Looks Awesome! thanks for the writeup! I was looking into a few different lifts, and they all seem like a PITA so I am excited to try.

 

How is the ride ? I am super tempted to do this. Forge motorsports kit ?

 

The ride is a bit tighter in the short drives I've done so far, I have noticed the rear is a bit more stiff but not unbearable. Yes, this is the Forge Motorsports kit 2" kit.

 

Awesome writeup and great looking ride.

Few questions. Would you say handling has improved? I would venture to guess 'yes'
Is there noticeable dive on takeoff/braking?

Do you ever tow w/ your Touareg? How would this be impacted? When I spoke w/ Alex in Australia he says it will actually help towing in that it should eliminate sag if you currently get any

 

I'd say the handling has improved, it is a bit tighter as the preload is significantly higher. I didn't mind the dive before installing the spacers that much, and it certainly doesn't seem to be an issue post-install.

Now, I do tow occasionally. I'm excited to see how much it is improved, but that typically means a car broke down, so I'm also hoping I don't find out any time soon. During my research I found that is should improve towing due to the rear springs being much stiffer, reducing sag.

 

Thank you for the update. You basically confirmed what my suspicions had been all along but wanted to make 100% sure I was right before diving into one of these lift kits. GREAT looking ride by the way. I imagine the lift will also help tremendously when the snow flies.

 

Here is mine. What a pain in my ass! I installed 2.5" spacers and Bilstien's. Not sure how this will pan out but I am not doing that job again. If I have to I am selling the car.

Below is halfway done. Still need to do one more rear which are the worst but not that bad. I had to use a 4ft steel pick. Remember to tighten everything when car is back on ground as not to pre-load the suspension hanging.

 

Here is mine. What a pain in my ass! I installed 2.5" spacers and Bilstien's. Not sure how this will pan out but I am not doing that job again. If I have to I am selling the car.

Below is halfway done. Still need to do one more rear which are the worst but not that bad. I had to use a 4ft steel pick. Remember to tighten everything when car is back on ground as not to pre-load the suspension hanging.

View attachment 239463

Hahahahhaah, exactly why I wanted the dealer to do mine and also why the dealer quotes a ton of money for the job. Touchè.

 

I've done lots of research on the 2" lift and all of what I can gather tells me the extra 2" isn't enough to strain the drive train or cv's.

Awful coincidental you just got the lift on and you're already down a cv...

 

I've done lots of research on the 2" lift and all of what I can gather tells me the extra 2" isn't enough to strain the drive train or cv's.

Awful coincidental you just got the lift on and you're already down a cv...

The CV was jammed this morning for some reason and I got to loosen up and mate up to the intermediate shaft but once all done I put it in gear and it tore up that side and CV joint. I think nothing to do with the lift at all. The axels are not strained at all. I think that CV joint had a misaligned ball and it tore the hell out of it. Twisted the boot, won't go in gear or move. Hope it is just the Axle. I have a used and new one lined up to the pull the trigger on tomorrow. My guess is the CV was worn already or I stretched out the joint too much, then it jammed and ended up failing. Most likely my fault.

 

Great write up. First (and last) time i used a fork (long time ago) i messed up the seal also. There is a trick. first You can get a ball joint press from Harbor freight for $15. I think Auto Zone will also lend you one for free. The trick: 1) Loosen the nut, but leave the nut on and press on the nut. 2) When you have the press on the ball joint, if it doesn't just pop out, hit the side on the flange at the place in red in the attached picture and it will magical pop out. Some times you don't even need a press. Most suspensions will have a flange or flat area for this purpose. It rarely works to do the intuitive thing of pounding on the nut.

 

Only tools I use now for ball joints are 2 hammers. Hold one against the knuckle and bang on the opposing side with hamer #2. Works every time and never messes up the boots. The rear is a pain for sure. I figured it would be easier, boy was I wrong.

 

The two hammer method sounds good. I replaced all the ripped shock boots on my car. My lift kit from Russia never showed up so I just put the struts back in, and the rears were a pain even with no lift. I thought there must not be doing it right so I read the factory manual, and the factory method is to use a long piece of wood, like a 2x4 about 8 feet long with a helper to flex the suspension while you put the bolt in. I was thinking there was some special tool but nope, just a long piece of wood.

 

The "luber" resurfaces after years of hibernation!

TonyB
(If this makes no sense to you just do a search)

 

Compared to the RisingTuning lift kit, it seems that the Forge kit is slightly taller, or is it just me and the pictures fooled me?

t3 lift

I ordered a spacer lift for my 2011 today. Went with the rising sun units from ebay. Also ordered a strut compressor. I will post pics when the parts arrive, and durring install (if I can remember).

www.clubtouareg.com

 

I assume it is the same. I did not measure before and after, so I don't know if it raised 2".

 

Ground clearance is a published spec. What is your ground clearance measured to the subframe at the front lower A arm?

 

True ground clearance won't change, as the control arm will now be on a downward angle instead of on a horizontal as per original design.... he may have gained some in the center of the chassis but not all around.

 

Iff you pull the axle out too

True ground clearance won't change, as the control arm will now be on a downward angle instead of on a horizontal as per original design.... he may have gained some in the center of the chassis but not all around.
[/QUOTE

 

that is true... until you add larger tires. I went 1" over stock, so I gained a 1/2" all around. Small, but sometimes that is all you need (that's what she said 🤣)

 

What is your ground clearance measured at the front subframe around where the the lower A arm mounts?

 

The lift suspension or body lift only opens up the fender space for bigger tires. The actual lift/ ground clearance is given by the tires size guys.

 

If you are measuring ground clearance off suspension components near the tires I agree that ground clearance doesn't change much with a suspension lift. Most people will be more concerned about the center of their vehicle where the gas tanks differential, transfer case, battery, air intakes and breathers are as well as the approach/departure/breakover angles. The ground clearance in those areas does increase with a suspension lift. So if I am able to raise ~98% of my vehicle with a suspension lift, and there is that ~2% of the car (the suspension points near the tires) that get partially lifted, isn't that a good thing? So what are you arguing? That the ground clearance hasn't changed because the steering knuckle is still at the same height after the suspension lift? I am not too worried about my steering knuckles hitting a rock when I off road.

There are limitations on getting allot of lift on a Touareg. Raising the suspension doesn't help much with bigger tires. You need both tires, and suspension lifts together to get a workable ground clearance. Start with tires and get as much lift as you can, then add a small suspension lift to get a little more.

.

 

I have roughly 9.9" of clearance down the center of my 2012 with a 2.5" lift. It will be good enough for where I want to take it plus just for looks-wise it looks like a real Touareg.

 

9.9" is enough to do most trails.

 

For starters, this is the first time I've dug into the Touareg aside from VCDS, oil changes, and small projects. Suspension isn't my specialty and I always run into issues. Lo and behold, that theme continued!

Now, here's my lessons learned. The rear was harder to accomplish,but the front wasn't much easier. Removing the rear was easy, popping out the spare tire cover was easy. After it was out, I learned that all I had to do was pull towards the rear, and it'd come out with ease. The pieces with the chrome anchors need to be removed to allow access to the bolts as well.

With the rear suspension out, loosen all of the pivot points, this'll make reinstall easier along with help keep the bushings from binding once the job is done.
For the springs, save yourself the headache. Don't bother with the typical harbor freight two piece design or the two piece loaners from an auto store.
Compressing the springs was done with this tool: Amazon Link
Essentially, put it in a vice, and go to town. There's no worry and it worked fine. Granted, I'm sure there's some bad castings that may break, but I had no issues.

That pic was taken after the spacer install. Another thing to note is that before you take it apart, mark the position with a sharpie. upper part of the spring to the foam to the tophat, and bottom in a similar fashion.
I did run into issues with removing the tool from the springs on the rear. Simply unmount and give it a couple smacks with a deadblow and they'll go their separate ways without any drama.

The reinstall sucked. It took a lot of hammering, jacking, pushing, pulling, bent a couple punches, but it eventually all came together. I'd recommend a 3-4 ft long piece of wood to use as leverage to push the hub down. I also completely disconnected the rear anti-sway bar for peace of mind.
All done on one side:

Now for the fronts. The connectors are disconnected, and removed from the hub and tucked away. The upper part of the brake line is also pulled off of the top. Remove the front anti-sway link completely. The top bolt wont come out until the entire strut assembly is ready to come out, but it made life much easier. Now for the fun. I completely messed up the ball joint on the driver side by using a fork, and by also messing up the threads with a hammer. Frustration kicked in, all it left me was with a ball joint that needed to be rethreaded and now I need a new UCA. The balljoint needs to pushed out of the hub. I went to advanced auto and got a separator for under $30. Even with this tool, it took a lot and I thought something was going to break. That thing was going NOWHERE! No amount of hammer blows would pull that out.

It's easier to use a piece of wood and push the UCA up to pull the strut out. This also works for reinstallation.
Here's a series of photos on the front, it was very simple and drama free. Mark it, replace the studs, and put it back together!

Lining it all up during reinstall was a pain in the ass. Essentially it went
1) Bolt up the top of the strut with the upper sway link bolt installed (loosely).
2) Wrap a strap around the bottom of the strut and attempt to pull it in towards the body while pushing down on the hub
3) Push on the hub with a piece of wood as leverage
4) Use a punch to help guide the holes, and eventually get the bolt in
5) Use the jack to push it up and reinstall the nut on the balljoint. May need to use a piece of wood and push down on the balljoint to keep it from spinning, or use a T30 torx with an 18mm socket. I broke my T30 so wood and pressure it was!

Bolt everything back up, run the connectors and grommets and call it a day. This was on a LHD Touareg so the coolant bottle was in the way, ended up disconnecting all of the connectors and moving them out of the way to get a clear view of the area.

Looking back, I'd have loosened the LCA bushing on the front to help get more motion. It wouldn't have affected anything because the truck needs an alignment now regardless.

I think that's it, I hope someone finds it helpful as its info I'd have liked when tackling this.

Here's the end result!

Edit:
Here's the results from the alignment, I'm still getting creaking in the front end when turning and moving slowly. That'll be shelved for another day!

What kind of material does the kit made of?

 

Just put spacers in my '16 today. Glad to have seen this thread beforehand. Took me most of the day. Pretty physically exhausting work. I noticed that the down travel on the fronts (when trying to remove/install the strut assy) seems to be limited by the CV joints. I suspect that it would be pretty easy to damage the joints by pushing down too hard on the hub in effort to make the large lower bolt go in. Be careful doing this!

Both fronts and rears were difficult. Hopefully this won't be a job I'll ever have to do again!

I think my spacers are 30mm, good for 45mm lift. It seems to ride just as it did before, maybe slightly stiffer in the rear which is needed as it seems to wallow a bit much for my liking.

I'll post pics some time soon.

 

Just an updated after some time on Alex's spacers, both fit under the spring I found out that the front shocks would top out over bumps and clunk. I think placing the spacers under the spring in front is wrong. It should be placed on the top ount between body.

So this time around I looked at 3 choices, Eurowise, Rising Tuning and Forge Motorsport.

The only thing I like with Eurowise is the added shock shaft extension for the front, otherwise I will not give this company any of my money. This place has always left a bad taste in my mouth. I will make my own if I have to. After speaking with them several times and more reviews from shop owners, many of who won't deal with them because of their **** margins and large buy in's, I decided that I may likely go with Rising tuning or Forge. Both essentially the same except the Rising sun is a 1.2" lift and I am leaning towards this kit over all the others.

With the 1.2" lift, I will likely not have to have shock shaft extensions. Lifts is perfectly for my taste and what I want to do. Likely will give me 9.3-9.5" of ground clearance, Good enough. Price is excellent @$195 vs Eurowise @ $400 vs Forge Motorsport @ $300. I like the idea of Poly or Delrin vs Aluminum. Will offer some compliance for the suspension. I am not looking to go big or go home this time.

 

The only thing I like with Eurowise is the added shock shaft extension for the front, otherwise I will not give this company any of my money. This place has always left a bad taste in my mouth. I will make my own if I have to. After speaking with them several times and more reviews from shop owners, many of who won't deal with them because of their **** margins and large buy in's, I decided that I may likely go with Rising tuning or Forge. Both essentially the same except the Rising sun is a 1.2" lift and I am leaning towards this kit over all the others.

I hadn't heard of the Rising Sun kit, that seems like a good alternative to the spring spacers, which hurt travel, at a good price.

However, I wanted to add that my experience with Eurowise has been incredibly positive- the quality, engineering, and attention to detail on their parts is just really impressive, and they have been really responsive and helpful with customer support as well. I have their 2.5" lift kit, spacers, and winch mount on my vehicle and am happy with all of them.

When I got the winch plate, the recovery point didn't fit past the plastic on my T2, and so they designed an improved part for me, and sent two of them for free, and let me keep the old one which fits on the rear. Mind blowingly good customer support, I've never had an experience like that with any company.

If I had to criticize Eurowise it would be that their parts are too high end, and heavily built, which makes them heavy and expensive- but in no way overpriced for something that requires a lot of engineering and testing with such a tiny market. It seems like their stuff is designed and built for really hard use, like competitive rock crawling, but who, if anyone is doing competitive rock crawling in a Touareg or Cayenne?

 

Just bought a '16 TDI that I plan to tow with. Ordered the Forge 2" lift (backordered - 2 weeks?) and plan on some bigger tires. Thanks for the write-up. Will post once I install it.

 

Well, I have the Left Bilstein B6 shock on back order so I am on a holding pattern with our 16'. I am opting for the 1.2" lift this time. Enough for my needs. This will give it near the same ride height as T2 which was plenty.

It will also be more practical and likely not eat MPG IMO.

 

Hey guys. I'm planning to put 2 inch and 18 wheels. Anyone have this setup with Duratrac tires? I'm looking for a size advise. Thanks