Eibach Pro-Kit Installation on the Lethal Performance Focus RS

[Chris@Lethal]

Figured some of you would like to see what it takes to install a set of the new Eibach lowering springs so I headed down to Power by the Hour Performance in Boynton Beach to follow the install. The rears are very easy to do. The fronts take a little more time and elbow grease to get done but aren't that bad.


REAR SPRINGS


Put the car on the lift and remove the rear wheels.

Support the lower control arm with a jack

Remove the bolt that secures the brake assembly to the lower control arm.

Once the bolt has been removed you can lower the jack.

We then used a pry par to help separate the control arm a little more giving us better access to remove the spring from it's perch.

Once the factory spring was removed we swapped the factory spring isolator over to the Eibach pro-kit spring.

Before installing the Eibach spring back into the perch we cleaned it out as it has small rocks and pebbles in it. After cleaning the perch out we installed the Eibach spring.

Once the Eibach spring was installed we used the jack to raise the control arm enough for us to re-install the lower control arm bolt.

Re-install the wheel and repeat the steps above for the other side.

 

[Chris@Lethal]

FRONT SPRINGS

Remove front wheels and wheel liners.

Remove the air vent cover from the cowl.

Remove the push pins along the factory cowl.

Once all of the push-pins have been removed you can then remove the plastic piece from under the cowl. This will give you proper access to the bolts that secure the strut to the strut mount.

Remove the push pins that secure the air duct to the control arm.

Remove the bolt that holds the front brake line to the strut. You'll also want to remove the brake line that's secured to the strut by the plastic ring bracket.

IMPORTANT STEP
The stud and bolt that holds the other brake line bracket in place needs to be done exactly like this using a allen socket on a drive along with a wrench. DO NOT USE AN IMPACT GUN ON THIS or you will ruin the bushing on the back side. Secure the stud with the allen socket and turn the wrench to loosen and then remove the nut.

For this part we tried it both ways and the way I'm going to lay out was quicker and easier to accomplish. This consists of keeping the strut bolted to the strut tower to help with the removal of the strut from the upper control arm where it mounts. Remove the bolt that secures the strut into the control arm.

Since we had a difficult time using a pry bar by itself to release the strut from the control arm we used a spreader bar which we tapped into place to help loosen things up before using the pry bar on it.

Then we used a pry bar to separate the strut from the control arm.

Once the strut was separated we then removed the 3 bolts that hold the strut to the strut tower.

Disconnect the wire that goes to the strut from the connector.

Then have someone feed the wire through the hole under the strut tower brace while the strut itself is lowered and removed from the car.

Install the strut assembly into the spring compressor.

Ford recommends a tool to help hold the strut in place while the center nut is loosened. As you can see we improvised with some factory bolts which did the trick.

You can then remove the nut holding the strut from the bottom so that it doesn't fall.

Guide the wire through the hole while lowering the strut slowly.

Once the strut has been lowered you can remove the strut mount from the top of the spring.

Remove the factory spring from the spring compressor and install/compress the Eibach front lowering spring.

Re-install the strut mount on the top of the spring and with someone helping you have them lift the strut and help feed the wire through the hole in the strut mount.

Thread the nut back on and tighten it using the recommended Ford tool or just how we did using the factory bolts and a bar to keep the strut mount from turning while tightening the nut.

Having someone help you, feed the wire back up through and under the strut tower bracing while lifting the strut into place. Make sure all bolt holes are aligned.
Re-install the 3 bolts that secure the strut to the mount.
Connect the factory wire into the connector.
Install the strut back into the control arm.
Remove the spreader bar and tighten the factory bolt that holds the strut into the control arm.
Re-install the brackets and lines just how they were when you removed them making sure to use the same method that I mentioned earlier which required the two tools and DO NOT USE AN IMPACT GUN.
Re-install the cowling, vents, wheel liner and wheel.

BOOM!!!


Hope this was useful to everyone here.

If you have any questions please let us know.

Here's the end result of how the Eibach Pro-Kit Focus RS springs look on our car. The car rides just like it did before but looks way better now that it's missing that big gap up front and in the rear.

Eibach 2016-2017 Focus RS Pro-Kit Performance Lowering Springs Lowering Springs Suspension 2016-2017 Ford Focus RS

 

[black03]

Here's a few more pics that Christy took today.

 

[SID297]

The stance looks great.

 

[99riocobra]

Not gonna lie seeing these lowered makes me think I may want one of these cars after all. Appreciate the helpful install tips.

Side note, are you running wheel spacers on this car?

 

[black03]

Not gonna lie seeing these lowered makes me think I may want one of these cars after all. Appreciate the helpful install tips.

Side note, are you running wheel spacers on this car?

No spacers are being used.

 

[ON D BIT]

Why short springs? Just improved stance or does it help grip and chassis geometry?

 

[AustinSN]

Why short springs? Just improved stance or does it help grip and chassis geometry?

Lowering the center of gravity is always a plus.

I've also heard on the STs that it gives you a bit more negative camber when you lower it. I would assume the RS its the same, that would be another plus.

 

[ON D BIT]

However lowering front rear roll center and messing around with roll axis allows weight of the car to do very different things when in midst of a turn. Not to mention losing new binding effects or loss of travel of the new suspension.

Lowering a car correctly is not merely putting shorter springs on a car.

 

[SoCalShark]

Great looking stance!