Share your raised springs experiences

MiddleAgeSubie

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Dec 15, 2013
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990
Location
AZ
Car Year
2018 / 2008
Car Model
4Runner / Tribeca
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5EAT
I have seen very informative posts about raised springs on this forum. The advantages are obvious. However, while some seem happy, others lament the harsh ride, especially if raised springs are installed up front. Someone, I think on the OB forum, was so disappointed with King Springs that s/he quickly went back to stock. With Rallitek testing raised springs on IV generation Subies tomorrow, I thought I would start a new thread.

Here are a few questions:

1. What brand raised springs do you have?

2. What is the actual lift provided in your case (list model please)?

3. Have the springs required any other changes or caused any issues?

4. How do you like the ride and the handling? King Springs, even if raised, are supposed to correct the handling after the installation of 1"+ spacers.

Rallitek tell me their springs provide 0.75" extra clearance on III generation, are not subject to "settling," improve handling, and are not as harsh as King Springs, though surely harsher than stock. They recommend removing the rear sway bar as well, in order to have a close-to-stock handling. Obviously, that should be a benefit off-road: unless their springs are so stiff as to negate any advantages.

Thoughts?
 
1. I have King Springs, 30mm raised all round, for 2003-2008 SG Foresters. They are mounted on KYB Excel-G on the rear and OEM struts (210,000km old) on the front.

2. Actual lift would be around 30-40mm, especially in the back. The rear suspension was shot and sagging though.

3. Unlike some members, I got the wheels aligned some 1500km after having the springs installed. This meant they had settled and the rear wheels were dialed in at 0 deg camber, without requiring camber bolts.
Didn't require any other changes.
Raised springs may have contributed to my currently bent RSB endlinks. But that's not really an issue.

4. Loving the handling. You can definitely tell it's higher, but the roll is less and having functional rear shocks is nice. It does understeer more though, I think.
Ride is fine, after the springs had settled a bit. They were harsh for the first 50km, but then I loaded the boot to the roof, stuck 4 people in it and drove for 300km. Which sorted the harshness.
It's now smoother than dad's Toyota 86.
The springs are harsh offroad though, I think 2" spacers and OEM springs would be best if you 4x4 unladen. If loaded up is how you offroad, then definitely Kings.

5. I wouldn't recommend removing the RSB onroad. This could lead to legal issues and will make the car even more prone to understeer. Unbolting the RSB for 4x4 takes 2 min with a 14mm wrench. Putting it back on is harder...

6. They're lying about the settling. Settling occurs because the foam under the spring base in the strut seat gets re-crushed to the shape of the new springs, mine have 'settled' around 1cm. Same effect as when you jack your car up and put it back down.

Just my experiences, from an MY03 SG Forexter 2.5X (NZDM) with raised Kings only, no spacers.
 
1) I have raised king springs all round

2) Gave about 30mm on my gen 3 outback.

3) Required kyb rear shocks to replace self levelers. Because of the absolutely pathetic piss poor design on the outback rear shock (especially the kybs) the shocks collapse from the pressure on the spring perch the extra stiffness and height provide. Not an issue on the front/ forester shocks.

4) Ride is firm but perfect for me. Makes handling absolutely fantastic.
 
1. Raised Kings all around with kyb gr2/excelg (same thing different name)
2. About 40-50mm on my sh from the springs alone
3. I obviously needed an alignment, but I also needed rear camber adjustment(I think they used camber bolts). I also have 1/2" spacers, this may have been why.
4. Sooooo much better on the sh as it is known for being boaty, and the stronger spring rates stopped a lot of body roll.
5. Do not remove sway bars onroad, it's illegal and you and anyone else who drives the car will have a massively increased chance of roll-over and loss of traction.

And as said, for offroading the springs can harm articulation because of a higher spring rate, but that's the trade-off you take for more clearance
 
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Good thread, MAS :).

When my SLS shat themselves, I replaced them with variable rate, standard height Pedders complete units. According to Pedders, these are 17% stronger than the OEM SLS units. They also make a heavy duty replacement unit, but Lucas from Lucas automotive warned me off these as being too stiff when not towing or fully loaded - so did Pedders.

They have just noticeably tightened up the handling, and have only about 10 mm sag with 80 Kgs tow ball weight. They are not harsh in any way.

I may put 1" HDPE lift blocks in the back later.

Fronts are stock SG Forester.
 
You guys turned my questions into an excellent, highly informative thread! :)

Maybe worth making it a sticky? This info can be very useful to many.

I do not want to spoil it; just to say that regulatory frameworks vary by country.

So, basically, everyone has used Kings and no one has used Rallitek?
 
1. King Springs on all four corners. Car's a Forester XT SG9 (2007) and also has 1in Subtle lift blocks

2. Approximately 30mm lift. I feel that the rears have sagged a little bit - when loaded.

3. None whatsoever. I did have to change the rear struts to get rid of the self levelling ones. Did not require camber bolts to get 0-0 camber

4. Handling is fine. A little bumpier than stock, but nothing intrusive.

On a side note, I am planning on changing that setup to 2in blocks and standard height kings. This is to recover 1in of down travel of the suspension - I feel like the car is lifting wheels off the ground too easily.
 
Only 18mm lift? Dobinsons & kings both give a ~35mm lift, thats twice as much.

I have Kings, bit firm but I enjoy the better handling. KYBs upfront (sometimes top out giving a bang but I dont even notice it anymore & doesnt seem to cause any harm) & Gabriels in the rear.

The rears have softened up a bit over the last few years & with a very heavy load the bum sags.

I'm surprised they recommend removing the RSB, kind of setting themselves up for a lawsuit! Not to mention increasing body roll. Bit silly really
 
1. What brand raised springs do you have?

No raised springs on mine. Stock SG XT front springs and standard height King springs on the rear matched with Sachs super touring shocks all round with 2" strut top blocks and 2" T/Arm blocks.

note: stock SG XT 20mm front swaybar and rear 20mm STI RSB

2. What is the actual lift provided in your case (list model please)?

2005 SG XT Premium......2" lift plus 215/70r/16 profile tires

3. Have the springs required any other changes or caused any issues?

None whats so ever. Done 4000 odd k's, mixed driving, excellent driving/offroading package. Shocks are very very good!!. Whiteline Rear camber bolts fitted to the rear.

4. How do you like the ride and the handling? King Springs, even if raised, are supposed to correct the handling after the installation of 1"+ spacers

Love it. Shocks are matched with the spring rates, ride is not harsh. Can take winding corners with confidence. Sometimes you forget that your sitting 60+mm above the ground
 
1. I have HotBits coil overs with a mix of HotBits and H&R springs.

2. I can change the ride height very easily but I set it to about 5 cm (2") lift.

3. On my SF, I also had to change the rear lateral links (SG +1,5cm) because there wasn't enough space between the chassis and the coil overs on full droop.

4. I drive without sway bars but for road use, I can stiffen the hydraulics (compression and rebound) for a firmer ride.

5. I first had some Dobinson +30mm springs, perfect for the front but too harsh at the rear so I went back to SG SLS struts with SF OEM springs at the rear. Then found some 2nd hand Proflex evo2 inverted coil overs that needed too much maintenance (had to put some fork oil every 500km to keep the PTFE bushes lubricated)

6. So far (4 months), very happy with the HotBits !
 
1) Raised kings on kyb g2 sf shocks all round, oe was shagged out 4 busted shocks. I did have 50mm front and 60mm rear, lift blocks in but took them out as they made the car ride like absolute crap without other supporting mods i didnt have the time to make back then.

2) Not sure, but side by side, with my larger tyres (only .5" larger radius) it's comparable to dedmans 2" blocks and raised kings.

3)shocks top out hard cornering or on bumpy roads, large increase in under steer,body roll, Feels stiff and like it rides better but times i recorded ( such as up mt macedon, or lancefield rd <- drive that one its ****ing awesome) show the raised kings are noticably slower.

3) It's fine if I'm not acting like a hoon so 99% of the time, with my tools in the boot or camping gear it rides better, tows a light trailer (500kg) much more comfortably. unladden it's incredibly harsh. with only the springs and 205/75/15 tyres rear camber is noticeably out, in 60,000km I've only needed the rear tyres switch from rim to rim once to correct uneven wear. I think with 1" blocks and rear trailing arm spacers + camber bolts it would be better, but compared to standard the raised springs don't follow terrain as well offroad. Clearance has stopped me breaking stuff though so its all a trade off.
 
Also, how much body-lift will the stock swaybars take before becoming a hinderance
 
For my 2002 SG XS
1. What brand raised springs do you have?
replaced standard front and rear SLS springs and struts with King raised springs and KYB Xcel G struts

2. What is the actual lift provided in your case (list model please)?
About 30 mm initially then I fitted Gorilla HDPE 1 inch (25 mm) strut top spacers front and rear so I have just over 2 inches of lift

3. Have the springs required any other changes or caused any issues?
No, but am going to fit longer sway bar links.
I run 215/60/16 tyres on road and 215/65/16 AT tyres off road. the 65 series add approximately 9 mm of extra lift.
the front and rear wheel alignments were done without the need to install additional camber bolts

4. How do you like the ride and the handling? King Springs, even if raised, are supposed to correct the handling after the installation of 1"+ spacers.

I have done 40,000 km (25k miles) since I installed the raised springs.I live on the edge of the high country and are driving on mountain roads constantly and love the ride and handling, it is just perfect. The OEM suspension is way too soft. I originally thought the raised springs would be adequate but for serious off roading I needed the extra 1 inch lift. The ride height and clearance is now perfect.

For my 2004 SG XS the OEM suspension is in very good condition and I am installing only the Gorilla 1 inch lift blocks until the SLS fails. Its handling unraised feels way too soft.
 
These are the ones I fitted.

Not raised, but a replacement for the SLS on the SG, with heavy duty, variable rate springs from Pedders:

Pedders+rear+strut+kit+Forester+tn1375830604.jpg


Link to Pedders site:

https://www.pedders.com.au/product-release/new-product-release-pedders-ezi-fit-spring-shock-kits
 
1. What brand raised springs do you have?
Kings Heavy Duty +30mm; see my setup here: https://www.offroadsubarus.com/showthread.php?t=953

2. What is the actual lift provided in your case (list model please)?
MY’03 – Minimum Clearance Front (exhaust) 265mm Rear (diff) 315mm. Hub To Guard / Ground to Guard (mm): Front 480 / 800; rear 490 / 820

3. Have the springs required any other changes or caused any issues?
No (but they sit on modified struts)

4. How do you like the ride and the handling? King Springs, even if raised, are supposed to correct the handling after the installation of 1"+ spacers.
The ride is harsh unladen but great with a load; handling is not bad but it’s no sports car either!
 
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Ok have done this last weekend with my brother in law (who is an apprentice mechanic ) and still took us approx 8hours so don't believe YouTube. Was previously running pedders coils on standard front and pedders rear gas shocks. Yes a stiffer kyb rear strut on the rear is required as per their site states if running raised coils and that's what I have now. After a week of running them they have settled and are really positive and perform well off road. On the road around town you really feel the manual gear changes especially unloaded but that's what you sacrifice for extra clearance and the ability to load more gear, yeah no regrets loving them highly recommend it.
 
1. What brand raised springs do you have?
King Springs Heavy Duty Raised Front + Back.

2. What is the actual lift provided in your case (list model please)?
30mm (which has now reduced after 50,000km) - Rear Paranoid 40mm HDPE spacers have now been installed to compensate).

3. Have the springs required any other changes or caused any issues?
Since the raised springs only stayed 'raised' for 50,000km, next time I'd probably go standard height with 2" spacers rear and 1" front).

4. How do you like the ride and the handling? King Springs, even if raised, are supposed to correct the handling after the installation of 1"+ spacers.
Currently the fronts have dropped to OEM height so geometry is factory, but the rears with HD raised springs and 40mm spacers have resulted in way too much positive camber and it feels like scheisse, squeals on roundabouts and inspires no confidence in the wet. I have camber bolts which I am hoping will fix everything once installed.

Ride quality and handling when the vehicle is loaded up is exemplary!! With a full tank and 140kg of camping gear in the back the rear drops to 30mm above standard and the positive camber zeroes out. The firmer springs keep body roll in check and the car corners, handles and feels amazing - almost like a rally car/hot hatch hybrid.
 
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Basically, then, this is like getting larger tires for lift--a year later you lose a cm or more just like that, threadwear being extra...except that this plays out over a longer period of time.

Clearance is a dynamic thing on trail/track and it varies with cargo but one would think that it could be more or less a static number in the garage...apparently not.
 
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