Anyone had experience with Calmini (usa) gear???

[Grantw]

Mate of mine has moved to the us and emailed me about some gear on his spook. I have seen and heard of the gear but never known anyone first hand to have had it. I am talking about there 5" kit. Does anyone know if its any good or what alternative australians have?? I am at the stage where my springs and shocks are past there use by, so I am up for some new gear. I have 31 claws and would need at least 3-4"....

[grimbo]

or you could go 2.5" Old man Emu, 2" bodylift and a hammer to knock the seams back on the inner wheel wells. Works great, easy to replace parts if you need to (although I was using a 2nd hand set for 7 years that had a hard life and have only just replaced some of the springs) and will be cheaper. The Old man Emu springs are great.

[greg]

I'm not sure why you'd want 5" of lift out of your springs - sounds to me like they are going to need to be pretty stiff and inflexible to keep their shape (i.e. not going to provide much travel, or a nice ride).

However, if you are still chasing Calmini, there is a company in Perth that distributes their stuff over here - check out 4wd monthly - there are adds for the 5" lift kit in the back of it...

It's also been mentioned on this board before - i'm sure a search for "Calmini" in the suzuki section would come up with the companies contact details...

One of the fellows in the zook club contacted him and got a big catalogue of all there stuff - maybe you could get your hands on one to see if it's really what you want. otherwise, their website has all the stuff on it too.

But like i said - 5" is a bit excessive isn't it?

Cheers

p.s. what does a 31" claw measure? I'm guessing it's only going to be 30" or even a bit less? In which case, you may well be able to fit it with no lift at all (and just some seam beating). Lower = more stable

[christover1]

I think the 5" calmini lift is body lift and suspension lift together. ie 2"body 3" spring, but I could be wrong, christover

[greg]

I think the 5" calmini lift is body lift and suspension lift together. ie 2"body 3" spring, but I could be wrong, christover

I presume this is the kit here

http://www.puresuzuki.com/super_5.htm

comes with Shackle Reversal, brake line extensions etc...

But i'm a bit iffy about reading that it comes with "bump stop extensions"? I gather this is to limit up-travel and stop the springs from inverting themselves - but that couldn't be a good thing for COG if you force the car into staying high up - even when the wheel wants to stuff up under the guard*

not sure.

* - i have 20mm spacers under my front bump stops to reduce wheel stuff but that is to stop my tyres from chewing out the back of my headlights. This is only a problem for tyres that are 34" or more though - the photo from the calmini site looks like it has tyres less than 31" in size.

[bazooked]

one of the apprentices at work recently fitted this kit to his zook. the kit is 3" lift springs reverse shackle up front longer hangers up front and 2" longer shackles in the rear with the 3" lift springs (noo body lift). this kit is extremlyyyy stiff and would not recomend it if ur after flex. either go spring over or rears up front like grimbo!

[SAWZALL]

I went to the Calmini factory in Cali in 99 to pick up my gearset. Quality stuff IMHO but I'm a big fan of OME stuff 2.

I'd get the local stuff if it was me

[Grantw]

Thanks for the input. SOA not an option. (Qlder)..