Lowering springs

[alex12fowler]

Thinking of getting some lowering springs from ktec to lower the car by 30mm. What i want to know is by how much will this shorten the life of my suspension?

 

[oscar]

nobody can really give an exact figure on how long they'd last. springs oscillate at different rates and the dampers are made for different spring rebound rates (oscillation) alex. it's at least recommended that you use dampers that are created for certain rebound rates which is why coilovers exist. over time, you'll most likely save money on the premture failure of dampers so you're better to go for coilovers in which case, coilovers for the mk2 clio fit the twingo gt and they start at around 250 pound mark on ebay. going for bigger brands like weitec / bc you'll expect to pay 6-700

 

[alex12fowler]

I have seen the coilovers on the internet for the gt and your price of about 700 is what iv seen. Has anyone on here used clio ones? If so have they been any good cos saving 500 quid sounds good to me!

 

[oscar]

yes sir, i use the 250 pound ebay coilovers although i currently have the fronts wound up to almost oem level due to a ma-hoo-sive new speedbump near my house but it's being taken away next week as it's trapped 2 audi's into our road already as it's way higher than its supposed to be. ride quality, pretty harsh. feel every pot hole and pebble, feel very responsive. the dampers appear to be good build quality too alex. i've only had bc's on previous cars, and it's unfair to compare an ebay coilover to bc's the kings of them all. you need to make sure that those clio coilovers are 58mm bolt spacing then they'll fit no bother

 

[alex12fowler]

Haha asif its beached cars! Whats the handling and body roll like now? Is the ride still ok as i do a lot of motorway driving. Sorry for all the questions haha the gt is only my 2nd car and first one im modding! Is fitting all ok? Im fairly handy and have alot of tools (including me)

 

[oscar]

haha tut tut. i wont lie to you, the ride is very firm but body roll is drastically reduced. when you go lower, the ride gets harsher but we won't get into that! installation is a small faffabout really if you're a begginer. you'll need a swan neck spanner and an allan key to remove the top nut which will be rusted so get some wd-40 onto that. if the nyloc nut get's rounded you'll have a world of fun haha. the rears are as simple as can be, jack the car up on the chassis NOT on the rear axle beam or suspension components. on each side, push the hub drums downwards so that you can pull the spring out, don't worry the rear springs aren't compressed. the little spring perches that they sit on are ever so slightly different so you'll need to go to renault and order some rear spring perches / seats (whichever you want to call them). the difference is in size, they will both sit on the axel perfectly but the spring side of the perches are larger for the gt as the inside of the spring is a bit bigger. once you have the new perches, it's now a direct fit

 

[alex12fowler]

Im gunna have to do some thinking about this. Maybe do it next month when i have more money. What mods do you have on yours oscar? I want mine to have a cat back, dump valve, front and back number plate mounts in black and some 133 alloys. And obvs lowered too