littlebrownbike

Got the car back 30 minutes ago, it’s as high as a range rover but it was a risk I had to take. The ride is smoother as you'd expect and there is quite a bit of roll, however I didn't get the chance to test the handling. Although I did chuck it over a roundabout and it did seem to have plenty more grip, I will report back tonight and get a wheel alignment in the morning.

Cheers, think I know everything I need to for the time being. Cheers for all the help Tony!

Getting back to this issue... How does raising the car change the SAI, or is it the camber that changes hence the SR is out? You say 15* SAI is very declined, what should it be? When cornering there seems to be a lot of road feeling through the steering wheel but not much grip, apparently this is because of positive scrub radius. I drew this rough diagram to help my understanding, is it correct; to an extent?

Lets expand on the original topic. A lot of this is new to me so forgive me if anything is wrong. Brown Line - The more tyre here the better? Blue Line - The scrub radius, on most cars the red and purple line should meet at the bottom? Green Line - Any tyre behind the KP is of no use when cornering? Have I go that right?

I've spent a bit of time with Gavin's Mondeo and although it sits quite high I would be happy with it, at least the tyres will last longer and what not. Tony, is there any unforeseen problems I could encounter once the old springs are back on? Like the camber not being able to return to normal etc?

It will cost me £60-80 to get the springs changed, so its a faction of the cost compared to the camber adjusters. I've spent too much money on the 18's to get rid of them, might as well make the most of them eh! Will sell the Eibachs and 16's and hopefully get some money back.

Will do mate

Let’s hope so, I have no reason to think it won't as the car was perfect before the springs went on. It will roll more but it will have twice the grip and be more comfortable, at the moment whenever I go round a corner I can hear a groaning sound from the tyres as they begin to reach their limit of adhesion, despite me turning into a corner gently at 10mph Once again, thanks to everyone who posted in this thread; you've helped me a lot :)

Sorry can you explain what you mean please?

These wheels are called 'megs whore wheels' because I am the third person on the site to own them, the guy replaced them as he wan't the Titanium X version which have the exact same size & offset. Gonna to try and find a garage that will put the old springs on, I'll be mega p**sed if nothing changed; I wouldn't put it past my luck

To be honest I've got to the end of my tether with the car, I can't really afford or justify £120 for the camber kit, + fitting + realignment so I'm just going to pop the old springs back on it. Too bad it'll need realigning again but oh well, it's a learning curve. Thanks very much for all your help.

Just got back, this is all they could give me. I told him how when I drive through a puddle the outside of the tyre doesn't pick up much water because its barely touching the surface. He told me if I can get a camber adjust kit then he can fix it for me. The good news is I phoned Eibach and they told me the camber adjustable kit for the Mk2 mondeo will work on models upto 2007, this costs £122 from Demon Tweeks Although they don't do one for the rear...

To add to the fire, here is Micks report for his petrol mondeo with eibachs, it handles sweetly on 18's and 19's despite the caster being at maximum tolerance.

Why is it whenever I have a problem its always a bugger to fix I'll ask the alignment centre to double check everything, is there anything I can suggest to them that will help bring the scrub radius to zero? (thats what I need right?)

They are the ones that came with them. I have SportContact2 on the front and Dunlop Sport 9000 on the back. Gavins motor has SportContact all round and grips really well so I know they are a good tyre.

Yep same engine, same struts, same Eibach springs (40/30). My tyres are good too so thats not the cause!

Yes they are genuine mate, not sure on the offset for the 16's it didn't appear to say on them! I spoke with Kauzydog and Sisson and they said that the Eibachs have helped their handling, infact I bought these wheels off Sisson!

Have tried 32 psi all round mate, just makes it feel a bit sluggish and heavy.

Offical figure is 38/34 but I've experimented around and found it to be of little use. The car drives fine in a straight line and respondes well to quick flicks but thats about it! I plan to pay the alignment centre a visit tomorrow and make sure they used the right settings, as I think they used the petrol 4 pot settings as opposed to the diesel/v6. Failing that should I ask them if they can try and set the scrub radius to as close to zero as possible? I've spoken to a few other people who have the same setup as me and they've all set they've got no compliants Thanks in advance.

Not sure if this means anything but there were some markings on the inside of the alloys. ET 52.5 and 16h2 1s,7j-ba on the other :S Edit: Can't I just go back to the alignment centre and ask them to put more positive/negative camber on?

Back to this... I did a track day on the 16" wheels the other day and the car was perfect, all of the tyre was making full contact with the road as it was nice and evenly warn! I have now put the 18"'s back on once again have noticed a loss in handling, driving through puddles and mud shows the outside of the tyre isn't making full contact with the ground; as you can see in my picture! So is this the scrub radius? Theres no camber kit for the Mk3 so it looks like I'm screwed, but saying that I know someone who is on standard dampers but lowered -30mm (mines 40/30) yet their car handles how it should, so whats up with that? Now I'm seriously tempted to put my original springs back on, the garage want £80 for them fitted and I'll probably have to pay another £60 for a wheel alignment but thats the price you pay, I hate things not working how they should and I love the look of the larger wheels but hate the scary handling. I'm just worried that it won't resolve the problem! Sorry to keep going on, but all comments welcome.

Edit: all sorted now, cheers.

I've just started to swop my alloys over for a track day in a few days time but I can't get the last alloy off! Ironically it was the one put on by the monkey at the tyre garage. I've been trying so hard that the nuts have lost a little bit of shape. Any tips on how to get it off, is WD40 ok on alloys? Thanks in advance!!

That is a cracking bit of knowledge that

Its possible, I'd have to measure the gap; Eibach do spacers from 30-50mm I think! Would only use them on track days though due to the extra wear n tear they cause, thats if they did provide any benefit.