side steps
new owner of a 2004 5d pinin warrior 2.0 gdi in the uk and new memebr to the forum.
I have spent hours and i mean hours reading this forum now to try and get some ideas of what mods to do and the best way to do them.
The pinin has done just 71k miles and there is some rusting on the rear arches that i am going to fix but while down there i noticed the side steps were a bit rusty, on further investigation the steel brackets fell apart in my hands....
my question is there any benifit to having them? other than getting in the thing if i decide to raise it a bit.
off topic i have read so many posts about raising the suspention but can come to a conclusion of the best direction to take! there seems to be so many different ways.
i dont want to go stupuidly high really ands truely i just want to fir some slightly bigger wheels and gain some clearance..
and help or direction would be greatfully appreciated
cheers
Thank you! That seems to put
Thank you! That seems to put all the info i have read everywhere else in the forum into and easy to understand paragraph! Im pretty sure My front is the low version as i can barely get a finger between the strut and wheel.
Where is the beat place to locate the higher ones? And whats the part number?
What size tires are you running?
Whilst the difficulty in getting a finger between the tire & strut pan does suggest you have low pan struts, it could also be that a previous owner has fitted a larger tire - OE size in some markets was 215/65R16, whilst others got 215/70R16, which is almost an inch larger.
KYB334405 is the high pan strut, however, the best place to get it may depend on where you are - for me, it's the local KYB dealer, they were in stock the last time I looked - give your dealer a call and see what happens.
Sounds like low pan struts
A 235/50R18 tire is mathematically very close to the 215/65R16 - within 0.25 inch - so it is very likely that those are the low pan struts.
Pricing is again going to be driven by location - I can pick them up for GY$40~45,000 a pair, which works out to just over USD$200 - which may be more or less than you are seeing online, remember you have to factor in shipping,and if applicable, import duties & taxes, VAT, etc..
Define better performing - there are different approaches to shock/strut selection, and few people get beyond physical dimensions to the intricacies of valving, which is going to be dictated not only by the weight of the vehicle and it's spring rates, but also by how you use the vehicle, on the street, off road, high speed desert, rocks, etc. - the KYB 334405 is designed for the iO, so the dimensions and the major part of the valving issues are already correct - your other option would be adjustable Koni inserts - if you can find a pair of struts that will accept them, or, fiddling with struts from another vehicle and hoping that they work - Nissan XTrail struts can be made to fit - they do have longer travel, but whether they perform better than the originals may be determined by your definition of better performance - details are in the lift thread.
I'm no shock engineer - I can get XTrail struts here, I can get the KYB 334405 struts here, pricing is comparable, there is no way I'm going to faff around with the XTrail struts and then have to deal with the side effects - make spacers, fit limiting straps or drop the cross member & diff to prevent CV damage, and at the end still have a concern about the damping - there's an XTrail sitting alongside my iO - it's a very different vehicle and I expect the valving to be different.
By the way - you might want to factor in the cost of a set of wheels & tires - I'm assuming your interest in a lift is to improve your off road capabilities, larger rims and lower profile tires improves on road capability at the expense of off road capability - taller sidewalls and more flex is the way to go.
ok ive done some googleing
ok ive done some googleing and found a couple of things on ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TO-CLEAR-NEW-OE-QUALITY-LESJOFORS-FRONT-COIL-S...
are these the correct springs for the rear?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/381577568701?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPa...
are these the correct shocks for the front?
also once the lift is done what size wheels and tyres are best suited? it will be 95% used for offroading so was looking for MT tyres id guess
thanks scott
The struts are correct ...
but I'm not sure on the springs - the KYB 1430 is supposed to be the ones you want - theyare available on ebay, but aroughly twice the price of the ones you're looking at (close out pricing is aways better) - compare them and if the vehicles they fit match, you're good.
Please note - I have not personally used the Mazda springs, primaily because I could not locate a set at a price I was willing to pay, and yes, I know they are available in the UK, but the shipping makes it an expensive option.
Wheels & tires - 16" rims, and I'll let one of the other guys suggest a tire size - 225/70R16 should clear, but I don't know how much larger you can go.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Front-Coil-Spring-fit-323-S-323-C-323-F-32...
so these would be correct for the rear of my pinin? if so the cheapers ones i posted earlier fit all of the same vehicles? just a different brand?
would there be much difference in quality?
thanks for the help much appreciated
Did you look at the year and the variant?
I'm seeing a difference there - I'm not going to say that they won't work, and if returning them is an option for you, by all means go ahead - because of my location (I'm in South America) freight costs can add up, so I need to be certain that I'm getting the correct part on the first attempt.
In terms of quality - on the one hand I've never heard of Lesjofors before, on the other KYB is a known brand, and are the OEM supplier to Mitsubishi, for at least the shocks & struts used on the vehicle. A quick google search shows that Lesjofors is swedish and a major european manufacturer, so quality should be comparable.
Syndicate
How tall are you?
You would have to go lift crazy AND be a little person to need sidesteps to get in an iO.
For a moderate lift there are a couple of different options and the first step is going to be determining which struts you currently have fitted - see the strut data thread for details on how to measure them...
From the factory there were two different struts used, since you seem to be in the UK, I'm going to guess you have what are known as the "low pan" struts, which measure approximately 245mm from the base to the pan weld - the spring pan on this strut is very close to the tire and so limits the size tire you can fit. If you have this strut, the next step is to replace them with the "high pan" struts, these measure approximately 275mm to the pan weld, and just fitting these will give you a 30 mm lift at the front, plus room for larger tires, which will also lift the car some - I recon you can get close to 50mm or so with just the struts & tires.
Lifting the back is relatively easy - 94~98 323 Mazda springs (BA Astina front springs) if they are available in your neck of the woods, or coil spring spacers for an 80 series Toyota Land Cruiser - for a moderate lift such as I'm describing, the OE rear struts have enough droop.
If you already have the high pan struts, the easiest way will be replacing the coil springs on all corners - there are several spring manufacturers in Australia who offer springs, King Springs seems to be the favourite here.
Yes - you can go crazy and start fabbing up spacers to space the struts down, drop the cross member, fit Nissan struts, but, you did say you didn't want stupid high ...