Hey folks! I want to do some work to the ride of my...ride? I have seen a lot of different things for suspension and chassis parts for Echos. Things like Tein springs, KYB struts and some random things like bars that go inside the quarter panels and stuff. Had anyone had any experience with any of these? And where could I get them? Thanks for your help!
Hey folks! I want to do some work to the ride of my...ride? I have seen a lot of different things for suspension and chassis parts for Echos. Things like Tein springs, KYB struts and some random things like bars that go inside the quarter panels and stuff. Had anyone had any experience with any of these? And where could I get them? Thanks for your help!
-Steve
One thing you can do free to stiffen things up is put all the tires to their maximum pressure per the sidewall number. That gives you max tire life, max fuel economy and best steering control at speed. Outside of new steering components, that brace across the front shock towers will likely give best bang for the buck. I'll watch your progress with interest as I have some mods in mind for mine as well, ...
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2000 Echo, 200,000kms, aftermarket cruise control (AudioVox CCS-100), Intelligent Battery Guard (CTC), Sirius Satellite Radio, Scangage II, Garmin GPS, synthetic engine and gearbox lubes , Silicone Brake Fluid, Power Steering belt removed, delighted with the "tiny perfect car"
Not to draw away for this site but have you looked at www.yarisworld.com ? Since your car is a first generation Yaris the guys there can really help you out. Tien makes some nice springs and they give a good drop and back that up with a little stiffer spring rate to decrease bottoming out.
Tires like what denman said air them up and you may also want to change your tires to some thing with a little more grip.
The cross bars do help and they are cheaper than buying a set of new tires so saving up for them doesn't take as long but won't give you the same control stickier tires will.
Thanks that's interesting... I already have my tires up to pressure. Though I could use new ones next summer. I think I should just invest in some strut bars and if I can, a rear sway bar. I just don't know which manufactures would be good. Also, how difficult is it to install shocks/struts and springs on the Echo?
Assuming the setup is the same or similar to my 04 echo hb, the front springs take an hour each and the rear, about 1/2 hr each.
You need a pair of external spring conpressors to remove the front springs from the shocks (out on the bench), and an internal sc for the rears (in car).
I did the rears with externals, and it was a little difficult.
Rent them for free from Canadian Tire.
No other special tools req'd.
Probably a 4/10 difficulty...
Ok cool. I suppose that would be a good time to install a rear sway bar and a new front one too. Any suggestions for those? And a good strut bar? I think I will also get Tien Springs and KYB shocks/struts.
Don't know about bars etc. but my springs were from canuckmotorsports.com ($200 AFTER TAX AND SHIP)and dropped it about an inch - not radical, but it's q bit stiffer. If you wanted to put on some 16" rims with 45's I think they would fit too.
You probably won't want to put front sway bar on your car because it will cause more understeer than what we already have. Rear sway bar is a very good choice, I would suggest doing the spring and shocks at teh same time. Then get an alignment. An aggressive aligment for street use would be around -1.5 to -1.75 per side and set the toe to 0.
One thing you can do free to stiffen things up is put all the tires to their maximum pressure per the sidewall number. That gives you max tire life, max fuel economy and best steering control at speed. Outside of new steering components, that brace across the front shock towers will likely give best bang for the buck. I'll watch your progress with interest as I have some mods in mind for mine as well, ...
DON'T DO THAT! Their is a recommended pressure rating for each car, some are even different for front and rear. You can test some different settings by putting bit more or less pressure, but never go all the way up to what the tire can handle. Anyway, handling SUCKS with over inflated tires. The tire need to work under the car so they stick to the road. There is a perfect compromise that gives the maximum surface contact and ride control/quality. Over or under inflating a tire never been good.
Hmm, interesting. I'm not too familiar with sway bars, specs and whatnot. Any recommendations?
Not sure what to recommend here because I drive an '08 Yaris and we have just a couple options out there and not sure if our sway bars would be the same. I use a TRD rear sway bar not sure if Toyota offers one for you.
DON'T DO THAT! Their is a recommended pressure rating for each car, some are even different for front and rear. You can test some different settings by putting bit more or less pressure, but never go all the way up to what the tire can handle. Anyway, handling SUCKS with over inflated tires. The tire need to work under the car so they stick to the road. There is a perfect compromise that gives the maximum surface contact and ride control/quality. Over or under inflating a tire never been good.
I agree. Good catch.
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Originally Posted by TURBO Das Automagazin
A BRZ, a curvy mountain road makes one liter of happiness hormones.
I was poking around the net for a bit and found that TRD did make some stuff for the Echo. I don't know if any of it would fit a sedan and all of it is discontinued. As for the tire pressure, I always keep them at the regular pressure. I want to avoid abnormal wear tear, even more so where I just got them a few months ago. Thanks for the info so far!
If you are using tire with the same size and load, then to stick with recommended pressure usually works the best. You might need to change the pressure if you're using tire of diffrerent size and/or different load range. Before my Echo I had a Corolla. In summer I ran 195/50-16 tires (Kuhmo Ecsta SPT) with 30psi and it ran perfect. In winter I had to lower the pressure down to 28 with my 185/65-14 studded General Altimax Arctic. More pressure made the car unstable on highway and less pressure made the tire flex too much for my liking. It was also the best compromise for tire wear. I tried different setting from 32 to 26 and 28 worked the best for my tire/car/use combination.
About swaybar, it is important that you never go too far. If the rear sway bar is too big compared to the front one, the car will tend to oversteer and ou might even loose the rear end in a curve. I remember when I was shopping my front sway bar for my Impreza I found a table that gave a % of stiffeness difference between different swaybar sizes. This is usefull to choose the right size, but I can't remember where it was on thy net. The best is to go step by step. Find what is the major point to improve on the car and fix it. Then look for the next thing. By doing so you'll get parts that work well together. I.E., you need to fix the body roll in the rear of the car before choosig the right coil spring ratio and even find out if you need a new spring ratio.
If I look at the Echo I bought (been driving it for a week, yes I'm new to these cars), I feel like a rear sway bar would improve the handling. But I don't think it needs stiffer coils. Stiffer/better shocks might help thought.
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