Broken 3"calmini kit

[Linden]

I brought a calmini lift kit direct from america earlier this year and after taking it out for its first test run through coal pit, both the front struts had leaked out all thier oil and u could see the seals all perished and boken, basically it was undrivable and fucked. I had to put my original stuts back on to get it drivable againg and was just wondering if anyone had the same experience?

Also all the blurb on the calmini web site about the brilliance of the kit if have found to be bull shit. For my Suzuki it was horribly hard, it was very hard to get the wheels aligned and the camber couldn't be corrected with my current tires (235/75/15). Another thing is that they are now selling camber correction bolts but of course they didn't supply this with the kit or tell u that this was needed to make the car drive properly. So it will be abit of a night mare trying to get them to replace the shocks as they don't communicate me unless i want to buy something, put in the too hard basket because im outside of america.

So thats my ranks it would be good to hear others experiences or maybe im just an isolated case.

Linden

[tallsam66]

I guess thats the downside of buying direct outside of nz.... there are agents in nz tho...im sure one of them would be able to supply the bolts you need.
Im not surprised you couldnt get the wheel alignment correct with your old tyres...they would of worn according to your old suspension setup.

[flyingbrick]

they take alignment readings off your wheel, not your tire. Size or shape of the tire does not change anything at all.

-Nathan

[kernels]

they take alignment readings off your wheel, not your tire. Size or shape of the tire does not change anything at all.

-Nathan

Nathan is correct, the tyre does not contribute anything to the wheel alignment. Probably what happened is that with the calmini kit the alignment was not perfect and I don't believe they have any adjustment in them without the camber correcting bolts.

I bought a set of Noltec camber correcting bolts on trademe, worked perfectly.

Too bad the struts died so quickly, any idea why that would be ?

[Linden]

yea thanks for the advise guys. It was mainly the camber that was the problem as this cant be adjusted without the bolts. Must have just got a bad pair of struts, quiet unlucky though i guess.

[Swamped]

If thats the case then contact them directly with photos to support it.
I've had issues with some stuff i shipped over recently and the manufacturers are sending a new unit over free of charge. Calmini or lowrange, whoever you dealt with will usually try sort it if its something like that as it only takes a few online bitchfests to lose a lot of customers.

[Linden]

Yea im going to try contact calmini directly but the guy i was dealing with was absolutely useless at communicating and once id brought it he wanted nothing to do with me. Will try call directly and if im enough of a pain in the ass they should replace them. I knew i was running that risk importing directly.

Thanks for the advise should get somewhere if i make enough noise.

[highzook]

yer i'm fucked off at the calmini kit too. i got the 6 inch kit body and suspension kit. so may parts did fit and i've had to remake most parts, plus the rear diff a arm and shitty ball joint mounted the wrong way as soon as you hit a kerb the ball joint will pop out and the diff will be out one side..

[Rotazuk]

Its well known that the Calmini kits are hard in the front strut , they are setup for a big heavy front bar and winch I guess . Lately any time I wanted something from Calmini they said deal with the nz supplier so odd they dealt direct .

If you don't get a replacement I would remove the strut spacers and put in ome long travel struts , should be a good set up then once the springs soften up a bit .

Likewise I have heard bad things about the rear arm , net gossip from aussie is its not legal over there because of the ball joint setup .

Chris

[De-Ranged]

I wouldn't touch there crap I had a vitara come in with a calmini lift kit to fit..... without mincing words it was unsafe!! I had to modify it so it was useable
Go onto pirate there is yet another thread bagging calmini for being a crap product and them not even repling to his emails and phone calls and he was in the states
My suggestion would be to try the NZ agent... you might manage to talk a cheap deal on some replacement shocks... but this is just going to be more of there crap shocks

if this is vitara a cheap mod that works for the front is swopping the top hat's up the other way, as for the guy with the rear A arm balljiont problems.... the factory joint works sweet just needs a spacer under it to center its range after the lift
run a search in projects for wheemsy's vitara

Cheers Reece

[Pico42]

Linden, I would be sending those struts back and demanding a replacement or a refund. It seems off to me that the camber is not correct on them - I had a look at Al's OME front struts and the bolt holes are re-aligned to sort the camber for 50mm lift - can't see why calmini would not do this as well.

Other thing is to talk to the NZ importer - they may offer some advice, they may tell you to piss off because you bypassed them.

It may be better for you to get a refund on this and sort another option for front struts?

Cheers
Ross

[Linden]

Yea thanks ross. I will definitely be sending them back but no doubt will have to go through all the processes and the time and am at their mercy really, but i will see where i get and they bloody well better listen and not brush me off like they have done to the other countless emails and calls. Over all the kit is good quality and everything worked well, but shit instructions, piss poor after purchase service and evidently dodgy shocks. i took it to firestone to get it aligned after i installed it and thats what they said that their needs to be a camber correction kit installed to correct the camber, but im lead to believe that 31s will solve this to.

Probably should have gone through 4wd accessories i only saved about $500 importing directly myself, ill give him a call and see what he has to say.

Ill let u know how i get on.

[Pico42]

As others have said, the tyre size shouldn't affect the camber? So I don't think it will be resolved by putting 31's on it.

So whatever struts you end up with, you will likely need camber bolts - and a 75mm lift with standard struts cannot be sorted with just a pair of camber bolts (guess how I know this...)

[Pico42]

By the way, when are you getting it certified? I assume you havn't yet?

[Linden]

No i haven't certed it yet im leaving for europe soon for 3 months so will get everything fixed up and hook back into it then. The truck sort of took a back seat while planning the trip but ill focus more time on it when i get back. get all the niggly annoying things that are wrong with it fixed and get it back going properly again and out 4wding like it should be.

[MentallyDull]

Hey mate,

Just my 2 cents from when I had a zook and installed the lift kit..... yes the shocks are crap, after 2 sets and snapping on only 2 trips I gave up and went OME.

Secondly another problem was the front diff, I would recommend replacing it for a steel front diff, because if you keep the aluminium one you'll end up snapping the housing without too much trouble... once again gave up after 5 diffs and sold the thing. All in all I found the front set crap with the Calmini and wished I kept it stock standard.

[Linden]

Thanks for that mate, sound like a general consensus that calmini is crap in the front end (just a shit i had first hand experience) and iv heard that a lot about the front diff. Good idea to replace it with steel rather than the hassle of constantly breaking it.

Cheers

[Pico42]

No i haven't certed it yet im leaving for europe soon for 3 months so will get everything fixed up and hook back into it then. The truck sort of took a back seat while planning the trip but ill focus more time on it when i get back. get all the niggly annoying things that are wrong with it fixed and get it back going properly again and out 4wding like it should be.

Pretty much the same story for us - got it 99% complete just as I left for WA. Only need to sort the camber out (sound familiar?) for a wheel alignment. I even got the speedo adjusted before I left.

With any luck I will be able to get it done in a few months time - at least have it so it can be driven around.

[flyingbrick]

Based on the direct information we have received from the shop, the customer is not running the correct backspaced wheel which will not allow for proper front end/wheels alignment and will cause strut problem everythime as they are side loaded. We include numerous sheets with data specifying the wheel size, backspacing, and tire size. Failure to follow these recommendations will result in issues with the system. Any questions, please email me direct at davidk@calmini.com

sounds like total bs to me.

[Pico42]

Based on the direct information we have received from the shop, the customer is not running the correct backspaced wheel which will not allow for proper front end/wheels alignment and will cause strut problem everythime as they are side loaded. We include numerous sheets with data specifying the wheel size, backspacing, and tire size. Failure to follow these recommendations will result in issues with the system. Any questions, please email me direct at davidk@calmini.com

sounds like total bs to me.

Interesting. What do they specify as the correctly backspaced and sized wheel?

Also, with the calmini kit, is the camber correction done by the A arms?

[Linden]

UP DATE ..... still slightly broken

After a bad report from the mechanic, who doesnt really like things that are not standard, I'm left with still a few problems.

. The camber being negative on both front wheels even with the installation of calmini camber bolts which had little/ no effect.
. Unable to get a proper wheel alignment the reason given they there is not enough length in the tie rod ends for proper adjustment
. The rear of the left front tyre rubbing on the chassis and the right tyre clearing fine, it is almost like one of the control arms is 40 mm to short.
. The holes for the sway bar in the calmini front control arms are about 150 mm narrower than the factory sway bar which is said to just bolt back on

These problems have occurred after following all the set up instructions with 31/10.5/15 tyres with 15x 8 rims 20 mm off set same as calmini recommend and putting extra weight on the front As it is designed to Handel makes no impact on the camber contrary to what they say. It performs alright off road although it is incredibly rough and lots of funny sounds coming from various suspension components.

This leaves me wondering if I have completely cocked something up and something is in the wrong place of is obviously wrong with the installation, or there is something wrong with the kit.

Any perls of wisdom are appreciated

Whine over

[tallsam66]

Your chassis isnt bent or twisted is it ?

[oh4mud]

hi iput a calmini kit in my 3dr then my 5dr had no problems at all but you do have to get the a arms crack tested for a cert i also ran 33s under it and after a few broken banjos put a steel anvil in it wanye is the best one to get the cert done at he deals with a lot of these and rick at 4wd acc is good to deal with as well my zuk now has a vn v6 in it and nissan safari axles on full floating susp

[churchill]

Any luck yet?

I was just thinking, Vitara's come out with 2 different chassis, a narrow standard chassis and a wider V6/sport chassis. Maybe you have the wider chassis and the kit is designed for the narrow chassis???

[stocker]

hey guys, this is my first post on this site, but i saw the thread and thought i'd throw my 2c in...

i Run a 2" Polyurethane body lift as well as the calmini 3'' super articulation kit.
(i live in AUS by the way) i find the kit is well built. EXCEPT for the Shock adsorbers and the Rose link on the A-Arm. One of the things on another forum im on, is we warn people of these problems and tell them to factor them into the price of buying one of these kits...

You may find that the Front springs take a bit of Settling in but will be fine with a medium duty Shock adsorber. i find that OME stuff is garbage. and i run a set of Dobinson Struts (2" longer) as well as tough dog (2" longer) in the rear, and i have a really great ride in my LWB 1.6L now... i only have an alloy bar on the front, and not other weight apart from stock.

The Kit States that it is designed to run a 31" tyre, with a 3" BACKSPACED rim on a 15 x 8. And yes this does affect the camber as the wider you run your vitara the less angle the Control arms are on... i would suggest getting the camber bolts if you plan on running 235 / 75 r15's

I hope people also realise that the shocks supplied with the calmini kit. Are NO longer than the standard Original manufacturer Shocks...

Hope this helps

-Rob




EDIT : Just to ask a question of your question. Did you put some sought of rubber grease or molybdenum grease on the Bushes before installing them...

This will 100% account for all the strange squeaks and noises if you didn't

[WeresWolly]

hi, more of the same.. had a 3" lift- frount strut went after 3 months and then tore top mount off frount diff shortly after.. all installed by rick. he reconed i was the first person to ever bring back a strut... Realy rick? hmm

[highzook]

hhahaaaaaaa i hate calmini

[Pico42]

Hey Linden, where did you get to with all this?

[Heath]

Just wondering did they send a wide chassis version(or maybe a narrow one) which isnt what you have.

[highzook]

i think you will have alot of fun getting it a cert for that kit. You would have to replace the front arms as the guy in wellington won't cert them as it ##### up the geometry in the front.