looks crap.
Have the rears sagged, and what are my options to change them to which are not to low at the back ?
I might consider coil overs but don't want a rock hard car.

Dave.

 

what do you think of spax spings and shocks or eibach spings with konis!

 

i bought last year konis and eibach springs,
looks fine with 18"rondell,
but i hoped that it handles better.
225/40 yokohama are to wide for the escos

 

Despite being a British company, I have never liked the ride quality of the Spax shocks. Also the Eibachs seem to make the car too low on the back, so not really a good match.

 

How do you adjust the Koni's?
I have them on mine but never played about with them

 

The fronts are top adjustable, the rears have to be removed from the car, the button pressed and the dampers rotated in the correct direction.

 

I agree with Mike on the Konis, my rears are set to mid but I've had to wind the fronts to full soft as its to firm ! Started off at the mid point on the fronts as well.

 

 

I run Kayaba ultra SR shocks with Eibach springs on my car, and I'm happy with it, my Escort is low enough (the splitter regularly kisses the road), and it still a confortable road car keeping a beautilful handle.

I don't like Konis, because I think they are too hard on the road, and on big curves they keep pumpin', which doesn't happen with the Kyb's.

The best quality "near to o.e" shocks are the Bilstein I think, but at the time I changed my shocks they were a lot more expensive than Kayabas.

In France we have a french maker wich name is Viarouge. He makes shocks with Bilstein system, but he can set them up as hard as you want. In my old 5GTturbo, I changed my Koni's with a set of Viarouge, and the difference was impressive. More confortable but far better handling !!

In my opinion, go for a Bilstein sprintline kit or directly for Gaz coilovers.

 

ive just bought sdome avo monotubes, im curently on konis with cobra springs