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TRD Sportivo suspension

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Accessories & Modifications' started by bobdavisnpf, Jul 4, 2007.

  1. bobdavisnpf

    bobdavisnpf Member

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    To those few brave souls who have put in this kit: does it do anything to improve your load-carrying capacity?

    When I go camping, I've got about 850 lbs on the car (450# people, 100# cartop+hitch+cargo-box, 300# stuff). But, with 80# on the cargo-box, the rear rides lower than I want and the drive overall seems more sponge-y and bouncy than I want. The biggest problem, though, is the raised headlight angle: I've taken to avoiding night-driving under this load, out of courtesy to the oncoming traffic.

    Would the Sportivo help with this, or is it just going to sink and mush out on me like the standard suspension?
     
    #1 bobdavisnpf, Jul 4, 2007
  2. Presto

    Presto Has his homepage set to PC

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bobdavisnpf @ Jul 4 2007, 08:59 AM) [snapback]472904[/snapback]</div>
    The Sportivo makes the ride less squishy and a bit stiffer. I used to bottom out when I came out of my driveway due to the mushy stock suspension. The Sportivo stiffened things up a bit and I no longer scrape. I'm not sure if that would help with your situation due to the sheer amount of weight you want to tote around. If I carry a full load of passengers, it'll still scrape. You can always adjust the headlights and have them pointing lower to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. Mine were already too high to begin with so they're adjusted lower already.
     
    #2 Presto, Jul 4, 2007
  3. bobdavisnpf

    bobdavisnpf Member

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    Thanks Daniel, that helps.

    I guess with 80 lbs of sound gear mods, 20-40 lbs of sound deadening material, and maybe another 100 lbs of other mods you're still well below "camping weight", but once you toss a few friends in there it's enough to provide a 2/3-comparable load... :)
     
    #3 bobdavisnpf, Jul 4, 2007
  4. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bobdavisnpf @ Jul 4 2007, 11:59 AM) [snapback]472904[/snapback]</div>
    Besides stiffening the suspension, you need to watch out for overheating the PSD (Tranny). One group was investigating the addition of an ATF fluid cooler.

    At least you should consider replacing the Type WS ATF at shorter intervals. Normal (for those of us that are conservative) is every 60k miles for a second gen Prius (15k miles in a gen1 - ATF Type IV)). Think about changing the ATF every 30k miles if you are loading your Prius this heavily and sending samples to a lab for testing to determine how the PSD is wearing. Please report any lab analysis results to Bob Wilson or me as we have several test results for Gen1 Prii ATF, but only one report (mine at 61k) on Gen2 ATF fluid test results.

    JeffD
     
    #4 jdenenberg, Jul 4, 2007
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