TawClaw

Thanks so much everyone for all the feedback. After reading these reccomendations I realized I needed to do some more homework on exactly how cars' suspensions work. I read a bunch about this and feel I have a better understanding of it now. This project has definitely educated me in that regard. I've decided I am going to take it semi-easy and safe. I'm going to order a set of King Springs from Primitve and get a 1.25" spacer set from them as well. I don't expect the Kings to give me more than about .75"-1" and am comfortable with the amount of lift that will give me with the spacers. If I end up getting more lift than I bargained for I can always take out the spacers. I'm also going to size out some Grabber AT2 tires which should give me a little more clearance. My struts are in good condition so I won't need to do those just yet, but when I need to replace them I will probably get some GR2's. Again, thanks everyone for the help. Rest assured after I read your comments I did research on my own so I don't need to rely on others so much in the future. Cheers!

Wow thanks for all the help! I guess I'll just stick to 2" plus tires then, but do you think I could get away with 2" spacers and Baja springs? It's probably not worth doing but worth asking. I've thought about the camber, always important with a lift. Thanks for the reminder. Oh and thanks for the reassurance about the spacers holding up. That was the biggest concern I had.

Hey! Thanks for the referral. Ohh I see, would I need engine/trans/diff blocks if I got 4" without struts? I'm kind of a noob, just getting into this. How much lift would I see with King Springs (or Baja springs) and a 2" lift kit? I've heard people say anywhere from 0.5-1.5" after the springs settle in. What has been your experience? I would be pretty happy if I got 3" after those two things. So is it true that spacers don't actually do much in terms of usable height? As in, it lifts the body, but the wheels won't actually have more room to move, so it was almost useless to do anyway? Of course you do have ground clearance so it wasn't useless but you get what I'm saying. One more question (I'm full of questions lol sorry), at what point does a spacer become too big to hold up securely? Throwing one or two inches of aluminum between the chassis and the strut doesn't seem too dicey, but would three or four inches there (theoretically) cause problems? Especially in the front, where most of the weight will be shifted to during breaking, putting a lot of sideways pressure on those joints. Or am I completely wrong here?

Hey guys. I was referred here from someone at subaruoutback.org for specific advice on lifting my Outback. I want to install some new springs, spacers (I'm going to have some 2" custom-machined by a friend of mine), and maybe struts. My struts are in good enough shape, not sure when they were last replaced (3rd owner). The car itself has 114k miles. Are there any longer struts I could install that would give me some lift? Maybe Forester struts? I know there are KYB GR-2's on the market, but those don't add any height. I might throw those in anyway, if they're better than stock ones. What do you think? Also, what do you know about King Springs? If I can find them, I would considering getting them for a lift over a pair of Baja springs, which I hear will also give me a slight lift. Other than these and fatter tires, is there anything else I can do to the suspension to give me "real" lift? Spacers will give me some ground clearance, but don't actually lengthen the space the wheels have to move up and down. Also, do you guys think that in general it's better to make/have spacers above the strut between the top of the strut casing and the chassis, or within the strut casing above the spring? The former is much easier to machine, but if the latter provides some benefit let me know. I'm looking for about 3.5-4" before fat tires. TLDR: What can I do to give my suspension some real, non-spacer lift? Thanks!