Spax VSX Sports Suspension

The cheapest Suspension kit for the Mondeo that includes Springs and Shocks. So not consider any mods that just change the springs. You do need matching Dampers

The Spax VSX kit claims to lower the car by 35mm front and rear

The VSX kit includes everything you need to do the job apart from spring compressors. It was surprisingly easy to do and all four units took 4 hours. You do not need to remove any suspension components, bushes or even the brakes!

Changing each unit consists of undoing to top mount (Fronts are easy as you can see them under the bonnet, rears take a little longer as they are under the boot carpet and cover) and then jacking up the corner, undoing the bottom pinch bolt and the whole lot comes off in your hand, that's it, amazingly easy.

Putting on the units is just the reverse except you have to use the spring compressors to allow the top of the shock to rise up enough to get the top mount back on.

The Spax kit come in plain brown boxes with no instructions, its was easy to tell what went where though especially with the old unit alongside. Amazingly the old dampers actually looked in reasonable condition after 80k miles and there were no oil leaks

Once on it was immediately obvious that the car was lower. In fact a lot lower, 55mm rear an 50mm front. A bit too low in fact. But taking it for a ride removed all doubts. OK you cant go over a speed hump any more, but you can corner at any speed and shoot round bends and bouts at the full speed limit. Brilliant

So I was prepared to live with the low ground clearance for the sake of the ride. Camber and Caster were unaffected but toe in/out had to be reset

Long term evaluation:

The Spax's have been on for 30k miles now (1.5 years). The rear has sagged another 10mm taking it to 75mm and is now lower than the front. The springs have also softened. Handling is still good but not as good as it once was, and the rear is lower than the front which cannot be good for the underside aerodynamics.

The Springs red enamelling has come off in places and the black enamelling on the shock has also come off towards the top seals resulting in a lot of rust on the upper bodies of the shocks. No oil leaks though

Spax although initially sounding interested have not answered any of my e-mails or written letters to get them to address the corrosion and excessive sag and lowering. In short as the Guarantee has only half a year left Spax are not interested. Poor service from them and of course it means they receive a lot of bad publicity on this site and the Mondeo and Contour Enthusiasts group sites

Summary:

DO NOT BUY SPAX COMPONENTS

Do however upgrade your suspension. I will be replacing the Spax's with Koni top adjustable Coil-overs very soon. Having talked to several mechanics they all say Koni and Eibach are good and all laugh at Spax. Isn't hindsight wonderful, as usual do not go for the cheapest

I also know of 3 others who fitted this kit and all report the excessive lowering