Hello guys, I know theres a lot of possibilities when it comes to lifting up a discovery 2. I wanted to see if any of you guys can give me some tips, tire size and lift kit size mainly. Or any good parts maker suggestions out their on the web. I also live on the upper east coast of the US with a lot of street paved roads. So something not too much but that would make my disco bad *** is what I'm looking for. Thanks.

 

If you're just going for looks, then a basic 2" terrafirma lift is the way to go. Call up Lucky 8 for a quote, Erik and Justin are great to work with. Shipping shouldn't be too much either, since they're also in the NE US, somewhere in NY.

As for tires, a nice 32" all terrain is probably your best bet.

 

thanks @alex_M I checked out lucky8 site and im interested. One last thing, how much would the installment range between from for the kit?

 

Go ahead and skip the 2" lift, go with a 3" from RTE. I did the 2" initially and as soon as I had it installed I said to myself, "damn, I should have gone with 3"! ". Don't get me wrong the 2" looked good but the 3" looks much better and greatly expands your tire size choice. I drove around with the 2" for 4 years and finally pulled the trigger and ordered and installed the RTE 3". I got lucky and was able to sell the 2" sprigs for $200, not bad for used coils!The 3" is a much more versatile option and it's the biggest you can go without running into geometry issues. As for tire size, I went with 275/70r18 which translates to a 33".

 

I can only comment on the 2" TF md lift from Lucky8.

It's great. Took maybe 45-60 mins a corner. Going slow. Things just swap out, there are so many write ups to follow.

For me, the lift amount is just great.

I'm not sure, but don't you have to extend brake lines with 3"?

 

I know others say the extended lines are a must with a 3" lift, I have had no issues.

Again, after experiencing both the 2" and 3" RTE's I really can't say enough about the versatility of the 3". If you start with the 3" you will not have to worry about adding accessories down the road. For instance, if you started with the 2" lift and wanted to add an ARB or similar bumper up front you could run into sagging and tire clearance issues. With the 3" you can be confident that the extra weight won't displace the front so much.

As for the look, side by side the 2" and 3" are barely distinguishable. You won't have a monster truck with the 3" and you will have a more than solid foundation to build on.

 

As for needing brake lines at 3", I'm on 3.5" with stock arms, driveshafts, brake lines, and ABS lines, along with no rear sway and disconnects in the front. It definitely maxes out the length of the lines, but it doesn't stretch or pop them.

As for the 2" vs 3" lift. I agree that the 3" is more versatile, but you will begin to notice a little change in the steering. It's still plenty drivable, but it will feel different. Also, the 3" springs are stiffer. I personally recommend the 2" instead for a street only vehicle because it wont have quite as stiff of a ride. That of course will come down to whatever the OP is willing to give up in comfort to gain in looks, but that's the trade off.

 

I just went through this myself, though my requirements are a bit different because I'd like to off-road more aggressively here in colorado while keeping the ability to drive it smoothly to and from work each day - and also fitting within a 7 foot clearance garage door i have. Here's what I did, and what you might consider doing...

TIRES
I went with bigger circumference tires (from Cooper M+S stock-size 255/55/18 to BFG A/T KO2 265/70/18), which gave me a 2 inch clearance lift off the ground to begin with. That's not insignificant (it's BADASS) - you surely notice it immediately when getting into/out-of truck each time and while driving. Admittedly, I am completely shocked how great these tires are.

SPRINGS/SHOCKS
Then I went and replaced my sagging factory springs and shocks. They had sagged by a solid 2 inches over 165k miles. From all i've read, that seems fairly standard and normal. Again, my goal is better four-wheeling overall with some semblance of smooth drivability through town back and forth to work, etc. This is my daily-driver after all. With all that in mind, there were 3 primary choices available to me in the end (with MANY alternatives, like what's shared already in this thread). I could go with the lowest price but very capable solution with the Terrafirma Medium Duty (I've got no heavy bumpers or winch yet) +2 inch kit (Springs/Shocks), the Old Man Emu (OME) medium duty solution which is a near-2inch lift that includes springs/shocks which provides a better aesthetic from all i've seen on friends rigs and provides great value but is more expensive, or a custom solution where I pair the best springs (Terrafirma, imho) with whichever Fox shock I can afford without going bankrupt. I'll tell ya that most folks feel that the Fox shock is only relevant/useful/valuable beyond the 3 inch lift so, it didn't really qualify as a correct option.

Ultimately the wife was not happy we spent $1,000 on those AWESOME BFG tires and then I wanted to turn-around and spend a little less than $1,000 more on something like the Old Man Emu solution. So, I "compromised" (evil laugh ensues...) and quickly bought the Terrafirma +2 inch kit (and I added-in a Terrafirma steering damper, which is finally un-stiffening a bit after a few hundred miles but, rules).

WHAT YOU MIGHT DO
All in all, I don't imagine you'd want the solution I put in place... it's 4 inches higher than originally (like when i bought it new) and 6 inches higher than what i had a month ago before the tires. While I LOVE it, and it IS badass, it's not for folks who simply want a mild lift they can put some cool-looking tires on. I expect you'd prefer to stay with your stock tire size (maybe move to a Nitto TerraGrappler tire because they have flames on the sidewall shoulders!) and get a Old Man Emu Medium Duty kit - which gives you a hair less than 2 inch lift but keeps the aesthetics pretty, while also providing you some capability in that ridiculous black and white ice that sticks around where you live (so foreign to me hehehe, nah, grew up in ny/nj!).

INSTALLATION
Like anyone else might tell ya on this forum, paying someone else to do this work is absolutely ridiculous. You only need four jack stands, a 2 ton or so jack, your factory-provided bottle-jack, a can of pb blaster, rags and set of metric box/speed hand wrenches. Shouldn't take you four hours. Six hours while learning yourself, and teaching a teenager at the same time - as i found

I dunno, that's my 20 cents for ya there.

 

Great info on all that stuff, though you only really need 2 jack stands if you do the front and rear separately.

 

Tru dat Alex_M! I suppose really you only need 4 of those box/speed wrenches too, just can't remember which? 10mm/12mm/13mm/16mm?. Prolly could get away with just the bottle jack now that i think about it!