Hi Dave,
I think you and I have not dissimilar requirements, so I'll add my 2p to this thread...
I do a lot of driving in mountainous areas with rough roads - mostly the Lakes, though also a lot in the Dales, the Highlands, Snowdonia, etc - so didn't want to lower the car at all. I also really like the look of the 17" 9-spoke alloys; they're what I've got on my car and any solution I could come up with had to take my vanity into account! I was looking for a way of improving the everyday comfort whilst also improving the handling, though that was secondary to comfort.
Firstly, I stuck 205/45 tyres on the 17" wheels, rather than the standard 205/40. The extra side-wall helps enormously.
Many people, when changing to FSDs (remembering that they impart a 15mm lift at the front only), go for Weitec -30 at the front, resulting in a total lowering at the front of 15mm compared to SE ride height. The car can then be levelled by fitting rear springs from a Sport model of the A2.
When I had FSDs fitted, I had Sport springs fitted at the front, compensating almost perfectly for the 15mm lift and keeping the car at SE height at the front. I've kept SE springs at the back and so the car runs on FSDs without being lowered at all. I'm surprised that AJP's car doesn't sit high at the front. Perhaps it's on very old SE springs?
I renewed everything; shocks, front and back springs, bump-stops, bearings, drop-links, nuts, bolts, etc. At first, my car was also high at the front, despite having had shorter-than-SE springs fitted. This annoyed me for a few months, but the car settled down as everything bedded itself in and I'm now perfectly level.
I imagine my car doesn't handle as well as those that run with the Weitec springs and Sports at the back, but keeping the springs long should get the most comfort from the FSDs. I'm very pleased with my set-up. For my style of driving, the roads I drive and for the wheels I've got, I think this set-up does a good job all-round.
I hope this is food for thought.
Cheers,
Tom