This weekend I put the TRD Springs and Rear Sway Bar onto my TC. Took about 4.5 hours to do it all. You don't need a manual or anything, just the right tools. I DID have to use a spring compressor on the rears though. Also to note is that you need to pay attention to how you pull out the rears because you can't spin the strut to allign it when you go to put it back on the car, like you can with the fronts. The rear sway bar was cake, that took maybe 15 minutes to put on.

Once I got everything buttoned up I dropped the car back on it's wheels and rolled it a bit to get the suspension to set. Looks perfect! I like the amount of gap it left, very euro. Not the slammed looked that comes from having no gap. I have a pretty small hand and the gap went from a full fist/four fingers down to about 1.5/2 fingers (at the middle knuckle). The rear sway bar is a bit heavier then stock, but a lot more substantial, and I like the colors TRD used.

I took it out around town to get a feel for it, over the same pavement I always drive. The ride comfort deteriorated a little bit, but to me it is more ideal overall. The small bumps that were mostly not there, are now there, but it's more of an awareness of the road that you are going over, versus an annoyance. Overall the ride went from Camry to Sport Coupe. The 'yaw effect' that I used to get when accelerating and decelerating has gone away, almost 100%. The turn in now is much more sharp, with very little body lean. Most of the lean now comes from the front where it should to cause extra bite and less slip, and the rear stays more flat.

Over all the handling and ride are damn near perfect for the road. If this was a track car it would need more of everything, but it isn't. For those thinking about other items for suspension, please ride in a car with the TRD Springs and Sway bar before you choose. I can not recommend a street car with any higher spring rates because it would quickly become increasingly less pleasant. If you go lower than this you are probably asking for trouble. You will need more spring rate and higher dampening shocks which will equal a really crappy ride versus the stock comfort the car came with.

The only negative I see from this mod was unforeseen and I can't explain. To me the road noise has gone up a few DB. It's not bad, but there was a change. Maybe it comes from the slight increase in camber from lowering the car, or maybe because the noise gets trapped under the wheel well more now. Either way it's not a big enough reason to not do this mod.

This is a MUST for every TC owner that wants better handling without sacrificing to much ride comfort.

-Richard

 

I just got mine today- I can't wait to test it out

 

how much did u pay for the TRD rear sway bar?

 

Oh- what setting did you put the sways on? Mine arrive on Thurday and i'm trying to decide what to set them to

 

$130. I bought it before the special at Carson Toyota. Same with the springs. I could have saved around 90 bucks total if I would have bought the stuff last week instead of 2 weeks ago. =(

Oh well. Worth the cost either way.

I put it on the race(auto cross) setting, the hole closest to the bar. I did that because JasonH said that is what he liked and it seems (from talking with him) that we have similar tastes to how a car should handle on the road.

 

[quote="therotman"]I just got mine today- I can't wait to test it out

I'd love to feel the driving differences between the stock and TRD Shocks. Maybe at some meet I will get a chance to drive someones.

 

I'm getting my shocks/rear sway bar probably next week... then the following saturday it's INSTALL time!!!