[SlyCoopers]

Oh man the thin tire sidewall of the 18s always make me nervous for that terrain and was one of the primary reasons I dropped down to 16 to fatten the tire sides. Always good to see a fellow cx3 being pushed beyond road limits.

Curious as to what tire pressure you had here?

 

[Kevin715]

There is actually a decent amount of sidewall looks much less in pictures, I just run oem pressures as I found the grip to be excellent without even airing down and then I have less chance of debeading a tire on rocks, I think the cx3 being so light helps huge with offroad performance, climbs up steep hills without even trying lol, love how fun it is offroad, sure it's a bit slower pace then say a jeep but people love seeing it on the trails, one gentleman we camped with Said it reminded him of old 90s small pickup truck commercials seeing me rock crawl out of the forest 😂

 

[richyboycaldo]

You got me super exited with the Ceika linka. About to order a pair! Your car looks pretty sweet! Rad pics. Regarding the rod extensions, that is what I am currently using at the moment, but learned that it is easier, stronger and safer, to modify the top hat by drilling out a hole and extend with a piece of pipe 1" then reinstall. Did Ceika say that they could sell you custom coilovers with extra travel if you order them custom? Or they don't offer the option of extra height at all?

 

[Alliesaurus]

Hey everyone, considering lifting my CX-3 as it just feels so low compared to my Land Rover I came from. This thread has been super informative for me so just double-checking I have this right before I order some parts. So just confirming that not only will I need the Tanabe springs but also this lift kit so the struts don't bottom out? - Complete Lift kit 30mm for Mazda CX-3 2015-present | Mazda 2 2014-present | eBay

(Excuse if it's a silly question. I know quite a bit on the engine side but next to nothing on the suspension side... ha)

 

[SlyCoopers]

Hey everyone, considering lifting my CX-3 as it just feels so low compared to my Land Rover I came from. This thread has been super informative for me so just double-checking I have this right before I order some parts. So just confirming that not only will I need the Tanabe springs but also this lift kit so the struts don't bottom out? - Complete Lift kit 30mm for Mazda CX-3 2015-present | Mazda 2 2014-present | eBay

(Excuse if it's a silly question. I know quite a bit on the engine side but next to nothing on the suspension side... ha)

Sort of yes and no? Lol its a little complex since itl be a preference thing really. Cx3 suspension hits hard in general regardless of mods, impact is reduced a bit going from 18 to 16" wheels since bigger sidewall cushions it a bit more, but having only installed the springs I dont see much difference in comfort from stock height and here in my usage.

Im not a fan of the spacers personally given that its basically rubbery material being slammed the weight of the car on and given the negligence of the rear spring spacer setup and that the vendor still sells it is just a bad day waiting to happen. Dunno on the longevity of the spacers either but a good starting point seems to be the spring set and rear strut spacers if you wanna go down that route.

Spacers can always be added on after with the exception of the front. But keep in mind that the rear spring spacers are a big no no.

Also going back a few pages richys usage is a little more extreme than the normal average cx3 user or overlander so it depends what youre looking to do.

My recommendation as a random half asleep internet dude is just go with the springs as a starting point and then see how you wanna progress from there if you want to space the struts after. Good luck

 

[Alliesaurus]

Sort of yes and no? Lol its a little complex since itl be a preference thing really. Cx3 suspension hits hard in general regardless of mods, impact is reduced a bit going from 18 to 16" wheels since bigger sidewall cushions it a bit more, but having only installed the springs I dont see much difference in comfort from stock height and here in my usage.

Im not a fan of the spacers personally given that its basically rubbery material being slammed the weight of the car on and given the negligence of the rear spring spacer setup and that the vendor still sells it is just a bad day waiting to happen. Dunno on the longevity of the spacers either but a good starting point seems to be the spring set and rear strut spacers if you wanna go down that route.

Spacers can always be added on after with the exception of the front. But keep in mind that the rear spring spacers are a big no no.

Also going back a few pages richys usage is a little more extreme than the normal average cx3 user or overlander so it depends what youre looking to do.

My recommendation as a random half asleep internet dude is just go with the springs as a starting point and then see how you wanna progress from there if you want to space the struts after. Good luck

Thanks for the reply! Sounds like I'll start with the springs and go from there. Appreciate it!

 

[richyboycaldo]

IMO, I think the rod extenders or modified hats should go hand in hand with the springs. You lose almost all the down travel with the Tanabe springs. Those mods are cheap and easy to install if you already have disassembled everything. Even with those mods, I keep topping out after going over bumps. The risk of damage is minimal unless the wheels will spend a great deal in the air.

If I could do it all over again, I woul use Tanabe springs for the rear only with the shock extenders, and spacers in the front with OEM springs. That way the suspension remains in harmony by keeping the front simple, with the same geometry, and neutral strut balance.

 

[Alliesaurus]

IMO, I think the rod extenders or modified hats should go hand in hand with the springs. You lose almost all the down travel with the Tanabe springs. Those mods are cheap and easy to install if you already have disassembled everything. Even with those mods, I keep topping out after going over bumps. The risk of damage is minimal unless the wheels will spend a great deal in the air.

If I could do it all over again, I woul use Tanabe springs for the rear only with the shock extenders, and spacers in the front with OEM springs. That way the suspension remains in harmony by keeping the front simple, with the same geometry, and neutral strut balance.

Ah okay makes sense.

So looking like getting:

Front strut spacers 30mm for Mazda CX-3 2015-present | 2 2014-present Lift Kit | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Front strut spacers 30mm for Mazda CX-3 2015-present | 2 2014-present Lift Kit at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Rear shock extenders 30mm for Mazda CX-3 2015-present | 2 2014-present Lift Kit | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Rear shock extenders 30mm for Mazda CX-3 2015-present | 2 2014-present Lift Kit at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

And the spring kit (keeping the front coils off)

 

[richyboycaldo]

I would do that now if I could, but I gave my OEM springs away. Too expensive to buy again. I might get custom Coilovers though.

 

[richyboycaldo]

So of you sold their cx-3 for a cx-30? I came across this cx-30 post and the OP mentions to have had a lifted cx-3 that rode like crap after lifting it.

Lift Kit and tires/off-road use

Wanted to share some info on my lifted 2022 CX30 Turbo as is seems to be hard to find for those of us who want to lift the CX30 for off-road use. Currently I am running the most aggressive setup that is possible with zero rubbing or major suspension modifications. I am using the TEMA 4x4 40mm...

www.cx30talk.com

 

[Kevin715]

So of you sold their cx-3 for a cx-30? I came across this cx-30 post and the OP mentions to have had a lifted cx-3 that rode like crap after lifting it.

Lift Kit and tires/off-road use

Wanted to share some info on my lifted 2022 CX30 Turbo as is seems to be hard to find for those of us who want to lift the CX30 for off-road use. Currently I am running the most aggressive setup that is possible with zero rubbing or major suspension modifications. I am using the TEMA 4x4 40mm...

www.cx30talk.com

Yep that was the cx30 turbo I upgraded to after the Cx3 and decided to go with the Tema 4x4 spacer kit front and rear, I will add having a torsion beam rear suspension does not mean you can't run spacers as per the OP original post, I would actually recommend the spacers over the springs after having ran both setups, the spacers were much cheaper, and the ride quality was much better as the shocks constantly topped out when running springs resulting in loud banging and a harsh ride over bumps, I ran the spacers for a few thousand km both on road and on some trails that recommended lift and lockers without issues, before trading my cx30 for a 2022 Colorado z71, and will be trading that in for the new 2023 Zr2 colorado as I want to be able to off road with less effort and better comfort.

 

[richyboycaldo]

Yep, that was exactly my experience. I do plan to keep the cx-3 for a few more year, so not much else I can do. The cx-30 will be the next car, so spacers for sure.

 

[LevelNobody]

Looking to add a small life to my awd cx-3. I noticed everyone is a variant of these TANABE SUSTEC UP210 SPRINGS For MAZDA CX-3 DK5FW DK5FWUK

I was curious are these plug and play or would i need to install different trailing arms and endlinks? I did read through it but it did not clarify

 

[SlyCoopers]

Looking to add a small life to my awd cx-3. I noticed everyone is a variant of these TANABE SUSTEC UP210 SPRINGS For MAZDA CX-3 DK5FW DK5FWUK

I was curious are these plug and play or would i need to install different trailing arms and endlinks? I did read through it but it did not clarify

Yes its plug and play. The only things you definitly need is an alignment after and slimmer spring compressors would help. The bigger and longer the compressors the harder time youll have installing.

 

[richyboycaldo]

Looking to add a small life to my awd cx-3. I noticed everyone is a variant of these TANABE SUSTEC UP210 SPRINGS For MAZDA CX-3 DK5FW DK5FWUK

I was curious are these plug and play or would i need to install different trailing arms and endlinks? I did read through it but it did not clarify

I wouldn't do if I were you. I did it, and me and another user experience pretty severe degradation of ride quality because of the loss of down travel. I am not only talking off-road, but on the road as well. Going over parking bumps a few more mph and the suspension would bang because of the lack of down travel. The cx-3 struts have about 7 or 8 inches of travel. The strut piston sits in the middle, so that gives you about 4 inches of travel up and 4 inches of travel down. If you lift it, 1 or 2 inches, the piston will be sitting higher, so instead of having 4 and 4 of travel, you will now have 6 for down travel and only 2 for up travel. If you always drive on flat road, then it wouldn't matter much except that the strut piston will not be sitting in their natural position therefore incurring more stress on the strut piston because it is never resting on its natural position. It is not worth it, IMO. Also the trailing arms are not long enough to accommodate 6 inches of down travel. I had to get aftermarket trailing arm that are adjustable ($120 bucks!). That help just a bit, so to remedy the lack of suspension down travel, had to custom made a rod extension and welded it to the top of the strut to bring down the strut 1 more inch. The issue now is that my strut now tops out at 3-4 inches of down travel, but technically, we need to add the extra inch from the rod extension putting more stress on the axles. Without the rod strut extension, I had violent bang every time I went over any bump. Anyway, I immediately felt the improvement after the rod extension, but it is still not as smooth as OEM, and I still need to get frequent alignments. If you can find struts with longer travel, then you will be fine, but I've spent countless hours looking for a strut with longer alternative and couldn't find any. For the rear, it is up in the air how safe they are based the angle the rear spring compresses. I had to add shock spacer to lower and level the travel.

If I would do it over again, I would definitely use spacers upfront. Spacers is cheaper, easier, and ride quality will be OEM. There is no point in getting springs if the struts will remain the same. The Subaru XV forums are full of people using spacers. For the rear, it is up in the air how safe installing spacers. It was believed to be unsafe because of the angle the spring compresses, but a guy from the cx-30 forums did it without issues.

Here is the link of the guy that did cx-30 lift using spacers. He used to have an cx-3, I believe, and his experience with springs was the same as I did, so this time around he went for spacers all around for his cx-30.

Lift Kit and tires/off-road use

Wanted to share some info on my lifted 2022 CX30 Turbo as is seems to be hard to find for those of us who want to lift the CX30 for off-road use. Currently I am running the most aggressive setup that is possible with zero rubbing or major suspension modifications. I am using the TEMA 4x4 40mm...

www.cx30talk.com

If you like, and if you live in South CA, I willing to trade my 210 springs for your OEM springs + spacers. Below are some pics. Awesome tires are courtesy of SlyCoopers

 

[SlyCoopers]

Holy mud buildup lol. Yea from a utility point the springs work. For comfort that's gonna be a rabbit hole of what youre willing to spend barring an air suspension.

 

[richyboycaldo]

Holy mud buildup lol. Yea from a utility point the springs work. For comfort that's gonna be a rabbit hole of what youre willing to spend barring an air suspension.

I looked into air suspension, but I didn't want to have compressor and the risk of the suspension popping. I asked many shops if I could get custom coil overs with longer travel, but I didn't find any shops that would build them. In a few years, I will get a CX-5 with spacers and enjoy the benefits of full independent suspension. Unlike the new and off-road oriented CX-50, which does not have independent suspension. Ironic.

That day in the mud, I decided to try and use the handbrake while pressing down on the accelerator to see if I could force the engine to send power to the front wheels only. It sucks that there is no way to completely disable the AWD system. Well, I placed to much stress on it while doing that I damaged many components. I had to replace the transfer case, rear differential and drive shaft! Expensive lesson, but that is what I get for experimenting.