SUSPENSION!!

[thehappybusker]

:|

Hi I'm looking to replace my worn suspension on my R reg Silver Puma.

I've owned old fords before and to be honest couldn't be arsed with anything other than what the garage could get at the cheapest, but none have been so sexy as my Puma "silver fox" 1.7 and this time i wanna spend the money in treating my girl right! After all she only cost me £400

As many of you could confirm the suspension is SO hard. I feel every little dink in the road and it feels like the shock is being absorbed by my wheels and nothing else, which is common with older ford models.

I'm going to start with the front wishbones but i wanna invest in some better coils as well

Can anyone recommend a) Decent bushes/ wish bones that are not made by ford and b) relatively low cost soft suspension coils (again preferrably not ford!)

Thanks in advance

The Happy Busker and "Silver Fox" !

 

[alexc1983]

sounds like the same problem im having

 

[starfire27]

Hi,

If you want cheap but decent quality wishbones get Delphi or Lemforder, nothing cheaper will last. I have Delphi and the quality is excellent.

Coil wise I am not sure of the best after-market (non lowering) coils but if the ride is crashy I would put money on the worn shocks and top mounts being the problem rather than the coils. New shocks and top mounts will make the world of difference.

 

[smudger]

I recently changed both lower arms, A/R bushes, top mounts and drop links.

I was going to replace all the bushes with Powerflex bushes but you have to press the old ones out of the arms and then press the new ones in, most decent garages will press the old ones out and new ones in if you don't have a press for a few quid, and the balljoint can be ground out with an angle grinder and replaced with bolts. For the time being I just replaced with complete arms from ford as I'm planning to do a big overhaul on my baby next summer, now I have spare arms that I can get ready in preparation for the overhaul with Powerflex bushes and a new ball joint, I also replaced all the bolts so they would be easier to remove next time.

http://www.powerflex.co.uk/

The A/R bushes can be a bit of a pig the rear bolt doesn't have enough room to be able to remove without dropping the subframe, but you can bend the brackets back enough to slide the new bushes in place and then bend the bracket back.

The drop links have a alan key and nut arrangement to stop them spinning when you turn the nut, they're a doddle to change.

The top mounts were fairly easy too but I've got a set of through sockets so you can get the alan key on and turn the nut at the same time, a good goose necked ring spanner should do the job, but nut is 18 mm and I've only 19 & 17mm I'm sure they do that on purpose.

As for the struts/coils, I'm lowering mine next year and want the ride to be firm for even better handling but I'm still looking around for what ones I'm going for.

 

[slayllian]

:|

As many of you could confirm the suspension is SO hard. I feel every little dink in the road and it feels like the shock is being absorbed by my wheels and nothing else, which is common with older ford models.

Try a Suzuki Swift Sport or Mini Cooper S and don't fit coil overs or poly bushes if you think the standard puma is hard! lol.

Hi welcome along btw! :grin:

 

[thehappybusker]

Thanks for all your advice. I'm basically not gonna go with sports bushes like the POwerlines but also not Ford! The quest continues.

 

[luke55]

Does the 1.4 have the same set up as the 1.7? Or what about the 1.4 Fiesta?

Agree the Puma is relatively firm but it is nothing compared to modern equivalents with low profile runflats. Once my Puma dies I expect to be forced into a larger diesel

 

[fatdonger]

Thanks for all your advice. I'm basically not gonna go with sports bushes like the POwerlines but also not Ford! The quest continues.

Not come across this brand of sport bushes but my electricity comes over powerlines up here.