I went with Swift Springs. Maybe my struts at 50k are a little too worn to be effective, or drive to what I was expecting. I thought I could get away with staying OEM struts/shocks and have a slightly more comfortable ride.

I'll go back over what I've done and then get a proper alignment, then decide.

Wheel and tire specs are:

Wheels: Enkei PF-01s 16x7 +45
Tires: Yokohama S Drive 205/50/16

I've got 1.5 degrees negative camber at the moment. I plan to set it to max neg camber, before going in to get a proper alignment.

 

yah, try new dampers.. at 50k they are probably too worn.

huh, spec wise doesnt look bad at all. if you want, try continental tires as they have rounder sidewalls, might clear your wheel arches. its rubbing in the front or rear?

 

It's rubbied in the front, so far just the left front. It "touched" on a couple occassions at about 70mph.

I'll try clearing the arches. I'm not sure what part of the tire rubbed. The fender edge looked clean, and no visible scrape marks on the sidewall.

i'll mess around with it tomorrow and get back.


thanks for your help.

 

yah sdrives have near right angle sidewalls so more susceptible to run.

if it's just the front maybe you can give it -2 camber and clear it.
i ran 5mm spacers on the rear with steel lugs when i had my GD and GE.

 

I'll keep the tire thing as part of the backup plan.

Plan of the day, go in take down the drivers side front assembly, remove the fender liner (hopefully it can be done without any cutting). Disassemble, Reseat spring, other parts and reassemble unit. Dial in max camber. Go for a drive.

I've got a baseball bat and heatgun on standby if the fender has any other plans, or i decide to go ghetto on it.

Other thoughts.....go back to stock suspension and revisit the lowering option about 8-10 months from now when the tires are slightly worn. Or, buy (2) tires, either Continentals, or next size narrower tire.

Koni dampers are on order, so I get to play with all this again next week.

I was planning 10mm spacers in the rear, then thought 8mm would be safer. But now, 5mm is looking alot more appealing, less work and no rub possibility.

What happen to those days when an index card was about the right amount of gap. Throw on some 12k or 15k springs and call it a day. That sh** aint moving, haha.

Cheers to those who fiddle with their mod work until everything is "just perfect". Sometimes that 1/16 in, slightest noise, or just knowing it can be done better leads to all nighters or complete re-dos.

 

I would probably get an alignment before proceeding to the next step. It needs to happen anyway after the spring install and it's possible that your rubbing problem will go away. Especially since it's only on one side.

 

Yes, plan is to head down to a wheel shop soon. Kinda rethinking the overall plan right now. Don't like the ride of the Swift spring with my worn dampers. I have Koni's on order, so I'll probably wait till the koni's come in, install and take a test drive.

Just finished checking yesterday's install. Reseated spring, other parts, and dialed in max camber. Abandoned the idea of removing the fender liner for now. Looks like a custom hack job would be best to clear the wheel arch area and protect the engine area from splashes and road debris.

 

What size tires were you running back then?

What do you think is my better option? Stick with the same size (205/50/16) tire but a different brand? or go with a slightly narrower tire?

 

Sorry to hear about the ride quality.

I wouldn't think your factory struts would need replacing at 50k. Ours are original at 190k and are still not worn. No leaking, no bumpiness, no problems at all. I'm sure replacing them with something higher quality than stock would be good, but I wouldn't bother replacing ours yet with OEM stuff.

I'm wondering if you're just feeling the effect of stiffer springs on a short wheel base car?

 

i ran those tire sizes but not sdrives. actually the last time i drove on sdrives was like 17-18yrs ago. those are classic sport compact tires. i tried them when they were first released. i ran RE760's.

 

btw, wat psi are you running on your sdrives? if anything over 38-40psi cold your car could start to feel loose.

 

That may be part of it. It feels like a slight rocking back and forth or "bobbing" at freeway speeds, like the front and rear are out of sync. If I had adjustable dampening I could've tried playing with the settings, firming up the front, then matching the rears.

It's just an uneasy, insecure feeling with this setup. Knowing that when I was on OEM struts and springs, with the current wheels and tires the car felt very confident at higher speeds and in turns.

I think the OEM struts are still good, just don't work well at this point with the new springs.

So now, i'm down to:
option 1. Back to OEM struts and springs, keep current wheel/tire setup.
option 2. Install Koni struts with Swift springs. Swap out tires for a different brand of the same size (205/50/16) or step down to a narrower size .
option 3. Different wheels more/less offset. (probably not, too much money).

 

I've only had them on a few days. I started at 34F/33R. It still felt a little sloppy in the turns, was thinking of bumping it up to 36F/34R.

 

Kinda dates me, haha. When I was picking tires, I kinda leaned toward something that sounded familiar, and had a nice thread pattern. I thought Michelin PSSs may be a little overkill.

I was looking at the Federal 595s also. But so far, not a significance decrease in mpg. 1st tank on the S Drives I'm at 270mi with 2 bars left. I gotta learn how to go easier on the throttle. Because you know......racecar, right?

 

oh yah, id definitely take sdrives over any federal tires. PSS is overkill unless you're tracking your car imo.

i think the RE760's were a good match for a car like the Fit for street driving.

 

yah, those are good settings.

 

Installed Koni dampers today. Alignment to be done tomorrow.

 

awesome!! keep us posted. very cool.

 

Thanks! I still have the same wheel poke up front, so i'm thinking I'm gonna need different tires to be able to run the wheels on this suspension setup. Any recommendations for tires with a rounded shoulder?

I'll see if it rubs tomorrow.

 

i run continental tires on my german cars and they have rounded sidewalls.
sport contacts theyre called, new versions of the DW that was phased out.

not sure why you have poke with -2 camber and those spec wheels. almost sounds like you got ET35's or something. haha