Caymandive's 06 Prius

Installed a Rear Stabilizer Bar (Touring) Part# 48812-47020 this weekend and I'm very happy with it! The car feels flatter through turns and it actually puts a smile on my face which is something I never thought would happen in a Prius through a turn. The install was very easy as well. Jack up the rear, remove two bolts, remove old bar, replace bar and bolts with new and done. (Just be sure you have a breaker bar as the bolts are on around 144 lb/ft) I think I may just upgrade the front sway bar as well followed by the rest of the Touring suspension to include:

a. Front Stabilizer Bar (Part# 48811-47050 at $79.06, Qty. 1)
b. Rear Stabilizer Bar (Part# 48812-47020 at $51.85, Qty. 1)
c. Rear Shocks (Part# 48530-49735 at $93.92/each, Qty. 2)
d. Rear Springs (Part# 48231-47091 at $43.13/each, Qty. 2)

I'm nearing a 100k so I might as well replace the below items as well even though the Touring parts are the same for the 2006 -2009 Prius.

a. Front Right Strut (Part# 48510-80274 at $99.07, Qty. 1)
b. Front Left Strut (Part# 48520-80064 at $91.14, Qty. 1)
c. Front Springs (Part# 48131-1N550 at $41.28/each, Qty. 2)


To top it off I may eventually upgrade the rear wing to the Touring model and replace the 15" OEM wheels with the 16" Touring wheels once my tires reach end of life.

The mod bug has hit me again! arggggggggg

 

Did 3 mods today!

1. G7 Chassis Brace (Even if there is little to no noticeable difference, I'm happy to get rid of that ugly rusty old brace!)




2. Cargo Net

Here is a closeup of the 2 upper push tabs I had to install for the net to hook onto.


3. Jeep shorty antenna part number 5064253AB (Love the look and the reception is great for FM)

 

Another minor mod completed. I removed the Hybrid badges off the side and the Toyota emblem off the rear. Luckily the 06 Prius doesn't have holes behind these badges.

 

The modding continues! Ordered some PIAA 500Hz/600Hz sports horns yesterday through Amazon prime and they arrived today! Install was a PITA and brutal (garage was 92F), but they fit and I was able to utilize the stock wiring with no extensions necessary though an extra inch or two would have been nice. The horns sound great and I'm not going to be embarrassed anymore when I have to blow the horn.

Stock Sound: stock.m4a
PIAA Sound: PIAA 500600.m4a

The first thing I did was removed the stickers on the horns. When I removed the stickers I was happy to see the Hz identified in the plastic itself and can be seen in the last picture below.

This is what the 500Hz horn looked like. The 600Hz was identical except instead of red it was purple.




Here is a picture of the horn located in the center of the grill. This is the toughest one to install as you'll need to make some slack in the power wire for it to reach.


Here is a picture of the PIAA supplied Ground wire. As you can see I was able to get it on the factory mounting bolt. I ended up using some needle nose pliers to open it up a bit for the bolt to properly fit.


In order to get more slack out of the power wire to reach the center horn I cut some electrical tape that was holding the black wire sleeve to a white plastic holding piece found in the photo below.


I needed about a quarter of an inch more of slack to feel comfortable with the tension of the wire so I sliced (carefully) some more electrical tape as show below. I could have cut a little more, but I'm comfortable with it as is.


The result is hidden horns that sound great!

 

Well the bulbs went out again. I guess based on my usage I should just expect to replace them every 8 or 9 months and I think they are rated at around 150 hours of which I'm certainly going over. The bulbs really are great and it looks like a small price to pay for very good Halogen lighting, but they appear to have been replaced with the new Philips X-treme "Vision" bulbs? They are supposed to be 20% brighter than the X-treme "Power" bulbs that I'm running so I'm curious to see how they compare. Will report back with my review.

Also installed the Coastal EV Mode mod today. Install went smoothly other than a few cuts on my hands from reaching in the tight space to remove the connector. Took it out for a spin and it worked great, but obviously isn't something I'll be using aside from slipping in and out of the house/neighborhood in near silence.

 

^I just ordered the HID kit from eBay! I'm going to return the Philips bulbs when they arrive.

Thanks!

 

Well the Philips X-treme Vision bulbs arrived yesterday and I couldn't help myself in trying them out though I planned on returning them. I guess I'll be keeping them around after all as backups if I end up having any issues with the ordered HID kit.

I drove last night with the new bulbs and have to say they are indeed brighter than the outgoing X-treme Power bulbs. I'd say they are probably the brightest aftermarket Halogen bulb I've ever seen and they worked great even in a heavy downpour last night. With that said though, I'm certain they will last no longer than the X-treme Power bulbs as they look identical with exception to the coatings on the ends of the bulbs as shown in the below picture. The new Vision bulbs have less of the silver coating and more of the blueish/purple coating which is probably how they were able to get more light out of the bulbs.

New "Vision" on the Left and outgoing "Power" bulb on the right:

 

Installed the 35w H4-3 Bi Xenon HID 4300 Kelvin lights today and love them! Install was easy and they certainly put more light on the road without annoying glare as they have a shield in place that directs the light up into the reflector which then shoots the light down onto the road effectively reducing glare.

HALOGEN LOW (Philips X-treme Vision)


HID LOW


HALOGEN HIGH (Philips X-treme Vision)


HID HIGH


BULBS INSTALLED (Notice the shield under the bulb that directs light up into the reflector)


VIDEO

 

Thanks! The lighting improvment is fantastic all around and I couldn't be happier with the upgrade. I just wish I had done this sooner!

 

Well 4 months of fantastic use and today the driver side ballast went out. I sent a message to the seller on ebay from the UK as they supposedly have a 12 month warranty. I discovered the ballast issue by swapping the bulbs side to side and noticed they both worked on the passenger side, but the driver side would no longer ignite. Because they are connected side to side I had to take everything out and go back to stock until the problem is fixed.

I hate the low output of the halogen bulbs! Have any of you other guys had an issue with this kit?

EDIT: 12/5/13
I've decided to stick with halogen bulbs for now until I decide if I want to do a retrofit kit. There is a recommended installer from The Retrofit Source called Lightwerkz that I may work with to do an FXR kit.

 

It's been a fun few years with the 2006 Prius but couldn't help myself when I saw this 2012 Prius 3 with the "sport" package for sale. Only had 30k miles and was certified and they were asking 17k. Needless to say I've already begun finishing the car off to be a true Prius Plus Performance package as I installed the TRD sway bar last night, ordered the TRD springs and have the Plus floor mats and rear badge emblem on the way. With the car already coming with the 17" forged wheels and Plus Ground Effects Kit, I've saved a lot of $$ on the transformation.

So far I really love the new (to me) Prius. Handles and looks so much better than my old one and I'm still getting around an indicated 49-51mpg.

 

Thanks man! Hope to see you around.