So I'm thinking about going with the TRD Black Chrome Front Strut, The TRD Rear Sway, and the Greddy Rear Strut. What do you guys think? Would this help me corner better or should I not get the Rear Strut? I'm installing H-Tech Teins when they arrive. Should I wait and see how they handle with the springs before I order the strut and sway? -Van

 

Do one mod at a time. Then you can see what piece affects what. It will also allow you troubleshoot problems easier.

 

The sways are the biggest improvement that you can make in handling. Honestly the htechs do almost nothing but lower the car a little, they slightly improve performance. If your going for handling I would of ourchased different springs.

 

For springs, you want a higher spring rate and a 1.4" drop or very close to it to be at the right height. I probably would have gone TRD over Htechs. The TRDs are a little less than the optimal drop, but pretty close. They make a nice difference but could use a higher spring rate to be a better setup. However, they are a nice tradeoff for street and performance. If I bought Tein, it would be SS-P's. But if you arent going to tune the suspension and corner balance it, you dont want to waste money on adjustables.

Strut bars make almost zero difference on this car. Sways make a very nice difference.

 

But don't Strut Bars make the Engine Bay purdy?

Agreed on the Sways comment.

 

But a waste of money if it doesn't do anything.

 

Where can I get the front sway bar?

 

You can get the Hotchkis Sport Sway Bars Package at trdsparks.com. I would definitely use the
$$$ stashed away for the Ltd 'Black Chrome' Strut bar towards the purchase of some Sways.

 

I know. That's why I put the 'winking smiley' at the end.

 

For the TRD rear, you want to stay with the stock front. If you want stiffer all the way around, then you get the hotchkis set.

I have a Hotchkis front strut bar on mine.. got a bit of a deal on it when I bought the car.. but yes, it is mostly for looks

 

If the front is just for looks shouldn't i just get a front strut and rear sway then? I know i'm gonna get the rear sway, just want to know if the front strut is worth the money.

 

If you want a handling machine, then get the front and rear sways and skip the front strut. (Albeit your ride will be stiffer with front & rear sways.) If you're not into auto-xing, then I suggest you start out with the rear sway bar first. (TRD and Progress are good ones {virtually the same except for $20 more the Progress comes with new endlinks} for the $$$.) Then you can upgrade as you go. I would hold off on the rear strut until last.

 

hey i don't mean to thread jack, but since were on the subject, someone told me that hotchkis sways were not that good because they rust and snap? t or f? someone was gonna sell em to me for $250, used for a month, good or bad price?

 

Do all of them at one time. TRD front strut is fine, but many have gotten the DC sports front strut bar and say it's the best to buy. TRD rear sway (no front upgrade) is great for many casual to aggressive drivers, but for a more stiffer set-up, Hotchkis offers a front and rear sway bar setup which is the best to get. Greddy Rear sway bar should be fine. I'de suggest installing them all at one time, you'll feel a HUGE difference. Do installs all at one time if you can, saves time and you'll feel a difference. Small upgrades one at a time is slow and tedious, plus the differences are minimal if that.

hyperwhitetc: I haven't heard of any that rust and snap. We should be fine in CA as we never see snow. If it does snap, it's gotta be due to excess twisting (like when your car flies in midair and lands on one wheel). $250 used!? You can buy them new for that price.

 

We carry the Hotchkis sway bar kit one scispeed.com I have sold alot of them and have not had one problem yet. I am running tem on our shop tC and it makes a world of difference!!!

 

hotchkis sways and the rear ingalls strut bar... and some coilovers will give you a sweet setup

 

I was told that since i'm lowering my car with h-tech teins i need spacers for when i put the front and rear struts. Is that right?

 

The strut is mainly looks, not the sway. Honestly, if I didnt already have one, I would not buy one to make the car handle better. Rear strut bar I would say is about worthless. The rear towers are further from a main support than the front towers. However, the rear flexing is a VERY small concern here.

For sways, if you are going to get hotchkis later, dont bother getting a trd or progress now. Reason being is that the hotckis front is too stiff to run with a trd or progress rear. The relationship between the two bars stiffness tunes understeer/oversteer on the car. So if you get a trd rear sway, you stick with the stock front sway. This will give you more oversteer (which is good). If you go hotchkis, they are much stiffer, so you need both the front and rear from them as a set. And for the TRD bar or one with the same stiffness, you dont need new endlinks at all.

When you tune the suspension, you need to also tune it for how you drive, but leave it mild enough for safe street driving. A good autox setup does not equal a good track setup. A car tends to oversteer more on long sweepers than it does abrupt transitions. So for autox, you will want it to oversteer more (just be careful of how it handles on the street). If you do a lot of track days, yo uwill probably want to set the rear bar on a softer setting so you dont spin the car in the sweepers.

And I recommend one change at a time. Sure, it is great to feel a bigger difference at once, but then you have no idea what parts made which change. Nearly everyone who has spent 5 - 10 - 20 years autoxing will tell you the same. Now if you are just street driving it, chances are you wont really be tuning the suspension that hardcore, so just put it all together using a good combination of parts.

The sway(s) will make a big difference on their own, not a small one. So just changing them will be a noticeable improvement. Springs will make a nice difference as well on their own, although probably not as immediately noticeable as sways.

And tires are the number one handling mod. Just getting a good set of tires will make worlds of difference. Since I switched to Azenis this season, I waited to make my alignment changes until I ran the tires on the first event. I ended up changing my mind as to how I wanted it set up based solely on the way the tires made it drive.

 

Thanks alot engifineer. I think I'm just going to go with the stock front sway and a TRD rear sway. Whats an endlink?

 

The part that connects the sway to the suspension connecting point.