Forester Kings Standard Height Springs

SuperSirLink

Forum Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2022
Messages
14
Location
Virginia
Car Year
2014
Car Model
Forester
Transmission
CVT
(Thread split from here: https://www.offroadsubarus.com/threads/9057/ )

Decided to go with King standard length springs and skip and lift for now. These should give me the ride/loading improvement I was after. Change one thing at a time as they say. Then if I still feel the need to add some lift, then I will evaluate adding the spacers.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You may get some lift with the Kings but the car will remain a lot more level under load. It will also ride firmer but smoother over bumps when loaded.
Or at least mine did and does. I regularly load about 200/300 kg of wood for the open fire into the back for short, around town, trips with no problems.
 
Car originally came with self leveling suspension but they were replaced by KYB`s in 2009 @ 170000kms . One was bent along the Finke Bike track in about 2010 and was replaced. Other is still good @ 365000kms. No obvious leaks and good ride.
 
what size spacer would the fronts need to make it look more level? Dont want to go up too much then have it look saggy when I have it loaded up. If the springs alone will prevent load sag, I am guessing the front with a small spacer increase over the rear would remove some of the factory rake....
 
SuperSirLink said:
what size spacer would the fronts need to make it look more level?
Click to expand...
Very hard to tell unless someone with a 2014 has done it already - but I'm thinking spacers in the front would not be necessary as the Kings are standard height. As you said:
SuperSirLink said:
Change one thing at a time as they say.
Click to expand...
 
Okay sounds good, yeah, when I said that I was thinking along the lines of the 1" + lifts. I want to see how it does before doing anything more extreme. Primitive says the standard height springs could add 1/4" of lift. Thinking now I might slide in another 1/4" spacer. Just because it seems pretty straight forward and they are cheap enough that even if I decide to not use them at all, it no big loss.

I guess I am just trying to setup myself up for any future lift options without having to do any rework. Looks like some spacer lifts leave the OEM studs no the top hats, like ADF's kit. But, the primitive set expects you to replace them. I dont want to have to remove the top hats once the strut tower is built. Is the SubieLiftOz kit work the same way? If it makes the most sense to press out the OEM studs on the top hats now before I do the strut assembly, maybe I should do that even if I don't add any spacers?
 
Will email @NachaLuva

Now that I have my primitive skid plates on, I see I do loose a bit of clearance as they sit lower than the factory plastic. Would strut top spacers regain any of that lost clearance? Or would I have to raise it a significant amount to have any negligible impact? Not too concerned about the loss of clearance, just trying to educate myself and see if that might also be a reason to consider spacers...
 
@SuperSirLink Yes, a lift will give more clearance. Because the lift blocks sit between the strut top and the body they lift the body up.
 
@SuperSirLink - not meaning to take business away from Nachaluva… I recently saw a YouTube video where Ironman offroad in the states have put together a raised suspension setup for offroad Subarus - seems they’ve noticed a niche in the market that’s not being met.

Could be worth looking into. The SLO kits are tried and tested with many ppl running his setup all over the place that can attest to the quality and durability of his kits.

Cheers

Bennie
 
I looked into them, sadly they dont offer anything for the SJ...
 
Hey @SuperSirLink ! How did it go with the springs? I'm taking my Forester 2001 to the mechanic to lift the car because is too low on the back... I struggle with all the bumps off road cause when I load the car goes almost touching the road. You recon only springs will be enough?
 
G'day & Welcome aboard @Pajaro

If you are heavily loaded you may do well to get a lift as well. For example standard height King Springs and a SubieLiftOz lift kit
 
I also want to be able to pull a tiny boat, so maybe is better to do that. How much are we looking at those that you said? More or less . Thanks a lot!
 
Ditch the self levelling struts first, they’re probably already dead!! That’ll get rid of the majority of your butt dragging issue. Then the new springs do the rest.

Lift gets you higher again which gives you better approach and departure angles, and better ramp over angles too (harder to “belly out” on an obstacle between the front ad rear wheels).

Cheers

Bennie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top