172 Lowering Question

[desmondo]

I know quite a few of you chaps on here have had your 172s lowered. I want to fit some lowering springs to drop the car with a view to reducing body roll and flatten cornering. However I often need to load the car up for work and camping stuff for weekends away. While this is not an excessively heavy load (about 3 passengers worth) Im concered about dropping the car too much and affecting the ride quality turning it into a crashing monster.

So question to the floor: How low is your drop and does it sacrifice (in your opinion) ride quality especially when fully laden? Also what springs do you have fitted and do these co-exist with the standard shocks?

Ta

Rich

 

[telford_mike]

Hi Rich, you should get lots of answers on this - heres mine.
My cars lowered on Eibach springs - they are designed to work with the standard dampers. They certainly deliver the benefits that youre looking for. The ride is firmer without going anywhere near harsh. Ive never had any problems with loading - had my mum & dad in the car (& Val) on Sunday - no worries at all. Youre welcome to try mine at Bedford so you can judge for yourself.

If you are thinking of going to 17 inch wheels at some stage it might be worth bearing in mind that this will change things a bit. Geoff has already done both though. Geoff where are u m8?
Mike.

 

[wallisj]

The HillPower avo springs are great if you have 16"s...with 17"s, they are now showing their true colours a little. If the car is fully loaded then it will catch slightly.

I am going to have to get some work done on the rear drivers side arch as i went over a nasty ridge which compressed the suspension fully in a crashy way and caused the rim protector on the car to bend the metal of the arch down....angle grider needed

The eibachs for me were a little too high on 17"s, but the avos are a little too low for 17"s....need some height adjustable coilovers methinks

Ta
J

 

[geoff_clio182]

Rich I had the same dilemma as you when deciding on lowering. I often carry 2 servers or a few UPSs (which as you know look light but weigh a fcuking ton!) so I didnt want any scrubbage with 17" alloys.

Right first things first I have never had ANY scrubbage. With 4 people in the car, stuff in boot and even when coming back from France with a boot load of booze. Some people have said it looks sweet, others that its not low enough. I personally think Jamies car looks sweet with the AVOs on but as he says it scrubs. I think mine has a very good compromise between looks and useability.

 

[desmondo]

I take it that the Avos are 35mm and the Eibachs are 30 mm drop then?

Geoff I know what you mean about those UPSs! We have an APS 3000 3U rack mount unit that took two of us to lift into the bottom of a rack!! And we were struggling at that!

 

[telford_mike]

I think thats right Rich - and I can relate to you both where the UPS is concerned!

I was determined to have absolutely no rubbing under any circumstances hence only 30mm. Ill be fitting 17s as soon as funds allow, which will be about 2007 if we keep on having track days at this rate

 

[Man-Chun]

I have Avo springs + I think you need to uprate your shocks as well because the standard shocks wont last much longer on mine Fitting uprated shocks would proberly improve my ride quailty cause they are designed for it. Other than that the Avos are nice springs. I run 16s and have had no scrubbage with a full load of people.

Chun.

 

[JJ172]

*phew* Glad I read this post as I am about to order some AVO springs from the infamous John Harris @ Demon Tweeks! I was thinking of getting 17s, but might not bother after Jamies bad luck....

Still, the AVOs seem to lower the car nicely and, IMHO, Id prefer to run them over the Apex option (runs approx. the same ride height). The Eibachs just dont lower the car enough for my liking....

 

[wallisj]

I think my problems also lie with the tyres, which have a 5 -6mm rim protector which effectively is a ridge of rubber that sticks out from the tyre.

This is what causes the problems, so if you get either Toyo T1s or Eagle F1s you should be ok.

Next time i will get these even though the falkens on the car are nice...i think that would cure my problems.

Nick hill is talking to avo to see if they can offer a slightly different/higher/firmer spring to not lower the car quite so much, its only a matter of 5mm or so.

But as i said, its down to tyres, some are better than others at avoiding scrubbing...so avoid falken fk451 (even though its one of the nicest tyres i used) and stick to goodyear or toyo without rim protectors, just be VERY careful when parking next to kerbs

Ta
J

 

[desmondo]

Cheers for the feedback chaps. I think Ill go for the Eibachs then. Save future problems with 17s!

All I have to do now is to find a place thatll fit them. Any recommendations in the East Midlands area?

Ta
Rich

 

[JJ172]

wallisj - any idea when these new AVO springs will be available?

Ive got 215/40x16 F1s on my other car and they come with rim bar protectors, as do the 205/40x17s I think....

 

[wallisj]

As i said in the other thread on the main forum, nick hill has my clio in the workshop while i am on holiday and he is gonna see if he can get a replacement set of springs from avo while its in, but he agrees that it is both unwanted and potentially dangerous if the tyre sidewall was to get cut open by the suspension totally bottoming out....watch this space, i will get the car back on tuesday 27th, so i will post any info at that point.

Ta
Jamie

ps. please dont let my comments put anyone off getting the avo springs, for anyone with 16s or 15s they are tops, but anyone now considering buying springs from nick should just mention that they are for a clio with 17s and he will, im sure, endevour to get changed springs, after all, if he and avo for that matter want to sell springs to 17s people, i would imagine he would stop selling avo if it impacted on his good reputation.

Nick has been very understanding with the situation and hopefully he can get avo to resolve the situation to everyones benefit....watch this space

 

[Mad_Marky]

seeing as i dont have my 172 at the moment could somebody tell me, does the 172 MKII Have springs all round or have Renault stuck with the torsion bar?

 

[telford_mike]

4 springs plus torsion beam. The beam does not adjust like a torsion bar, so you just need to change the springs.

 

[Fred@BTM]

All clios from 98 onwards have the same setup (stated above by telford mike)