N
Nico
Guest
Now some of you are bound to ask how much it's been lowered by. I'd been intensely curious myself to see before and after pics of what your Bravo's looked like, whilst I'd been trying to decide how much to lower mine by. My only regret now is that I didn't think to do some myself!
I had decided to go for Eibachs (30mm drop) until I was put off by Fiat telling me that these (aka Abarth ones) would effectively lower the front 28mm and the rear by a mere 15mm! Of all the pictures I had seen of other Bravos, none it seemed had rear ends that sat as high as mine (even with a full tank), so I wanted the effective lowering on the back to be double (not half) as much as any on the front !
It took me months to decide about the suspension (whilst I waited for my wheels). I finally decided; when you factor in the £100 cost to fit, figured I'd rather go for an adjustable set of coilovers and spend 600 all in, rather than spend half that and perhaps be completely dissatisfied with the end result. The new springs and dampers were only fitted last week (after the wheels were delayed yet again).
I am so relieved I opted for this kit because they make the dampers 30% stiffer, which I really appreciate now (in the time it took me to decide – I'd grown weary of the softer standard dampers). I suppose there are inumerable other benefits (besides a stiffer ride) to uprating both shocks and dampers together (I duno what they might be though).
It was no easy task finding this kit, but in the end there were a number of options. You could if you wanted go for adjustable dampers too (otherwise marketed as Koni ones) but the guy assured me I need not consider these if it wasn't going to be for track use (rightly so). If money really was no object, then they also do them in stainless steel too, but I didn't even realise this was an option until I looked through the huge catalogue they sent me free with the set when it was delivered.
At first appearance, after the kit had been put on, I thought (looking at the rear) that they had dropped it as low as poss on the back (effective range of lowering is supposed to be 35-75mm). Much to my amazement, they had in fact set them as high as the threads would allow (not pictured). I don't know how this can be, because it had dropped a hell of a lot more than 35mm. I couldn't tell you how much the front had been dropped either (I so wish I had done some measuring before-hand), but there is most of the potential lowering left there too. Cool huh!? (especially as there aren't many speed bumps around where I live).
Since my wheels finally arrived, I have just adjusted the height of the springs again, to balance them out after settling, if anyone would like to measure their standard set up, I'd be curious to compare their heights with mine, now I've measured them (from the arch above to the wheel centre).
Initial setting Evened out-& Lowered a bitmore
(not shown) (after fitting Coilovers)
Fronts 32.5mm approx Fronts 31.0mm
Rear 31.5mm approx Rear 31.0mm
I had decided to go for Eibachs (30mm drop) until I was put off by Fiat telling me that these (aka Abarth ones) would effectively lower the front 28mm and the rear by a mere 15mm! Of all the pictures I had seen of other Bravos, none it seemed had rear ends that sat as high as mine (even with a full tank), so I wanted the effective lowering on the back to be double (not half) as much as any on the front !
It took me months to decide about the suspension (whilst I waited for my wheels). I finally decided; when you factor in the £100 cost to fit, figured I'd rather go for an adjustable set of coilovers and spend 600 all in, rather than spend half that and perhaps be completely dissatisfied with the end result. The new springs and dampers were only fitted last week (after the wheels were delayed yet again).
I am so relieved I opted for this kit because they make the dampers 30% stiffer, which I really appreciate now (in the time it took me to decide – I'd grown weary of the softer standard dampers). I suppose there are inumerable other benefits (besides a stiffer ride) to uprating both shocks and dampers together (I duno what they might be though).
It was no easy task finding this kit, but in the end there were a number of options. You could if you wanted go for adjustable dampers too (otherwise marketed as Koni ones) but the guy assured me I need not consider these if it wasn't going to be for track use (rightly so). If money really was no object, then they also do them in stainless steel too, but I didn't even realise this was an option until I looked through the huge catalogue they sent me free with the set when it was delivered.
At first appearance, after the kit had been put on, I thought (looking at the rear) that they had dropped it as low as poss on the back (effective range of lowering is supposed to be 35-75mm). Much to my amazement, they had in fact set them as high as the threads would allow (not pictured). I don't know how this can be, because it had dropped a hell of a lot more than 35mm. I couldn't tell you how much the front had been dropped either (I so wish I had done some measuring before-hand), but there is most of the potential lowering left there too. Cool huh!? (especially as there aren't many speed bumps around where I live).
Since my wheels finally arrived, I have just adjusted the height of the springs again, to balance them out after settling, if anyone would like to measure their standard set up, I'd be curious to compare their heights with mine, now I've measured them (from the arch above to the wheel centre).
Initial setting Evened out-& Lowered a bitmore
(not shown) (after fitting Coilovers)
Fronts 32.5mm approx Fronts 31.0mm
Rear 31.5mm approx Rear 31.0mm