raising the balt for Rally
 

Hello folks,

I have sold everything for my balt and the car too, I like 4x4's and I am headed to alaska.

Anyway my brother has a cobalt, a 2.2L '07 LT. He has gone wheelin' (offroading) with me and my friends a couple times. He thinks it would be really cool and unique to try to lift his cobalt like 1" and throw on some BFG A/T's 215/75R15. The tires would fit on the stock steel wheels. 215/75 is like a 28" tall tire, not big, but he may have trouble getting it to fit but IDK. EDIT: just researched rally tires a little, hankook makes a rally tire in the 195/60R15 size, I believe thats the size of the stock tires

I bet he could find some coil spacers that would fit the springs on his car, or have some made. Maybe lift the front 1" and the rear .5" or something. He would also plan on installing a LSD. That would be KEY, without some type of traction aid like a locker or LSD he would be going no where. But LSD is what he has available.

Has anyone tried this. I know it sounds silly and different but thats the idea. There are some nice smooth and very windy parts of the forest trails where it would be really fun to blast around.

He wants to go all the way slowly over time, good set of tires, LSD, roll cage, engine bolt-ons, suspension work and so forth.....

lift... a 2.2... there already at mini truck height stock.

holy....

I know, but hey, If someone were to do this, it would be the best model to start with.

I found rally tires that would work real well for what he wants. A little higher stance would be nice for ground clearance. A little more suspension travel would be nice as well.

does anyone know the diameter of our springs?? I know they are all the same. If I knew the diameter I may be able to find spacers that are already made for something else.

we aren't talking about lifting it like a truck or anything crazy.

the point is this. i dont think your going to get the results you want from lifting the cobalt. a rally cobalt should have so nice struts more than springs.


a quality rally setup wold be koni struts and the prokit if u really dont want to be lower. but lowering springs with a stiffer spring rate will still be aHUGE improvement over stock.

ok that makes sense I guess.

I am into 4x4, I am after flex and the largest tire I can fit on my rig, I don't have any experience with rally of any sort.

rally doesnt work very well with FWD when compared to AWD or RWD. Im not one to say someone bought the wrong car for a project....but this time..i think you bought the wrong car for this project

no, our Dad bought the car for him for transportation because he goes to a magnet school and has to drive an hour to get to school. He just turned 18.

I don't agree, FWD > RWD for rally, there are FWD rally classes. I watched it on the speed channel. obviously AWD would certainly be better.

So he didn't buy the car with this in mind, but the car can be modified and it would be unique and a lot of fun.

Good luck sounds like alot of fun. Would like to see the results of this if it goes through.

Maybe you could make up a spacer to sit on the spring perch. Something just an inch thick would hold the car up a bit more and not screw up your struts and shocks.

your not going to have an easy time lifting a cobalt by using spring spacers. what will happen is by spacing the springs the strut still doesnt have more travel. the shocks can only extend so far. a better idea in the front would be to have a spacer built to go between the strut mount and the body. that coupled with some koni struts would be alrighty for the front end. as for the rear, your gonna need a taller spring. you may want to look into 82-94 cavalier or any beretta springs, they use a very simular rear suspention setup and iirc the springs are taller. you will also need longer shocks in the back, that shouldnt be too hard, its a pretty standard shock.i think a torsen style lsd would be a must, i really cant say how a cheaper insert style lsd would work in this application. id also look into some DSS stage 2 axles and better tranny mounts. i also think some skid plates are in order, as cobalts seem to break oil pans on speed bumps, let alone flying through the dirt.

Being an old rally guy, (I competed in the seventies and early eighties,) don't be put off by the so called experts who preach RWD. Yes, I drove RWD, back then, but that was because there were very few FWD rally cars (outside of a bunch of Saabs) until the middle eighties. Then they were a dime a dozen.

The trick with FWD is that you have to be a real driver. You have to commit to a corner, and learn to left foot brake, but at the same time, keep your right foot on the throttle. It takes real balls to drive FWD fast.

RWD is much easier to drive fast, but ultimately, FWD will be faster on tight, twisty roads. RWD will ususally (but not always) be faster on fast, sweeping roads.

Oops! Sorry to jack the thread.

If you are serious about getting involved in rally, start with http://www.specialstage.com/ . This is arguably the top rally website in North America. (Let the flame wars begin!)

Posters on Special Stage can answer your questions and point you to the right direction.

subscribed...i want to see how this turns out, it sounds like a fun idea.

wow iam actually excited to see where this goes...this can start a whole new thing for cobalts

Apparently it went nowhere lol.

I would go and design a spacer that would fit between the strut mount and the body. If money was no issue then have it CNC out of aluminum. I don't know how that would affect the overall suspension of the car, but its a start and the most reasonable way I would approach it.

Oops, wrong thread

I believe Moog Cargo coils could provide a slight lift. Then get the Fe5 shock/struts as they are the stiffest.