How low can
you go?
Okay, we want to lower the Peugeot 205 at the rear site... and that isn't a
job that will take a lot of time ! (with all the bolts, nuts and torsion bars
loosened I'll do it within an hour). Just make sure to follow all the points below in the
exact same order.
So, carefully read the story below before you start: it will save you a lot of time and misery. At the end you'll notice the job is quite easy and almost fun to do .... if nothing is rusted too badly... On my CTi I had to do the job 3 times just to achieve the desired driving height
My height-advice is:
"Looking straight against the side of the tyre you'll need appr. 1-2cm (a finger) space between the upside of the tyre and the bottom side of the plastic wheel arch. Doing so will preserve the comfort and also creates the look you want.
How to do it ..
!!! L+R means you'll have to do something on the Left and Right side of the car !!!
Start putting the car on a level, straight surface (like in a garage).
Remove the spare tyre and the bracket where it's lying in ( watch the little (white) plastic clip not to jump away !).
Watch it !: if the bolt doesn't loosen immediately you'd better use a little sharp pointed hammer-tool to loosen the bolt. Doing so will damage the bolt minimally and you'll be able to use it again in the future !)
Peugeot has a special tool for this job. It's a bar with a weight attached... you'll screw the bar in the torsion bar and using the weight you can remove the torsion bar out of it's housing. I used a home-made pulling tool which contains a big size socket (26mm), a M8x50mm bolt and something like 10 large size washers to fill up the space between bolt and socket.
Now put the socket over the screw hole of the torsion bar and screw the bolt into the torsion bar. Gently screw the bolt in and try to pull the torsion bar out of it's housing doing so. The job might go easier when jacking up the suspension arm a little bit. Always be careful with the end of the torsion bars since these fit very precise, and a little flaw (damage) will cause them not to fit anymore.
Pay attention that the measurement in point 11 and 17 is not 100% the result in the end. The suspension arm will fall 1 or 2 cm down by removing the jack... so the best thing to do is after a try to lower the arm, release it from the jack and measure it again Push the suspension arm down and let it get back in place by itself.
Just to save some work and to be sure you'll get a good result (same ride height at both the left and the right side) you can now put the car back on it's wheels. Again, measure both the Left and Right side... and if there's any difference I'd do the right side again (from point 17). Or, if you don't like the result (to high or too low) you'd better start from point 8 again. Everything okay ?? >> put the car back on blocks and:
Now you can measure again and compare the figures with the ones at the start.
If it all went like it was supposed to the height on the Left & Right of the car is pretty much the same.... and your Pug a little closer to the street..
Good luck !
Ps: Thanks Gareth, for checking and correcting some of the worst English mistakes... really appreciate it !