Hi all,
Time has come to think about giving the suspension & braking of my stock 03 plate 172 FF (55,000 miles) an overhaul. For convenience I've looked mainly at the KTEC site as they offer potentially everything I'm likely to need/afford. I'm reasonably convinced on purchasing the front strut brace,uprated suspension mounts and poly bush kit all round, but I'm not so sure on shock and springs or braking combinations. I can tolerate a slightly firmer ride but not so hard that I shake my fillings out as the majority of driving is around town where speed humps are more common than potholes. Budget for the suspension is @ £700 (excluding the parts I've already commited funds to) but I don't know whether to simply play it safe and replace OE with OE items or to venture down the KTR/Koni/A N Other route and/or invest a little more and go for a coilover set.
Onto the braking set (discs & pads) up I'm looking for something that performs better than OE from a cold start, but then gives increased performance when pushing the car hard. Other cars I've owned when moving away from OE generally have compromised cold start braking feel (wooden pedal) so as I mentioned earlier 80% of the time is around town driving to which the OE set up gives a great feel so I'm interested in retaining cold start braking over at the edge track situations. I'm thinking of putting braided lines in as part of the upgrade. What I'm not clear on is should I focus on front end braking and leave the rears stock or upgrade all round as budget wise I'd like to keep it to around £350 (discs & pads). So opinions please, preferably from actual experience rather than a mate of mate said.......
Cheers Jamie
Time has come to think about giving the suspension & braking of my stock 03 plate 172 FF (55,000 miles) an overhaul. For convenience I've looked mainly at the KTEC site as they offer potentially everything I'm likely to need/afford. I'm reasonably convinced on purchasing the front strut brace,uprated suspension mounts and poly bush kit all round, but I'm not so sure on shock and springs or braking combinations. I can tolerate a slightly firmer ride but not so hard that I shake my fillings out as the majority of driving is around town where speed humps are more common than potholes. Budget for the suspension is @ £700 (excluding the parts I've already commited funds to) but I don't know whether to simply play it safe and replace OE with OE items or to venture down the KTR/Koni/A N Other route and/or invest a little more and go for a coilover set.
Onto the braking set (discs & pads) up I'm looking for something that performs better than OE from a cold start, but then gives increased performance when pushing the car hard. Other cars I've owned when moving away from OE generally have compromised cold start braking feel (wooden pedal) so as I mentioned earlier 80% of the time is around town driving to which the OE set up gives a great feel so I'm interested in retaining cold start braking over at the edge track situations. I'm thinking of putting braided lines in as part of the upgrade. What I'm not clear on is should I focus on front end braking and leave the rears stock or upgrade all round as budget wise I'd like to keep it to around £350 (discs & pads). So opinions please, preferably from actual experience rather than a mate of mate said.......
Cheers Jamie