[TheLowlander]

Nicely done! How does she ride now?

 

[TheLowlander]

I have heard that the FCS quick struts are garbage and will only last a year at the most. As for Ultra Power, it appears to always be an existing part by someone like Moog or Mevotech or one of the cheaper ones (could very possibly be FCS for struts) and just rebranded. I’m willing to bet it’s what Wagner does by repackaging quality-control-failed Philips bulbs, but I’m not entirely sure as I usually just get Moog to be safe.

I forgot to mention that the only reason I was able to use Prothane was that I have a custom sway bar setup, the stock rear bar is 16mm and the Addco is 22.2, a huge increase. The stock mounting brackets use “O” shaped bushings but I adapted them to fit the universal “D” shape bushings after the Addco bar tore my original driver’s side off, at that point I just decided to create beefed up brackets on both sides. I’d look into maybe getting your hands on Prothane or Energy Suspension’s grease as that stuff works wonders!

The Highlander has a 16mm rear sway bar and a 23mm front, this setup for the car causes some understeer and rear body roll. Unfortunately the only Highlanders to get the new beefy 21mm rear sway bars are 2013+ ones where they gave them the 2010+ RX350 suspension with rear shocks instead of struts, there is no way to make this bar fit as the mounting system has completely changed back there.

 

[TheLowlander]

You’re on the right track! I have had really good luck with Moog’s sway bar end links. The cheapest I could find them at was Rockauto. I have them in the front and rear and they are far beefier than the originals as well as having grease fittings. No problems after one winter so far.

Front: Moog K90344
Rear: Moog K750098 (Almost dimensionally identical to the original rear. Actually made for the front of a Nissan Versa, beefy as hell and fit my car perfectly, still going strong and no rust/clunks yet - Moog quality as expected)

Skip Moog’s rear end links (# K90714) designated for 2001-2003 AWD Highlanders, they are flimsy crap that weren’t greasable and developed a clunk along with rust even before winter came around, obviously not a real “Moog” product. They didn’t even fit my Addco 2109 rear sway bar properly.

Now onto poly bushing grease. I tried using some food-grade silicone grease, it worked well for the most part, however it wasn’t sticky or thick enough and would wash away after a while. I bought some prothane poly bushings for my car and the silicone grease it came with was extremely tacky and sticky. I’d recommend the thickest and stickiest silicone grease you can get your hands on.

For the sway bars themselves, I think Addco may have discontinued the 2109 rear sway bar for our Highlanders. But you may be able to use front sway bars from 2008-2019 Highlanders and 2010-2015 RX350s due to the sway bar shape, front sway bar links and mounting brackets being the same. No one has tried it before but I want to as soon as I get my hands on one locally. Hopefully the 3mm jump up (26 vs 23) will not cause too much understeer, but there’s only one way to find out.

Finally for wheels, I’d love to have some 18s with a 55 sidewall. I’m currently running RX330 rims with 225/65/17 tires. I’ve heard of people put 18s from newer Highlanders and RXs without any problems as long as they stayed below 265.

Even without the lower profile sidewall, the new KYB struts (not quick struts), the H&R springs and all of these other modifications have stiffened up the car significantly while still maintaining a lot of comfort.

Good luck!