Lift spacers on stock suspension

I'm not a stanced racer boy, but I still love this car and don't have the money to buy something more appropriate for the bumpy, potholed dirt & snow-covered roads I keep finding myself on, so I've been thinking lately that I'd like to get a bit more ground clearance.

I'm planning to get some 17" steel wheel with 50 aspect snow tires, but keeping overall tire diameter the same for speedometer/odometer reasons. I could probably fit 55 aspect tires and get some free height that way and only deal with those issues for a few months out of the year.

Some old threads on other sites mention trying a CX5 spring & strut swap from the same year to get about an inch extra height, but I wasn't able to find any info from people who'd done it.

I'm on stock suspension setup right now, planning to replace my shocks front and rear soon as they need it (already have the parts), so I'd rather not buy coilovers as I don't care to tune the suspension otherwise so that seems like cost & feature overkill. I found some basic strut & spring spacers on ebay in 20, 30, 40mm options for like $150 that claim to fit a gen1 speed 3. Kit has just a strut spacer for the front, rear has both a shock and spring spacer.

What kind of issues do you guys foresee with something like these spacers? Here's my list:

1. Can the car be re-aligned properly afterwards within the range of the macpherson strut assembly?
2. Will the brake lines need to be replaced/lengthened?
3. Durability concerns of the spacers, especially the rear spring hat
4. Drive shaft CV joint wear from steeper angle?
5. Significant change to drive characteristics?

 

You want to look at Mazda 5 suspension not cx5. The 5 is the same chassis and the cx5 is a different chassis.

Getting some taller tires with more sidewall would be my first step to see if that gets you enough height

 

The "spacers" you see are pretty much the same thing as a leveling kit for a truck. You install the spacer on the top of the strut and bottom of the rear springs/shocks.

Keep in mind when you raise the body any control arms will raise with the body and in turn be angled more aggressively. All the angles of the suspension change so it will need to be aligned. Watch your CV axles for binding as well. The cup has only so much clearance for the axle shaft itself and I have seen front axles on GM trucks bind due to agressive lifts.

But this is a Mazda hatchback and you should be ok. Make sure your camber is good front and rear because if you raise the body the camber will become more positive.

An alignment will be needed no matter what you do.

 

Thank you, hmm the mazda 5 is heavier but less sporty so I'm curious how the system would feel on a lighter car. Might be similar since the springs are reacting to a heavier vehicle. I'm gonna try the spacers & alignment first but MZ5 is a backup plan if it goes south.

Doing an experiment with bigger tires & smaller wheels. Picked up some 215/60/16 blizzak ws-90's almost brand new on some alloy CX-3 wheels 16x7 w/ 38mm offset for $450 on Craigslist. They clear the front rotors, and only rub juuust a little bit on the rear fender if I hit a big bump due to the offset. Luckily PO rolled my fenders or I probably would need to.

Internet calculator says they are ~1.5" bigger diameter than my 215/45/18 on stock wheels. Rough measurement of front bumper ground clearance was an extra 1/2" ish, maybe a bit more (it was raining so I didn't crawl around very long).

The sketch part is if I have to use chains. Already not much clearance on this car to the strut, and less now. The chains basically touch the plastic wheel well liner if I turn hard, so def only on straight lines getting unstuck then take them off. Hopefully with the blizzaks that doesn't happen. Made it to Crystal Mt in WA today with no issues, was early and did some parking lot drifting, these tires are the SHIT!

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Yup that's what I was thinking, easy bolt on then align. I'm thinking 30mm, hopefully there's enough adjustment.

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