next week im looking into buying some suspension parts for my tc what advice do you guys have??? what brand to buy?? what parts should i be looking int purchasing?? Im looking for performance and everyday driving conditons that wont beat me up in the process. solid advice is needed[/b]

 

if you want performance then you probably want coilovers. im running tein ss-p's and love em. ride is stiff but not to stiff and it corners like no other

 

i'm really confused as to what the difference between buying springs + shocks and getting coilvers is. am i doing the same thing by buying some hotchkins lowering springs now and replacing the shocks when they blow out later vs buyingn a set of tein coilovers all at once now? it seems to be the same price either way so what's the advantage of getting one solution over the other?

 

just go with coilovers...its worth it

 

wheres a decent place to buy lowering springs these days. any suggestion??

 

whats a good price also??

 

hotchkis sway bars.= #1 suspension mod

 

I will have to second jrv2000 on the sway bars. for performance that wont beat up your car, the sways will work during cornering and you won't feel a lose in ride comfort under normal driving conditions.

springs + shocks are essentially the same as a coilover. you do get height adjustments with most coilovers and damper adjustments on some of the better ones. where as your ride height is determined by the springs you buy in a spring + shock combo. if the prices are about the same, i would go with the coilovers.

on any other car, i would also suggest a front and/or rear strut tower brace but your money is better spent on sways and coilovers. just my thoughts

 

I have a strut bar too, and I cant really notice any performance gains from it in terms of handling, but it sure does look good in the engine bay. I dont know what type of performance a rear strut bar would do, but if the price was right and a company started making some I would probably buy it.

 

I agree. The hotchkis front/rear sway bar set is the best suspension mod you can get. They rock!

The difference with a coilover set is you can adjust the height and, depending on the set, stiffness as well. I think you also get less bounce with a lower drop on coilovers, but I may be wrong about that.
Oh, and if your paying the same price for coilovers as you are for springs and shocks, your getting ripped off! You should be able to get springs and shocks for half the price of coilovers...that's if there were any shocks out besides the TRDs for the tC.

Bottom line, if you really want suspension performance, not looks, get the Hotchkis front/rear sway bars.

 

if you dont mind where did you guys buy your setups from and did you do it yourselfor have a shop dod it??? what are some reputable places if shop did it ??? prices please with labor

 

Whats up free

Yea i agree the hotchkis suspension set is great. They have been around for awhile and make good parts. I would get the camber kit too, tires will last a little longer.

If you go to there web site you can see the package they have for the tC.

I would take it to a shop and watch them do it, although it does come with really good instructions and you can also download them online.

 

I did mine myself, and I've never done any real car work before. And the hotchkis instructions aren't entirely accurate, some sizes are off, and very frustrating. But no amount of frustration can compare to the joy of driving with the new suspension!.
Oh, and the toyota dealership was gonna charge over $300 to install both sways, not including the purchase price!

 

so tell me the perks of each brand . which one is easy to install????so far i like the tein s and the hotckins.

 

Go with Hotchkis, Tein iv heard bad things about.

 

Not entirely offtopic, but if someone switched from the TRD Rear Bar to a Hotchkis front and rear sway bar setup let us know your findings.

 

It's been my understanding that Tein is a huge suspension parts company with a great repution to back their products. What exactly have you heard to be bad about them?

 

Their stuff is sometimes uneven.

Hotchkis likes Toyota stuff - I'd go with them.

 

People have getting un even ride heights with all brands of springs etc. Seems most of the time it was due to improper installation or alignment. GO GO DIY RANGERS!

 

i switched from the trd rear to the hotchkis front and rear. honestly-i though the trd bar made a difference. now, i think the trd bar did NOTHING. that's how much of a difference the hotchkis bars made. they're seriously no f-in joke. try and flip the car after u install the hotchkis set. it's pretty hard to do.