With the influx of people moving to Subaru vehicles for overlanding and off-road, people have been searching for the best ways to get more ground clearance. The higher ride height equals more clearance in the fender wells for larger tires. Both are ideal if you're wanting more ground clearance to make a more capable off-road vehicle.
Unibody vehicles don't have frames like trucks are Jeeps. So when lifting a unibody vehicle there are some restrictions you have to take into account. Like CV axle angles, front and rear suspension geometry, steering shaft angles, and so on...
You also don't want to over-extend your shocks and struts with overly tall lift springs. This will dramatically decrease the shock performance and prematurely wear it out due to the shock "topping out".
We utilize lift spacers and springs to maximize off-road performance by achieving the highest overall ground clearance possible. So that being said let's dive into why we engineer our lift spacers and springs the way we do.
No change in spring rate:
RalliTEK lift spacers don't require you to change your spring rate. It's been argued that spacers decrease the height and angle at which the springs deflect off the spring pads. When the right spacers are used, this issue is very minimal and unnoticeable.
Cost-effective:
Spacer lifts are an effective and inexpensive way to gain elevation and add larger tires to your Subaru model. But beware, if too cheap the quality of parts and manufacturing processes go down and could lead to major safety concerns.
Versatile:
These lift spacers work with almost any coil spring on the market. No matter is it's heavy-duty overload springs, sports springs, or factory OEM springs.
Easy to install
Spacer lifts on Subaru's are very simple to install. In most cases easier and much safer than installing new springs. They bolt right on top of the factory top hat of the shock and or strut assembly.
Lift Springs
Height increase
Lift springs give you the same height increase that lift spacers do by allowing for the vehicle to sit higher in its suspension travel than what the OEM springs do. This allows for the vehicle to sit up higher there for giving you more lift.
Maintaining Ground Clearance
Our lift springs are stiffer spring than OEM so you can get rid of that notorious Subaru saggy rear end. This allows for much better handling on and off-road as the spring will not want to bounce around as much. This also allows for the rear end to not sag down which maintains the amount of ground clearance when weighted down.
Spring Rates
Most of our spring rates are built for weekend warrior-type people. We offer a lot of our springs in sport and overload options depending on the weight you plan on putting on your vehicle. We design our springs to be initially compliant so the vehicle is still comfortable while driving unweighted. This allows us to run higher spring rates which allow for better support but not at the expense of ride quality.
Recap
As we said earlier, all lifts are not the same. The materials and manufacturing process can make a huge difference in quality and performance.
We design our lift spacers with built-in camber, caster, and toe alignment correction. This is a must-have for lifting Subaru's without disturbing the factory ride quality and alignment. We typically recommend starting with a lift spring to help support the weight of the gear you're carrying. From there if you'd like more lift adding the appropriate lift spacer on top of the lift spring is the next step to making your Subaru more capable off-road.
Alignment is still required after installation.