OK - REALLY dumb lift question

[Kyngfish]

Hi guys,

So I'm sorry to do this on this forum but I actually thought it might be kind of funny. If I screwed up, my bad - BUT, you guys are the lift masters and this is an outside the box kind of problem.

My cousin has a CX-3. It's neat little car, definitely not an off-road vehicle, but he surfs and skis and wants to be able to handle some very very mild offloading. His current ground clearance is 6.5 inches. Lol.

Obviously unibody, and the front suspension are coil-overs and the rear just seems to have shocks and that's it. I checked the CX-3 forums and the funniest answer I saw to this question was, "A lifted CX-3 is a CX-5".

So I was wondering, if he gets slightly taller shocks for the rear, for a car with similar weight, maybe even from a CX-5, and finds slightly taller coil-overs for the front, will that work?

I've learned a lot about suspension in 6 weeks of owning this runner, and I learned it all here. So I thought you all might be willing to lend your expertise for someone outside the fold!

Thanks!

 

[02_SE_Runner_DAD]

Taller shocks wont lift a vehicle. Taller coil-overs will.

 

[Kyngfish]

Taller shocks wont lift a vehicle. Taller coil-overs will.

Right, that's more or less what I thought, but the rear is independent suspension, and there are no springs. So something is controlling that ride height. Has to be the shocks right? Or are there springs there somewhere?

EDIT: NVM - there are springs - behind the brakes.

 

[Scramble]

Right, that's more or less what I thought, but the rear is independent suspension, and there are no springs. So something is controlling that ride height. Has to be the shocks right? Or are there springs there somewhere?

EDIT: NVM - there are springs - behind the brakes.

I know there's adjustments on a Porche 944 rear independent suspension aside from different springs. They lower them for track use.

 

[absalom]

I have yet to ride in a lifted unibody that wasn't completely terrible. Not to say it can't be done, just that I have not experienced it yet.

I feel like the easiest mod would be to sell the CX-3 and get a 3rd gen (4th Gen if he wants a more car-like ride) and throw a new set of 99' coils and shocks on. It'll ride like a dream, be much cheaper, and be similar on gas consumption.

Unibodies just aren't to the point of anything past gravel roads yet, at least not reliably. Maybe in the future.

 

[tystaco]

I feel like the easiest mod would be to sell the CX-3 and get a 3rd gen

:iagree: This makes me laugh so hard. I think this should apply to all non 3rd gen mod questions.

 

[Breadman03]

Unibodies just aren't to the point of anything past gravel roads yet, at least not reliably. Maybe in the future.

Jeep Cherokee, Grand Cherokee...

Though I assume you were referring to all of the cute-utes that are really minivans with hinged instead of sliding doors.

 

[Kyngfish]

I have yet to ride in a lifted unibody that wasn't completely terrible. Not to say it can't be done, just that I have not experienced it yet.

I feel like the easiest mod would be to sell the CX-3 and get a 3rd gen (4th Gen if he wants a more car-like ride) and throw a new set of 99' coils and shocks on. It'll ride like a dream, be much cheaper, and be similar on gas consumption.

Unibodies just aren't to the point of anything past gravel roads yet, at least not reliably. Maybe in the future.

LOL - I actually recommended this to him because he's my cousin and I give him good advice. But he drives 50 miles to and from work each day, and while I know a 3rd gen can take the miles, it's inarguable that the CX-3 gets better mileage and is better for 90% of what he needs.

Honestly what it is, is that he surfs, and goes on some obscure beaches and 6.5 inch clearance isn't wonderful for some sand. He wants 1-2 inches to put slightly bigger tires and that's it.

While I agree that lifted unibodies aren't ideal - there's "lifted" and there's LIFTED, and really he wants the first. Almost every CUV is essentially a slightly lifted car.

I'm actually just wondering if he can't just switch out the CX-5 suspension which is a similar setup, I'm just unsure about the sizes. It basically has a spring behind the rotors in the rear, and a shock that goes up into the body, and coilovers in the front. The only problem is the coilovers go into a sheath up through the body, so unless the sizes are almost exactly the same - it won't work. The rear shock should be fine as long as it's not pulling anything out of whack, and the rear spring just sits down there, and assuming he has any flex in the rear, an inch or so won't kill anything.

Anyway, thanks for the pointers, I realize this isn't 3rd gen relevant!

 

[Scramble]

I have yet to ride in a lifted unibody that wasn't completely terrible. Not to say it can't be done, just that I have not experienced it yet.

I feel like the easiest mod would be to sell the CX-3 and get a 3rd gen (4th Gen if he wants a more car-like ride) and throw a new set of 99' coils and shocks on. It'll ride like a dream, be much cheaper, and be similar on gas consumption.

Unibodies just aren't to the point of anything past gravel roads yet, at least not reliably. Maybe in the future.

My friend wheels the crap out of his 08 Grand Cherokee. 3" suspension lift, 33's but he cant do a body lift obviously.

 

[Dephcon]

There's an 84ish square body camero rolling around on a blazer frame in my town. He can always go that route and do a complete undercarriage transplant, but his on-road characteristics will fail.

Truthfully tho, I think hes beating a dead horse with a stupid stick. Obviously, the CX-3 is not the appropriate vehicle for what he needs, or he needs to stop trying to use it for situations its not designed for. Trade it in for a Subie Forester or something that will meet all his needs.

 

[Scramble]

LOL - I actually recommended this to him because he's my cousin and I give him good advice. But he drives 50 miles to and from work each day, and while I know a 3rd gen can take the miles, it's inarguable that the CX-3 gets better mileage and is better for 90% of what he needs.

Honestly what it is, is that he surfs, and goes on some obscure beaches and 6.5 inch clearance isn't wonderful for some sand. He wants 1-2 inches to put slightly bigger tires and that's it.

While I agree that lifted unibodies aren't ideal - there's "lifted" and there's LIFTED, and really he wants the first. Almost every CUV is essentially a slightly lifted car.

I'm actually just wondering if he can't just switch out the CX-5 suspension which is a similar setup, I'm just unsure about the sizes. It basically has a spring behind the rotors in the rear, and a shock that goes up into the body, and coilovers in the front. The only problem is the coilovers go into a sheath up through the body, so unless the sizes are almost exactly the same - it won't work. The rear shock should be fine as long as it's not pulling anything out of whack, and the rear spring just sits down there, and assuming he has any flex in the rear, an inch or so won't kill anything.

Anyway, thanks for the pointers, I realize this isn't 3rd gen relevant!

Tell him to get a Subaru Outback then, or a Rav4 or Highlander. Even a Lexus if he wants to stay "high end".

 

[Kyngfish]

There's an 84ish square body camero rolling around on a blazer frame in my town. He can always go that route and do a complete undercarriage transplant, but his on-road characteristics will fail.

Truthfully tho, I think hes beating a dead horse with a stupid stick. Obviously, the CX-3 is not the appropriate vehicle for what he needs, or he needs to stop trying to use it for situations its not designed for. Trade it in for a Subie Forester or something that will meet all his needs.

"Designed for".

- a Miata isn't designed for the track, but I can make it do nasty things on the track with a few mods. A CUV to serious offroader is a bigger stretch, but it isn't also what I'm asking. The kid wanted something new, (long commute), AWD, roomy for his gear and in his budget. A subie didn't fall in there. In retrospect he could have bought lightly used, but he did what he thought best at the time.

He just asked me if I thought there was a way to lift it an inch or so to put slightly bigger tires and see if it could hang out on the sand, and I thought I'd ask people who knew more than me.

My fault! Thanks for the advice.

 

[Dephcon]

My friend wheels the crap out of his 08 Grand Cherokee. 3" suspension lift, 33's but he cant do a body lift obviously.

3.5" lift on my old XJ. The front end was pretty flexy compared to the IFS in the 3rd Gens. You can lift uni-body vehicles and off-road very well with them. Granted a Jeep is a far cry from a CX-3.

 

[Dephcon]

"Designed for".

- a Miata isn't designed for the track, but I can make it do nasty things on the track with a few mods. A CUV to serious offroader is a bigger stretch, but it isn't also what I'm asking. The kid wanted something new, (long commute), AWD, roomy for his gear and in his budget. A subie didn't fall in there. In retrospect he could have bought lightly used, but he did what he thought best at the time.

He just asked me if I thought there was a way to lift it an inch or so to put slightly bigger tires and see if it could hang out on the sand, and I thought I'd ask people who knew more than me.

My fault! Thanks for the advice.

You can do anything if your willing to through money at it. Don't let one semi-negative internet comment stop you, or him from doing whatever he wants to his vehicle. Look to see if there is an air ride system for his car. Check and see if they make adjustable coilovers for the front and airbags fro the rear. My point was, and I'm sorry if i didn't make it that clear, he should look for something different that meets all his driving criteria. I can't imagine the aftermarket world have much available to get a CX-3 better off-road capabilities. I might be completely wrong, maybe its the next Land Rover, which by the way doesn't look very off-road capable either, but look at what they can do.

 

[turbo8]

I know there's adjustments on a Porche 944 rear independent suspension aside from different springs. They lower them for track use.

The 944 used torsion bars in the rear. You can adjust the spring preload on those the same way you could adjust the previous gen 4runners front suspension.

I was always seeing people delete the torsion bars and swapping in coilovers, which was fairly easy.

 

[Kyngfish]

You can do anything if your willing to through money at it. Don't let one semi-negative internet comment stop you, or him from doing whatever he wants to his vehicle. Look to see if there is an air ride system for his car. Check and see if they make adjustable coilovers for the front and airbags fro the rear. My point was, and I'm sorry if i didn't make it that clear, he should look for something different that meets all his driving criteria. I can't imagine the aftermarket world have much available to get a CX-3 better off-road capabilities. I might be completely wrong, maybe its the next Land Rover, which by the way doesn't look very off-road capable either, but look at what they can do.

Yep. Agreed. I guess my main question is - if the path of least resistance is sticking with Mazda, much in the same way 3rd gens borrow gear from Tundras, Tacomas and LCs, maybe the slightly taller CX-5 gear already fits?

What I'm looking for is - let's say it does fit, what are other potential pitfalls aside from on-road characteristics, will wheel camber be impacted, will joints be out of whack? We are talking about hopefully, an inch here. Or are springs and shocks all fairly standard sizes, and all he needs to do is find something that fits in there and see if it meets his needs without killing him or his car.

Again, he's not looking to wheel through the mud, he just wants space for slightly larger gear.