Lifting a Mirage

[91cavgt]

Yes, instead of lowering, I'm thinking about lifting my Mirage. Nothing extreme, but about a 2" lift. Here's how I plan on doing it eventually;


Tires.

I plan on replacing the factory tires to taller ones. So far, it appears as though a set of 185/75/14 tires on the stock rims would work best. The stock tires are 22.4" tall and the 185/75/14 tires are 24.93" tall. That is a 2.5" difference in diameter which would add 1.25" in over all lift.


Coil spring inserts or spacers;

You can buy coil spring spacers for the front that install between the coil spring and the strut. These will compress the coil springs a bit when installing them, thus preloading the springs. Motorcycles and ATVs use adjustable preload on the springs in order to slightly raise or lower the vehicle. If that doesn't work then I have seen strut spacers that bolt in between the strut and the body of the car. Seeing how the tires would add 1.25" of lift, the spacer would only need to add 0.75" of lift thus not putting the axles at a bad angle.

In the rear, there are a couple of ways one could add 0.75" of lift. One way is to install coil spring inserts. NASCAR uses these to firm up the suspension in the race cars. On our cars, one needs to find a spacer that is thicker than the space in between the coils. Any spacer that is thicker than the space between the coils would add lift. Once again, you wouldn't need anything too drastic as you only need 0.75" of lift to match the front.

The other way to help lift the rear is to add air shocks. These are shocks that can be inflated or deflated depending on the load. When you inflate them, if there is no extra load, then they will help to raise the car. The only downfall with the air shocks is when inflated, they will make the suspension more firm.






So why would someone want to lift a car? To give more ground clearance us the main reason. I don't plan on doing any kind of off roading, but having a Mirage that sits 2" taller would prevent the front from hitting curbs when pulling into parking spots, it would prevent the car from rubbing on speed bumps, and more importantly for me, I would not have to bend down as much to get into or out of the car thus helping my knees.

The downfalls to lifting a Mirage are a decrease in fuel economy due to an increase in drag, lower rpm at highway speeds, the speedometer would be off by around 10mph at 70 mph, and more of a strain on the CVT transmission. I believe the strain on the CVT transmission would be negligible though as it would be the equivalent of having a couple of people always ride with you.


So, what do y'all think?

[MysticMirage]

This is odd. I never have an issue with speed bumps or parking blocks. Nose fits right over with over an inch of clearance. Although, everything is bigger in Texas...

To each their own I say!

[Charlie]

I think it's an awesome idea. People have different needs for their vehicles, so they'll do different things to them to suit these unique parameters. Most people go for lower (I'm sticking with stock height), you're going for higher because of your knees and possible bumper scrapage. Go for it!

@ MysticMirage: Stock, for most situations will be fine in regards to clearance. However, I can definitely see exagerrated situations where this could occur even for stock height. There is this one place near me where there is a downwards slope to cross an intersection and then when you crossover, it is the exact opposite, upwards slope with kind of a mini ditch (to channel rainwater) in the middle of the downward and upwards slope. I go SOOO slow crossing this and have seen people scrape the bottoms several times here..mostly on sports cars, but it even happened to my stock 2000 Mazda Protege.

-Charlie-

[Canoehead]

I like it! Let us know how it works out. I find fwd and stock height in my Ford Focus is enough for almost everything I get up to including the worst of winter, gravel roads, dirt roads, and the occasional farm field, but a bit of extra ground clearance couldn't hurt (especially in deep snow or poorly graded gravel roads). The number of people who think they "need" a truck or SUV but really don't amazes me. I also find the SUV's that have almost no off-road ability to be a silly development. For my money, I want either a small efficient car, or a proper off-road vehicle (solid axles, lockable diffs, low end torque, big knobby tires - the antithesis of efficiency) the attempts to compromise between these two have just about always failed (possible exception being the Suzuki Samurai).

[M-88]

I like it! Let us know how it works out. I find fwd and stock height in my Ford Focus is enough for almost everything I get up to including the worst of winter, gravel roads, dirt roads, and the occasional farm field, but a bit of extra ground clearance couldn't hurt (especially in deep snow or poorly graded gravel roads). The number of people who think they "need" a truck or SUV but really don't amazes me. I also find the SUV's that have almost no off-road ability to be a silly development. For my money, I want either a small efficient car, or a proper off-road vehicle (solid axles, lockable diffs, low end torque, big knobby tires - the antithesis of efficiency) the attempts to compromise between these two have just about always failed (possible exception being the Suzuki Samurai).

There was a guy in Las Vegas that lifted a 2nd generation Focus. It was pretty cool! I have considered doing it to mine. But ... one lifted vehicle is enough for me. A good set of snow tires and I'm passing all of the SUVs and trucks in ditches. I especially laugh when I see a Subaru in a ditch. I have high centered myself on snow once or twice, but nothing a shovel can't fix.

My only concern with lifting a Mirage (or any FWD vehicle not designed for such) is the angle on the ball joints being too much. You should be able to drill out the strut towers if needed to get the camber back into play. Caster shouldn't be affected.

The rear twist beam should be fairly simple to lift - just stick a spacer in.

[Ares]

If it had 4x4, I would lift. Otherwise, there's no reason to - at least for me.

I was able to drive my Kia rio in soft sand while RWD trucks got stuck. Half the battle is knowing how to drive in mud/snow/sand.

[DonHoot]

What does this do to the center of gravity? Would the car tend to roll more?

[oldopelguy]

Looks like the air bag inserts, the kind that go inside the coil spring and are inflated there, for the rear of a Toyota Previa are about the right size for the back of the mirage. Way better option than air shocks.

[91cavgt]

What does this do to the center of gravity? Would the car tend to roll more?

Since the suspension geometry wouldn't really be changed, and from the spacers, the suspension might even be slightly firmer, there should be no difference in roll.

[91cavgt]

I have lifted a front wheel drive car before, although I did not intend to do it.


On my 1991 Cavalier (where my screen name came from), I changed the coil springs to one from a convertible. Since my Cavalier was a base model 2 door, the factory springs were a lower rate than the convertible. This gave about a 0.75" height increase. Add to that the taller 16" wheels and tires I put on it and it had about a 1.25" lift.

I autocrossed the car with this suspension setup, drag raced it, and drove it for quit some time on the street. I never had an issue with the ball joints or with the camber. The primary reason why I never had a problem with my ball joints is the suspension lift was not a huge lift. Therefore, the ball joints always stayed within their specifications. That is the plan with my Mirage. Keep the suspension lift small to keep the factory parts within their tolerances and this should minimize problems.


Now when I will be doing this is another story. I am currently in a leg cast and because of this, I can not drive. After I heal up, I will be taking measurements to see what is viable.