(blah)I guess I'll reply to myself, now that I have these installed.
As far as the springs themsevles the car is definitely more stable in turns, over bumbs and changes in pavement quality, and even the steering seems more responsive. In general, the car seems to track more accurate and solid and just feels more firmly planted on the road. Big improvement!
While the drop is not significant (10mm or so), I think it is actually noticeable, especially in the rear. It has a little less of a 4x4 look now.
I do notice bumps and bridge joists a little more now, but not to an extreme. I also noticed that the car's natural tendency to understeer is a bit more noticeable, but that may also be due to the fact that I was pushing it a little harder to test things out. I'm guessing this could be rectified with a rear sway upgrade.
As far as the stock dampers are concerned, I did notice that the suspension seems to get a little unstable over groups of small bumps or ripples in the pavement in turns, but I've seen posts about this effect even with the stock MS3 dampers. I'll also upgrade the shocks and struts eventually. It's all about the Benjamins...
The only thing that changed that I didn't expect is a small but noticeable increase in road noise. Road noise isn't louder necessarily, but changes in pavement are more obvious, and certain kinds of road surfaces produce a much louder hum at higher speeds. I guess these springs transmit more noise to the body?
(thumb) Thanks to everyone on the forum. I would never have attempted this install myself without the how-to section, and wouldn't have realized the fun of upgrading my car either!
