Ok, so we installed the Eibach Pro Kit today. The result is....well, that was indeed how the car should have been from factory, as previously stated in this thread!
First impression from about 100 km driving home from the garage is that it is even more comfy than the OEM springs. Slightly more firm in the curves, but no hardness at all. The pro kit is not a sport suspension in that sense; just a sporty looking lowering.
The following stuff is likely to be trivialities to the mechanics in here, so please correct me and forgive me my poor technical english (and english in general
Phone ran out of power so no DIY photos, sorry, but the following two resources may be helpfulI:
http://eibach.com/america/en/support/tech-tips
This installation instruction for a Ford Focus ST pretty much covers it with a few but important exceptions explained in the following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1uN1qSz2X4
Front:
Besides that there is no plastic to remove over the upper strut mounts but instead a strut bar, which is no big deal, and a few small differences in details about some small brackets on the front dampers, the main differences are as follows: The strut assembly on the spindle is not threaded, which means that an other dismounting technique than shown in the vid. is necessary. We used a chisel and rubber hammer to expand the spindle.
In my case, the spindle and the damper did not come a part as easily as in the vid. Needed a bit of hammering and muscle to get it off and back on again.
Also remember that the rubber bushing in top of the spring has a "right" direction as it is wedge shaped and the top end of the spring need to go at the sharp side of the wedge. Please also note that there is no reason to pull the bearing apart as the guy does in the vid. He uses an impact gun do dismount the top of the damper. We used an allen key and a fork key, no problem.
Rear:
The V40 has one major differences from the Focus ST in the vid. The V40 has a rear sway bar which means that the spindles can’t fall down far enough to remove the factory springs just like that. It´s necessary to have an internal spring compressor like this one for instance
. We did not have one of those and could not get one with short notice, so we ended up going for some less clever solutions which i’ll not recommend. Just have that compressor ready….
In the end everything turned out very well and it looks sweet as shown in the Malfonso, Pleide and Axl886 posts.
Photos will follow when summer wheels get mounted in a month time.
Best regards
H!
