DIY: Spring Install

Backs are in, and the drop is a bit more than I expected. We'll see once I get the fronts in tomorrow.

For what it's worth, the torque setting on the rear lower shock mount bolt is 90 ft-lbs. The front shock mount bolts' torque is 177 ft-lbs according to the Toyota repair manual.

 

Just used this as a guide to swap in some tein htechs.. Thanks helped a lot with the front!

Here are some added tips that I found made it easier.
For the rear:
- remove both rear wheels at the same time. This makes the bolts come out easier.
- remove all bolts from both sides on rears. This allows you to pull each spring out with ease. (gives a lot more slack when all bolts in the rear are out.
- put both rear springs in before putting any bolts back in. If you put the bolts in one side before putting the spring in, it will make it harder to put the other spring in.

Tips for the front:
- remove the wiper motor before removing the lower cover. Makes it away easier to get to the bolts for the lower cover (op stated this also)
- have someone there for a helping hand. There are three parts I needed an extra person there.
1. When removing the 3 top hat nuts from the engine bay, I held the strut when someone removed the 3 bolts in the engine bay.
2. When putting the nut on top of the strut, I pushed down on the new spring/shock assembly while my helper threaded the nut.
3. When putting the whole assembly back, your helper can thread the 3 nuts in the engine bay while u hold the new assembly in place.

This install wasn't too bad. Only pain was removing everything from the engine bay to get to the strut tower bolts. Took me about 3 hours with some breaks. If I were to do it again I think I could do it in 2 hours.

I will post pics tomorrow when it is day light!

 

Here's a picture of my ride with Tanabe NF-210 springs installed. I love the look, even with the stock 15" tires. It doesn't look like a Prius. The ride is great. I had it in the dealership for a 4-wheel alignment, only discrepancy was the front toe-in which usually doesn't change when shorter springs are installed (camber usually suffers, not in this case). The young tech test drove the car & thought it rode "stiff" - LOL.

 

Sorry about the newbish question:
Those of you who have lowered their Prii, do you have any issues with speed bumps, potholes, snow accumulations, or small flood pools along the road? Unfortunately I have to deal with all of those daily, but desperately want the improved drive offered by the shorter springs. Anyone make this upgrade and survive on hazardous roads? Thanks.

 

If you have never driven in a lowered car then there are a few things you need to know.
1. Don't park too close to the parking space stoppers.. You will most likely scratch your bumper
2. Go slow over speed bumps.
3. Steep inclines/declines to/from flat surface.. You need to enter the incline/decline at an angle or you will scrape the bottom of the car.
4. This is obvious, but watch out for road debris or large objects in the road. because your car is lower, the bottom of your car will most likely hit it.

These are general rules when you drive a lowered car. I would not worry about hydrolocking your motor either because we do not have cold air intakes, so deep water is really not a concern unless the water gets above more then 50% of your car. But, if that is gonna happen, then even if your car wasn't lowered you would have a problem.

Any damage that will be caused because you have a lowered car will be mostly cosmetic. I have only seen one person rip off their exhaust because of driving soo low. And their car was LOOOWWW and they hit a HUGE storm drain.. But it was still fixable.

Only thing I do not know about is snow. I live in Florida and the biggest concern for hooked up cars is the pools of water. I have hydrolocked a motor before.. Not cool.. I was lucky because my car started right back up after 45 minutes of drying out and removing my cold air intake.

I think that the pros outweigh the cons. It makes you pay more attention to the road. And the handling, which in stock form BLOWS, is improved sooo MUCH!!

Good luck and hope you make the right decision for you

 

How much did Toyota charge for the 4 wheel aligment... and can you provide link and price of 4 springs...
by the way great job :rockon::rockon::rockon:
I have most of the tools but 1/2 inch socket sets.... in the old days, I always used a wrench as a breaker bar... busted a few knuckles doing this when it slipped. I will need to find somthing... Have jack, and jack stands... 3/8 inch socket set. Just need to gather a few more things... and some guts ... LOL...

 

How about getting a breaker bar? I bought a 1/2" drive 25" breaker bar at Harbor Freight Tools for only $10 on sale. I got my Eibach springs installed in a snap last week.

 

The dealership charged $70 for the four-wheel alignment. I did discover that the front toe-in was wrong, apparently from the factory.

You can Google for the same springs, I believe mine were about $250.

RE lowering issues: I've got the forward Tanabe underbrace, and it scrapes on speed bumps occasionally. I used a Dremel tool to grind down the protruding lips on the ends of the brace. I was careful not to go into the welds. I've had fewer scrapes.

 

thanks for the diy guide. i would of never dared take the wipers off.

got the tein h and would have liked it better if it was lower but i guess its good enough since its my work truck... i mean car.

before


after

 

Just did mine last night, but I used the Prius Plus Package springs.

The job took 5 hours. The rears are much easier with 2 people.

 

Just curious, did you remove all the bolts like suggested in post #42?

 

No, I only did one side at a time because the shop manual warns that you may damage the beam bushings if you remove both sides.

MB860 ?

 

Oh ok. I wonder what it is that has the possibility of causing damage to the bushings?

 

nice write up!

 

Probably too much stress from the angles that would be seen if you have both sides out.

 

Thx for the write up.

I noticed that nobody is using H&Rs........is there a reason?

Either way, thats what I'm installing over the weekend.

 

Anyone else have trouble with the 22mm nuts in front??!
I have a 24" breaker bar and none of them will budge!

 

They are torqued to 177 ft-lbs so removal will be difficult.

MB860 ? 2

 

Never mind! Apparently you have to loosen the black nut, not the silver bolt.

 

So I saw autoanything started carrying the Tein H-tech's so I ordered them and they got here in a week. Turns out the part number on their site is wrong and when I got home Friday and saw the 03+ Matrix and the different part number called them and got em to special order me a set for the same price. So it looks like 2 more weeks of waiting for me