PART 2 : BACKGROUND
Everyone is going to have different goals, budget and comfort with modifying their car, so a bit of background on me so you can put this review in context. I’m a 40 year old fella in Australia with a wife and child. I wanted a daily driver that could tackle 80% urban family duties, but also allow me to get offroad from time to time. The Touareg seemed to fit the bill and was way cheaper than a used Landcruiser. Years ago I had a modified Landcruiser 60 series that wouldn’t have pulled the skin off a warm cup of milk, but it was unstoppable offroad. So I have an idea as to what a capable offroad vehicle is.

Straight up, I love the Touareg! I love the onroad comfort and quality of the cabin, the power, how quiet it is and the safety for the little one. I didn’t want to mess with this at all. Pre-lift I installed a Dragline bash blate (excellent) and some Dueller All Terrains on it (also excellent). Biggest trip so far has been an 8,000km holiday up to the Kimberly region of Western Australia , which is pretty remote by any standards. This included parts of the Gibb River Rd, a lot of beaches and the odd rocky trail.

The biggest weakness by far has been a lack of ground clearance. My car had 200mm to the bottom of the bash plate when I bought it with 100,00 kms on it. I know a lot of people think a good line will compensate but in my opinion, at least 250mm ground clearance is required if you want your vehicle to be capable offroad. Particularly on a boggy beach, with tyres down to 15PSI, my clearance was down to well under 200mm.. It was very easy to get bogged in the sand as the belly of the car starts to take the weight off the tyres. See below pic from before I installed the lift. This is a normal beach where I am from, and not what I would consider boggy. The car went fine this day, but you can see the car is almost bellied as it is, and this was at 22PSI. On a bad beach at 15PSI or less, you're done.

So my goals with this kit were as followed:

• Minimum 30mm lift, not more than 50mm suspension lift
• Retain factory levels of comfort as much as possible as this car is my daily driver.
• Road legal so I don’t have issues with insurance and the like.
• No compromises to reliability. No creaking or knocking sounds.

 

PART 2 : BACKGROUND
Everyone is going to have different goals, budget and comfort with modifying their car, so a bit of background on me so you can put this review in context. I’m a 40 year old fella in Australia with a wife and child. I wanted a daily driver that could tackle 80% urban family duties, but also allow me to get offroad from time to time. The Touareg seemed to fit the bill and was way cheaper than a used Landcruiser. Years ago I had a modified Landcruiser 60 series that wouldn’t have pulled the skin off a warm cup of milk, but it was unstoppable offroad. So I have an idea as to what a capable offroad vehicle is.

Straight up, I love the Touareg! I love the onroad comfort and quality of the cabin, the power, how quiet it is and the safety for the little one. I didn’t want to mess with this at all. Pre-lift I installed a Dragline bash blate (excellent) and some Dueller All Terrains on it (also excellent). Biggest trip so far has been an 8,000km holiday up to the Kimberly region of Western Australia , which is pretty remote by any standards. This included parts of the Gibb River Rd, a lot of beaches and the odd rocky trail.

The biggest weakness by far has been a lack of ground clearance. My car had 200mm to the bottom of the bash plate when I bought it with 100,00 kms on it. I know a lot of people think a good line will compensate but in my opinion, at least 250mm ground clearance is required if you want your vehicle to be capable offroad. Particularly on a boggy beach, with tyres down to 15PSI, my clearance was down to well under 200mm.. It was very easy to get bogged in the sand as the belly of the car starts to take the weight off the tyres. See below pic from before I installed the lift. This is a normal beach where I am from, and not what I would consider boggy. The car went fine this day, but you can see the car is almost bellied as it is, and this was at 22PSI. On a bad beach at 15PSI or less, you're done.

View attachment 242259

So my goals with this kit were as followed:

• Minimum 30mm lift, not more than 50mm suspension lift
• Retain factory levels of comfort as much as possible as this car is my daily driver.
• Road legal so I don’t have issues with insurance and the like.
• No compromises to reliability. No creaking or knocking sounds.

do you have a link to the bash plate?

 

PART 3 : THE OPTIONS
These were the options at the time of purchasing. Hopefully this list continues to grow as the last year alone has seen at least double what was out there when I started my journey:

1. Siekel 30mm Lift Kit: Seems like a great kit based on forum on this feedback, but only a minor lift and very expensive in Aus. No info on how the shock is actually built either so I couldn’t justify spending this much.
2. TEMA/Rising Tuning/Forge Motorsport PE Lift Spacers: I would have bought these but the licensing authority here would not approve them as they are Polyurethane and could wear over time. I was kinda stuck without an option until the Eurowise product became available.
3. MCS Custom Coilover Kit from Eurowise: Looks amazing but expensive and a niche product. Too hardcore for me.
4. Alex Gee Shock Spacers: This is an aluminium spacer like the Eurowise kit, except it goes under the springs from what I can tell. I’m far from a suspension expert but I had the preference to not alter the strut/spring combo. There’s no real science to this, just a preference. There seems to be many happy customers, and definitely have a look if you are in the market. Alex is the OG for lifting Touaregs and deserves respect for being one of the first to see the potential.
5. Eurowise Fox Lift Kit: As I write this, it seems Eurowise are about to release an upgraded Fox suspension kit. This to me is the holy grail, and without knowing much about it, if it was available 3 months ago, this review would be covering this product and not the spacers. If this proves to be good I will be upgrading. It would be great if these offer increased suspension travel as the spacers compromise this (but I have not noticed any adverse effects).

So after careful consideration of all of the above, I settled with the Eurowise product due to the following:

• Licensing authority would approve it.
• Durable. There’s a lot of corrugated roads where I am. I believe these will cope with the repeated stresses of this type of driving.
• Relatively cheap.
• Good quality.
• Good feedback on Eurowise as a company.
• Promised to retain factory ride and handling.

Now when I bought the kit, Eurowise only offered a 2.5 inch kit. So I emailed and asked if they could do a thinner spacer for me to get about a 40mm lift. They said they could but I could not get a reply after many attempts. I would have gone with about a 40mm lift as I think this would be the perfect height for a spacer lift. But Eurowise ended up offering a 2” (50mm) option on their website which I ended up buying due to lack of response about the 40mm kit.

There was also very little info with the kit about how to install, although Mike from Eurowise did email me with a couple of tips. I don’t want to steer anyone away from Eurowise. I’d still buy from them in a heartbeat, but I’m trying to give you my honest account of this journey so it’s worth noting. I also happen to think they are legends for leading the Touareg mod scene. By far the best out there doing it.

 

PART 4: THE INSTALL
The parts arrived promptly from the US, wasn’t much more than a week from memory. They came sealed as per the below pics with some neat branding. The parts looked to be of excellent quality, and the glued on rubber gasket thing is a wonderful addition that sets this kit apart. Top marks for packing and shipping.

The spacer metal itself is about 38mm thick, with 2-3mm of rubber gasket to stop squeaking. I took before and after measurements of eyebrow heights and roof heights on the car. These were inconsistent between each wheel, both before and after. But ultimately the clearance increase from ground to underside of bashplate was exactly 50mm. So results were as promised.

I decided to let someone who knows what they are doing install this kit rather than stuff it up and then pay someone to install it anyway. It was only $440 Aus with an alignment anyway, so was happy not to risk it. It was a reputable shop who specialise in lifts with really good reviews.

After speaking with the shop, they did sound frustrated with the install, particularly getting access to the engine bay side of the shock support to get the new extended bolts through. They also had to spend quite a bit of time during the alignment, and it took some time to get it sorted. Now I’m sure for someone like the Eurowise guys, they could do it blindfolded as it’s their bread and butter. It’s just worth acknowledging that these cars don’t get lifted all that often, and for most shops it will be the first time they do it. So pick a reputable shop who preferably knows these cars.

But all told, it went well and the car looks sweet. No-one would pick it has been lifted as it simply brings it into line with any of the more off-road focused 4x4’s out there.

 

Bloody good mate !!

I agree with

- 3 ... Alex is amazing and have witness with my own eyes numerous times his work ability ... phenomenal !!!

- 4 - Mike from Eurowise ... (dont know if your wait was recent) but he just got over C-19 ..... anyway AWESOME product and when i first started reading thought of him first to offer further suggestions but reading on it caught up with me.

What i am gathering is

- rig you have is the best and last of the REAL deal tregs and has the CASA engine. Its a Keeper

- Its a pity you couldnt find one with air. My 1st treg was springs and i felt the same limitations. Grabs my second with air and it has no comparison. ... anyway that just boasting ... sorry but if i could get you to i would get air

Have done loads of east coast and Fraser over 40 years and these perform well. The pic you show thread 2 ... normal ... ive been on the southern most tip of Fraser on a full tide forced into the super deep wet and soft stuff and as long as you know how to drive (speed gearing etc etc) it still pulled out guns and we made it to the barge.

could add more but i feel i am gibbering

awesome to see this thread and great to see you here

Bloody good mate and all for the family. #1 #1

 

PART 5: THE DRIVE AND SUMMARY
So having received my car back, I went straight on a 1000km road trip. These are my impressions:

On-road Ride Comfort: If there was any negative impact on ride comfort it was negligible and possibly in my head.

On-road Handling: I’m sure handling at the limit is affected due to the higher centre of gravity, but I’m not driving this car like a sports car so I haven’t noticed any difference in day to day driving in terms of handling.

Off-road Handling (Tracks): I thought I'd hit a track I am fairly familiar with and have been down previously many times in both my 60 series and Touareg before the lift. It is usually fairly straight forward with the odd scrape and bump to the undercarriage but during holidays gets rutted out massively. Some blokes get a little too keen:

About 10 cars (mostly Landcruisers) were just waiting and looking at this, and many turned back. TBH I was a little hesitant after seeing that. But I figured I’ll just take it slow and back-up if I can’t make it. First attempt didn’t go great at 30PSI as I started sliding into a tree. I dropped down to 20PSI and it just went up no problems. Body did not scrape at all. It was worth noting that the traction control system was fantastic and did things that my old 60 series could not do. At least 1 wheel was in the air at times, if not 2, which is not ideal for open diffs. But I kept the throttle fed at about 60% and you could feel the brakes being applied to the lifted tyres and then power transferring to the tyre with grip. It takes a bit of getting used to as the ABS system judders a bit and makes a bit of noise but once you understand what it is doing it’s fantastic. No its not like having front and rear locking diffs, but its substantially better than nothing and everybody there was surprised how undramatic the Touareg made it look. Like really shocked. Everybody here in Aus thinks these are total softroaders so I enjoy seeing the reaction.

The way back was similar. Some guys got bogged on the same hill coming down as I think they were trying to avoid the holes (sorry for bad pics). Took 4 recovery tracks to get them out, note the angles of the wheels and articulation required:

I took a lesson from them and just went straight down into the holes as it was the same line I took up and was confident with my new ground clearance. Low range, 1st gear. Absolutely no problem and no scraping. I have done this track before and can confidently say that before the lift, the body would have scraped and this section. You can see from this picture the tyres were up again, but slow and steady and it was no problem. It's worth noting there doesn;t seem to be a lot of articulation on the Touareg. I think a proper suspension lift would offer more in this regard:

Off-Road Handling (Sand): The above track ends at the beach. The last time I was on this beach, I got bogged and had to pulled out by a Landcruiser (the humiliation). Body just bottomed out due to clearance.

With the new kit it was just easy. I had the level of trust I used to have with my Landcruiser that I would just be able to get to where I wanted and back again. Completely transformed the car in this respect and I feel much more confident taking it offroad.

So all in all, great kit and well worth it. As stated previously, I would suggest going for the 1.75” kit that Eurowise now offer. Paired with some larger tyres (31"+), I think you'd have a real weapon without pushing the limits of the suspension geometry.

 

PART 5: THE DRIVE AND SUMMARY
So having received my car back, I went straight on a 1000km road trip. These are my impressions:

On-road Ride Comfort: If there was any negative impact on ride comfort it was negligible and possibly in my head.

On-road Handling: I’m sure handling at the limit is affected due to the higher centre of gravity, but I’m not driving this car like a sports car so I haven’t noticed any difference in day to day driving in terms of handling.

Off-road Handling (Tracks): I thought I'd hit a track I am fairly familiar with and have been down previously many times in both my 60 series and Touareg before the lift. It is usually fairly straight forward with the odd scrape and bump to the undercarriage but during holidays gets rutted out massively. Some blokes get a little too keen:

About 10 cars (mostly Landcruisers) were just waiting and looking at this, and many turned back. TBH I was a little hesitant after seeing that. But I figured I’ll just take it slow and back-up if I can’t make it. First attempt didn’t go great at 30PSI as I started sliding into a tree. I dropped down to 20PSI and it just went up no problems. Body did not scrape at all. It was worth noting that the traction control system was fantastic and did things that my old 60 series could not do. At least 1 wheel was in the air at times, if not 2, which is not ideal for open diffs. But I kept the throttle fed at about 60% and you could feel the brakes being applied to the lifted tyres and then power transferring to the tyre with grip. It takes a bit of getting used to as the ABS system judders a bit and makes a bit of noise but once you understand what it is doing it’s fantastic. No its not like having front and rear locking diffs, but its substantially better than nothing and everybody there was surprised how undramatic the Touareg made it look. Like really shocked. Everybody here in Aus thinks these are total softroaders so I enjoy seeing the reaction.

The way back was similar. Some guys got bogged on the same hill coming down as I think they were trying to avoid the holes (sorry for bad pics). Took 4 recovery tracks to get them out, note the angles of the wheels and articulation required:
View attachment 242263

I took a lesson from them and just went straight down into the holes as it was the same line I took up and was confident with my new ground clearance. Low range, 1st gear. Absolutely no problem and no scraping. I have done this track before and can confidently say that before the lift, the body would have scraped and this section. You can see from this picture the tyres were up again, but slow and steady and it was no problem. It's worth noting there doesn;t seem to be a lot of articulation on the Touareg. I think a proper suspension lift would offer more in this regard:

View attachment 242264

Off-Road Handling (Sand): The above track ends at the beach. The last time I was on this beach, I got bogged and had to pulled out by a Landcruiser (the humiliation). Body just bottomed out due to clearance.

With the new kit it was just easy. I had the level of trust I used to have with my Landcruiser that I would just be able to get to where I wanted and back again. Completely transformed the car in this respect and I feel much more confident taking it offroad.

So all in all, great kit and well worth it. As stated previously, I would suggest going for the 1.75” kit that Eurowise now offer. Paired with some larger tyres (31"+), I think you'd have a real weapon without pushing the limits of the suspension geometry.

Awesome review! I agree, it will be nice when the level of knowledge and support starts to match some of the other stuff out there.

 

Haha Cheers Odessa. Yeah the CASA is a ripper.

Yes, I probably should have started with a comment regarding air! Definitely the way to go and then you don't need to worry about any of the above. But I still enjoyed the journey in some demented way, and I'd be happy if one day it's as easy to lift one of these as a Jeep or Toyota.

 

Great review - perfect timing also as am looking at getting this kit...

A few questions to those who have already fitted these:

- do you always end up needing a realignment of the wheels - or has anyone applied the kit without needing a wheel alignment adjustment?

- the benefits of going up 2.5 inches lift with the 1 inch subframe drop... gives better clearance for the rest of the vehicle other than the subframes... worth it or just go up 1.75 inches?

Would appreciate any experience others are willing to share...

T

 

Great review - perfect timing also as am looking at getting this kit...

A few questions to those who have already fitted these:

- do you always end up needing a realignment of the wheels - or has anyone applied the kit without needing a wheel alignment adjustment?

- the benefits of going up 2.5 inches lift with the 1 inch subframe drop... gives better clearance for the rest of the vehicle other than the subframes... worth it or just go up 1.75 inches?

Would appreciate any experience others are willing to share...

T

The ground clearance remains the same with the 2" and the 2.5" + subframe drop. The idea of the subframe drop is to space up the body a little more to allow you to fit bigger tires. However, you will still be limited on diameter wheel well space unless you're willing to cut bumpers and rockers.

 

Just for the record .......... a standard spring My05 V8 on an average flat straight section of inland track on Fraser

Not much to play with !!

 

I’m not sure that’s quite correct... but am willing to be told I’m wrong

When you lift with strut spacers, the whole car goes up including the subframe and the wheel shaft to floor angle becomes more acute... putting more stress potentially on the CV joints if you go up too far. You then drop the subframe to compensate for this... which lowers the frames, the front and rear diffs back down by an inch. This means the acute angle on the wheel shaft is reduced allowing a return of better range for the shocks to work through. You do however reduce the previously gained ground clearance by an inch, but only in the subframe areas.

As above... if I’ve got this wrong pls feel free to inform me.

 

Timpe,

You'll definitely need an alignment.

With regards to the subframe drop, yes you're right. Better axle geometry, and you will get better clearance elsewhere on the vehicle. But Sponcar has a point also about the lowest point (ie. subframe areas) being compromised, negating the benefit unless you are fitting substantially larger tyres. I would say it all comes down to what you are trying to do.

If you're trying to build something for serious offroading, then you'd probably be well served with a 3" lift, subframe drop and some 33" tyres (standard tyre size is 29"). You'd probably get around 300mm clearance at the subframe with this combo but it is a substantial modification. I reckon if you're going to drop the subframe, you might as well go all the way with 3"+.

If you're just after something that is very capable for overland duties, the 1.75" lift with 31" tires would be a great option giving around 260mm clearance while keeping a very factory feel and looking a bit tougher. As a comparison, the most offroad focused Jeep model (Rubicon), offers 270mm clearance and it is a very capable vehicle straight off the floor.

Good luck with your decision, make sure you come back and let us know how it all went!

 

Nice review, now mine is running again I’m about to start down the route of lift / tyres. I’m leaning toward a 2” Alex Gee lift and a set of 265/65/17 either KO2’s or Hankook dynapro’s. Anyone have any experience with this setup?

 

Nice review and very helpful comments!!! Thank you guys! Now, I would like a piece of advice, as I am very close to 0 in this field . I want to use a T3 3.0 TDI , except for the day by day life, work, motorway, etc , for a soft rally on rocky tracks and sand dunes. By soft rally I mean is for amateur drivers, speed is limited to 80km/h , so is not Dakar rally. For this type of challenge what do you think is better: 1.75 inches lift + wider tyres or 2 inches lift and 1 subframe drop + wider tyres?

 

Urszilla, I've put my T1 up by 2 1/2 and done the SF drop, also gone up on the diameter of my tyres by 2 inches. It's worked well for me.

I've now been off road, found a few issues with my set up and come up with solutions.

As eurowise say - you have to fully undo all of the bolts on the articulating components to allow the bushings to re-settle. This involves the alignment bolts too. Once lift and drop are fitted, jack up that corner under the bottom of the shock until its just taking the weight then tighten the hell out of them all, and in the older car I mean with a breaker bar. The garage I took mine to for the alignment just tightened the bolts up afterwards with two standard spanners - this evidently wasn't enough as it had all shifted by the 1 week. They need doing up and torquing up properly.

The exhaust - the subframe drops necessitates an exhaust drop or a few new bends adding - I'll post what I end up doing shortly.

 

thank you !!! Looking forward for the updates! Btw, how far are you from Nottingham?

 

I'm in Bath... a fair push from you...

 

Any updates since your last post about ON ROAD handing and performance? I have the extreme duty 2" lift + subframe drop in my cart from Eurowise. I just picked up my Touareg and I'm putting on some all terrain tires next week 265/65R/18 Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus. I am really curious about how the lift kit impacts your ON ROAD handling since most of my driving will be on city streets and highways/interstates. It's not really my daily driver, but it sort of is and I love how it's riding now and I am not convinced I want/need to sacrifice it. If what I am led to believe on this forum is true my wheels and tires won't rub, and those TFL videos of the OUTRAGE I mean the TOUAREG are quite convincing that stock plus tires are quite amazing. I am planning to add rock sliders and some underbody protection towards the rear as time allows... but the main question is... if I do the extreme duty 2" lift...will I be happy with the everyday handling and performance say a few months from now? Are you?

PS: Hope my tire choice delivers! I was going to go with the 265/70R17 KO2s but I decided I'll save those for when I get the 17" wheels to make a dedicated off-road set 95% of my use will be on road and on fire and forest roads. I've had my Audi S4 B7 on 3 wheels on rock and crazy stuff people think you need a Jeep for... but the Audi has reached her mechanical limits and the Touareg was very necessary. Blessings. I love this site

 

Hey Dapinitial,

Is that kit for air suspension? I've only installed a kit for springs so can only comment on that. On-road was no change in comfort that I noticed. I'm sure there was an impact in handling with the higher centre of gravity but I never drove my car hard around corners as it's no sports car.

The main problem I had was that there was no small subframe drop when I bought my kit, so the CV's would creak, click and moan when steering at full lock or when the suspension was extended. The axles went from being level before the lift, to about 6 degrees after the lift when resting on flat ground. This means the CV's are wearing slowly every single revolution they make. I place reliability above all else, and I was too worried that my CV's might give way somewhere remote so I took the kit off. Very bummed as I loved the lift.

I'll give the 2.5" kit a crack one day, with the 1" subframe drop just to get the axles level. With some 32" wheels will still get some decent clearance.

 

I just fitted the Eurowise 3" lift WITH 1" subframe drop on my 2013 TDI. Other than not being able to get one single alignment adjustment (right rear castor) into spec, barely at that, no complaints here. Certainly do not have axle problems. Only crappy thing is since the subframe drop is front and rear, they included exhaust hangar spacers, which work as advertised, but now my tips don't exactly sit right in the bumper. So there's that. I've driven approx 600 miles on the road with this kit and it's just fine.

Tires ordered, 265/60/20 (32.5") hope to have them mounted next week and see the truck complete.

 

On the T1 facelift the exhaust tips can be angled upwards to return them to the correct position. There is a cerclage holding them onto the side of the rear box... is it the same on the newer versions?

 

Good info, good to know it's working well for you. Keep us posted after a few months

 

Following on from my previous post a while back... I've had a few issues since fitting the 2.5 in lift and 1 in drop. Initially I had to re-remove one of my rear struts as the nut at the top worked itself loose. This was symptomatic with a click/clunk when going over a bump in the road that slowly worsening with time.

I made my own SF drop and decided to place 3mm hard rubber pads between the Alu pucks and the chassis to avoid movement. This did completely the opposite and the pads were removed in a rather sorry state. Don't do this!

I've had a continuing double click that happens when turning corners, sounds like its coming from the front of the car, not particularly one side. I've checked and tightened everything including the alignment bolts, the subframe bolts... no idea what the cause is!

Finally - my solution for the exhaust was to replace the bolts with a greater length and some 2cm spacers which were sections of aluminium pipe and to re align the tips. Stops the exhaust hitting the subframe as it passes it.

Hope this all helps and if anyone has any bright ideas on the clicking I've got I'm all ears!

 

considering all is written above and in other topics about lifting, please excuse my ignorance, but if a suspension kit as seikel is used, don`t we get the same problems with the CV joints, subframe position, exhaust...etc?

 

I think so…. Any adjustment of the angle of the shafts going from the diff to the hub will increase the potential wear. Therefore any kit that just lengthens the strut/spring construct will run this risk.

 

Urszilla, the Siekel kit only lifts your car 30mm, vs 62.5mm (2.5in) of the Eurowise kit. With my Eurowise 2 inch kit my axles were resting at 6 degrees down when the car was parked, vs being dead level without a lift.

I would assume the Siekel kit would have your axles sitting at around 3 degrees as it is about half the lift. So technically, yes, it would still place additional strain on your CV joints every revolution, but it would be a lot less and may be negligible. Based on some of the reviews of the Seikel kit on here, there doesn't seem to be any adverse effects.

You have the same issue with all 4WD's and even on Landcruiser forums they will say you should limit your lift to about an inch if you aren't going to use a subframe drop.

 

@sandgroper , did you finally installed any other lift kit?
From your updates I understood you've removed the 2" one?

 

have you seen the Dark Side Developments KIT?

Touareg 7L / Cayenne 955 / 957 50mm+ Body Lift Kit for Coil Sprung Vehicles

Darkside Developments VW Touareg Complete 50mm+ Body Lift Kit

www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk

 

Do you reckon this kit would be more suitable than the Strut spacer?

Touareg 7L / Cayenne 955 / 957 50mm+ Body Lift Kit for Coil Sprung Vehicles

Darkside Developments VW Touareg Complete 50mm+ Body Lift Kit

www.darksidedevelopments.co.uk

 

Hi Guys, sorry for late reply. My bash plate was made by a member on this forum - Dragline. Just search for him.

The Darkside lift kit looks like it does essentially the same thing as the Eurowise ones. Good that they drop the subframe as well, so this will lower the axle angles.

I prefer the look of the new Eurowise 2.5" kit as it includes a rebate space for your shock to sit in. It's hard to explain but this would prevent the shock arm from going through the top of the shock in a massive compression event as there is solid metal for the top of the shock to sit against, rather than air. I think this type of event would be rare, but good peace of mind. Only problem for Oz is that anything over 50mm will need engineering to be street legal.

Ultimately though, I'm over the spacer option and did remove mine. How many good wrangler/landcruiser/patrol etc setups are using spacers vs upgraded shocks? I've never seen one using spacers so that's telling you something. There are thousands of old Touaregs out there now, being sold for a fraction of a Toyota. Can't believe there's not more of a mod scene as they are such a good platform being sold for peanuts!

I'll be looking at a Siekel setup until someone else offers a simple, upgraded set of shocks that also raises the height without the use of spacers.

 

Hi Guys, sorry for late reply. My bash plate was made by a member on this forum - Dragline. Just search for him.

The Darkside lift kit looks like it does essentially the same thing as the Eurowise ones. Good that they drop the subframe as well, so this will lower the axle angles.

I prefer the look of the new Eurowise 2.5" kit as it includes a rebate space for your shock to sit in. It's hard to explain but this would prevent the shock arm from going through the top of the shock in a massive compression event as there is solid metal for the top of the shock to sit against, rather than air. I think this type of event would be rare, but good peace of mind. Only problem for Oz is that anything over 50mm will need engineering to be street legal.

Ultimately though, I'm over the spacer option and did remove mine. How many good wrangler/landcruiser/patrol etc setups are using spacers vs upgraded shocks? I've never seen one using spacers so that's telling you something. There are thousands of old Touaregs out there now, being sold for a fraction of a Toyota. Can't believe there's not more of a mod scene as they are such a good platform being sold for peanuts!

I'll be looking at a Siekel setup until someone else offers a simple, upgraded set of shocks that also raises the height without the use of spacers.

I agree with you but there are really no options. Emotion overland has a sweet setup on their porsche cayenne. They are still using spacers but have a coilover system on the car. For the mean time I am going with alex's spacers and Bilsteins. Should be fine. Siekel has not made those things in ages. Have you contacted them to see if they can? I remember contacting them and they had no intention or want to make anymore. If they do want to, let me know, I will go in with you.