Asian camry specs question - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

no2faber · 05-30-2005, 04:51 AM

hi,
i'm currently visiting my folks back here in taiwan. they have an '04 fully loaded 3.0 camry. they bought the car w/ out even test driving it. then after a month of driving it they hated it ride. the dealer suggested aftermarket springs. they got that done (not in the dealer of course), and now they say the ride is worse than ever.
i drove the car a few times, and i have to say it's probably the harshest ride i've ever been in. my car in the states is lowered on a tokico illumina strut/spring set over 2 inches and it feels way better than this. also, the front is a lot lower than the rears, so much so that the self-leveling hid's couldn't adjust correctly.
i'm a newb to camry's so i was wondering what you guys would suggest. i don't know if the springs are TRD. the TRD are suppose to drop 1.25 inches from the other posts i've read so far. it seems like this drop is more than a 1.25 drop in the front (our neighbor has a camry too and i'm just eyeballing it) at least. i'm not sure about the rears. could it be a bad install? also, does anyone know whether us and taiwan camry overall specs match?
any help would be appreciated

GrantTPC · 05-30-2005, 08:45 AM

Maybe it's just the roads over there...

Are the Asia spec dampers different than the North American dampers? The shocks tend to make a bigger difference to the ride quality than the springs..

xpeed · 05-30-2005, 11:26 AM

They shouldn't be different that much. It could just be the shocks that worned out, and once they put aftermarket springs. They won't get that smooth ride anymore. Depending how they changed their suspensions, it could of made the spring stiffer making the car bounce more on the road.

Toysrme · 05-30-2005, 11:28 AM

I don't think they are. Windom's use the same struts ES 300's do.
By that logic, you would figure Camry's all run the same stuff.
The most I could see would be something slightly stiffer on the AWD Vista's but... Nothing sounding like that.

The TRD stuff is just rebadges Eibach springs, and Bilstein struts. Quality stuff, that's not harsh in any way.

Sounds like it's not OEM to me. Replace them with something softer, or OEM.

no2faber · 06-04-2005, 05:48 AM

thanks for the replies.
it's definitely not worn shocks b/c the car is only 6 months old. i do believe this car borrowed a lot of parts from the outgoing ES300, including its engine, but i don't know whether it borrowed its suspension too. i'll find out what brand the new springs are and get back to you guys for advice.
it's not the roads b/c i've been in other cars going down the same road and it's not nearly this bad. this is clearly something wrong with the suspension. and yes, i'm trying to figure out if anyone knows if there is a difference in specs btwn these asian camry's and US ones, especially suspension.

skewe · 06-04-2005, 08:23 AM

as far as I know, asian camry and accords have an excellent suspension ride. They are like the avalons of US, which the corolla is like the camry over here. They are not built for speed but more of luxury.

Ken4 · 06-04-2005, 10:36 AM

Try 15" rims with big fat 205/65/15 tires, air pressure at 200 kPa or less. That should improve the comfort. Also get rid of gas shocks, switch to cheapo oil shocks.