Fronts are done. Rears are tommorrow. Questions about bleeding the brakes.

[Crowbar911]

Last night around 8pm, I started to tackle the front suspension.

I replaced my shocks and springs with eibach springs and tokico struts.


All in all, it wasnt to bad. The main problems we had dealth with the spring compressers. They are just a bitch to work with.

The front drivers side strut mount and spring top hat where fused together. When we went to twist off the nut holding everything in, the strut mount, top hat, and top spring insulator were spinning te strut instead of spinning off. It took us 3 hours to get the spring off.


We ended up finishing at 3am. We would have kept going for the rears, but I had work at 7, and we may not have finished by then.

The fronts are very stiff, and turning in corners is a blast so far. I havent had a chance to play around with it to much, since I had to work this morning and my alignment is WAY off. (work is around 10 miles, so not enough to wear the tires down)

I dont plan to get an alignment until sunday when I am done the rears, and I can get it all done at once.


Can anybody give me any pointers for bleeding the rear brakes since I need to open the break line? When I went to autozone to get the spring compressors, they had no idea what speed bleeder valves were, and jsut told me to keep hitting the brake until the clean fluid came out. (I understood it as you need a valve to air doesnt get sucked back in.)

My haynes manual tells me to use a tube in a bottle of brake fluid to get rid the air, but doesnt give me any size for the tube. (autozone has no idea what I was talking about)

Can anybody give me any pointers for bleeding the rear brakes?

[Milky]

Originally Posted by Crowbar911

Last night around 8pm, I started to tackle the front suspension.

I replaced my shocks and springs with eibach springs and tokico struts.


All in all, it wasnt to bad. The main problems we had dealth with the spring compressers. They are just a bitch to work with.

The front drivers side strut mount and spring top hat where fused together. When we went to twist off the nut holding everything in, the strut mount, top hat, and top spring insulator were spinning te strut instead of spinning off. It took us 3 hours to get the spring off.


We ended up finishing at 3am. We would have kept going for the rears, but I had work at 7, and we may not have finished by then.

The fronts are very stiff, and turning in corners is a blast so far. I havent had a chance to play around with it to much, since I had to work this morning and my alignment is WAY off. (work is around 10 miles, so not enough to wear the tires down)

I dont plan to get an alignment until sunday when I am done the rears, and I can get it all done at once.


Can anybody give me any pointers for bleeding the rear brakes since I need to open the break line? When I went to autozone to get the spring compressors, they had no idea what speed bleeder valves were, and jsut told me to keep hitting the brake until the clean fluid came out. (I understood it as you need a valve to air doesnt get sucked back in.)

My haynes manual tells me to use a tube in a bottle of brake fluid to get rid the air, but doesnt give me any size for the tube. (autozone has no idea what I was talking about)

Can anybody give me any pointers for bleeding the rear brakes?

to bleed the brakes by your self, jack the car up and remove the wheels. get a jar and a clear hose. fill the jar about 1/4 the way up with fresh brake fluid. attach the clear hose to the bleed nipple and stick the other end in the jar with the fluid. make sure the end of the hose stays submerged in the fluid. crack the bleeder open. then go pump the pedal about 10 times. this will push old fluid out, and suck in new fluid instead of air. do this for each wheel. pumping about 10 times per wheel or untill clear is coming out. start with the passenger rear, move to the driver rear, then passenger front and finally drivers front. this is the brake line paths longest to shortest.

and also.


i want pics of the low.

[Bhavesh]

working on the car until 3am then work at 7am? that's commitment! I used to do that with motorcycles than had some painful days at work...

not sure what the hose size is...just go to an auto parts store or hardware store and buy a couple feet of various length tubing

[Bitter]

you don't actually have to take the rear lines open to change struts! you can slot the line holder so it slides in/out. infact most cars are like that.

[Crowbar911]

[Crowbar911]

Alrighty.

I did the rears. And i hate brakes......


I dont see how you can not open the brake lines in the rear since they go though the strut.



The rears were pretty simple. The only problem that I had is that I didnt put the rear spacer for the strut mount in, and they where making a metal on metal clunk when I go over bumps

After my help went home, I was able to fix one, but I cant get the driver rear strut mount bolt off to put the spacer back.


When I went to bleed the brakes, I was able to do the rears, but rounded off the bleeder valves for the front passenger, and almost for the front driver brakes as well.

I didnt think that the brakes fluid was to bad, Ive never had a problem with stopping. But after 88k miles, the oem fluid was pretty much a dark transmission fluid color. (eww)

I have no air in the system (rears for sure), and the brake fluid never went down into the master cyilnder, and the front brakes were never opened.

The car still locks up the brakes at 30mph to a dead stop, so im ok until I get to a shop tommorrow during my lunch break tommorrow where they are going to bleed the brakes completely (fronts), and do my alignment.

During the test drive, the car handles GREAT! I took some great in the local auto malls test track. (buddies are great!) and the car oversteers. Yes, Oversteer. Im 100% sure about this.

I want to wait until after the alignment if this still happens, but im not sure if I want to keep it, or play around with the rear sway bar adjustments and make it less stiff. (some negative rear camber might be in order too!)


Notes on the pics:

First pic is my buddies camera of me working on friday night/saturday morning.

Second pic is the hieght difference of the oem springs VS eibach prokit. (front)

Third is just me holding a front strut.

Fourth is when you hit your lip with a breaker bar. (sorry for the nose hair)

Total suspension mods:
Ebay strut bar
Hotchkiss sway bars.
Tokico struts
Eibach springs
Ultra Racing Fender Braces


I may be looking into some more ultra racing braces as thats all that I have left I think. The side bars and Front lower bar.

What else?

Ill be updating tommorrow night with the after alightment feelings.

Also, Pics of the lowness will be tommorrow, as its dark out. Im low enough for tire tuck, but im not scraping on anything.

[Bitter]

you cut the strut, make the hole into a U shape and the brake line clip will still hold the line in place JUST fine. most cars are like that, why the corolla is not I'll never know.

[Crowbar911]

So the shop that I took to get everything aligned may be trying to screw me.

They said that they were able to do my rear alignment, but cant to the front because the outer tire rods are seized. They want 67 bucks for the tie rods, and close to 800 for the labor. They need to drop the steering rack? (can anybody verify this for me?

Something doesnt seem right to me. I told them to just finish up bleeding the brakes and call it a day. I do not have the money for that right now.

They said that the tie rods are the only adjustable part of my alignment. The camber and caster are not adjustable.

I know the caster is not, but I call BS on the camber since eibach sells camber bolts for the 8th gen.

They also told me that they have been frozen for quite some time now, and the car is unsafe to drive.
Other then the bad srut I had, the car drives fine. Steering input is awesome.

Also, if its been like this for quite some time, how come I havent had a problem with alignment places in the past?

Any thoughts?

[Bitter]

you don't need to drop the rack to change the tierods, not even the inner ones. you can DIY those and then take it to get aligned. as you said, camber is adjustable with camber bolts. install them yourself before you do so they don't charge you labor for putting those in. usually its the rear alignment that causes problems because the suspension links seize and won't turn, but a torch works to free those 99% of the time.

as for the front, what exactly is frozen? the jam nuts? again...torch.

[Milky]

^^^ what he said. i worked for a while as an alignment tech. there is minimal camber adjustment on the corolla. there is no caster. a torch will help to loosen, but it can make the tie rods easier to break. i know because my passenger side tie rods on my miata were siezed and i used a torch to help. well it snapped off as soon as force was applied. i was realigning my miata since i had to replace a bent lower control arm (bought it that way). 800 sounds high even for just the labor. to replace a tie rod in a corolla should be about an hour to hour and a half job tops. no need to pull the rack. if you were able to install springs by your self, then get the tools and do the tie rods. its even easier than installing springs.

[Crowbar911]

Shop said that the outer tierods where frozen. They didnt want to take a torch to them because that may weaken the tierods. I havent gotten under the car to look at anything yet, and I cant picture what they look like yet.

The shop bleed my brakes, torqued the strut knuckle bolts to spec, and were able to fix my rear alignment.

For the front, the camber is within spec. I may get the camber bolts and dial in a little negative camber to have fun with.

the toe, is way off. my tires look like this: \------/ Shop said that its off 1.5 degrees each way. It is noticeable if I look down at the wheel, or if you look from the front of the car at the wheels.

Is 1.5 degrees much? Doesnt seem like it, but over a hundred miles its a way off.
Im also thinking that the shop was trying to pull something on me. They didnt want me driving off because its to dangoures to drive. But they also said that its been like this for quite some time, and ive never had a problem with stability issues, of toe. Alignment shops in the past have never had a problem either.


However, the car runs great, goes straight, and feels like a dream! Soft over small bumps, hard on large bumps, but no crashing. Car is low, but im not scraping on anything, and I take turns like a champ.

I need to go back out and test to see if I still have that oversteer. I can adjust the rear sway bar to make it softer.

[Bitter]

the toe is out because of the lowering, but i don't think it would be out that much. camber, caster, and toe all go together and are affected by right height.

what part of the outer tierods? the tierod where it threads on or the joint? it can't be the joint since those always move. just replace both sides inner and outer.

[Crowbar911]

Sorry for the Blurry first pic.

The third pic is of the strut that was leaking oil and blown. This pick is 3 days after i took it out, and it is still fully compressed.

[Crowbar911]

Bonues pics of the wheels!!!!!

I finally figured out a way to bore out the center of the wheel. Dremmel with a sanding attachment.
I didnt take much off, just some of the rust and building from the previous owner.

I need to get them balanced badly. Some of them have these paste on weights and some dont.



For god known what reason, my car is a 1/4 inch lower on the drivers side rear, causing that tire to rub against the fender when I hit a mild bump or turn left.





You can see how low the rear is.

The wheels are 205/40-17. Perfect OEM diamater. They came off a 2004 mazda speed miata. The wheels only weigh 14lbs each.

[Milky]

i want your wheels.. on my 91 miata.

looks good.