i just installed trd springs and rear sway bar (on stiffiest setting). The improvement is good, but there is still plenty of body roll in the front while taking a sharp turn around the cones and in the canyons. How big of an improvement will i see if i upgrade to hotchkis sways? is the upgrade worth the money or should i get trd shocks? help would be nice!

 

i wouldnt be taking any sharp turns in the canyons in the first place. Im sure it might be an improvement because i believe the Hotchkis is smaller meaning tighter? I may be wrong?

 

The Hotchkis sway is thicker than the TRD sway, so you will feel an improvement.

Just becareful with the Hotchkis front sway, its real easy to oversteer and lose control.

 

isnt that why they only sell them as a set?

 

Yeah. They're too stiff to not be used with each other.

And while it's true that a proper suspension setting will balance the car out, it will not necessarily make the car loose in the ___. Just set the front on the softest, and the rear on the middle setting.

 

but the tc has heavy understeer. even with trd springs/struts and a trd sway bar in race seeting, the understeer is still very much prominent. People have just used the hotckis rear sway bar and put it on the lowest setting and found that the understeer is corrected to oversteer without any negative effects or safety hazards

 

i had the trd rear and switched to the hotchkis bars. i thought it made a huge difference, but that could just be me. running with a trd suspension and the hotchkis bars was pretty damned nice. i had the hotchkis set on the stiffest rear setting and the softer front setting. no science behind it-i just messed around a little with the settings and that was the way i liked it best. it would've probably been even better if i had some nice sticky tires instead of stock. i thought it was worth paying more for. if u look around, u can find the hotchkis bars for under $300. u also might want to look into the suspension technique front and rear set.

 

sorry to kinda go off topic but if you cant use the hotchkis sways without one another does that mean you couldnt use a different brand front sway? what other brands are there? cuz i have a trd rear sway right now but if i wanted to get a front i would i have to sell my trd and then just get a hotchkis set? or is there something i can couple with the trd

 

^^ currently there is no front to match the trd, i i think there never will, the trd bar is just enough to correct the understeer of stock without putting one in front. And yes you have to take off the trd sway and get the hotchkis set or the progress set (they are the only ones that makes front and rear sways for tc), no you cant match trd with any sway bar other than stock.

no sir using the hotchkis rear alone is dangerous even at softest setting. Someone here has done that almost got into an accident. Maybe you wont feel the danger on daily driving but when you do agressive cornering that is when sway bar works and you could spin with that.

And I have a trd on race, I would say its just perfect to correct oversteer and significant reduction of body roll and a very slight oversteer, so i dont know why some still complain of massive understeer even with race on trd. You will be better with hotchkis if you autocross or you want near to zero body roll.

 

Really? I have def heard of the crazy accidents when people just put the rear sway on, but they had theirs on the hardest setting, or it was raining. Keep in mind that their tires had as much to with it as the sway bar; crappy tires slip easier.
But my setup is currently all trd, and I still get heavy understeer with the trd sway bar on race setting. To me, its just not enough to swing the rear end out. Like engifineer said for his trd setup, the car seems to balance out, but doesnt oversteer nor understeer.
People need to understand that our cars are FWD, so understeer is very very prominent. In addition, our rears are heavy, with the spare tire, car jack, rear seats, fuel tank and glass back, understeer is increased even more. Something more than just a 64% increase in stiffness in the rear is needed to get the rear end to swing out.
However, you can get the rear end to swing out during hard cornering by letting off the throttle or by braking.
Otherwise, when i corner normally, the rear end has a hard time swinging. That is why i am thinking about selling my trd to get a rear hotchkis from another willing to sell.
Hope that helps

 

maybe i expected too much from the trd sway bar. i think i would have to drive a tc with hotchkis sways to see whether its a worthy upgrade.

 

dude, i would suggest going back read this thread: (lol just figured out it was yours)

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...=hotchkis+sway

And I would disagree with you on few things,
1st If you say the hotchkis rear sway will match our stock front just fine to correct understeer then its like you saying that our car has a severely serious understeer that it takes a rear swaybar as stiff as hotchkis to correct it. Nope understeer in our car is not that bad otherwise it could have been a toyota safety issue.
2nd Nope our front is heavier because of our engine, lol the only thing heavy on what you mentioned in the rear was the fuel tank.
3rd Yes tires plays a lot but bad tires+ unmatched sway makes it more dangerous.
Swinging the rear, im not exactly sure what you mean by that but why would you need to swing the rear? If swinging the rear is your goal that is the reason you are not satisfied with trd.

 

He wants oversteer, HOPEFULLY for the track or auto-x, which is understandable. If you're getting all F&F on us in the streets...

 

ah yes, i started that thread and discovered many things along the post. But I learned some more after installing the trd.
I never said the front was heavier than the rear, cause that wouldn't make sense..I said the rear is still very heavy though.
however, you are right about why i am not satisfied with the trd, i could have been expecting more. (I autoX in everett and tacoma so no this is not for the streets lol )

When I first began autocrossing, my cousin let me use his rx-7 inifini. Its hard to discribe, but the back end would come out slightly during turns, and it was very controllable. I dont know if i'm saying this accurately, but I prefer oversteer to understeer. feel me? because with understeer the direction your car is facing is not where you want to go, while with oversteer the car's direction is where you want to go.
So you want to turn right, in understeer you would probably keep going straight. In oversteer you would actually turn right, and maybe turn too right if you werent coordinated.

I think we can basically come to a conclusion that:
1. TRD is good enough for the streets
2. Race is the setting you should have for trd
3. I should buy the rear hotchkis bar, set it to the softest setting, and experiment on it by myself to see if my thoughts are correct. If i spin out and crash, well.........it would be my fault