[tdog]

Raised it back to stock. Everyone in my house is driving the car and the kids aren't very good about exiting the driveway carefully before the drop. After the drop it requires an extreme angle to get out without scraping the front end. My wife suggested I put it back up and I had to agree. It looked a little silly leaving the driveway like I was driving a slammed tuner car. Hehe. I did like the way the car handled and looked. I'd consider a nice set of coilovers with the correct spring rates so I can control the height and make sure the ride was as good or better than stock. I'll be posting my Abarth springs for sale in the classifieds.

 

[georges]

Another one done!

I worked on it on Friday afternoon. Looks great. The back went down 2", didn't check the front.
My airdam would hit going up the driveway before lowering so I'm used to going in at an angle.
Dips driveways and speedbumps all need more care. If it gets too bad with me and my daughter driving it I may have to raise it back up also.

Before

Just the back

after

 

[tdog]

Your back end looks higher than mine did, odd....

 

[Tweak]

Your back end looks higher than mine did, odd....

Angle of the driveway perhaps?

 

[RNDDUDE]

OK, I admit it, I started this whole "lower your 500e" thing when I wondered if using takeoff Abarth springs might work. When I went ahead and decided to do it, and I had the car apart and was comparing stock vs. Abarth springs side-by-side, I was concerned about two things. First, would the drop be what I wanted, height-wise. And second, what would the ride be like. As it turns out, the lowered stance was exactly what I had hoped for, about 1" lower in front and the car level front-to-rear. My big concern was the change in spring rates. The stock 'e' front spring was 13mm wire, the Abarth was 15mm wire (much stiffer). The stock 'e' rear spring was 13mm wire, the Abarth was only 12mm wire. That was my biggest concern, perhaps too soft for the cars much heavier rear axle loading. Actually, the stiffer front was great, better turn-in and flatter cornering. It turns out my concern was justified rear-end wise. Although for normal driving it was OK, the car exhibited a bit of rear "pogo-ing" on big bumps at highway speeds. If I had a choice, I would have preferred the rear springs to be the same height and number of turns, but be a 13mm wire or even 14mm wire to up the spring rate a bit (more on this later). It occurred to me that I might be able to deal with this problem with a rear shock upgrade. I noticed on the forum that many Abarth owners have gone the Koni Yellow route at the rear, which is an adjustable rebound dampening shock. Although the Koni site lists them fitting all 500 gasser models, no mention was made of the 500e, but as the 'e' has the Abarth rear axle, I was pretty sure they would fit properly. The biggest hurdle was the price...$345 a set, and no guarantee that they would improve my ride problems. After driving the 405 to work daily, and dealing with the half-dozen or so giant, bump-stop compressing heaves in the road, I pulled the trigger and ordered some from a forum vendor (best price I could find anywhere). When I was doing the swap this weekend, and I could compare the stock vs. Koni dampening off the car, I found that the compression dampening only mildly more stiff on the Koni's. Of course the rebound dampening can adjusted infinitely on the Koni's, so I opted to initially set them 1/2 turn up from full soft, which was a bit stiffer than the stockers. This morning was the first real test, my 405 commute and those 6 big hits. Well, I am now a believer, they improved the big bump dampening quite nicely. I might even dial in another half-turn of rebound. Now , as to those soft rear springs...as my friend John (silversport) noted, he met a guy who said Eibach can and would custom-wind springs to your specs, so I/we are going to explore that as an option....basically a Stock height Abarth rear spring, but with 13 or 14mm wire size. That would likely raise the rear back up 1/2" or so, and give a better spring rate for the extra rear weight of the 'e'. And the Koni's could be adjusted to deal with the stiffer spring rate easily. We will report on our Eibach findings later. In the meantime, for those who have done the Abarth spring swap, I do recommend the Koni yellows.

 

[Dr Obnxs]

If you're gonna get custom springs rolled, go ahead and spec the ride height you want. Eibach will know what they need to do in terms of turns and uncompressed length as a function of wire diameter to give you the spring rate and ride height that you want.

Great start to the handling improvements. Because of the different weight bias, I'm not surprised that springs from just one kit would work well. If there is an aftermarket spring that is much stiffer but doesn't lower much would be good place to look.

 

[TAGMS]

So basically i went ahead with the Eibach Sport Springs, and took OFF the H&R's and i haveto say - Night & Day difference already. It rides much better however it is still firm - and sometimes a little too firm.

I'm working on a few other solutions as well. Here is some images of my car lowered on 17" Neuspeed wheels and the Eibach Sportlines.






http://www.tagmotorsports.com

 

[RNDDUDE]

TAGMS, sweet looking ride! Looks just like mine except for the wheels. I was looking at wheels online today, and I finally settled on a set that is a carbon copy of your Neuspeeds (but a different brand). Do you know the bare wheel weight of those wheels? And where did you get your TPMS sensors from, and how much were they? (I am assuming you did TPMS...)

 

[Tweak]

GTR or Neuspeed (look similar) are sweet looking wheels, add the lowering and you've got a really sweet looking ride TAGMS.

 

[N S]

Here is some images of my car lowered on 17" Neuspeed wheels and the Eibach Sportlines.

Nice! I almost went with that style wheel over the Abarth style I picked. Those look clean.

What option determines the bumper insert color? I never saw an option to configure white/black, white/white, black/white.

 

[FiatAmore]

OK, I admit it, I started this whole "lower your 500e" thing when I wondered if using takeoff Abarth springs might work. When I went ahead and decided to do it, and I had the car apart and was comparing stock vs. Abarth springs side-by-side, I was concerned about two things. First, would the drop be what I wanted, height-wise. And second, what would the ride be like. As it turns out, the lowered stance was exactly what I had hoped for, about 1" lower in front and the car level front-to-rear. My big concern was the change in spring rates. The stock 'e' front spring was 13mm wire, the Abarth was 15mm wire (much stiffer). The stock 'e' rear spring was 13mm wire, the Abarth was only 12mm wire. That was my biggest concern, perhaps too soft for the cars much heavier rear axle loading. Actually, the stiffer front was great, better turn-in and flatter cornering. It turns out my concern was justified rear-end wise. Although for normal driving it was OK, the car exhibited a bit of rear "pogo-ing" on big bumps at highway speeds. If I had a choice, I would have preferred the rear springs to be the same height and number of turns, but be a 13mm wire or even 14mm wire to up the spring rate a bit (more on this later). It occurred to me that I might be able to deal with this problem with a rear shock upgrade. I noticed on the forum that many Abarth owners have gone the Koni Yellow route at the rear, which is an adjustable rebound dampening shock. Although the Koni site lists them fitting all 500 gasser models, no mention was made of the 500e, but as the 'e' has the Abarth rear axle, I was pretty sure they would fit properly. The biggest hurdle was the price...$345 a set, and no guarantee that they would improve my ride problems. After driving the 405 to work daily, and dealing with the half-dozen or so giant, bump-stop compressing heaves in the road, I pulled the trigger and ordered some from a forum vendor (best price I could find anywhere). When I was doing the swap this weekend, and I could compare the stock vs. Koni dampening off the car, I found that the compression dampening only mildly more stiff on the Koni's. Of course the rebound dampening can adjusted infinitely on the Koni's, so I opted to initially set them 1/2 turn up from full soft, which was a bit stiffer than the stockers. This morning was the first real test, my 405 commute and those 6 big hits. Well, I am now a believer, they improved the big bump dampening quite nicely. I might even dial in another half-turn of rebound. Now , as to those soft rear springs...as my friend John (silversport) noted, he met a guy who said Eibach can and would custom-wind springs to your specs, so I/we are going to explore that as an option....basically a Stock height Abarth rear spring, but with 13 or 14mm wire size. That would likely raise the rear back up 1/2" or so, and give a better spring rate for the extra rear weight of the 'e'. And the Koni's could be adjusted to deal with the stiffer spring rate easily. We will report on our Eibach findings later. In the meantime, for those who have done the Abarth spring swap, I do recommend the Koni yellows.

You could have probably machined a spacer to put some preload on the springs to stiffen it up too...just an idea for others in same situation who don't want to buy yet another set of springs. Good to hear the Eibachs did the trick for you.

 

[RNDDUDE]

You could have probably machined a spacer to put some preload on the springs to stiffen it up too...just an idea for others in same situation who don't want to buy yet another set of springs. Good to hear the Eibachs did the trick for you.

Well, a dealer reply, no less! I think you misread some of my post. We are both running the stock ABARTH springs on our 500e. The custom-wound Eibachs for the rear only were just a possibility we were considering, but haven't done. A custom rear spring spacer would be a very complex piece to machine, as the spring perchs are not flat on the bottom, but match the spring end shape. An easier, cheaper solution would be to run the thicker lower rear cushions on both the bottom AND the top, that would raise the car a little bit higher (1/4"-3/8"), but sorry, spacers have no effect on spring rate ("stiffen it up"). But glad to hear about all of the 500e's your dealership has in stock. Welcome!

 

[FiatAmore]

Well, a dealer reply, no less! I think you misread some of my post. We are both running the stock ABARTH springs on our 500e. The custom-wound Eibachs for the rear only were just a possibility we were considering, but haven't done. A custom rear spring spacer would be a very complex piece to machine, as the spring perchs are not flat on the bottom, but match the spring end shape. An easier, cheaper solution would be to run the thicker lower rear cushions on both the bottom AND the top, that would raise the car a little bit higher (1/4"-3/8"), but sorry, spacers have no effect on spring rate ("stiffen it up"). But glad to hear about all of the 500e's your dealership has in stock. Welcome!

I guess I did misread, I thought you'd already put the Eibachs on. So if you are running the stock Abarth springs you still need it stiffer in the back, no? If you put more tension or preload on a spring it acts like a stiffer spring. Springs with adjustable preload do just that. No, it does not actually change the rate of the spring but it makes the car feel and react like it has stiffer springs. I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to machine such a spacer since I personally haven't seen the shock absorbers off the car, but it couldn't be too difficult for anyone with basic CNC skills.

 

[Nathan_h]

The front air dam on these cars is already super-car low. Be prepared to fix/deal with that.

​

Is there a reasonable way to remove that dam? It's always in the way.... even without my car being lowered.

 

[Tweak]

Is there a reasonable way to remove that dam? It's always in the way.... even without my car being lowered.

It is likely this question will lead to plenty of people stating why you shouldn't remove it...just saying.

 

[RNDDUDE]

One final mod I was going to do after lowering my "e" was to add the sway bar from an Abarth to the rear. As the rear axle is an Abarth version, the mounting holes are already there on the hubs. So I researched the parts for the dealer...way too expensive, so I found a set of outboard links from a wrecked abarth, plus the stock bar. I started to do the bolt up last weekend, which involves pulling the wheel, the caliper and it's mount, and loosening the backing plate. I actually bolted one outboard link in place and then realized that this would not work....because the space where the sway bar itself crosses between the wheels is occupied by the rearmost battery tray. Even thought about mounting the links pointing rearward, but still no room for the bar. So now I have a very nicely painted set of Abarth Swaybar outboard link arms, if anyone with an Abarth needs them. Dang, I was really hoping this mod would work.

 

[Nathan_h]

It is likely this question will lead to plenty of people stating why you shouldn't remove it...just saying.

That's true! But honestly, it is SO low profile, it drags on everything -- driveways, some wide speed bumps, parking lot entrances, etc., so sooner or later it will come off of its own accord.... and that could be dangerous in the wrong place (think large dangling plastic bar bouncing around under the front of the car on the freeway going 80mph).

 

[Tweak]

That's true! But honestly, it is SO low profile, it drags on everything -- driveways, some wide speed bumps, parking lot entrances, etc., so sooner or later it will come off of its own accord.... and that could be dangerous in the wrong place (think large dangling plastic bar bouncing around under the front of the car on the freeway going 80mph).

Fair enough. Just saying...good luck with removing it. It will hinder MPGs but by how much I do not know.

 

[Kato]

Any updates to this? Anybody figure out a sway bar solution or a better spring? Is the Eibach the ticket without changing rear shocks?

 

[silversport]

Hey Kato..both RND and I cut one coil off the stock 500e rear springs and it has worked perfectly to compliment the stock Abarth springs we have on the front. We also put some Koni yellows in the rear and that combo works to give a nice ride and a lowered stance. Car handles the corners so much better now. We are also both running 17" rims and low profile tires (7.5" wide rims). No rubbing, no issues. Look in the 500 forum under "zonker spring mod" for more info on the spring mod.