hey all!~

My first post asking for some help.

What happened was that, I was pulling into a gas station, and there was a curb out of nowhere, I didn't see it because of how random that curb was and the shadow of the roof was covering it up pretty nicely, the curb blended right in.... besides, it was not a high curb.

And yeap.... I went over it with my driver side front and rear wheels, making a loud sound, (I know I'm stupid, don't rub it please =[ ) my friend and I both got scared and was like.. "OH! WTF WAS THAT!?"

Now, I'm going crazy thinking I damaged my underbody and my alignments etc etc... So, right now I'm thinking about getting lowering springs and anti-away bars on stock strut first, then get an alignment a week later, and maybe get the strut later on. If it ever did blow my stock strut, I'll just put back the stock spring and have the dealers swap a new strut in there since is under warranty.

I need some suggestions on springs, I'm thinking about Hotchkis.
And sway bars, will it be better to get just the rear? or the front also? and what brand?
Does the Hotchkis combo sound good?

BTW, I don't need to do alignments if I swap only struts later on right?

Sorry about asking many question, and the long post =/

Thanks!

 

ok first of all unless you have to "work" your steering wheel to keep the car straight its probobly still under alignment, that curb most likely did nothing.

second, I don't think the dealer will cover your struts, they are a wear out item like your clutch and tires. I'm not going to tell you how to spend your money but unless your doing your own mechanical work on your car I'd just save and get the springs and struts at once, instead of paying someone to do the same job twice.

AND, its a FWD car, unless you plan on doing mad tracking to the car you will be more than fine with your stock front sway.

 

My car still goes pretty straight, it leans a little to the right most of the time tho. My co-worker told me that factory alignment suppose to lean to the left.... is that true?

Oh really? they don't cover struts? that's a bummer..... what are good struts? I think i might get TRD struts with hotchkis springs. and rear TRD sway bar.

Where are a good place to get them all? do they have combo deals? I think the best place that I know right now is trdsparks....

 

You shouldnt lean in any direction. It should be straight. You should be fine, as long as you dont have it pulling in one direction and dont have fluid pooling up in your garage.

 

If ya get TRDs you would have to get it installed at the dealer for them to acknowledge the warranty if it breaks in the future. If you install it yourself they will say no warranty since you did it and not them.

You can try trdsparks.com or mcgeorgeparts.com. I really don't think your alignment is off. That bump wouldn't do anything to your steering if you were going that slow of a speed. To knock your alignment off you would probably have to go 15+ mph.

 

now I'm starting to think nothing bad happened.... I guess that's a good thing. lol, that gave me an excuse to upgrade my suspensions/handlings.

I'm probably just going to get it done at once and get coilovers. since the total of struts and springs are not much lower than the H&R coilover set.

How much does it usually run to install coilovers and a rear sway bar?

If anybody has some suggestions, please let me know =]

 

I'd say do it yourself and find a friend. Install for coilovers will easily run from 150-200 and I dunno about the sways but they are pretty easy to install since the coilovers are assembled for ya and you just put it in.

 

Some are easier than others depending on wether or not you have to remove to oem top hats to reuse them. If thats the case you'll have to rent a spring compressor to remove the top hats safely. Suspension is not hard to do at all, it might be scary if its your first time but once you do it once its not so bad. For the front its jacking up the car, place it on towers, remove wheels, undo brake lines from shock body, tie rod end with ball joint tool. Then the two lower bolts that hold the shock to the lca, sit knuckle assembly on jack stand, and finally top hat bolts.

If you where local I wouldn't mind helping you out. A rear sway should only take you an hour to install, max.

 

 

hmmmm?

Thanks for all those info and the offering to help. I would really like to do all that myself but I have no idea how, need to learn more =] and I don't even have the tools at all! hahahhahahah~~

Right now I'm still trying to figure out a good coilovers that's not too expensive.