I am trying to figure out what lift to go with. I have an 03 Vitara. What are the benifits of getting new A arms and drop brackets (calmini) vs new stuts and matched springs (rocky road). Any help and advice would be great. I would like to start buying in Jan

still working on the 15inch wheel swap. I am in the field right now so it wil have to wait until after the new year.

Thanks
Clay

I have a 00 GV, so we are comparing apples to apples.

Simply put, you can choose the easy way or the correct way.

With CALMINI, the replacement arms maintain correct camber, since there is no adjustment for it in stock config, and correct width. New replaceable ball joints are the ticket, considering you replace the entire contol arm on the OEM unit when the ball wears out. The axle drop brackets are necessary to keep the CVs within proper operating angles (has to do with range of operability of the CV). Also, the tie rod extensions are necessary to prevent pulling the tie rods out of the rack & pinion, the the new rod ends are bigger than stock. Rear track bar relocation brackets keeps the suspension geometery correct.

The RRO lift uses the Old Man Emu springs, yeilding about 1" of lift. The coil spacers on top add almost another inch. Together, it's just shy of 2". I contacted OME and asked if you can use coil spring spacers with thier coils, and they told me they don't recommend it (as it puts it out of spec for alignment) and it voids their warranty. They said it that much lift was possible, they would have made longer coils.

They also use a longer strut, which raises questions as to CV range. Diff drop brackets are not included.

Dropping the diff is not big deal. The brackets barely drop the diff 1", and it's still above the crossmember so it doesn't rob any ground clearance.

To mean, the few extra bucks spent on the CALMINI kit over thr RRO kit is well worth it. I'm a happy CALMINI 2.5" lifted GV, and it performs above my expectations off-road.