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Evoque Lifted

8K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  GCEvoque 
#1 ·
I just lifted my Evoque Dynamic for two reasons 1) Tow an old caravan more effectively - the drawbar on the old caravan is set a bit too high for modern towballs, so the additional height at the towball is welcome 2) Extra clearance for lengthy beach, sand track driving where obviously the Evoque can traverse easily except a lot of dragging if not lifted.

The H&R springs kit added 30mm. The Russian made plastic spacers which sit atop each strut (so basically classified as a 'body lit' in my opinion) added a further 20mm for a total 50mm suspension lift (the legal limit in my country).

First thoughts are that the additonal space in the wheel arch with stock tyres visually suits the vehicle. There is lots of clearance for larger tyres, potentially I will go with a rolling diameter aproximately 50mm larger than stock thus adding another 25mm of lift at a future date.

Climbing in and out is similar to before, but a little less comfortable of course with the additional height. The H&R springs have not diminished the handling at all.... in fact, dare I say it they have made it handle 'better' on road with slightly less body roll. This is because the springs seems to achieve the added height via increased preload, they are physically not much longer to my eye, but visually larger diameter steel thus increased spring rate no doubt. How this pans out offroad remains to be seen, but for beach driving I would say there should be no negative affects since articulation of the spring is not a big deal on sand compared to say.... mud and ruts.

The spacers atop the struts are good quality with steel collars inserted and a good fit. Had I not fitted these I would have said that the 30mm lift from the Springs alone would not be worth the expense and effort. But combined with the spacers, the project makes more sense.

Clearance under the vehicle seems very pronounced compared to stock. I can actually climb under the vehicle now, a clear sign that I have achieved useful clearance.

Installing the kits myself has given me a new appreciation for the Evoque. It certainly appears to be a 'chelsea tractor' on first impressions with more style than substance. However, having dismantled the suspension for the project I have noted that the stock dampers are extreme heavy duty quality items fit to take on anything in my opinion. The suspension design is very advanced, being able to accommodate the lift without even losing much alignment. Castor correction or other items normally required on modified lifted 4x4's are not necessary. Eveything seemed to be appropriately heavy duty and the rear suspension is very advanced compared to the many other vehicles I have modified. I also noted significant travel on the suspension. It seems to drop down forever compared to similar use vehicles I have modified. The engineers have managed to compensate for the low ride height via clever long travel suspension.

All in all, I'd say the Evoque was not just for show, it seems the engineers stayed true to the brand and got their way under the skin of the vehicle even if they did decide to compromise on the ride height. Hopefully I don't break anything via the modifications, time will tell, but so far it seems angles of driver shafts etc all seems fairly mild with the lift.

I'll post some pictures when I can.
 
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#3 ·
Purchase H&R "Lowering Springs" 28882-1. although described as 'lowering' springs, these are actually described as Plus 30mm, so actually a lift kit. I suspect H&R don't make many lift kits so the fact it's a lift just doesn't fit in with their 'lowering' kit naming conventions. I assure you that the 28882-1 kit is a lift.

For the 'body lift' blocks, you can get "Complete Lift Kit 20mm for Land Rover Freelander 2006-2014 / Evoque 2012-2018" From a seller in Russia. They do different thicknesses, I went with 20mm since 20mm plus 30mm is the legal 50mm for the state I live in. These sit between body and suspension.

Some installation tips,

You will need Heavy duty spring compressors and a Rattle-gun (my lightweight 10.8V rattle gun was sufficient). I've never compressed springs so much, so ensure you get a trustworthy tool for this. How much you utilize the compressors really depends on how much you want to dismantle the controls arms. I made heavy use of my spring compressors as follows:
For the front suspension I disconnected anti roll bars from the struts (mandatory), removed the front strut brace allowing enough freedom to unclip the plastic under the windshield and access the three bolts per strut mounting them to the body. I undid any other bolts, clips or wiring retaining the shock in place and removed it. I also removed both plastic wheel arch shrouds since it allows much more room to work up in the strut well which will be required later. A rubber mallet was used copiously to free it up. Once the strut is out you can rattle off the retaining nut on the top of the shock to remove the spring. There is a little tension there, but not much, still don't point it at your face as you undo it. To install the H&R springs you have to tension them A LOT. This is because the gas charged strut sinks down a little and it's difficult to get the strut top remounted. There are little plastic 'nipples' on the side of the upper rubber spring seat and strut top. The strut tops are angled, so you use the little nipple to align them with the shock prior to rattling the strut top nut back into place. They should face directly into the engine bay. The H& R springs are labelled 'R' and 'F' so you know which are REAR and FRONT respectively. The text is also printed the correct way round, so if you are reading it upside down on the assembled shock, then you have put the spring in upside down.

Leaving the compressors in situ holding clamping the shock into a reduced length, I inserted the entire shock back into where it goes in the car complete with the body block spacer on the top. The spacers are unlabelled, but the item with the 6 holes per space goes in the front, the item with the three holes per spacer in the back. They have a flat spot that faces towards the car body in each case. Use the supplied longer bolts and washers in the front. Get a friend to brutally force the wishbone down and with the neccesary force slam the shock back into place. If you are worried about breaking something, then you had better get to work dismantling the front wishbone - it's a LOT more work for you though, but you will be a lot kinder to those poor drive shafts!

For the rear you have to remove both side panels from the interior of the trunk of the car. Pulling the sill from where the tail gate closes will reveal a hex screw on each side that you might not otherwise see. Removing the panels allows access to the strut tops and you undo three nuts each side to release the strut. Underneath the car you undo all bolts and wiring and clips attached to the strut. You may as well also undo the two lateral trailing arms since you will need to remove them to get the longer strut back in later. The chunky trailing link can stay in situ. The rear anti roll bar is constantly getting in the way, I totally detached it from the car - so annoying. As per the front, dismantle the shock and put the new coils in. The kit for the lift blocks is a bit fiddly here though. You have to remove the three bolts from each strut top plate and insert longer ones provided in the kit. Removing them is hard, my technique was to smash at each one with a hammer, and then get a great grip on them with vice grips and unscrew them out. They don't seem to want to unscrew until you first apply copious amounts of persuasion with the hammer first. The new longer bolts are supposed to go in the same holes. What you do is drill them out with the perfect diameter drill bit just smaller than the diameter of the new bolts. Then the new bolts when inserted (with force - careful not to damage the thread!) are retained by friction in the strut tops. Fail to get them to be held there with friction and you will have lots of problem reassembling.

Finally put it all back in, it's easier then the front because you dismantled the lateral trailing arms.

Basically, I reckon I should have taken it down to a mechanics to install. It wasn't much fun.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for all the info you provided. I also lifted my 2011 Evoque, 60mm front and 30mm rear with spacers and H&R springs (note to readers: make sure correct ones in box before installing, 1st set were wrong ones & mechanics missed it...long story...) from tabs springs only on the rear.

What I have noticed is that the front suspension lift has moved the struts to the extreme of their operating range and now they bang when the front wheels drop into a rut 4wding as they now run out of extension travel. :/

I am considering extending the top of the struts with a custom extension 50 to 60mm to recenter the struts.

Have you had this same banging issue 4wding and if so have you done anything to compensate for the issue?

Thx in advance.
Andy
 
#6 ·
It's a perfect Plus 50mm.
I think it suits the vehicle. Some chubbier tyres would enhance the look, but those ones are new, so I may have to wait a couple years. We need some lengthy write ups on the forum, seems to be a bit light on technical DIY kind of stuff at times. Hopefully as the evoques get older and more accessable and we don't stress as much about modifying them we should get more of this kind of content.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I figured out how to get about 20mm for free with about 45minutes work. But it's as dodgy as, I don't think we'd get away with it in Aus. Note that the knuckle can be slid down the damper.... but it wouldn't be positively seated any more and a menace to other road users so don't do this... especially on the front where there will be loads trying to spin it off with the steering.
4639
 
#9 ·
You've taught me something, I've noticed the bang if I traverse an extreme drop too fast like those crazy savage speed bump strips in carparks etc. I didn't know what it was, but now I do. Indeed I'd like to go down the same route and put an extension at the top of the strut in this case. An extender sounds like the solution, however, ideally we should extend our front bump stops by the same amount otherwise we are in danger of fully compressing the strut and I have been led to believe that fully extending a shock is not an issue whereas fully compressing it without the bump stop is less ideal.
 
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