Hello everyone! I am ____ing annoyed with my 07 tC's ride quality on highway, I have 40K miles OE struts, Tein H-Tech springs, Progress rear bar, TRD front bar, and Falken ZIEX 512 on the OE 17" alloys with a lot of curb rash from the previous owners. So, yes! my ride quality sucks, but I do get tons of grip when I try to catch the lights on a left turn!

Here are the problems: The tire noise is bad on highway, the suspension is extra bouncy on road gaps, and sometimes, when I hit a bump fast enough I hear a slight creak on the suspension for a moment. It really annoys my dad more than anyone else...

What do you suggest me to do for under $1,000 to get my tC riding like my Aunt's 03 Avalon or an IS300 at least? Well maybe more than $1,000 if it's really worth the upgrade to please my dad who drives an 05 V6 Tacoma which I must say is bouncy but has little road noise on his TOYO truck tires.


Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Well..1st you need more than 1k...but you need to coils, front and rear sways.

 

coilovers, and maybe there's a blown shock. I have to replace mine soon before something bad happens, I'm on stock struts with Hotchkis springs!

 

The softest possible ride you will get on this car is stock suspension all the way. Lowering a car means a stiffer ride, unless the springs are not designed properly. Some springs are made these days to "lower and ride smooth".. which is just bad design.

1st thing I hear wrong is that you are running htechs on stock struts. You most likely have dead struts. This will make it bouncy for sure. But even having the right struts with them, they will not be as smooth as stock. What you need is a set od stock springs and struts if you want it to ride as smooth as you can. But it aint going to ride like an IS300

First rule of thumb: You want it to handle better, it is probably going to ride rougher.

There is also no such thing as a trd front sway bar for the tC. They only make a TRD rear bar (maybe you mean strut bar??). The Hotchkis setup has a front and rear, since it is much stiffer than the trd.

As far as road noise, how does you tire wear look? If they are feathered or cupped on the edges you have poor toe settings and it could make for extra road noise if it is too bad.

Your creaking could be your sway bushings needing to be lubricated. If this is the case, you will notice it more on bumps that affect both wheels at the same time (dips, speed bumps, etc).

 

I got my car used, and in bad shape so, I have no OE springs- it actually had glossy red springs at the back and flat black springs on front, my car is way higher in front than at the back before, I replaced it with H-Techs and had my uncle who's a mechanic at a local Goodwrench install it, align it, and did a nice job IMO.

I got a TRD bar from Toyota last month for $160 and it's way easier to do than the rear-which is a pain to install! The front just bolts right on top of the struts and gave me a bit better feel on the turns.

I have no idea how to check for busted struts, but my uncle told me they are still OK and may need to be changed later this year though he said.

The creaks I hear are in the front, I thoroughly greased the bushings when I installed the Progress 2 months ago, my uncle even helped me with install.

Does anyone here have Falken's ZIEX-512 on their OE rims? How well do they ride on your car? I just got them at a local Discount Tire for a cheap price. They are about 4 months old I think, didn't expect much for the price.

I did test an 08 tC for an hour a while back and I still think the Yokohama tires are noisy on the insterstate and may just be too hard that it also gives me a headache.

Which struts would be the best for the H-Techs and what are the smoothest riding 17" tire that would work with the tC?


Thanks again!

 

the 512's are junk imo. i had them on my tsw's and they spin way to easy in the rain and give you no hint when they break free in the dry,the wear was poor also,berely got 15k out of them.I'm running on nitto 555r's now and love them

 

Are you talking about the strut bar that's in the engine area?

 

^^^ Yup! It's a nice red slightly curved flat tubular bar with TRD in the middle.

The one at the back is as blue as a smurf. I plan on painting it gray.

 

its the stock shocks that are causing all the problems, regardless if any of them are blown. Stock shocks arent meant to handle lowering.

 

very very true. had them as my 2nd set and totally wore out in 8k... only got to rotate them once.

 

dave i think for the first time i have to disagree with you man.

i recently installed the HKS coil overs on my car and set the dampening to 5/30 and lemme tell you this, its SMOOTH!
:D and honestly better then stock and slightly better then my H&Rs i had, im not saying you are false, but if i lived closer to you i would take you for a ride and i bet it would impress you

 

5/30 thats is two extremes....I'm on 10/16 on rear and love stiffness in rear...

 

ahh i meant 5outof30, i only have the fronts instlled (*just did it tonight) rears are goin on first thing in the morning, and will be set to the same or slightly stiffer

 

if you want a softer ride, go back to stock, maybe put on some tC spec size 16 inch wheels, (more tire sidewheel means more comfortible ride), but you can't have both.

 

Gettin struts that're designed for handling lowering springs should B your #1 decision.

IMO, it makes sense...
A stock setup will likely provide the smoothest ride b/c Toyota shoots for what the average person would want.

At a cost of handling, a decent touring H-rated tire will help ride quality, 2.

Also a taller, hence smoother riding, tire can be found with 16"

 

IF you run a lower spring, and it is smoother than stock height, it will not handle better.. there really is no way around that. In hard corners you will be riding on your bump stops. This is why you dont cut stock springs, you are running with less travel, and the same spring rate, which is a bad combo. Tons of people ride that way in lots of cars, and really are convinced it handles better, until they push it hard enough to tell the difference.

Now, if you have any springs, and get a better damper, it will feel better than in did. But lower with a soft ride is a very bad design for handling.

Dave, you may feel it is better because you came from a rougher set of springs. Chances are you are much more used to them then way back when it was stock, making you think the new ones are smoother.

The HKS coilovers have a lower rate the back than the front from what I remember, and a lower rate in the rear than TRDs (by a long ways). With any significant drop this is not a good setup and will push like mad in the corners unless you have some pretty stiff sways set to compensate. So yes, they are VERY soft for much of a drop.

And from what I see numbers wise, the HKS are SOFTER in the rear than even the stock springs. Push the car hard (like an autox event) and my money says you will be on the bump stops in every hard transition, which is the same thing as having your spring rate go up extremely fast.

So, while I dont doubt the HKS is not too rough for a lower stance, it is only because they sacrificed what the spring should be doing to do so. To put it in perspective, the Tein SS-P's have spring rates of approximately double the HKS.

 

Falken tires are noisy at highway speeds, period.
I had a set and it was the noisiest tire(s) I've ever driven on.

 

true, thats one of the reasons i chose HKS, i wanted a comfortable set of coil overs *i never race* i show my car, i wanted something that can go low and be comfortable and have a great name.

 

And I think that was what they were aiming for with them. If they suit your needs, then that is cool.

I run Falken Ziex 912's and they are no noisier than any of the other tires I have run on this car. I think they actually improved that area over the 512's. And from what most tell me, the 452's arent bad either. I will still go back to Avons on the next set though for my street tires.

 

I have 912's as well and they're quiet compared to the stock tires. I don't have any experience with the 512's though but Falken felt they could do better with the 912's.

It's true you shouldn't expect super luxury tires at Falken prices but the other thing is you shouldn't expect super luxury ride quality with 215/45s.

I bet you'd get a pretty good ride quality with good handling on Michelin PS2s (assuming based on experience with other Michelins) mounted on 16" wheels. The downside is that those wear out fast and cost a lot.