I am confused. I have read up and thought I had a good idea of what I need to start out. I am looking at a lift kit that does not come with bump stop extensions. I have read that I will need them, both in different threads as well as WOL Q & A section (Very helpful by the way.) Anyway, I just got done chatting with a rep from the company that makes the lift I was looking at. He said I will not need the bump stop extensions. He said the springs will not compress that far. Hence the confusion. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

I believe they're designed to protect the shock from bottoming out also.. I could be wrong though.

 

Thanks, but that even adds more to the confusion. I thought I understood, and I will clearly need to go back to the proverbial text books again.

 

im running a 3" lift from sone and im only running 33's (kit recommened 35's) and i decided i would use the extra room for flex so did not add them and my shocks are far from bottoming out and i gained extra flex without tires rubbing to a certain point but my springs are still stiff (new) so that may or may not be an issue for your application!

 

I am running without lower rear bump stops right now. Yeah, they are there to prevent the springs form overcompressing and messing everything up. Haven;t had an issue yet, but if I bump up to 37s in the future, I think I will be getting lower rear stops, just to be safe.

 

In general, yes they are needed to prevent both the over-compression of the coils/shocks and to help keep the tires from contacting the fenders.

But, there are a lot of variables, personal preference, involved as well.

If you run flat fenders, (or just don't care about ripping them off), you can run less bumpstop, which will give more up-travel.

If you disconnect, there is obviously more travel, and more need for the extended stops.

And if your coils are designed to be able to fully compress without damaging them, you may also choose to run less bumpstop. (as long as the shocks are not fully compressed also, causing them to be the bumpstops).

But, unless you know all the variables involved, it is just easier to go with a policy of "added bumpstop height = lift height" and leave it at that.


My experience:
I have the OME HD lift (appx 3.25"), which does not come with bumpstops, and I added disconnects. I found that the coils do indeed fully compress (solid), and my 295/75/16 (32" actual height) tires rubbed the fenders enough that I felt they would rip them off the body. After adding lower bumpstops all around, the coils are no longer touching, and the tire/fender contact is minimal enough that I will trim the outer lip on the fenders a bit rather than add upper stops.

 

I dont have any up front no issues yet