[Hoags]

G'day. I am new to Suzuki's, just bought a 94 Vitara SWB. Now because my suspension is rooted, I need new shocks, bushes and lower ball joints, Pedders is keen to extort $1600 to fix it. I figured that one of these kits would easily fix my suspension problem for less ( $750 + delivery).

I would like some info on these Calmini lift kits. I am keen to know about comfort, missus needs to daily drive, and how they off road, for me, and if they are worth it.

I have done a search on Auszookers and the internet and I am still unsure about a yes or no. I am looking for factual pro's and con's please and not opinion's, I get enough of that from my wife's family over the car already.

Thanks in advance.

Hoags.

[Zook_Fan]

you are never going to get facts about comfort. there is no way to make it factual. anything anyone says about comfort is going to be an opinion. opinion is not a bad thing and it can still be a good tool. sorry i cant be of help, welcome to auszookers.

[Hoags]

Yeah, fair enough. I guess what I am looking for is if people who do have a set on their car belive it is comparable (Price) to other sets (Quality) available, that they have tried, or felt work better than others. Other than that I would prefer to not go the Pedders option.

Cheers.

[vitagra]

I reckon their shocks are rubbish and their springs are too hard... But I got the 3" kit. It took a 12000lb winch and winch bar to bring the front down to an appropriate level. Shocks lasted less than 2000 km I think (maybe a tougher 2000km that it could have been).

[felix]

As vitagra said, the shocks are crap and the springs too hard. However, unlike vitagras car mine is sitting fine at the front without a winch and with just an alloy bar (maybe they changed the springs as of late?).

I'm not sure if it would be worth the money for just the 2" lift, and if its your daily I wouldn't go as nuts (mine is my daily but its a money pit). It'd be much more worth your while if you got a OME 2" lift and fix all your ball joints (the kits don't include ball joints, only bushes). With a bigger lift you'll flog through bushes and balljoints at an astounding rate.

vitagra what happened to your shocks? Mine have gone through a hard 5000kms so far and are still working o.k. How are your trailing arm bushes holding up? Mine are rooted already!

[vitagra]

One of my front shocks was completely rooted, the other was fine. It lost all resistance and caused some sever camber problems. Might have been a factory problem...

It might have been the tough springs hitting those shocks on full extension all of the time?? I replaced them with OME, they seem to be better.

I got 1 calmini if you want it (hehe). Although I suspect it's not worth the postage. Dunno about trailing arm, the car hardly gets driven.

[felix]

Mine gets driven every day and offroad almost once every 2 weeks... Trailing arm bushings are all cut up from the arms flexing..

I want to try OME or the struts ODA have, then i wouldn't have to run a strut spacer...

[sp1086]

I'm running the 3" springs which are hard but this kit is deigned to hold up a steel bar & winch.. Perfect for me.. The rear springs arn't that hard. I cant say much about their struts but I run the 3" Calmini rear shocks with OME front struts, this combo works great. Calmini is designed as a hard off road option. I would go with the ARB kit if you want it to be a daily driver. However you'll still need to get new control arm & trailing arm bushes if yours are flogged out..

[joeblow]

ome will work fantastic in all situations. just dont go too high in the lift. in swb vehicles use lwb stuff.

[suzukiboy]

I have had the Calmini 3" lift in for 90,000klms.

Still running all there bits, I really like the ride but I won't call it a comfortable ride.

[BlueSuzy]

Drive a sierra..Then we can compare comfort..