Sweet suspension needed

Sweet suspension needed

Ok, I think I've decided to keep the rolla for a couple more years until I'm out of College, and I want to do some suspension work to it. Basically, I'm looking to get springs, struts, and sway bars. I want it to handle really well. As far as springs go, I don't want too much of a drop. I live up north and do a fair amount of winter driving, plus I don't want to wreck myself over speed bumps. Struts: I've read up on the Forum and seen that its between KYB and Tokico, how much would Koni's run me though? And is there much of a difference for the larger cost? Also, who carries sway bars for a 1993-1997 corolla, cause I can't find them. Anyway, recommendations would be great. Thanks everyone.

i know tirerack.com started selling Hotchkis sways. don't know if they have your year, but they do carry them.

try froogle for brand name stuff - you never know what you might find.

Thanks...I'll check it out

ok, two questions. One, where have you guys been finding your sway bars? I've found hotchkis at Nopi and TireRack, but not really anywhere else. Also, I've got a 1994, but I've read up on here and seen that the 1998-2001 sway bars would fit my car. Has anyone done that, were there any fitment issues, were any modifications needed to make them fit right?

the rear would fit but the fronts wont. You dont need a larger sway bar anyways.

You can buy the rear sway bar only from Addco, Intrax, TRD Japan, and White Line.
You could get Koni from as low as 490 to - 585 regularly @ shox.com But the best struts you could get would be Ohlins. Or you could go with a full corilover/dampener kit. I recommend Cusco Zero 2.

Do you mean that I don't need a larger sway bar in the front, or just at all?

I read that the hotchkis kit makes the front 100% more stiff and the rear up to 300% more stiff than stock, why wouldn't it be a good idea to get new sway bars?

Yeah, most performance models of cars have thicker sway bars than their lesser performing counterparts. I thought that was just a basic notion for suspensions.

The OEM corolla sway bar diameter for 93-02 corollas are 22mm F, 14mm R. (some CE models may not have front sway bars). So our cars is indeed built to understeer (understeer characteristics are more perdictable than oversteer)

They sway bar (or anti roll bar) job is to improve handling by reducing traction (in other words they work by being counter productive).

A larger REAR sway bar would lift the inside rear tire thereby reduce traction and inducing more of a oversteer characteristic. However a overly large rear sway bar would break too much traction and induce too much oversteer causing driver to spin out.

Increasing the size of the FRONT sway bar will usually increase understeer (but in RWD cars it would aid corner-exit traction), a characteristic which our cars are already built for. You could get one if you believe you have too much body roll, but IMO it is largely unnecessary on FWD and AWD vehicles

A extra note is that as mentioned before, sway bars affects traction, so dont cheap out on your tires.

To achieve perfect handling, you need to tune your car for neutral and predictable handling characteristic, not throwing on every aftermarket piece avilable. It is largely user perference, as for myself I am running a whiteline oversized 20mm adjustable rear sway bar at intermediate setting. I retained the OEM 22mm front sway bar but switched out the bushings to polyurethane pieces. I ran the last autoX with a fresh set of Kumho MX tires and handling were almost perfect, the steering were linear and torque steer were easily corrected. I believe stiffer spring and dampening rates would help.

If after all this, you still want a aftermarket front sway bar, TRD Japan is the only manufacturer that makes one

Well thanks man, that definitely makes sense. I'd much rather have a car that's meant to understeer actually understeer and be easily correctable while still handling much better than stock...sounds like that's exactly what I'd want

Wayne is ... GOD!

best handling/cheapest?

Wow you guys are confusing the hell out of me! So soon I want to do a major susp upgrade (mostly because I cant afford a TC yet!)

I was thinking, tokico blues, Tien h tech (because I want a good ride and I drive in snow) ..do you guys think the hotchkis sway bars are necessary? Ive read some ppl get them installed and they squeak, I do NOT want any more noises! Basically Im sick of the body roll and brake dive on my car (02 prism). Any feedback would be appreciated! I may just get struts, but I figured Im paying someone to install them wont cost any more for the springs..I dont know if struts alone will do what I want as far as reducing body movement..

Personally I would save my money until I get that TC.. but

Using siffer springs would be the best mod to reduce excess body movement like the body roll and brake dive you mention before. Teins S have a decent spring rate but the drop might be too much for snowy days (i wouldnt know, I live in CA).

Your idea to just get strut would stiffen up the ride a bit but it is the springs' rates that control how much the suspension compress under load. The job of the strut is mainly to control suspension rebound so that the spring dosent keep bouncing after unloading back to normal position.

sway bars are not really necessary unless you are trying you are attempting to correct over/under steer conditions during cornering, they dont really come into play until you are doing hard cornering under higher speeds. And yeah my buddy has hotchkis on his wrx before he snapped the front one and he had some poping noise from them when going through bumps. However I haven't experience any noise with mines.

I've been looking for Koni struts, but I never see them listed for less than $600 (for an entire set). Where are you seeing them so cheap?

check out honda-tech.com their suspension forum is sponsored by koni, also many dealers in the "sponsors marketplace" runs specials on koni. I've been quoted at 465cheapest for koni inserts.. however you need to supply them with the parts no. because afterall they mainly do business with hondas.

whoa.. slvr2000fdvspec haven't seen you here for awhile now

yeah, i've been on honda-tech and such..i'm back cause i have nothing to do..

One more question. What do you mean by "insert"? Is the insert all I need, or will I have to buy something else to make it a complete strut?

you cut open your stock strut or use seviceable struts from a ae92GTS

What is the product number for the whiteline swaybar on globalperformanceparts.com? I have a 2002.

Rear swaybar parts for AE102 (93-02

Heavy duty swaybar
18MM Part: #BTR71

Extra h/duty swaybar
20MM Part: #BTR71X

H/duty swaybar-Blade adjustable
18MM Part: #BTR71Z

Extra h/duty swaybar-Blade adjustable
20MM Part: #BTR71XZ

Front swaybar bushings
20MM Part: #SPF0832-20K
22MM Part: #SPF0832-22K (OEM)
25MM Part: #SPF0832-25K

I have:


OEM Rear vs. Whiteline



And hotchkis = 0wn3d

that photo is copyrighted. Now go find me some bushings so ic an put the new bar on.

thank you for the info

i was waiting to see that hotchkis picture lmao that is the best.

Koni/GC installation on AE92. (exact same for ae100/zze110)
http://www.ae92gts.com/ae92gts_ut_gc1.html
If you know how to install spring/struts already, its only a bit more work.. If half the honda guys in the honda-tech road race/autox forum does it, I dont see why toyota guys can't do the little extra work.

Tokico's will be under dampeneing if you ever get ground controls coils or any springs with rates that exceed 250lbs/in.. and springs that are rated < 250lbs/in are weaksauce if you want competitive suspension setup.

Another more expensive options would be to get these

Ohlins.

Yeh hotchkis = real low quality, if you have a ZZE, I suggest you get a whiteline rear bar and a custom one from TLS steel. I have a buddy who has hotchkis on his 03corolla for about a yr and when he took them off to return his car to stock, there were cracks in the welds.. unfortunitely I dont have pics of that. Only good thing is they usually honor their warranty and replace them free of charge, but if you're anything like me you probably dont want to install a new swap bar every couple of months.

WTF? So if I bought some Koni's I would then need to scavenge the bodies of some other struts? Is that the only option for buying Koni's for the 93-02 Corolla? If this is the case, I'm definitely going to just buy another set of Tokicos.

I've decided I'm going with the whitelines after getting a full refund for the hotchkis' from racing solutions b/c of a backorder. btw...cute mat.

lol
not mines.. some japanese guy's