tall front end?

[PocketFighter]

looking at a handful of other 306's, my front end looks really high and rear looks low.. is this normal?!

[Toms306]

For a meridian yes that's normal.

[PocketFighter]

Blimey :S just looks a little odd! I'm assuming AM shocks all round would cure this then!

[Mattcheese31]

you'll need your rear beam lowering and springs on the front to suit, if you don't go much more than 40-60mm you should get away with standard shocks, otherwise you could do with ungraded items . .

[PocketFighter]

sounds complicated to me lol

doesn't sound quite as simple as it is on a motorbike lol

[zx_volcane]

rear beam is a complete PITA to be honest being trailing arm with torsion bars. they are an utter pig to get out and then adjust.

front is easy enough to sort out though.

[PocketFighter]

To be fair the rear is a decent height, wouldnt mind dropping the front a touch to be the same as the rear

[Piggy]

Stop looking at the arch gap...notice the whole car...sill angle for instance...
The front is in fact a little lower than the front as it is... Just the arch gap is greater at the front because the wheels at the front need to turn!

[Stef205]

^ this.

Common mistake when "lowering" 306's wheel arch height are not the same front to rear.

My opinion leave it alone looks good as it is.

[maxaret]

Absolutely agree - looks fine as it is,other than being fashionable I can never see an advantage in lowering a car by much !
I like having some ground clearance - especially for speed bumps etc .
The standard 306 ride height is the lowest car I have owned for years,the higher the driver sits - the better his overall vision is (lots of 'tall' cars on the road these days).
The worst car I had for driver vision was when I built a Dutton Malaga/B Plus Hybrid kit car (1978),lovely little car to drive with a 1600cc Ford X flow engine,but it sat so low and with the cockpit right at the back - couldn't see a damn thing on the roads LOL.

[Toms306]

If Meridians look so good why do the sports models come with a slight drop as standard? It's that height for comfort...

30mm drop is ideal, looks much better as the wheels fit in the arches and handles better too. Anything more than 40mm is purely for looks, not a fan of that myself but each to their own!

[Stef205]

because models like d turbos had gti spec suspension so would be lower to start with.

[Toms306]

They could've made stiffer sports springs the same height if they'd wanted though...

Sports models look better because the front wheels fit in the arch with the lower sports suspension. Meridians always look daft because the front arch gap isn't even around the wheel, you get a huge gap at the top and smaller at the sides. I can only assume they designed the wings for the sports models then just stuck some big, soft springs on the comfort models without a thought for the aesthetics.

[PocketFighter]

Spot on with the info guys, the arch gap to me makes it look odd, i would prefer to have it lower at the front anyway - my drive to work is all twisties so definitely benefit from a lower front end to aid in handling

Granted if the meridians are built like that for comfort then fair game, not gonna argue that but my god it just looks so odd with that huge gap lol

[maxaret]

If Meridians look so good why do the sports models come with a slight drop as standard?  It's that height for comfort...

30mm drop is ideal, looks much better as the wheels fit in the arches and handles better too.  Anything more than 40mm is purely for looks, not a fan of that myself but each to their own!

Just catching up a bit - been on hols
I agree Tom - a subtle lowering is ok but as you say any more than 30mm is just for being fashionable,the state of our roads and amount of speed bumps means you really need a bit of ride height to be able to drive comfortably  - and by comfortably I mean without having grounding issues !