drop zone

It's hard to find a bargain strut to buy though. I'm currently looking for a set of struts to compliment my TRD springs (since my neighborhood has rough roads and generally gives me a less-than-comfortable ride in those areas, and the rebound effect on some bumpy hills aren't that pleasant either), and the only good ones available for the 9th gens is the koni struts.

I know what you mean - it's tough. I had all my budget planned out, and then all of a sudden I had to get struts too...*sigh*

But on the bright side of things, if you don't mind the somewhat harsher-than-usual ride, the stock struts will live...sorta.

eh

you guys are better off saving up, and waiting till you can afford to do the stuff you want to do...and do it RIGHT. no one's going to fault you for taking the safe road, and waiting till you've got the disposable cash for it

KYB work great with TRD.

You're right as far as saving up goes. But like someone told me before, "one thing leads to another..." and somehow you find yourself spending money you never knew you had (or don't have).

And now that I thought about it, I should've bought the struts first rather than the sway bars/rdbck/rotors...

yup, i would even go so far as to say, i should have bought the spring/strut setup even before i paid 900 for my wheels like a year and a half ago when i had money to throw away because i was still living with my grandparents! i wonder where all my damn money went when i was makin it and had no bills to pay.... :sad:

Well, if you're trying to tune the suspension, it'd be much easier to get the tires first, because the suspension setup (i.e. choosing spring rates) will be dependent on how good of tires you have.

Also, tires are the biggest thing that can change handling, while springs and shocks are second...everything else is more fine tuning.

well, i already bought my kumho ecstas a year and a half ago, so all i need is my suspension setup, as my car looks like its lifted in the front and dropped in the back, and the back scrapes like a mofo into the fender walls.

ok ok, new question. probably just beating a dead horse here, but how far can I drop my car without having to replace my struts with aftermarket ones. I read on the old vvti forum somewhere, i think it was skyace, that installed TRD springs (1.5inches?) and have had no problem on stock struts for two years.

TRD = 1.25".

Normally if you drop anything beyond 1.5, you'd have to do extra stuff such as rolling the fenders, new shocks for a more comfortable ride, etc. But like I said before, you can very well live with the shocks you have now...only problem is your ride will be AWFUL once it dies on you, lol

so the trd drop would be fine? cause on the trd website they dont even reccomend changing the shocks.

The TRD drop wouldn't require anything more on your part than the springs. The ride will be more rough than stock (as expected), but it will still give you quite a comfortable ride. The stock shocks should survive. The drop isn't that much at all. If you still want the comfort of stock springs though, you should change the shocks too.

hmm. I dont really care much about comfort because i measured today, and the gap in front is approx. 3inches, and the rear is about .5 so you see where it is uneven as a mofo. I really wanted to put the tein stechs on there, but thats like 2.5/f 1.4/r or something like that. Maybe ill go with something else that will drop me the same as the trd's but cost less.

hey, were you ever on corolla-racing.com or was that another jake?

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND B&G Springs. I loved mine. Pete (Supershyguy) also had them for a while

yea i was on corolla-racing for a while. until i realized a lot of the people on there were just as unexperianced as myself. thats why vvt-i.net rocks. so many veterans, teaching newbies to become like them.. lol Whats the deal with supershyguy anyways? i always hear people talking about how he carries this and he carries that? how do i get in touch with him and are his prices relatively cheap? oh and how much did your B&G's drop you? did you need to replace struts? here i go with my 20 questions again!

B&G's usually do about 1.6" drop.....I am going to be putting TRD springs on my 97 within a couple of weeks, and I am thinking about doing GR2's with them, I hear they are the best combo with the TRD springs. I also hear that they are not far from a replacement for the OEM struts, meaning they are basically the same....but I could be wrong about that.....I would just change them at the same time, it seems like a good chunk of cash now, but its worth it in the long run, they will last longer, and if your stock struts fail your gonna have to pull all that out and replace it anyway, which will cost you more

true. i just really want the drop cause my gaps are freggin scary...

oh yeah, another reason not to buy drop zone coilovers. i took a peek under my fenders yesterday, my springs in the coilovers are covered with rust!!!
i can't get the collar peices to come apart. so i'm stuck at this ride height, which is ok, because it;s a decent ride height, i wanted one last pic of my car all the way lowered, but oh well.
they appeared to be poweredcoated, i don't know what happened, they have only been on there since november. also, the dropzone struts are starting to rust in several places. this sucks, i guess i'll primer everything and paint it before i sell the car in a month.

They suck.

i think i might just give in, and get the tein s-techs and the kyb gr-2s....

The B&G's were a perfect drop for my car. Ive gotten comments from a few local people that the drop looked lower than 1.6". If I'd gotten S-Tech's I would have killed my car with the roads we have around here, and I wanted something lower than the TRD's. And yes, I installed KYBs' at the same time. Took me FOREVER to save up the $$ for springs / struts and the $200+ for install. but it really is worth it to save your $$ and do it right.

Also, pete doesnt sell parts anymore, so you cant get them from him. I bought mine used, but I know you can get them new from www.shox.com

damn, 179 for the springs doesnt sound bad. would 1.6 be ok on my stock springs for now? actually screw it, im about to open and set up a brand new CVS pharmacy from scratch for the next 6 weeks anyways, so i will have absolutely no time of day at all for anything except work... thats what i get for working retail... hopefully promotion im working on will make me not moan and bitch about prices anymore! thanks guys for tips and help, and putting up with my sorry ass!