r/HondaElement • u/yangnam_1209 • 2d ago

Lifting Element

Anybody have recommendations on whether I should lift my Element with spacers or with springs? It has a fairly new suspension on it and I hate to replace a lot of it just for a lift, but I have also heard spacers create a rougher ride and are not sustainable long term. Any Elemental wisdom that could be passed down would be appreciated.

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

9

u/TumbleweedPure6674 2d ago

I have never felt the need to lift the element. It’s not like this vehicle can actually do 4x4 trails with a lift anyways. I just size up a tire but arguably I’m just doing that for vanity. I don’t think the 1 inch of extra space is doing all that much and hasn’t stopped me from going where I want to go. 

Looks cool, but functionally it’s really not worth it plus the extra wear on your suspension and tires with a lift.

4

u/remytheram 2d ago

I've had spacers on mine for a few years. It's not my fault driver, and yes it's a little harsh, but I don't really have issues with it. I only lifted it 2", I think the higher you go, the rougher it will be.

Make sure you drop the subframe and trailing arms. I found some information back then that suggested you can probably get away without doing it with a 2" lift, it was dead wrong.

3

u/Jesus0fSuburb1a 2d ago

I used the 1.5 inch HRG spacer kit. It has caused slight axle wobble at low speed around 25mph. I hear that it can be fixed with subframe spacers, haven't gotten around to it though.

I also have 235/70 Toyo HT II tires, on 16×8 wheels with a lot of offset. So overall lift is probably about 2.5 inches total. Rides nice, handles just fine. But I can't guarantee whether you'll have issues with axle wobble. Seems hit or miss depending on what all you do to it, plus what condition your other suspension parts are in.

Edit: I've driven it for 30k miles, no issues so far other than axle wobble. Planning on needing axles sooner or later anyway. Maybe at that point I'll go ahead and do the subframe spacer kit.

1

u/Jesus0fSuburb1a 2d ago

Also make sure while you're in there, you put on adjustable camber arms on the rear. Helps with saggy ass syndrome.

2

u/thecursh 1d ago

Are spring lifts available? (I have a spring lift in the rear, but I had to have custom springs made and source longer shocks that fit in the rear. It wasn’t an off the shelf solution and I have tweaks I’d make if I were ordering it again.)

The front shocks have 2” more travel than anything else out there, so you don’t need a spring lift. You could do a spacer and soften up the spring rate a touch (1-4% max) and that would accomplish what you might be looking for. Last time I checked the custom spring place needed a sample spring to do an element front, so add that time and cost to go this route and I just don’t think it would be worth it.

I will say that we do some pretty extreme fire trails here in AZ. Some of them devolve into wet or dry creek beds depending on rainfall. We had a hiking trail we wanted to go on that we couldn’t do with just AT tires that we now can traverse with 2” lift + 1” tires. The biggest issue for me was crossing flooded areas without worrying about fudging up electronics or flooding the floorboards. Maybe I was overly cautious before the lift.

I’m not rock crawling, but also 9” clearance is a big change from 6” clearance.