Beef up suspension without lowering? Also, a swaybar question.

[L5K]

I've been thinking of beefing up the suspension in my 03 GT, however I really don't want to give up ground clearance as I like the high(ish) stance, especially in driveways and during/after winter. Anyone know where I should start with this? I'm guessing just stiffer springs of the same size, but they could end up raising the car couldn't they? I really don't know when/if I'll ever get around to this, but I want to have the homework done if I decide to.Also, what's the verdict on swaybars? I've seen them for both the rear, under the car, and the strut brace... Do they really make much difference?

[Raven]

Rear sway bar = huge improvement (I have one)front sway bar = must be done in fr/r set (Hotchkis) some improvement over rear onlystrut bar = cosmetic only, little improvement but looks cool (I have one)

[northvibe]

The TRD springs give the highest ride height but with better handling.the front sway is a pita to install and since its fwd and you want some more over steer to make the car neutral just get the rear sway bar. yes the strut tower bar is an appearance mod. I thought it may of made a slight difference, when entering a driveway at an angle. I had the TRD one, the cheap one I had didnt do anything.

[Sublimewind]

Strut tower bars are only there to stop chassis flex... I'm sure nobody "felt" much of an improvement, cause the rest of the car is a wet noodle.. lol.. It all works as a system, so with different pieces of the system not being in place, it's an incomplete system... the cars just where not designed to handle... that's all.. not the intent when it was produced.. lol.. I think you should run on AIR... that way you can do whatever you like.. lol.. (air bags that is, i mean air struts)

[dragon64]

What are you trying to achieve? Handling? Extra cargo capacity???? With a FWD car as previously stated in a previous reply forget about doing anything with the front anti roll bar. If anything make it smaller of disconnect it completely. Most aftermarket front ARB for a FWD car are often larger diameter but are made from a thick wall hollow tube which when all is said and done equals the same "spring" rate as the stock bar. The OE ARB are designed on car for the North American market to "push" or understeer to reduce product liability issues to the manufactures. The biggest bolt on change you can make is to install a larger diameter solid rear Anti Roll Bar but only go as large as to control body lean but not so big as to lift the car off the ground into a turn and installing stiffer rear springs. Yes it is possible to make a spring with the same ride height but stiffer. The are two primary parameter the manufacture could change to make the spring stiffer. Increase the wire diameter or reduce the number of active coils or a combination of both. Moog and Monroe do make "overload" springs for certain makes and model of cars unfortunately they do not for the Vibe/ Matrix. This does not mean that you are totally out of luck.There are some suspension tuning trick that are used by "Showroom Stock" racers to improve handling without changing parts. As mentioned previous disconnecting the front ARB is one. I have made the rear springs of my '09 stiffer by reducing the number of active coils without changing the ride height by slipping a hard durometer urethane donut between two complete coils effectively reducing the number of active coil on the spring under compression increasing the spring rate . There are other tricks you can use to increase handling is tire tuning (asymetrical air pressures), wheel alignment and corner weight tuning (asymetrical raising and lowering each corner of the car). There is much more information about the why and how of suspension tuning than I care to take the time to write about in a single post. But this should give you a better idea where to start an internet search. A good place to start would be http://grassrootsmotorsports.c...nsion/ to get a basic understanding of how suspension parts interact. Also remember there are many different driving styles so what may be right to one driver may not be the right setup for another.

[B14CK_H4WK]

if you get a coilover kit with struts and everything like my tein ss kit you could just spin the rings up so the car rides high still then mess with the damping force for ride quality/performace

[Old Tele man]

...quick simple question: Is the TRD rear sway-bar the ONLY unit available for the 2003-2008 and/or 2009/2010 models?...check one:[_] Yes[_] No

[star_deceiver]

Nohttp://www.eautoworks.com/prod...e.htmhttp://w ... pr...D/467

[Old Tele man]

...hm-m-m-m, interesting how the Hotchkis people stop listing anything beyond model year 2007....I'll check with Toyota to verify the 2009/2010 Corolla and Matrix (and, thus Vibe) use the same rear swaybar.

[vibedrivermatt]

yes theres TRD rear only sway bar for the 03/08 matrixs as well as 09.. the 09 ones different.

[Old Tele man]

...thanks! I'd like to reduce the 'corner' sway without going all-out race-suspension "stiff", ie: not TOO much rear bar...don't want the TAIL to wag the DOG.

[AKLGT]

I had a TRD front tower strut brace, TRD springs on mine. that combo worked quite well. then the TRD STB went onto Mav's 04 base Vibe along with a RSB on Tein S techs and that set up served him quite well for autox and track events.

[L5K]

Another question to revive this topic.What's the general consensus on what is better Progress, Hotchkis, or TRD? Is the price difference between them worth the extra money?I'm thinking of going for Hotchkis or TRD because I can get them both as a set (front and rear), but if I can find a combination that would be cheaper without much of a tradeoff, I might go that way too.

[Raven]

Get a matched set or just the Progress rear, I don't think they make a front one. Just remember the rear is a 10 minute job and the front is a lot of work for a less noticable gain.

[L5K]

Yeah, I already looked at the instructions for the front. Actually looks like a walk in the park compared to some other things I've had to do on other cars.