Hey, I'm new to the boards but have been reading them for a while. I have an 05 tc and definately want to invest some to improve the performance. A lot of things that I thought about modding turned out to be proved wrong from some posts. People are saying compared to stock, a cai and short ram both aren't much better and are more for sound. Pulleys are supposedly terrible long term for the engine. The exhaust side is also difficult if you start with the headers since rasp is an issue and you'll need resonators etc and in the end the gain isn't worth it when compared with the costs. Also going i/h/e can push the power to a higher rpm band, which I'm not sure about since I want to enjoy the off the line acceleration, I'm no racer. This is what I've read.

I'm more performance oriented, nice sound would come second. I just was wondering what, given that I would spend at most a grand, you guys would advise in terms of intake, exhaust, maybe headers if I want to get some more oomph. On the handling side a rear sway and drop seems to be a fo sho. Oh and I'm auto...bummer

 

I just want to commend you on actually doing quite a bit of research before posting... that's probably the longest and most informative intro I've read on here from a new person... haha. Nice job.

Most of it is pretty much right. But for around $1k, you're obviously not in FI territory. So you just have to try to find the right combination of other items that might give you enough gain to make it worth it.

 

You seem to have done it just right and searched The truth is (And is more and more with newer cars) that bolt on mods are not that hot any more for the 4 bangers. You can spend over $1000 and see very small gains at best. And we all know how bad the claims from most manufacturers are any more as well.. so those can be taken with the whole salt block.

But you are dead on about suspension. If you want to spend $1000, make a BIG improvement that you can feel and enjoy every time you drive (or autox :D ), get yourself a trd rear sway, some good springs (I run trd) and some good tires. You wont believe the difference when you go out and push the car a bit. If you want even more change (And a little harsher ride), then go with a hotchkis front and rear sway set. And of course, if you want to get more serious and tune the suspension a bit more then get some Tein coilovers. But if you arent going to do any real suspension tuning, that is overkill.

 

I suppose your only option for a substanial power gain for ~$1000 would be a quality nitrous set up.

 

I'm going to resurrect this post since I will actually be getting this car in a couple months and I've been looking where to seriously invest a little. I'd say my price range has increased and now I def agree that new tires, maybe wheels, should be on the list. I have settled on not doing the full ihe, probably a drop in filter and a axelback, I was thinking the tanabe concept G. I'd say my cap is now 2,000-2500 and I live in relatively snowy pittsburgh.
I know a decent amount about engine stuff, but I am not well learned about suspensions. I'm mostly unclear about what suspension mods require other mods. Like if I get bigger rims, do I have to drop? I'm guessing putting in a sway bar doesn't require anything else. And this might be really noob, but I get confused with the jargon like struts, coilovers, springs, shocks...are they all different components? I'm part of the formula team at my school and when the guys talk about camber and akerman I get lost haha.
Anyway, actually I looked at engineefer's pics and I don't think the stock rims look bad if the car is lowered, so maybe I can save some money by not buying rims... Oh and about nos, I wouldn't really consider it unless I felt like I could benefit from it on a mostly daily driver, especially since I wouldn't want a heavy shot.

 

If you buy different sized rims, you need to look closely at the offset and overall size to ensure that your drop (or stock) suspension wont cause rubbing. There are a lot of threads out there about this (There is a good sticky over on www.yoursciontc.com with a chart regarding this).

As far as suspension parts, coilovers are technically what the car comes with (coil springs over the shock absorber), but it is commonly used to describe adjustable coilovers. If you are not going to go to the point of corner balancing the car or changing ride height a lot, then the price of adjustable coilovers is a bit overkill for you.

You can change the springs without the struts if you are going with TRD springs, but if you go more aggressive on drop than that you should swap the struts at the same time, since they will die fairly soon. Struts are your dampers (The shock absorber). The coilover part is the spring.

Sways are the main way to balance the oversteer/understeer characteristic of the car. Going stiffer in front compared to the rear will make it understeer more (not so great), going stiffer in the rear will make it understeer less and oversteer more. The key thing here is which ones you buy. The TRD rear sway does not sacrifice a large amount of ride comfort and makes a very nice difference. It promotes more oversteer, although keeping it controllable. Does a great job of reducing body roll (The other main purpose of a sway bar). If you go stiffer on the sways than the TRD rear , you need a set to keep it balanced out. Hotchkis is probably the best bet there.

To keep handling optimized, dont drop more than about 1.4 inches, after that you are really taking away from handling, not improving it any more.

And like I said before, be sure that the drop, wheel size and wheel offset will play well together for what you are buying.

IF you do some searching on the net, there are some pretty good sites for learning about suspension setups and what all the parts do together. I would send you some links, but I am travelling for work all week (in Wichita) and only have the work laptop on me.

 

start with suspension!:

get some good coilovers, if you don't want anything too crazy, Tein Basics are great. if you're not into coilovers, get some aftermarket shocks/struts set like Tokico or Koni and pair them with some lowering springs such as H-Tech or Hotchkis, you don't want to go too low.

a rear away bar is a must, TRD makes a good one. if you want an even stiffer one check out the Progress bar or Hotchkis, also good idea to get some new end-links at the same time, Dezod makes them, Progress has theirs included with their rear sway bar.

finish up the rear with an Ingall's 4-point strut brace, it bolts under your carpet so its not in the way and really tightens things up.

if you're gonna get a front strut bar, make sure to get one that isnt 'hinged' at the ends, that is to say make sure you get one that is one solid piece like the DC sports one or the TRD one.

i think with that done, you'll enjoy the car MUCH more.

 

Will you still see a difference if you have the Ingall's strut brace AND the TRD rear sway bar? Or is the TRD not really worth it if you already have the Ingall's?

 

The strut bar does very little. The thing you want to battle is body roll and understeer, niether of which are affected by a strut bar.

The TRD rear sway makes a very nice difference regardless of strut bars.

 

Wow! I thought the strut brace made a big difference already. I had no idea I would still feel a difference with the addition of the rear sway also. Jeez...that means I gotta save money to buy parts again! This place is good for info but bad for my wallet

 

yeah the rear sway bar will help a lot, you'll turn with confidence at high speeds. the rear strut brace is like the icing on the cake, to top it off so to speak.

stay away from the normal rear strut bars that just bolt over the top of the carpet at two points, those do jack squat.

this is the ingalls:




but definitely start with a rear sway bar first and use the stiffest setting available, for the TRD this would be the innermost hole show here on my tc:

 

Honestly, and this is no offense, but most of what you felt with a strut bar is placebo effect. You expected to and paid a lot of attention to how it handled, making it seem like it did more than it did. A front strut bar will have a larger effect, and honeslty I can say mine has had very little effect at all. Sways make a BIG difference, so if you felt the strut bar made a big difference, you will pee on yourself when you put the sway on

And for the TRD rear sway, run it on the track (Stiffest ) setting all the time. I have never run mine on the soft setting.

 

...my wallet just keeps getting thinner...now I guess I gotta buy the front strut bar AND a rear sway now! I thought I read somewhere on here that the front strut bar wouldn't do much because of how its so close to the firewall or something?

 

thanks guys, I had a feeling some of those terms were really the same, I knew that a basic suspension system for vertical displacements uses only springs and dampeners. So you answered my suspension questions, what about tires? I don't think snow tires are needed for pittsburgh, but prbly all seasons. I've noticed how bad the stock shoes are, I guess anything will be better, any recommendations?

Also, anyone think of a nicer axleback (<$300) than the concept G? I was a fan of youtube vids of the Megan drift spec. I don't mind straight through designs, OEM types seem to cost more just for their appearance and noise suppression. I think I am pretty tolerant with noise, I just want a nice sounding exhaust that is relatively cheap and frees up whatever it can.

 

for all seasons tires i'd go with Kumho Ecsta ASX, their tread life is like forever, i've used them on all my cars. they are also really well priced, you can get a set for around $400... i love em

 

do you get trouble with wheel spin in the wet?

 

I highly recommend Avon TECH M550's for all seasons. I think they rate higher than the Kumhos on customer reviews. I even autocrossed on them all last summer since I didnt have a spare set of wheels yet for summer tires, and they held thier own. And all seasons are not good choices for autox I think the place they shined most was in the rain. They did excellent in the rain. Normally $100 a pop on tire rack.

I just bought a set of Falken Ziex ZE 912's a bit over a week ago. Not bad, and a little cheaper than the Avons, but I will probably go back to the Avons on the next set. I dont think the 912's will quite match up to them based off what I have seen so far.

Now, if you want to autox it... go for the Falken Azenis RT 615s. PRobably THE best bang for the buck in autox. But dont run em in the winter and dont expect long life, as they are definitely a summer tire tailored to the autox crowd.

 

definitely with that budget, start with suspension work...
as engifineer states.. suspension-wise... don't go more than 1.4, after that is purely cosmetic and worsens handling, the TRD drop is fine for the roads in PA and NJ, ...sway bar will definitely give you a bang for your buck, just put mine on this week, and huge notice on handling...
i personally have strut bars front and rear... like how the front one made a bit of difference in turns, but rear didnt do much of anything...
as for tires, i have the yokohama h4s all season... defintiely good for the money... all 4 for 320... i liked the asx's for their treadwear however in the slick rain conditions, i felt like i didnt have enough grip.... avon tech is another great recommendation...
for your wallet... suspension is the best way to go first, you will feel more change in the suspension for that amount of money than you will in any other area of your car...
as for nitrous, yea it is good bang for the buck, but for daily driving how much can you really use it, unless you spend alot of time on 80 or 95, ...and i have one in my car and i have not used it in months because its hard to find places you can fully use it effectively...

 

--Or, consider staying very close to stock and running H-stock in autocross. Sometimes I wish I would have done it this way. Some of these might not be performance, but you might want to consider it anyway if you go this route-



- Grab a set of "crash bolts" to adjust camber within the stock category rules. Camber of up to -2.0 can be attained. This is legal for front only, though.

- Locate and secure the lightest 17 x 7 rims you can get.

- Mount the most kickass tires you can afford on those rims... switch out on race day.

- An exhaust system that replaces everything beyond the catalytic converters is allowed.

- Better brake pads are allowed.

- K&N air filter / synthetic oil / other odds + ends.

There might be other things you can do. This can get you racing and potentially winning for under $1000, though it's very strict in what's allowed.

 

I dont think you need crash bolts to run -2 degrees do you? Especially after you drop it. I am going to have the negative camber increased on mine before this autox season starts, and I think I was hearing you can get close to -2 without different camber parts.

As you have touched on, ANY springs or sways will put you into STS. There are no factory suspension parts for the tC, they are all installed at port or at the dealer. This even makes TRD aftermarket in the eyes of the SCCA. However, I am not to tight on trying to get in the best class for the car. I was doing ok in STS last year, on all season tires. I will be running a spare set of rims with Azenis this year, plus some tweaks on the alignment, so I am sure I will do just fine. STS is a tough class where I am at, but that just makes it more fun. And honestly, being in stock class doesnt necesarrilly make the field any more even for you. Sometimes a car is better off going into STS and modding the car more than staying with its stock group.

Also, crash bolts of any kind are only allowed if the manufacturer recommends them for crash repairs. So you want ot be sure of that before you go find parts to increase camber. You will need to talk to a good body shop or a good dealer to see on that.