My LCR Since '05 with Static+ Front Air Lift - Project Gone to a New Home.

[James23Parkin]

ECS Rear Centering Plates...and we're there...

This baby arrived from PSI Tuning via the states yesterday, which was the reason why it took three weeks to get here. Great customer service from PSI Tuning though, and they gave free next day delivery to compensate for the delay. Will definitely use them again.

I also purchased Powerflex rear beam bushes to complete the rear, and they came a couple of weeks ago. Here’s a quick pic…

As mentioned in a previous post, these are ECS Rear Wheel Centering plates. They have been developed for the VW Golf Mk4 platform, but are suitable for Mk1 TT fitment too. I’ve not seen them on a Leon yet but the rear beam is the same so they should fit perfectly.

Along with the Static+ Air Lift system, I've wanted to achieve a really nice seated look, but still have practicality when driving. With the rear end lowered, you’ll know that the rear wheels tend to sit forward in the arch. With the ECS plates, they re-centre the wheels within the arch whilst allowing ther car to sit as low as you want, which is great IMO.

From watching the ECS video on how to fit these, it seems simple enough, so I’ll have ago at fitting these as and when I get chance. I did hope to do it today but last night got the better of me...

I did manage to feed an uprated switch wire to my compressor. It works a treat now, so the Static+ system is now fully functional It takes seven seconds to lift 50 mm (75psi) and one second to drop the front. It’s such a brilliant system and has complimented the ride on the KWs so well. £600 well spent IMO.

Here’s a link for Stance.Solutions: http://www.stance-solutions.co.uk/home

Although posted in previous posts, here’s a reminder of how the system sits in my car. It’s all my own work with parts sourced individually in order to avoid the extra £300 price tag.

To finish the boot off, I’d like to make a false floor and ditch the original boot carpet as it’s pretty worn. My thinking is a MDF base board fully clothed with a 20 inch circle cut out the middle to show the spare wheel, then a further MDF board that’ll be fully clothed, with no cut outs/markings, that could be used every day but removed if I wanted to show the boot off – keeping with the OEM look. Will be a nice project to complete as and when I get some time (I’ve already bought the cloth and 6mm MDF sheet).

So, I think this is the first Leon with the Stance.Solutions kit fitted, and I think it might be used as an example by Adam Shepherd’s company on his website/FB site. We’ll see though…

For now, thanks for reading. Please feel free to ask any questions. Hopefully I can be of help…

James

 

[deansutherland]

Great thread buddy just read the whole thing its brilliant yellow is the best I recently bought a carbon cover for my lc so after seeing how well u got on with the carbon mods kit mite try do a few bits to mine , such a great job uve done

 

[James23Parkin]

Great thread buddy just read the whole thing its brilliant yellow is the best I recently bought a carbon cover for my lc so after seeing how well u got on with the carbon mods kit mite try do a few bits to mine , such a great job uve done

Thanks Dean The Carbon Mods kit really is a great bit of kit; so easy to use and you can achieve great results that seem to last. The kit was recommended by D.K. on here, who is known as the 'Carbon King'. He gave some good tips, but the CM instructions are very informative.

Thanks once again for the nice feedback

 

[James23Parkin]

Fitting Guide: ECS Rear Wheel Centering Plates

Following the above posts, I today managed to find some time to fit my ECS Rear Wheel Centering Plates. As these are quite new to the market and, to the best of my knowledge, they haven’t been fitted to the Leon yet, I thought I would do a mini fitting guide, following the brief overview provided within post #321.

How the car sat before starting:

Tools needed: Ply Bar,
Torque Wrench,
Ratchet with Extension Bar,
8mm Allen Key,
17mm and 15mm sockets.
You will also need a Jack, and Axle Stands.

Time taken: This took me two hours to complete.

• The first thing to do is to jack the car up and rest the rear on Axle Stands. You need both Rear Wheels lifted off the ground, as movement within Rear Beam will be needed when you drop it from the car.

• Once up, I located the two areas where I would need to work. I sprayed the 8 bolts (4 each side) with WD40 and wire brushed them. Here’s a pic from the Driver’s side:

• Whilst letting the WD40 do its thing, I removed the bolts locating the RARB to the Suspension Shocks, to allow more manoeuvrability.

• Using the 17mm socket, Ratchet and Extension Bar, loosen the 4 bolts. Please note, ECS recommend doing one side at a time, but I dropped the Rear Beam and rested it on the Jack at the centre point so that it gave me more room to fit the plates. Be careful not to full on the Hard Brake Lines. Bolts undone:

• With the 4 bolts undone on both sides, using the plates and x4 bolts, locate the plates in the existing chassis holes. This is done with an 8mm Alley Key.

• With both plates fitted, it’s now time to locate the Rear Beam holes with the newly located fixing holes on the plates. I used a 15mm socket, Ratchet and Extension Bar to do this.

• All the new bolts were torqued up to the recommended 55lbs.

• With them now in place, relocate the RARB fixing bolts, remove the car from the Axle Stands, and that’s it. Job Done! Here’s a pic of it all buttoned up.

Over the last few months, I’ve become more familiar with mechanics and suspension pieces in particular, as I’ve fitted everything myself. I wouldn’t consider myself to be nothing more than a keen amateur with a developing knowledge base. These are very simple to fit, as long as you’ve got a good technique to remove the aged bolts, and the right equipment. The ECS video for fitting is very useful. The above guide has been done to show just how simple these are to fit. It’s definitely satisfying to know that you’ve saved yourself some money on labour.

More to follow…

 

[James23Parkin]

Continued...

Review:

So these ECS Cenetring Plates are designed to overcome the displacement for anyone who has lowered their cars by more than 1.75 inches. The next 2 pictures show the before and after of the displacement, whilst the wheel is raised in the air.

Without plates: you can see that the wheel sits in the middle of the arch, but as it lowered onto the ground, the wheel creeps forward, and this is why the wheel sits forward in the arch at its resting point.

With plates: You can see that they are well to the rear of the arch when raised, but as you lower the car onto the ground, the wheel is located more centrally within the wheel arch. As low as you want to go, the wheel will remain within the central resting point.

So, I apologise for the ‘samey pictures’ but you can see that I’ve managed to achieve the look that I wanted.

Some might think £88 (including delivery) is a little much for what they are. However, I’ve never been keen on how the rear wheels creep forward when the car is lowered. This kit has allowed me to achieve what I wanted, which is a nice stance fitting the OEM+ theme.

I hope you’ve found this useful? Please feel free to ask any questions/make comments.

Thanks for reading

 

[jonjay]

Brilliant James, really impressed!

I would take the front up 5mm. Not because it would look better but for handling purposes.

 

[deansutherland]

Looks so much better tbh I think that price ain't to.bad I can see a lot of guys on this site going for them good job

 

[James23Parkin]

Brilliant James, really impressed!

I would take the front up 5mm. Not because it would look better but for handling purposes.

Thanks Maz! I have front airlift, so it is driven 50mms higher. I does driven so much better when raised. I'll allow the rears to settle a little and then will lower it to suit the front, which think is spot on?

Hope you're keeping well Maz? You still enjoying detailing?

Thanks

 

[James23Parkin]

Looks so much better tbh I think that price ain't to.bad I can see a lot of guys on this site going for them good job

Thanks Dean. I hope others see the benefits. Arching rubbing for one. Looks subtly so much better really pleased....

James

 

[drka-drka]

I need to find out why these won't work with air

 

[Ronin225]

Good work on the ECS plates, i thought you may have rebushed the rear beam when you fitted them
As Maz said i'd raise the front a bit as you are running very low, ideally for handling you want the wishbones as flat as possible

 

[DOLBY]

Love it James, I really do. Sits lovely.

I understand how annoying that rear wheel creep forward thing is when the leon is mega lowered.

I bet your chuffed with it. I would be...


Sent from my iPhone when I should be working....

 

[browndk04]

Just read through this. Some amazing work the car, looks amazing!

 

[AdamRoutley]

I have been looking at the Static+ since stumbling onto this thread and I'm now considering it!

Does it have to be either fully down or fully up...or can you have it half filled?

Car looks epic BTW

 

[James23Parkin]

I need to find out why these won't work with air

Derek, my thoughts on this are with the plates fitted, when the wheel is raised, the wheel is well back into the arch. here's a picture of the rear jacked up, to illustate this:

I don't think your air ride would go quite that high... But, with the car raised, I wonder whether the wheel would creep to the rear on the arch, rather than remaining centre as it does for you at the moment.

Once on its belly, you'd achieve a central position. Maybe, your rear ride height at driving height would need to be just a tad lower than it is at the moment, to avoid the wheel sitting back and potentially catching the arches.

What I would say is that you rear tuck when resting looks so good IMO. I perhaps wouldn't use these.

Hope this helps?

 

[James23Parkin]

Good work on the ECS plates, i thought you may have rebushed the rear beam when you fitted them
As Maz said i'd raise the front a bit as you are running very low, ideally for handling you want the wishbones as flat as possible

Thanks Ronin. I'm not going to raise the front as it's on Air. when the car drives, it's raised anything up to 50mm. I wouldn't dare drive it that low. This was why it took me forever to fit my coilovers, and why I fitted the Static+ Air Lift system. It's a great bit of kit.

I just didn't have the will to fight the rear beam bushes yesterday. It was awkward under there. I've heard that the OEM bushes are difficult to remove, well awkward. I've done alot recently, and just felt that I had enough of fitting bits onto the car... I'll see but my thought s are I'll get the garage to fit them when I have the wheels aligned... Cheating I know!

Thanks for the comments.

Love it James, I really do. Sits lovely.

I understand how annoying that rear wheel creep forward thing is when the leon is mega lowered.

I bet your chuffed with it. I would be...


Sent from my iPhone when I should be working....

Just read through this. Some amazing work the car, looks amazing!

I am chuffed. It's a nice little mod. I just want the rear to settle so I can lower it just a tad and even the height at all four corners. I don't want it to be unpractical and crazy low, but just so it compliments the front when siiting low, and shows the full benefits of the ECS Centering Plates. Thanks for comments buddy

I have been looking at the Static+ since stumbling onto this thread and I'm now considering it!

Does it have to be either fully down or fully up...or can you have it half filled?

Car looks epic BTW

Cheers Adam. Sitting low is at 0 PSI. With a raise of 25mm it sits at 60 PSI, and at full lift it sits at 80 PSI. So in short, you can drive it at the height you want it, and despite the pressures applied, it doesn't hinder the quality of the ride that your coilovers would normally give. I have a smooth and practical ride, but looks pretty nice too when at 0 PSI.

It's a clever system. The only negative at the moment is that it still gives a slight creek when you lower it down. I'm told this normal and will settle in time (I've only driven 50 miles over the last 6 weeks or so), but there's a guy on Vortex, who has made plates out of polyurethane to stop the metal base running against the top of the coilover spring, which is the cause of this.

I would definitely recommend this kit. Hope this helps?

 

[jonjay]

Thanks Maz! I have front airlift, so it is driven 50mms higher. I does driven so much better when raised. I'll allow the rears to settle a little and then will lower it to suit the front, which think is spot on?

Hope you're keeping well Maz? You still enjoying detailing?

Thanks

Yea I am fine mate, still enjoying detailing. Keeps me away from staring at a computer screen at the weekend! I get enough of that during the week!

 

[Laggo]

Have them ESC adaption plates effected your tyre wear / tracking atall? other then that i want some ! haha

 

[N3LLY]

Nice car pal! Never been keen on yellow cars but yours looks pretty sweet!

 

[James23Parkin]

Nice car pal! Never been keen on yellow cars but yours looks pretty sweet!

Thanks.

Have them ESC adaption plates effected your tyre wear / tracking atall? other then that i want some ! haha

Absolutely no camber issues mate. Helps with any arch rubbing issues, as it sits more centrally when low, and makes the car's rear end look so much better, IMO

Worth the money if you ask me...