Suspension makeover

[jmanous]

Thanks for all the advice and the video tmontague.
Will try to replace them tomorrow. Thumbs up for the enjoyable part!
Everybody here says I'm crazy to do such replacement by myself.
Its a nice hobby though.

Let me share something funny. I called two mechanics to get a quote for
inner tie rod replacement. First guy said "I am not interested to install
your own parts". I guess he does not want to loose overcharging for
crappy parts. I told him I got OE Raybestos tie rods, he still said no.
The second guy told me he will need 2.5 - 3hours of $98 bucks per hour
to do it. He will also charge 20% premium over that to install my parts!
Holy ****...

Yesterday I installed strut bar & KYBs with megan racing springs.
I ended cut 1" from the original bumpstops. Boot, strut mount assembly
were all in great shape, so I re-used them. Used a spring compressor to
remove the old ones, but not to compress the new ones, I manage to
push from above. Torqued everything back to spec.

I cant describe you how pleased I am. The body roll is reduced
a lot (I would say ~75%), the steering is much more precise and stiff
on the highway, but the comfort is approximately the same levels as
with the old suspension.

The only annoying part was the 6mm allen bolts.
The sway bar link bolts were rusted so the allen key literally
destroyed the allen socket (and my hands). In the end I had
to kill the old links in order to remove them. They had free play,
but you could tell they could last longer. Anyway I planned to
replace them anyway, I just had to pay $50 bucks (per piece)
to get them ASAP from Autozone. I got Moogs, online they sell for $38
or so. They are twice as thick as the old ones, and they have a
nut instead of the original allen socket just after the "boot"
which is now gone (they are Moog problem solvers) which makes it
so damn easy to tight.

http://www.moogproblemsolver.com/sus...sway-bar-links

The reduction in height is currently 1", I guess in a couple of weeks
will lower a little bit more - maybe 1/4". Yaris looks actually pretty.

[justjesus]

Originally Posted by jmanous

Thanks for all the advice and the video tmontague.
Will try to replace them tomorrow. Thumbs up for the enjoyable part!
Everybody here says I'm crazy to do such replacement by myself.
Its a nice hobby though.

THOSE people are the crazy ones. I wanted to get some work done on my front suspension bits and got a quote from the local big name chain. The price shocked me. WAY more than expected. Even the tech asked if it's a hybrid cuz it seemed excessive. I ended up doing the job myself and saved several hundreds.

With my personal experience, tires have been the biggest factor in the play on highways. My "sport" tires pretty much eliminated the tire wandering feeling. Maybe cuz they were wider? Not sure.

For a while, I was running the Micro Image springs (i miss them so much) with Tokico Blues in front. The blues helped some, as I thought the fronts were blown. Turns out they were not, just softer!