Fiddy

I got a full set of hub bolts, and two bottom arm bolts mate, just to be safe, there not cheap from ford like

You know how many sets of wheels ive had on mine mate, and the only problem set was the escos rims, but there COMPLETELY the wrong offset. ive chopped the lip off my rear arches now, because i got some 18's, that are on it now, and there slightly the wrong offset, and had 225/40's on, and i had the car at a meet the day after i fitted them, so i did the arches, as i didnt have time to get anymore tyres. ive got 215/35 on now like, and even with three in the back, it doesnt catch, but that said, ive got no arch lip

but in all seriousness, i had 18's on before, with 215/35, before i cut the arch lip off, and i had no problem with the car full of people, with a boot full of shopping, so aslong as you get wheels that are the rite offset, with 215/35 tyres, you could get my springs, and have zero arch clearence issue's, and as i said, and glenn confirmed, mine drives nice, its not to harsh

Fiddy

This is whats on mine

http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pag...duct=555601970

And how it sits

2star

Ive said before on another thread about lowering Focus's, time after time over the years i have snapped off or rounded off seized bolts when it comes to lowering, i take any car now to any local garage, or tyre/exhaust place and ask them kindly if they will heat and crack off the bolts with an air gun, majority of the time they do it for nothing if your pleasant, ive chucked the lad who did it a fiver for a drink/his lunch before. Get them to whip them out, copper slip and refit but just nip them up. Much easier.

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Haha, might look into other options if they're going to be big money.. bolts are bolts at the end of the day I suppose.

Yeah, I might have passed comment on that fact a couple of times before.

What offset are the 18s that you've got on just now mate?? Mine aren't ideal offset I don't think, they're 8" wide with ET46 from memory and came with 215/35/18 tyres.

Looking at your pictures, it doesn't sit too high, but you've got those ultra rare little arch extensions on the front arches which lower it a little more visually I think. It's the front arch gap that worries me, I want the car sitting level at the least (a touch nose down would be better) with an even tyre:arch gap front and back.


Cheers,
Grant

Fiddy

Aye mate, dont get me started on A, how long it took me to find a set of arch extensions, and B, how much they cost , but yeah, you would be surprised how much of the 'gap' they take up between the tyre and arch, another thing, ive left the 225/40's on the front, so they fill the 'gap' better aswel.

My wheels came off a Granada Cosworth, the offset for them is 35-38, Mondeo offset is 38-42, so mine are slightly off, with yours being ET46, they will sit further into the arch, which will be a good thing as far as catching the arches go, dont know what they will be like for clearing the strut though ?.

my mate got some 'extreme' there called, lowering springs for his ST24, think its 40mm rear, and 60mm front, or 30mm rear, 50mm front, now it sits lovely, but its very, very harsh, and with them not being a 'premium' brand spring, even though his car is lower than mine, it has loads more body roll








His has my old wheels on, with 215/35 all round, how they looked on mine, before the arch extensions

AGAR-COSWORTH

Hopefully you'll never have the "pleasure" of seeing it . Its a 35K minter, full service history, 2 owners from new inc myself, but certainly not cool at all

trudtfish

Nice car Grant

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Hook, line and sinker...

Yeah hopefully it'd give me a few mm extra that I might need if I go lower than you have on the suspension. I might throw one on and see what like with the strut clearance.. but it's bloody cold outside and pretty warm inside.

Hahaha!!

Thanks mate, hope everything is well with the new arrival.


Cheers,
Grant

Sticky.

iTrader: (4)

Looks a nice example Grant.

Cracking cars the ST200.

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Paul, it is a good one mate... yeah they are pretty under-rated/over-looked cars IMO.


Cheers,
Grant

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Trial fitted the new wheels this afternoon because I wanted to see if I'd get any clearance issues given the wheels are ET46... there was plenty clearance on the front strut, but on the back it was very tight, so tight that I think I'll stick on some small spacers just for peace of mind I think.

Forgive the pictures, the only camera I had handy at the time was my iPhone and it was getting dark.

Anyway, I think they look good.. although they're not staying white and the car will hopefully be sitting lower before they're fitted.






Cheers,
Grant

Rab

Winning combination Grant! The MO's look spot on! What colour? Anthracite?

Sticky.

iTrader: (4)

I actually like them in white, but always a pain to keep clean.

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Yep the plan is to go anthracite with them Rab.. just need to get my finger out and organise dropping them off to be re-done now.

Yeah I was quite surprised at how nice they looked in white actually, but being my daily, I'd never be away from cleaning them with the state of the roads around my way!!


Cheers,
Grant

BrianEscCos

This was the result when I painted mine anthracite
I think yours look great in white. Spacers on the rear and lowering will look great, remember the old saying, when it rubs it's low enough !

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

Looks well mate.

I will give you a tip when you lower your car..




Dont do it lol.

rs_traynor

looking good mate, be better once youv done the mods you told me about its gonna look great

Farmer Giles

How are you lowing it ? just springs or on coilovers ??

If just springs make sure you get the kits that lower the front about 10mm more.. I did my st24, 40mm drop all round with springs and the front never looked right, needed another 5 to 10 mm to match the arch gap at the back..

2p

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I think anthracite is definitely the way forward... and I love the way yours sat Brian, if I got offered some cheap second hand Eibachs, I'd be tempted to take a coil off front and back to see what it rides/handles like.

Haha surely can't be that bad a job?! ...it's gotta be done unfortunately, because I want the Comps on and I'm not having it riding that high once they're fitted.

Thanks mate, took a look at the rear lights this afternoon.. probably gonna have to go with what the Donzer said and do it the outside with laquer TBH.

Yeah that's exactly my problem.. I'm only going for springs since I can't justify 600-700quid on a set of coilovers on a daily which won't get a hard time and there doesn't seem to be any 'budget/basic' coilover kits for the MK2 Mondeo unfortunately.

Most of the spring kits I've seen are for a level drop all round, which I'm not wanting for the reason you've said. So far, the only ones I've found which I recognise the name of are Weitec and Pi which list a slightly more serious drop on the front so could hopefully take up some of the gap that's there as standard.


Cheers,
Grant

Farmer Giles

at least you're on top of it..

Most of the kits I saw that offered a lower front were 40 back and 50 front but not sure how the standard shocks would cope with a 50mm drop, they might be too long..

you could always buy a standard 40mm kit and (dare I say it) chop the front spring's a little to level it up.. not my first choice but if it's not going to be driven hard then might be OK..

scottyd

shhhhmert iy

P_is_for_Paul

Never been keen on white wheels but that's spot on G Unit. I'd keep them like that it looks slick

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

It is something that I've considered, mainly because the car will never see a track or any hard driving.. but I drove a car with a couple of coils off the standard springs before; it was horrendously bouncy and not something I fancy experiencing again, haha.

Welcome back to the Internet mate.

I quite like it too, but as above, just can't hack looking after white wheels on a daily Pauldo... it's bloody freezing outside man.


Cheers,
Grant

P_is_for_Paul

That your mums white BMW behind?

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Yep sure is mate.


Cheers,
Grant

rs_traynor

did you split them? just do what spunky done with his fiesta and do them all red

Fiddy

As i said earlier in the thread mate, i didnt know if et46 would be close to the strut, knew it would defo be a possibility. as for the rims, they look well, im not usually a fan of white rims on performance blue cars, but they actually look really nice, well, they will once its lowered, it looks like a fu*king 4x4

And as Glenny belly says, good luck lowering it

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Hmm, not sure about that mate... the rear light unit is a fair bit bigger than a wee Fez so it'd just look like a big red blob to me. Needs something to break it up I think:



Good private reg though.

I know, it really does ride high on the 18s.. it's on it's way up to the same height as CSM's black Focus Estate was.

I've got everything crossed that the lowering goes well and that it only needs done once!! ...and the wheels are definitely going anthracite.


Cheers,
Grant

Fiddy

Millsy's foci was high


Good call on the wheels though, thats what id do

jamesst24

Very nice st mate.....

Zetec_mk4_XR3i

Love it Grant....was ready to go and view that car till the chap said it was sold...doh!

Looks the tits on the white wheels. Another good choice for them is mk1 Focus RS rims after seeing one at Crail with them on.

Really like the look of that!

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

Thanks lads.

Haha yeah, I was quite sharp going to look at the car Rossatron!! I think there was either a guy on here, or a thread with pics of an ST200 on FRS rims, it looked great and if these Comps hadn't come up for sale local-ish then I'd probably have gone with the Focus wheels.


Cheers,
Grant

Bungle

Any updates on this beauty buddy? i'm very seriously considering buying one

Csm

Just to remind you how awesome it looked ..............

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

old style mos look great on these cars, but then a lot of wheels suit these cars

shit pic of mine on mos

Glenn_

iTrader: (1)

That looks well smart.

Grant if your gonna lower it.I would rather ger some heat on the bolt that holds the shocker in place on the hub or take the complete hub off with the shocker.

Same on the back thats if the suspension arm bolts arnt seizd.

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

They're good cars mate, cover so many bases. What's your budget??

I've just been getting the bits together really mate.. bought a pair of headlights from massivewangers on here, so once they arrive, I'll split them and paint the insides black. Already got some smoked side repeaters to go with them and thinking about options to tint the central orange/white bit of the rear light.

Also thinking about adding a couple of wee bits (headers and de-cat) to the exhaust system... but it's never going to be a rocket ship, so not totally sure if it's worth spending the cash.

Here are the wheels now that they've been refurbished in anthracite... they're actually a wee bit darker than they look in this picture.



I've got the Pi lowering spring kit sitting to go on the car too, which lowers the front 50mm and rear 40mm on a normal V6 Mondeo, so won't be quite as severe as that on an ST200 which sits a bit lower as standard.

Plus, I wanted to hear what the car sounded like when being driven, so I got a friend to take a video of me driving past.. it's got quite a tidy rip out the back of it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIw3y6BAYH0




Cheers,
Grant

RS Grant

iTrader: (1)

"This is Captain Millsy speaking, on today's trip to Tesco we'll be cruising at an altitude 32,000ft..."



Looks ace on the Comps.. although mine are the new style MO6, I think they'll make a big difference to the car.

Aye if I'm honest mate, I think I might book the car into my friends garage and let him worry about the bolts etc... even though the car has a really low mileage, there will more than likely be a bit of farting about required.


Cheers,
Grant

Bungle

Nice one not a very big budget maybe upto 1200 ish i missed a 66k miler on ebay the other day with full leather for £940 so my budget should get me a good un hopefully, They seem to be out there for fuck all money these days and there a lot of car,

Look forward to the progress mate get the pics up as things progress

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

if you get one get one after a v plate or late 199 v plate, these had galvansied bodies so dont rust like other models, but notcied the st200 rust bad compared to st24s

can be bought cheap nowdays aswell, i paid 1300 for mine 3 years ago, its never let me down and is clocking alomst 170k, only thing ive done is service and brakes and arms, it was already lowered, st200 twin exhaust, filter and twin headlights and wheels, ive upgraded the engine to full st 200 everything bar internals, i did have st200 seats but missed the heated seats so have replaced them with the mk3 st220 seats now and got someone to wire them up, and rest of interior right down to headlining and carpet is st200

though its been sat on the drive for 8 months and still fires first turn of the key