Love your Vitara, this model was and still is a classic Suzuki 4x4 car. I bought a 2018 Vitara last years, not a match in your classic one. But I still love it.
Thanks for this, that's very helpful information. I also have a 2013 I picked up a couple years ago with 53,000 km on the clock. I have a yet to be installed 45mm lift kit using strut spacers up front and urethane spring spacers rear. I was reluctant to go anymore than that thinking my CV joints would be stressed but it looks like I could have without any problems. It's Tema4x4 brand made in Russia and looks very well made. I also have the same size tires in BFG KO2 flavor but I need rims for them because my GV came with stock 18s. I plan on using Toyota Highlander rims from a 2009 to 2011 because they look pretty good, have the same 60.1mm bore, a width of 7.5" and have a +35mm offset for a little wider track.
It's almost like the designers wanted it to be 2 inches taller but the marketers didn't. It's a pity they didn't bring out a more off roady version of the GV. I would've bought one
@@alexalx1117 Hi sorry for late reply. Yes it's installed a few months now and I only recently got a set of Highlander rims for my KO2's so I'm still on stock 18" rims and tires but it has a much nicer stance with the extra ride height. It immediately felt quite a bit taller but I did not notice any extra lean in corners with it being pretty stiffly sprung stock. It was pretty easy to install however I did have a small problem with the cam adjuster bolts for the struts. It appears they drilled the steering knuckle a hair under 14mm and then reamed 14mm for a close fit with the unthreaded shoulder part of the stock bolts. Problem was, they didn't ream all the way through the hole because the unthreaded part was short and the cam bolt lobe (which was not over 14mm) would not go through all the way and bound up. It was only a few thou so I dug out a sanding rod I had from my machining days and opened it up until the lobe ran through smoothly. If I had known this ahead of time I would have bought a 14mm reamer. I also discovered the tabs that go under the nuts have a little tab that sticks out and goes in the hole next to the 12mm cam bolt to make up for the 2mm gap from the smaller diameter but they were way too big to go in the hole without mashing them in with a hammer so I filed a square notch for them to key into. I chose not to use the machined stainless cam bolts that came with the kit and opted for hardened steel and plated cam bolts instead because stainless steel is not very strong (compared to high grade steel bolts) and 12mm is quite a bit less cross sectional area as it is than the stock 14mm bolts. The separate cam bolt kit also came with tabs for both the bolt and nut whereas the Tema kit only had tabs for the nuts. I had the same fit problems with both style cam bolts and tabs so I guess it's just how they are. Once installed though I could rotate the cam bolt and the wheel camber adjusted in and out nicely. They have since made and improvement to the kit where they now include new mounting brackets for the rear trailing arms to correct for rear wheel shift. The rear trailing arm is quite short short so the rear wheel centerline shifts forward a little because of the steeper trailing arm angle from the lift. The kit has also nearly doubled in price since I bought it. Yes, I would have preferred to go with a longer struts with longer springs up front and longer springs and longer shocks for the rear but I cannot afford that extra expense. I live in BC Canada and the terrain here is mostly mountain logging roads with drainage channels cut across them, pointy rocks and fallen trees. My only real concern was more ground clearance not extreme rock crawling because it's not the vehicle for that.
Hey mate do you have an installation Video of your suspension blocks. Very interesting. I am looking at Dobinson 40mm lift but this may change my mind.
Hi mate, enjoying your videos. Picking up a vitara this weekend and was looking to do a suspension lift till I found this video. May I get some clarification? What I’m not quite sure on is the blocks? I went to the website you suggested and they have 1”spacers. But for 2” they offer the body lift. Is that what you went with? And are you running stock rear suspension? Cheers!
Mine is the 2013 model with IFS front and rear. There is no body lift involved. The kit i got was spacers front and rear plus extra long shock for the rear. The reason for this is the front suspension is a strut, so the shock and spring are in one assembly and the block just lifts the whole thing so the distance between the bump stops remains the same. On the rear the shock and spring are separate units so when you lift it you have increased the distance between the bump stops. As the shock is a separate unit to the spring assembly it needs to be longer in order to let the wheel to travel down sufficiently enough for traction on an uneven surface. The Rocky Road suspension comes with 50mm longer shocks for this purpose. Interestingly the CV joints are at better angles after the lift than before... Maybe this vehicle was supposed to be 2 inches higher from the start and just didn't make it through the Aust safety regime...? Hope this helps.
Him I am very keen on the progress of your car, as I have a 2009 Grand Vitara. I was about to get some 50mm above standard springs, but you have shown me possibly a better method, as it moves the bump stop. But would you get more articulation with a longer spring? Also can you let me know which spacers you used?
Hey very interesting, I'm looking at my options at lifting my 2009 3.2 v6 auto GV at the moment. From my understanding you're recommending the rocky roads outfitters front strut spacer blocks and rear long travel shocks? That seems to work out about 2100AUD to buy & ship to Australia. Isn't it simply cheaper and same good to go with Dobinsons or Iron Man lift kit, which would cost less than that, including the fitting costs at a workshop? Or am I missing something here?
The Rocky Road kit was a lot cheaper when I bought it about 8 years ago. Also, most of the kits in Aus are only 40mm. WT? And the shocks don't have longer tubes, they have just added about 20mm to the top, so no extra travel.
What did you end up going with? I'm in the same boat, but in NZ. Dobinson's 40mm lift $1600NZD for front & rear shocks & springs before installation, but I don't want to do all that just to have bad down-travel and a car that looks good but not as good as it could be in an offroad scenario. Don't read many good things about Ironman's lift kit either, & spacers require a cert for a WOF/roadworthy here in NZ, I'm almost certain of that. Could I just uninstall the spacer before an inspection lol? Could get a bit annoying doing that once a year. Any cheaper spacers out there that may do the same thing?
Love your Vitara, this model was and still is a classic Suzuki 4x4 car.
I bought a 2018 Vitara last years, not a match in your classic one.
But I still love it.
Great video, hope you're ok, you done well presenting in that sun, get yourself a nice cool drink
Thanks for this, that's very helpful information. I also have a 2013 I picked up a couple years ago with 53,000 km on the clock. I have a yet to be installed 45mm lift kit using strut spacers up front and urethane spring spacers rear. I was reluctant to go anymore than that thinking my CV joints would be stressed but it looks like I could have without any problems. It's Tema4x4 brand made in Russia and looks very well made. I also have the same size tires in BFG KO2 flavor but I need rims for them because my GV came with stock 18s. I plan on using Toyota Highlander rims from a 2009 to 2011 because they look pretty good, have the same 60.1mm bore, a width of 7.5" and have a +35mm offset for a little wider track.
It's almost like the designers wanted it to be 2 inches taller but the marketers didn't. It's a pity they didn't bring out a more off roady version of the GV. I would've bought one
Have you fitted the Tema4x4 kit? How was the process and are you happy with the car now, or would you prefer to have done a suspension lift instead?
@@alexalx1117 Hi sorry for late reply. Yes it's installed a few months now and I only recently got a set of Highlander rims for my KO2's so I'm still on stock 18" rims and tires but it has a much nicer stance with the extra ride height. It immediately felt quite a bit taller but I did not notice any extra lean in corners with it being pretty stiffly sprung stock. It was pretty easy to install however I did have a small problem with the cam adjuster bolts for the struts.
It appears they drilled the steering knuckle a hair under 14mm and then reamed 14mm for a close fit with the unthreaded shoulder part of the stock bolts. Problem was, they didn't ream all the way through the hole because the unthreaded part was short and the cam bolt lobe (which was not over 14mm) would not go through all the way and bound up. It was only a few thou so I dug out a sanding rod I had from my machining days and opened it up until the lobe ran through smoothly. If I had known this ahead of time I would have bought a 14mm reamer.
I also discovered the tabs that go under the nuts have a little tab that sticks out and goes in the hole next to the 12mm cam bolt to make up for the 2mm gap from the smaller diameter but they were way too big to go in the hole without mashing them in with a hammer so I filed a square notch for them to key into. I chose not to use the machined stainless cam bolts that came with the kit and opted for hardened steel and plated cam bolts instead because stainless steel is not very strong (compared to high grade steel bolts) and 12mm is quite a bit less cross sectional area as it is than the stock 14mm bolts. The separate cam bolt kit also came with tabs for both the bolt and nut whereas the Tema kit only had tabs for the nuts. I had the same fit problems with both style cam bolts and tabs so I guess it's just how they are. Once installed though I could rotate the cam bolt and the wheel camber adjusted in and out nicely.
They have since made and improvement to the kit where they now include new mounting brackets for the rear trailing arms to correct for rear wheel shift. The rear trailing arm is quite short short so the rear wheel centerline shifts forward a little because of the steeper trailing arm angle from the lift. The kit has also nearly doubled in price since I bought it.
Yes, I would have preferred to go with a longer struts with longer springs up front and longer springs and longer shocks for the rear but I cannot afford that extra expense. I live in BC Canada and the terrain here is mostly mountain logging roads with drainage channels cut across them, pointy rocks and fallen trees. My only real concern was more ground clearance not extreme rock crawling because it's not the vehicle for that.
Hey mate do you have an installation Video of your suspension blocks. Very interesting. I am looking at Dobinson 40mm lift but this may change my mind.
What'd you go with?
Hi mate, enjoying your videos. Picking up a vitara this weekend and was looking to do a suspension lift till I found this video. May I get some clarification? What I’m not quite sure on is the blocks? I went to the website you suggested and they have 1”spacers. But for 2” they offer the body lift. Is that what you went with? And are you running stock rear suspension? Cheers!
Mine is the 2013 model with IFS front and rear. There is no body lift involved. The kit i got was spacers front and rear plus extra long shock for the rear. The reason for this is the front suspension is a strut, so the shock and spring are in one assembly and the block just lifts the whole thing so the distance between the bump stops remains the same. On the rear the shock and spring are separate units so when you lift it you have increased the distance between the bump stops. As the shock is a separate unit to the spring assembly it needs to be longer in order to let the wheel to travel down sufficiently enough for traction on an uneven surface. The Rocky Road suspension comes with 50mm longer shocks for this purpose. Interestingly the CV joints are at better angles after the lift than before... Maybe this vehicle was supposed to be 2 inches higher from the start and just didn't make it through the Aust safety regime...? Hope this helps.
@@richarddmogg1 it does, thanks so much for the comprehensive reply. I’ll try locate it on their page and put in an order!
Him I am very keen on the progress of your car, as I have a 2009 Grand Vitara. I was about to get some 50mm above standard springs, but you have shown me possibly a better method, as it moves the bump stop. But would you get more articulation with a longer spring? Also can you let me know which spacers you used?
I could be wrong but the way I see it, if you use longer springs you will increase the up travel at the expense of the down travel.
@@richarddmogg1 Thanks for replying. One question, what risers did you use and where can I buy a set?
@@ibitconsulting4988 Look up Rocky Road. www.rocky-road.com/grand-vitara-lift.html
Do you have a link or brand of where to get these?
I'm about to do the same to my 06
would it be the same as with the 2006-09 vitaras? in reaged with the cv angle position?
I believe it will. The design is the same from 2006 to 2019.
Hey very interesting, I'm looking at my options at lifting my 2009 3.2 v6 auto GV at the moment. From my understanding you're recommending the rocky roads outfitters front strut spacer blocks and rear long travel shocks? That seems to work out about 2100AUD to buy & ship to Australia. Isn't it simply cheaper and same good to go with Dobinsons or Iron Man lift kit, which would cost less than that, including the fitting costs at a workshop? Or am I missing something here?
The Rocky Road kit was a lot cheaper when I bought it about 8 years ago. Also, most of the kits in Aus are only 40mm. WT? And the shocks don't have longer tubes, they have just added about 20mm to the top, so no extra travel.
What did you end up going with? I'm in the same boat, but in NZ. Dobinson's 40mm lift $1600NZD for front & rear shocks & springs before installation, but I don't want to do all that just to have bad down-travel and a car that looks good but not as good as it could be in an offroad scenario. Don't read many good things about Ironman's lift kit either, & spacers require a cert for a WOF/roadworthy here in NZ, I'm almost certain of that. Could I just uninstall the spacer before an inspection lol? Could get a bit annoying doing that once a year. Any cheaper spacers out there that may do the same thing?
Nice explaining. How long have u been driving around with that lift?
Since 2017 and about 180 000 Km. Never had a problem.
Wow.. the lift really doesn't change much of the CV joint angle. I think I should also get my GV lifted. 👍
@@imsangerlongkumer2416 Mine is from Rocky Road. You will be delighted with the extra off road ability.
tyre size?
245/65/17. It's one size bigger adding 7mm in height and a bit wider. They fit without a lift I'm told.
Mejor invierte en neumaticos nuevos, el kit de levante no sirve tanto como unos buenos neumáticos.