Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Suspension BAT Kit - BEWARE!!!!!

I've had my BAT European handling kit on my '95 SE for 2 years, and I just got off the phone with Ford to order a full stock replacement to get back to the wonderful handling car I once had. The BAT kit is garbage! Here's my experience:
1) unbalanced front-to-read: This has caused my hair to stand on end more than once
2) Floats in transitions: It made my agile SE into a run-of-the-mill econo-sedan. I've totally lost confidence in the car and have had to retreat to more conservative driving - dropping the fun-to-drive quotient down to average
3) Low, lower, and lower still... After 2 years the springs are sagging noticably in the front!!! I can see more and more of the individual coils compressing to rest on one another!
4) Impossible to align properly - 3 alignments, experimenting with various settings to fix the problem as recommended by BAT - result: $79.99 x 3....
5) The kicker - on the weekend I went to change over to my winters, and to my delight I found my 3 month old Bridgestone S-03s bald on the inside! That's $500 worth of tire in one summer. Of course it's because I'm riding around on a bottomed out front-end. Oh, and btw, that's the second set of tires I've gone through trying to get the responsiveness back into my car, plus I returned a third on a 30day money back because I didn't suspect the suspension at first (Sorry Bridgestone - I guess I didn't need the S-03s after all).

DO NOT BUY THIS KIT!!!!!!

Because I'm a fair guy, I'll give the positives: Lower car looks better, and with BAT, it gets lower each year, so I guess it looks better each year too. Also, the kit does soak up bumps better than stock, but at the cost of handling and responsiveness. It cruises nice at highway speed, but I was afraid of offramps.

But, next week my stock SE kit will be in and I'll be back in true form for spring when I get my S-03s (+ 2 new ones) back on.

Anyone want to pay shipping on a full 2-year old BAT kit???

Dude that sucks. I was looking at buying it but decided not to. I can get either Eibach, H&R, or considering Roush springs. How did the struts hold out? Or was it the combo of springs and struts? Sorry.

I can't say that the struts have given any problems and I'm going to keep the rear struts as the only BAT component, but because the '95 models use a pigtail spring design up front, the steel strut 'seat' of the BAT strut won't accomodate the stock '95 spring. So, that means, back to the '95 strut design as well. I'd like to try something else, but I figure I've only got a few good years left in the car, and I'm going with a sure thing. The '95 and '96 SEs had agressive stock set-ups, very similar to later-year SVTs, so I figure I can't miss. I'm waiting for the 2nd model run of the Mazda 6, then the 'tour is history.

You can use a 98+ strut/spring on the front.

I love my kit! Been a year and no problems to report. Oh and the alignment is spot on.

I wonder if then fact that mine is a 98 and you have a 95 has anything to do with it?

As far as the inside of your tires being worn, that will happen with any kit unless you get camber adjusters

Yah, you might be right. There might be some geometry changes in the strut tower on newer models. I expected tire wear, but was assured by BAT that it wouldn't be a problem. So maybe the kit is fine on 97+ models. But what's with the sagging springs??? Maybe they shipped me 4 cyl Mondeo springs. Whatever the case, I wouldn't recommend to anyone.

Mine's as tight s a drum, though I'll admit I've only had it on for about 2-3 months. Alignment was off by a mile initially, though after letting settle for a couple of weeks and getting a 4-wheel alignment, it tracks as straight as an arrow. Camber is within specs, though just barely. I'm assuming that I'll have to get a camber kit when the springs start to relax up front, though I'm aware of the situation and my alignment guy is too, so we know what to look for.

Handling has been a dream. Sorry to hear about your experience.

Originally posted by Carlos:

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I've had my BAT European handling kit on my '95 SE for 2 years, and I just got off the phone with Ford to order a full stock replacement to get back to the wonderful handling car I once had. The BAT kit is garbage! Here's my experience:
1) unbalanced front-to-read: This has caused my hair to stand on end more than once
2) Floats in transitions: It made my agile SE into a run-of-the-mill econo-sedan. I've totally lost confidence in the car and have had to retreat to more conservative driving - dropping the fun-to-drive quotient down to average
3) Low, lower, and lower still... After 2 years the springs are sagging noticably in the front!!! I can see more and more of the individual coils compressing to rest on one another!
4) Impossible to align properly - 3 alignments, experimenting with various settings to fix the problem as recommended by BAT - result: $79.99 x 3....
5) The kicker - on the weekend I went to change over to my winters, and to my delight I found my 3 month old Bridgestone S-03s bald on the inside! That's $500 worth of tire in one summer. Of course it's because I'm riding around on a bottomed out front-end. Oh, and btw, that's the second set of tires I've gone through trying to get the responsiveness back into my car, plus I returned a third on a 30day money back because I didn't suspect the suspension at first (Sorry Bridgestone - I guess I didn't need the S-03s after all).

DO NOT BUY THIS KIT!!!!!!

Because I'm a fair guy, I'll give the positives: Lower car looks better, and with BAT, it gets lower each year, so I guess it looks better each year too. Also, the kit does soak up bumps better than stock, but at the cost of handling and responsiveness. It cruises nice at highway speed, but I was afraid of offramps.

But, next week my stock SE kit will be in and I'll be back in true form for spring when I get my S-03s (+ 2 new ones) back on.

Anyone want to pay shipping on a full 2-year old BAT kit???

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OK, no offense, but just let me play devil's advocate for a bit to satisfy my curiosity.

1) Not sure what you mean, but if you mean the car feels "twitchy" well that's an alignment issue that's easily fixed.
2) If it feels unsettled in transitions, see 1, above.
3) Now, this sounds bad. How low would you say it's gone?
4) I find this hard to believe. Maybe impossible for the shop you use? Are they torquing the adjustment bolts properly? Are they even trying?
5) Too bad. I rode around all summer and autocrossed 4 times on negative camber, and I don't have any wear issues. Again, my finger would point to your chosen alignment shop.

Again, no offense intended here, but I want to satisfy myself that you have considered the other obvious variables. I could make my car, with stock 96 SE suspension, feel as you have described by adjusting a few screws. In fact, in setting up my car for autocross, it became a bit twitchy as a tradeoff for better turn-in. It's all about compromises.

I have the BAT kit...for 8000 miles now, and I am truely happy with it. It is clearly "way beyond" a stock SVT. Mine was twitchy too, until I played with air pressures for my ausie bar. I run 33-f 32-r and I'm happy as punch.

I just replaced tires, and my old ones showed no excess inner tire wear.

My $.02

To my knowledge there is not many people who regret going with the BAT kit, maybe you just got a bad BATch?