Rear Toe On Non-Adjustable Beam Axle With Lift

So I'm thinking of lifting my Honda Fit just a tad. I carry a bike rack that drags occasionally, and we're scraping the front lip getting into and out of parking lots. Even just an inch would help.

Thing is, the rear toe is not adjustable. It's factory spec range is 0.0 - 0.4 degrees. 

If I lift the rear, the beam axle will change the toe. I'm just not sure by how much, and even if it is a bad thing. I'm trying to determine in which direction I will change the toe (I assume toe-out) and I would assume too much would make the car rotate too easily. Right?

If its a beam axle, lifting it shouldnt change toe. The hubs are bolted to the beam, which is one piece, a lift would merely affect how far this beam is from the body.

Isn't there some sort of toe gain mechanism built into some beam suspensions, like the new Mazda 3?  Something about using the beam like sway bar or something.

He may be talking about a more pure beam (straight axle) type suspension

Edit:  Looks like it uses a similar "Twist Beam" style suspension:

If I remember correctly that applies when the wheels move independently and the deflection can cause camber or toe gain, but when they move together, there is no camber or toe change.

There are spacers that you cut to fit to correct toe. It's not easy. I found with the Forte that lowering 2.5" changed toe less than an 1/8" (gave me a tick of toe out, barely). It wasn't enough to cause wear issues. Running -2* camber caused more wear issues than that.

Measure the toe at normal ride height, then again with the car jacked up an inch. I'll bet you have trouble repeatably measuring a difference.

Opti said:

If its a beam axle, lifting it shouldnt change toe. The hubs are bolted to the beam, which is one piece, a lift would merely affect how far this beam is from the body.

Right, but doesn't that change the toe? 

I know it does, because when people lower these cars their rear toe gets kicked out of wack, they end up with more toe-in. 

...so by that measure, I would assume I'd end up slightly toed out (or dead straight). That might not be a bad thing, but for the fact that the car is now slightly higher, so it wanting to rotate more easily might not be ideal. 

I think a lot of this will depend on how the rear beam is made. With the Kia's the rear beam sits mostly horizontal but they have about 3" of total suspension travel back there so you really can't get much toe change. 

EDIT: Just looked at the two. Damn those are long arms. I could see just the normal suspension travel on that causing toe changes. 

bobzilla said:

There are spacers that you cut to fit to correct toe. It's not easy. I found with the Forte that lowering 2.5" changed toe less than an 1/8" (gave me a tick of toe out, barely). It wasn't enough to cause wear issues. Running -2* camber caused more wear issues than that.

There is some debate about whether the 2012 GE Fit can have rear toe adjusted via shims. Some people say no, but it looks like the rear wheel bearing is a bolt on affair, so that might lend to the idea that they can be shimmed (even if in a shade tree style). 

Actually the beam axle consists of trailing arms mounted at an angle connected by the beam which acts as a sway bar and may have some effect on toe.

If the stock toe is virtually zero, then you should be able to pivot the axle as far as you want with no toe change. The centerlines of both stub axles are concentric. You get toe change if the centerlines are not concentric and then pivot the axle assembly.

Edit: This assumes that the stock camber is zero, too.