Im wondering what everyones experience with either H-techs, Hotchkis or Trd springs are. I cant decide between the three, my main worry is bottoming issues and scraping and such. Im looking at TRDs because I can get them at a good price, and I feel sure that the there the least like to make daily driving an issue. However I like the drop with the hotchkis and h-techs better. All the pictures I've looked at it seems like the H-techs have better clearance, yet the front is supposed to be lower than the hotchkis I believe (1.9 vs 1.7). So I'd think the h-techs would catch more, but in pictures it doesnt seem that way.

So help me decide.. I want to know what issues anyones had with those springs, or opinions.

 

I have hotchkis and one thing is for sure, you will def be LOW. I have only scraped maybe less than five times and that was with an extremely high speed bump. I really love the drop but be ready to buy shocks in 20-30k miles, no matter what your driving style. My friend has tein and they have kind of a raked look. (Were the front is a little lower than the back) Hotchkis gives you an even wheel gap all the way around, or at least much closer to even than Tein. If you want longer life out of your stock shocks go with the TRD. Less drop = less stress on stock shocks.
Hope this helps you decide.

 

Have had H-techs for year-and-a-half and now actually wish I had gone TRD. Have scraped the front (stock) lip numerous times, the latest last week backing out of a parking spot next to a curb and raking the lip over top of the curb as I turned the wheel. (Fortunately it's plastic.) And always have to be careful entering a steep driveway to make sure to turn the wheel and lead with one tire - straight-on entrance is a guaranteed scrape.

The H-tech's and TRD's have almost identical spring rates, the differences are in the lowering and possibly some handling aspects. Too low a drop adversely affects handling ... when Sport Compact Car put coilovers on their project tC they decided a 1.36" drop was best ... TRD's are very close at 1.25".

Maybe someone with TRD's will post up with any scraping/no-scraping experiences ...

 

i used to have TRDs and i was always regretting them because i felt like the drop is not low enough...

I would go with hotchkis if I were you, specially if you are not planing on getting a bodykit... you should not have a big problem scraping. You might scrape on really steep driveways but the looks of the drop is worth it IMO

 

Love the green Scionized.

Yeah I'm hoping i'll get some posts from people that have the TRDs, I think overall im leaning the TRD way since its my DD, and id rather have no issues. Most of the pics I've seen of the TRD drop look good enough for me.

 

Well I have the TRDs. They don't make the car look "dropped," just refined. Also, I drive ~700 miles a week and the ride is fine as long as you're on decent roads. Things get crazy pretty quickly on crap roads though.

I've scraped a couple parking stops from creeping up too far, but I've never scraped a ditch or anything.

It's worth noting that I got the TRD struts installed with the springs, so I don't know what the ride is like on stock struts.

 

thank you

 

I haven't installed them yet, but after seeing it in person at the dealer, I kinda regret buying the TRDs. From a distance I couldn't tell which ones is dropped. I had to look on the sales sticker and looks at the strut tower to find out it was dropped on trd. But then again, I don't think they were settle yet. It's was on the RS 4.0 that I saw it on. I probably go with H&R if I can find a dealer around here that sells them.

 

Just don't forget that once you drop past ~1.5" you're actually going to make the handling worse than stock. I believe a 1.3-1.4" drop is the ideal drop handling-wise.

 

id rather have h&r springs.

i have trd's now and the rear is fine i think the fronts too high though.

 

Htech drop with 18s and the ride is real good.......there are a few places I scrape if not paying attention and go too fast.....but over all the look is really nice and handles really good.......

 

I have trds. The rears sit really nice but the fronts seem a bit high for the perfect drop. (thats the most common complaint of trds)

I wish I had gone htech since the front is much lower, but the rear sits a bit higher than trds (which is really weird).

 

I would have a pic, but can't see much anyway.

It looks like it SHOULD have come stock this way. I compare the drop to a factory height new BMW.

 

TRD..enough said...