Prius offroad lift kit

I have had enough of the woes produced by ubering my c in the Philly area which has some of the worst potholes in the country short of FL gator-sinkholes.

Today I ordered the brand-spanking new c liftkit from prius offroad, I appreciate the material quality (steel not polyurethane) and the fact that it's made in the USA.

'Murica!

I plan to get it installed in 8 to 10 days along with new struts that failed in less than 6 months on PA roads.

As an aside I am trying to find struts better than standard KYB that will fit on the car, Bilstein would have been my first choice with their lifetime warranty and superlative build quality but no size of theirs fits.

I will detail how the liftkit affects my ride in subsequent posts.

 

Interesting to hear about the Bilstein/ KYB 180°, I will keep you updated with my suspension upgrades or lack thereof.

 

Major Setback & Shocking News:

At the excellent Russ' Wrench in NJ to get my new struts & lift kit installed.

Was informed that the front Monroe brand shocks that the company said would fit do not. I will have to go to a dealership to have OEM installed.

Rear Genesis shocks fit perfectly however and the lift kit has been installed on both axels.

Regarding the very bad news, Alex at the wrench let me know that KYB are no longer manufacturing struts for the c.

If this means they will only be available at stealerships rebranded as Toyota that will be bad enough but if they cease making them altogether then obviously this means we will be in a whole world of doody.

Upon research the below may be an option after all stocks are exausted:

shocks2springs

Stay tuned.

 

Update to installation:

Front spacers were unable to be installed after all when I arrived in person back at the shop.

The reason given is that they were the wrong size.

They did however install the rear Gabriel 70055 Ultra struts my Pulstar spark plugs that I requested to be gapped to 8mm and flush / refill my transmission so it was not a complete loss.

I drove off and immediately noted that when going over a few bumps that my rear end was vastly better, so good!

I had to get back to PA at that point so I set off asap and after hitting the head at a gas station I quickly photographed the parts and sent a quick email to PriusOffroad asking if they were the correct parts.

A reply almost immediately came back saying they were. (!!!)

I believe a partially incomplete set of directions and unwillingness from the mechanic to call the manufacturer for clarification contributed to this.

Frustrating.

I still have to get my lift kit installed as well as new front shocks.

I have resigned myself to KYB or Toyota (which I believe are manufactured by KYB for Toyota) and while they inevitability fail I will look into having custom shocks made or the old shocks rebuilt into something more durable.

Found a shop in Delaware that specializes in Toyota / Lexus and Honda / Acura and am awaiting a quote from them tomorrow.

Stay Tuned.

 

Liftkit finally installed.

The problem was that Toyota decided to get a bit creative with my specific trim, the rare persona series. Got a bit cheeky with the strut size.

The front struts were indeed the wrong trousers for the liftkit, Russ' Wrench was right after all.

The garage that performed the installation of the kit & installed my new Toyota struts, Harvey Road Automotive in DE was able to weld and alter the fronts that day.

Prius Offroad admitted fault immediately (how rare is that with modern shift the blame culture?!) and financially helped out, kudos to him for doing so.

He also made an installation video for me which took time and effort on his part so it's impossible to be mad at him, he really cared about me being happy with them.

And...oh, dear readers, I am happy.

The ride quality was immediately better the very moment I drove it out the garage to Firestone for an alignment.

Driving is now much more of a pleasure, it feels springy, agile and smoother to drive in a way above and beyond the last time when I had all new shocks installed.

In summing up: Worth It 100%

The kit has made such a profound difference to driving quality if it ever breaks I will get replacements custom fabricated.

Will attach pics soon.