Ford Racing Suspension

L

ets face it: if you’re going to start modifying cars, sooner or later you’re going to be considering lowering the car. When word got out within the Ka Klub regarding the Orciari Fog Lamps, I was offered to exchange the lamps for a new, unused and boxed set of Ford Motorsport springs.

Introducing the Ford Racing Suspension

The Ford Racing suspension upgrade is reputed to lower the Ka by 35mm at the front and 20mm at the back. Of far more importance than just lowering the Ka, the springs are also stiffer and the kit includes matching dampers designed to optimise the handling and ride balance.

If you have not already done so, I recommend that you read my technical article on suspension and how it impacts on the car’s ride, handling, grip and traction, found here. This will provide you with background information and will help explain how the Ford Racing suspension improves Kermit.

Improvements

The main benefit of the Ford Racing suspension set is an improvement in the Ka’s handling. It shortens and stiffens the springs but provides matching dampers for proper body control. With a lower ride height, the Ka’s inclination to roll is reduced. Match this with a stiffer resistance to body roll and you have a meaningful improvement in the responses of the car under cornering. With the additional structural strength from the strut brace, the chassis is less susceptible to flex during high cornering loads and the tyres maintain better contact with the ground. In short, this means that under ideal conditions I’m able to push much harder into corners before the Ka drifts into understeer. More about this later.

Under braking, the stiffer suspension dramatically reduces the amount that the nose drops. Compared with the standard suspension, this improves the car’s response to steering input under braking should you have to avoid something. It also means that I can brake harder since the rear wheels have more of an effect on braking. Under heavy braking the rear wheels are much less prone to triggering the ABS.

Although cosmetic, Kermit looks better now that he’s sitting slightly lower. The difference in ride height isn’t especially significant - thirty millimetres up front and around half that at the back. The book says thirty five and twenty respectively but I’m supposing that this is over a new Ka and Kermit had settled over sixty thousand miles.

One of the problems some people have with lowered suspension is that of tyre rubbing. We’re running XR2i rims with a non-standard offset and a width of 5½J. We have had absolutely no rubbing whatsoever even with four people and luggage on board going over speed bumps, on full lock, or both combined.

Disadvantages

As you might expect, with a stiffer suspension set up the disadvantage is that the ride is firmer. However to their credit for most of the time you simply cannot tell that the car is stiffer. Part of the reason is that we’re running with 185/60 tyres on a 13” rim so there’s quite a bit of rubber between the wheel and the road. The other part is the sheer brilliance of Ford’s suspension designers.

Indeed, after a recent drive of a 2003 LuxuryKa wearing 165/60 tyres on a 14” rim, I couldn’t tell the difference in ride quality over most of my route in to and out of work. The difference in handling is certainly there!