I'm Back Baby!

I'm back baby! After being banned for a week. (banned from Priuschat? Come on! LOL) I'll admit, not one of my finest moments, but whatever. I feel like Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.

While I was incapacitated I went ahead and purchased H&R springs for my Prius. It'll take 2-3 weeks to receive/install so stay tuned. I'll do an extensive review to make up for all the schlubs who installed lowering springs but didn't provide help to any others. Oops hope I don't get banned again.

PEACE.

 

Check out what yo boy just got!

I won't have them installed until next weekend. There's a mild storm and I don't want to bother going out this weekend. Plus tomorrow I wanna watch football. Will update you again after they're installed.

 

Thanks! The drop is 1.4"F/0.7"R. On most stock cars, including the Prius, the front lifts up and the rear sags. At minimum these springs should help correct that issue. Ideally it should give it an aggressive, raked stance.

 

Hello hello hello!!!

I'm very excited, because I just got back from lowering my Prius! The install job took 2 hours and costed me $150 at S.W.A.T. Customs in Fremont CA. It was the cheapest place I could find, others quoted me $300-400. George, the owner, was super friendly. He mainly does lift kits on trucks or lowering kits on American muscle cars, so I didn't know what he'd think when I showed up with a Prius. That didn't make a difference -- he was awesome.

The H&R Sport Springs for Prius (Part#29062-1) I used were never specified for the Touring. Some members with Touring editions had installed them on their car and seemed to have no problems. That's what I went off. After 2 hours the job was finished. George told me that the front 2 springs went on just fine, as I expected. HOWEVER, he said that rear H&R springs weren't made for the Touring. He says they were 1/2" too short. Here's where the problem would be: if I went over a bump really fast so that the back of my car lifted up, there'd be no spring load. That is, the spring is loose. So when the back of the car comes down it could make a loud thud/boom because its landing on the spring again. George was kind enough to explain all this to me, reassuring me that under normal driving conditions and even bumpy roads, this won't make a difference at all. So this doesn't concern me, but I think George might be wrong that "the spring wasn't meant for my car/Touring." Is the length of the strut actually different between a Touring and non-Touring? No I don't think so, and I think a non-touring owner would run into this "issue" as well.

Anyways, I tested the spring load out in a parking lot with speed bumps. If I was going fast over the speed bumps I would get that "BOOM" from the rear suspension, a result of the "loose" rear springs. If I was slower and careful though, no issue at all.

In case you're wondering if this mod was worth it even despite the thing George noticed, having driven home, I think it's totally worth it! Here's why:

Handling: Turns feel solid. There's little to no roll. I feel connected to the ground more. People talk about the chassis brace. HAH! That's nothing. A lower center of gravity is a REAL difference.
Comfort: Surprisingly, just as wonderful as before. Even over bumpy roads I couldn't tell I was on different springs. And this was huge for me. If I could feel and hear every jitter, bump, squeak, I would probably regret this mod. But this wasn't the case, and I'm so happy!!...
Looks: (drop = 1.4"F/0.7"R drop) To me, it looks more aggressive, especially a view from the front. Other non-Prius owners probably won't tell. For both of us, however, the drop definitely makes the Prius look "right," proportional, and as it should be. Now every other Gen II Prius looks too tall and awkward. The springs have settled a little more since I drove home, but maybe no more than an eighth of an inch (good springs aren't supposed to settle anyway). I'll have to take/post more pictures of this later.

For now, thanks for reading!

Pic 1: Before
Pic 2: After
Pic 3: Before - fender gap LF wheel
Pic 4: After - fender gap LF wheel
Pic 5: Before - fender gap RR wheel
Pic 6: After - fender gap RR wheel
Pic 7: A throwaway

 

Just got back from my wheel alignment. Camber is in spec, surprisingly I GAINED camber. That's not supposed to happen...oh well I'm not going to complain. Toe was way off (-.25) so they set that to -.01. SAI is out of spec on my RF wheel (13.5) but I'm not worrying about that. Lifetime alignments at Firestone are awesome!!

I am so enjoying my new lowered Prius.