What is a Coilover Lift Kit- What You Need to Know

I am the owner of an auto repair shop, and I have seen many people come into my shop asking for coilover lift kits.

Yes, coilover lift kits are really popular nowadays. They are usually more expensive than suspension lift kits, yet they can make your ride smoother.

There’s more!

A coilover lift kit will raise your vehicle while adding extra ground clearance, improving the appearance of the vehicle.

You can even fit larger tires if you select the right and most compatible coilover lift kit for your specific model of vehicle.

But what is a coilover lift kit?

Well, a coilover lift kit is basically coil springs and shock absorbers. Here, you put the coil springs over the new shock absorbers when you install the lift kit to add height to your truck or another type of vehicle.

What Does a Coilover Kit Do?

A coilover lift kit is the best of both worlds, considering it comes with new coil springs and shock absorbers to make your ride more comfortable.

Shock absorbers already smoothen your ride by tackling all the bumps on the road or even off-road by compressing and expanding when needed.

And the shock absorbers of a coilover lift kit do the same and more!

On the other hand, the coil springs of a coilover lift kit do not compress as shock absorbers do. And this is what makes your ride stiffer compared to a suspension lift kit.

What does it do?

Well, this will make your vehicle roll less, but it might also decrease the chances of your ride being comfortable by a little.

But the best part of a coilover lift kit is that it will prevent the vehicle you install this kit on from bottoming out.

The coil springs placed around the shock absorbers start to compress when you hit various bumps on the road.

And when you ride on a level surface right after hitting the bumps, the coil springs will expand with the help of the shock absorbers.

This is how these two components of a coilover lift kit can work together to make your ride much smoother!

But what about the lift?

When you install a coilover lift kit, the measurements of the shock absorbers and the coil springs will change the ride height of your vehicle.

This will give you more ground clearance, which will help your vehicle perform better in off-road situations.

What are they best for?

A coilover lift kit can do what a suspension lift kit can!

But if you rough handle your vehicle more often than not, you should go for a coilover lift kit instead of a suspension lift kit, as it can handle a lot more than suspension lift kits.

For example,

If you are into the sport of jumping your truck, installing a coilover lift kit will help your truck perform better than a suspension lift kit will.

So if you want better off-road performance from your vehicle than what a suspension lift kit can offer, you should go for a coilover lift kit.

Lift Kits VS Coilover Kits! What is best?

Cheap Coilovers Vs Expensive Spacer Lift

Why You Should Choose a Coilover Lift Kit?

Why You Should Choose a Coilover Lift Kit?

If you want to be able to handle your vehicle better in off-road situations and also be able to adjust the settings to improve the ride quality, you should go for a coilover lift kit.

An adjustable coilover lift kit can do you more good than a suspension lift kit, as you can adjust things like the ride height, preload, spring rate, or dampening with a coilover kit.

Let me explain!

Ride Height

After installing a coilover lift kit, you can adjust the height of your vehicle to a height that suits you the most for a better on-road and off-road experience.

If you raise your vehicle too high, you could lower it easily because of the coilover kit. And if you end up lowering it too much, you can raise it a bit more again.

For example,

Let’s say you love traveling. And you hop on your truck whenever you want to and drive through tough terrains.

For these occasions, you can raise your vehicle to be able to tackle all the bumps of rough terrain.

When you get back?

Well, when you get back to your daily life, and you don’t need a higher ride anymore, you can just lower your vehicle quickly because you have that coilover lift kit installed.

And as I’ve mentioned earlier, a coilover lift kit will prevent the bottoming out of your vehicle even if you lower it.

This is why the height adjustability a coilover lift kit gives your vehicle is worth buying this type of kit for.

Preload Adjustment

Just like ride height, you can preload your vehicle easily if you do install a coilover lift kit.

You can preload and decrease the performance of your shock absorbers whenever you want to if you’re not on off-road terrains.

And if you need to tackle more bumps than usual, you can quite effortlessly change the preload settings again.

Changing the Spring Rates

You can easily change the spring rates of your vehicle, depending on your needs, because of a coilover lift kit.

If you want a firmer ride, you can just adjust the spring rates to be higher!

But you have to know this will decrease the ground clearance of your vehicle and shift the center of your vehicle’s gravity to be lower.

On the other hand,

If you want a softer ride, you can go for lower spring rates! This will help you get a better grip and also help with bumpy off-road terrains.

Damping Adjustments

As I have mentioned earlier, the shock absorbers of your coilover lift kit will control the compression and expansion of your coil springs.

This will make for a smoother ride!

But you can adjust how much damping output you get from your vehicle by altering the settings effortlessly because of your coilover lift kit.

How to Install a Coilover Lift kit

After knowing all the benefits a coilover lift kit can give you, you might want to know how you can install one.

I’ll tell you!

Now I’ll give you a step-by-step rundown of how you can install a coilover lift kit on your vehicle. Just remember, there might be some differences in installation for each vehicle.

Step 1: Gathering Equipment

You need to gather these tools before you can install your coilover lift kit:

  • Socket set
  • Torque wrench
  • Penetrating oil
  • Anti-seize
  • Coil spring compressor
  • Hardware
  • Breaker bar
  • Jack and safety stands
  • Measuring tape
  • Hammer
  • Replacement bushings

Step 2: Removing the Wheels

To install the kit, you need to get under your vehicle to access the suspension. So you need to use jacks to remove your wheels.

Make sure you place the jack stands correctly, and don’t forget to use safety stands to prevent any accidents.

Step 3: Removing the Struts

When you get under your vehicle and locate the struts, you will find that there are a few bolts attaching them to the suspension.

After removing those bolts, take apart the bolts on the lower control arms and upper control arms to take out the struts.

Step 4: Installing the Coilovers

Take note of the instructions your coilover lift kit comes with to make sure you’re on the right track at every step.

When you are done installing the coilover, you need to make sure the camber plate, sway bar end links, and brakes are adjusted correctly.

Step 5: Reinstalling the Wheels and Checking the Alignment

After you’re done installing the coilovers, you need to install your tires and wheels again onto your vehicle.

Whatever you do, just make sure you have secured the wheels and tires tightly so that no accidents can occur.

Then, you have to check if the alignment of your vehicle is correct, or you might face issues in handling your vehicle.

Final Words

What is a coilover lift kit? Well, as you should know, a coilover lift kit is basically coil springs wrapped around shock absorbers.

This combo is what lifts your vehicle higher to give you better ground clearance and other benefits.

So if you want your vehicle to perform amazingly in extreme off-road conditions, you should go for a coilover lift kit.