getting car lowered and darkening windows

As far as I am aware, it's illegal for the front windscreen of a car to be tinted dark all over. The reason for this is not one of identification - your number plate is there for that - moreover, it's that other drivers need to see that you are looking at them... which is very important at junctions, turning lanes, etc. It is also somewhat difficult to see through tinted glass at night time.. meaning you could easily go off the road and kill yourself.. or someone else.

I'm having difficulty in locating an 'official' source of legal information regarding tinted windows but I do remember this question coming up in conversation before.

Dunno what to suggest re: getting the car lowered, sorry...

Nuttzz wrote:

get it lowered? Do you every look at the state of the roads we drive on, ensure that you have a metal oil stump protector

dam, someone got there first.
anyways, a good source of info always (for me anyways) are the good people at maxed-ie.net/forums

TBH honest I wouldn't bother lowering it by much more than bout 10 mm - the state of the roads and the presence of speed ramps everywhere kinda makes it nastier. A good mechanic should be able to sort it no bother - most times you need new coils etc - not too sure on the ole price though.

Tinting is a fickle thing. You can generally get away with 'l black'- on the rear window and rear-side windows. The driver/passenger windows in the front are a real grey area - some places won't tint it much darker than 'light smoke' others will do the whole 'limo black' thing for you. AFAIK there's currently no legislation in this country regarding it - so most places, Gardai included, use the Uk guidlines of about 20/30% tint on the front sides. With mirrored tint it's easier. Most types are actually completely clear or only very slightly tinted from the inside so you can get the whole car done faily legally. I do know of a people who were pulled by the Gardai because of it, but once the Garda was satisfied that vision was not obscured in any way, they were let go. Most tinting companies tint.it for example charge about €300 depending on size of car and amount to be done. You'd be wise to shop around though - prices vary greatly on area of country and even area of Dublin.

Word of warning though, from experience, expect more scrutiny from the Gardai if you do get the car tinted. They tend to assume that if you have you're car tinted you're a drug dealer or something and watch you like hawks.

Yeah, you need to buy lowering springs made for the particular Focus. Lowering springs are usually progressively wound (which means the more weight on them, the more resistance they give back) and powder coated (you don't want rusty springs ) There are many places online that sell springs (in the UK)
e.g. here:

http://www.dcp-shop.co.uk/catalog/default.php?cPath=292

I bought my springs here. (Cheapest place I found) I've ordered a few bits and pieces from them and I found them very helpful and VERY good shipping costs. (Just drop them a mail and ask them about shipping to Ireland)

If you were to go for GMax springs, here are the options...

http://www.dcp-shop.co.uk/catalog/default.php?currency=EUR&cPath=292_1168_1210_1215&sort=2a&page=1

As far as quality goes, GMax are OK and good value, but Billstein and Eibach are a couple of the best manufacturers.

Another site:

http://www.espdesign.co.uk/snapshots.asp?cat=11

As already said you're handling will improve as the car will have a lower centre of gravity. Also, lowering the car on wheels that are already quite big may require arch work (rolling the arches), but this all depends on the drop and wheel size aswell as the car. Focus can handle 18s AFAIK so shouldn't be a problem in your case. Lowering will also reduce that awful gap between the tyre and the arch
You'll have be a lot more careful on Ireland's crappy roads though, and really take it easy on those some of those speed bumps. It's not a huge problem though, unless you have a really low body kit fitted As long as you're not a maniac who bounces off potholes.

When you get the springs you'll be wishing you bought uprated dampers to match or a nice set of coilovers

Also note that, depending on how low you intend to go, you may need to uprate your dampers also (I think anything bigger than a 40mm drop will require new dampers)

As for fitting them, I don't know anywhere in Dublin that will do it for a reasonable price ???? Local mechanic is probably your best bet, unless you can do them yourself and have the correct tools (torque wrench, spring compressor etc.)

Hope this helps,

DC.

ando wrote:

BTW, it cost €300 for the springs + labour @ Motorway in Blanchardstown.

Ando, just curious, how much did Motorway fit the Eibachs for ?

Cheers,

DC.

"As already said you're handling will improve as the car will have a lower centre of gravity"

ONLY as long as you have enough suspension travel left not to hit the bump stops. Dropping your average car by 40mm in Ireland may indeed make it handle better on smooth roads, but that's 40mm less suspension travel at every bump, crater & speed ramp. To put this in perspective, I drove an Alfa 156 for a while. Great car, but quite low. A Peugeot 406 I had before, although not as powerful a car, was much faster on all but smooth roads. The reason - more suspension travel.