Spring lift

mallion

Forum Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Messages
3
Location
Canberra
Car Year
1999
Car Model
Forester GT
I see a lot of people seem to be running a raised king spring on a standard strut. Doesn't this mean the strut is always topping out? For those that have this set up do you notice any issues/banging/wear?

I am looking at getting the raised springs but longer struts to match seem hard to come by.

Cheers
 
You are absolutely correct. You lose suspension Droop travel.
They top out, and makes the car rough to drive as the entire corner of the car needs to dive into a hole to maintain traction.

My preference is for up-rated springs which usually provide a small increase in lift due to the stiffer rates, and using lift blocks between the strut-tops and the body.
SubieLiftOz
Subtle Solutions
Anderson Design and Fabrication (ADF)

All provide varying lift kits to suit our needs.
 
Hey mate, I run raised springs as part of my body lift. It does firm up the ride but its not as harsh as coilovers.

It also does reduce articulation as Robbks said, but I've managed to do some pretty hardcore tracks with them. I think picking a good line, having good tyres & the right tyre pressure is more important.

What Subie do you have? I've just finished fitting raised springs, KYB XT struts & 1" strut spacers on a SG Forester. Finished result was excellent! Nice ride, not too firm & the struts weren't topping out. The trick is to use XT struts which have a 15mm longer piston stroke. They also allow bigger tyres to be fitted if you have a SF Foz

SG 1'' James D 01 by Matt Chaplin, on Flickr
 
Its also possible to go the coil over route, what I did with HotBits, but its not just plug and play. Well, now that I have a bit of experience, its easier to find the right setup for the needs.
 
What car have you got and where are you?
I have gone down the path of raised King springs, KYB Excel G struts and 1 inch lift blocks and love it.
I put the springs and struts in first and then added the lift after (two years ago). I just wish I did it all first up.
Since then I have done a number of serious high country tips and several desert trips with out any issues. I think the travel issue gets over played. As Nachaluva says picking a good line, having good tyres & the right tyre pressure is more important.
 
I just did lift blocks in mine. I rarely have a load so prefer the softer ride and slightly more flex. But when I do carry a load I do notice the suspension droop. It really comes down to what you use the car for.

An SG with stock springs and sway bars disconnected can lift a wheel 348mm, while an SG with king springs and sway bars disconnected will lift a wheel 311mm. You're really only loosing 37mm or 10.6% of your travel with Kings, which is noticeable but still not a lot.
 
NachaLuva said:
Hey mate, I run raised springs as part of my body lift. It does firm up the ride but its not as harsh as coilovers.

It also does reduce articulation as Robbks said, but I've managed to do some pretty hardcore tracks with them. I think picking a good line, having good tyres & the right tyre pressure is more important.

What Subie do you have? I've just finished fitting raised springs, KYB XT struts & 1" strut spacers on a SG Forester. Finished result was excellent! Nice ride, not too firm & the struts weren't topping out. The trick is to use XT struts which have a 15mm longer piston stroke. They also allow bigger tyres to be fitted if you have a SF Foz
Click to expand...

XT struts have a longer stroke compared to other SG models? or do you mean SG struts over SF struts? I always thought SG struts where all the same.
 
All rear SG struts are the same, but there's 3 different front SG struts. The XT front struts have a 15mm longer piston stroke than the other SG struts, so theyre the ones to get. Stops the topping out.
 
havachat said:
What car have you got and where are you?
I have gone down the path of raised King springs, KYB Excel G struts and 1 inch lift blocks and love it.
I put the springs and struts in first and then added the lift after (two years ago). I just wish I did it all first up.
Since then I have done a number of serious high country tips and several desert trips with out any issues. I think the travel issue gets over played. As Nachaluva says picking a good line, having good tyres & the right tyre pressure is more important.
Click to expand...

I have a SF with SG struts allround. The rears are SLS and I noticed that the rear left appears to be leaking. The SLS and dampening still works but I am not sure of how much longer. I am located in Canberra.

Thanks for the info guys, it has been helpful. I don't particularly need lift as the Foz has gotten me everywhere I want to go so far. So I will probably just get some new KYB struts and standard height king springs. I was interested in raised springs to try and deal with sag on the occasions that the car is fully loaded, but it does not sound like they will help that much.
 
SF with raised kings on SF struts
mjpl_zps9d521igz.jpg


Same with about another 150kg of gear and 1" spacers

DSCF2783_zpspkbtfnqa.jpg



Definitely better (hard to tell from crap photos and one being downhill) , the struts used to top out when I only had the springs on, once I put in the spacers they stopped doing that..don't know why but I'll take what I can get
 
The springs settle 5-10mm after a few hundred km of driving,
if the sag more than that, call Kings and they'll replace them.

Some of the older steels they used to use were notorious for sagging.
but the new stuff is supposed to be much better
 
I don't think its a problem of them sagging (from my observations of my own setup, mine have sagged very little if at all) as there was about 45,000km between putting in raised springs, and then deciding to also include the spacers. The whole time I had just the springs in the struts would top out, but funnily enough in that time at least the rear struts (which need the top hat taken off to install the longer studs for 1" blocks) while topping out are still in very good condition, I've not dismantled the fronts to check.

It's probably more than likely everything bolted back up with the lift blocks as well puts just enough compression at a stand still to stop them topping out, which would also limit travel further as well.

Other than take SF's seem to just have a saggy but, since the majority of the rear cargo space's weight sits behind the axles and suspension.
 
I don't know why but the SF is notorious for a saggy butt, more than any other Subie. With brand new springs & struts, it was still sagging! :shrug:
 
I've gone with the Raised Kings in my SG XT. I paired the springs to some Monroe struts up front and Selby/Ultima in the back to replace the SLS system which I blew out on the Old Wentworth Rd.

To be honest I have not really noticed the top out issue at all. I have done some pretty tough tracks up through the Flinders Ranges with it. There have been times I would have liked some additional height, particularly for the increase in approach angle, but overall I am happy with the lift. Combined with a set of BFG AT KOs the overall lift over standard is about 50mm.

I run as standard no rear sway bar. When I bought the car it had HD Whiteline swaybars front and back. The back one was constantly snapping the chassis mounts when off road, so I took it off and haven't really noticed a difference when on road. The extra flex without it helps a lot off road.
 
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