Ok, it's been some months and from day one have been trying to resolve a minor issue that's a pain in my azz. The complete driver side is aproximately .5" lower than the passenger side. I've been dealing with trying to resolve this issue between the source of the parts ( TM Engineering ), the shop that has installed the parts ( Pro Tech Performance ) and the people who aligned the car after installation ( Jerry's Alignment ). The .5 inch difference is noticeable as shown in the picture below. This causes rubbing in the driver side wheel well only when turning to the right, as opposed to the left. I have two brand new tires on the rear, of maybe only 2 months old, and are showing significant tread wear on the insides of the tire. I have seen the alignment sheets and the car according to the shop was still in alignment, I took the car back to ProTech and had it put on the lift, where we measured the difference in ride height. I have been talking with Todd at TM Engineering, and after his review of the pic's below, he feels there's a strong possibility of the parts being improperly installed. My questions are for those more mechanically inclined than I are:

1) How do you improperly install shox / springs / camber kit?? Are these parts designed to only fit one way, being their proper orientation?

2) Is it possible I have shox for the TT supra and the non-TT supra ( different heights - 2 each ).

3) The alignment: I am assuming it should still be aligned to the specs of the 97 SC400, not the supra.

4) Is there anyone in the Houston area that can look at this from a 3rd party perspective, it's been long enough trying to resolve this issue and I need it fixed. I don't plan on buying new tires every 2 months, thus why I upgraded my suspension to rid myself of bad bushings that were eating my tires.

Nazty97

 

Two questions -

Are those Eibachs?
If so, it is VERY possible that is just the way they are fro mthe factory, period.

I say that because I feel it is unlikely the shop placed the springs upside down...it is possible, but unlikely because it wouldn't sit just right in the perch.

Secondly, I feel that this is a problem with Eibach in general. I recall when I first got my Eibachs installed on my Legend, SAME thing. As they settled, the passenger side was always lower than the driver side. No matter what was done, it was that way, and many other Legend owners as well. I think it is a flaw with Eibach in general...somehow their springs do that. The only thing that can fix that unfortunately is not a good idea...

Sorry Greg....and to answer the other ? - The I think the TT and the Non-T springs are only .1" difference if I remember right. You can look on the coils to see if they have the same part number (I imagine you will have to get a lift or jack it up)

Let me know if any questions.

 

here's the rear

 

these are the tokico set up, springs and shocks, plus the daizen camber kit. I don't mind the rubbing nearly as much as what is appearing to be a tire wear nightmare.

 

Just some thoughts.

Maybe the car is heavier on the left (it's a Japanese car so the driver sits on the right, so engineers add weight to the left to even things out, but US version is left driver so more weight on the left)? Do you think worn out control arm bushings might drop the height a bit? Is the tire inflation right?

 

Eibachs are known to do that... Im pretty sure that if the shop is somewhat competant at all, they did not screw it up (I did my own with a my club and we had no problems, pretty simple, and hard to mess up...) I have bros who used to run eibachs on both mustang GT's and WS6's, and they both have a slightly "lower" side... my espelirs have not settled like that, maybe you should look into some supra espelirs.

 

Well... NAZTY97 said they were Tokico springs and shocks.

NAZTY97:
Did you ever have pictures of your car before the upgrade? Maybe the height was off half an inch, but it was too hard to notice.

amati5 previously posted that he/she changed the anti-roll/sway bar bushings and the gap between the wheel and fender was higher. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=93384

 

yeah, i have pics before, but the gap was so big, it'd be hard to tell. The reason it's so noticeable is because the rear driver side is almost in the wheel well, whereas, the passenger side has a gap. All of this is liveable as long as it's not the cause of my tires getting f@#$%ed off every two months. Nitto doesn't need me to invest in them that much ( 6 times a year minimum per pair ).

 

Is there anyone in the houston area that knows a competent alignment shop that can handle lowered cars with aftermarket wheels?

I went by one shop, and he was a slick talker,... $190 to align my car if he doesn't have any problems with it,... ( like that's gonna happen ).

sigh!

 

i do... my bro uses them for his slammed jetta- will get u the name when i see him

 

thx man,... this is most frustrating,... looking at the car last nite ( mad as hell ),... it almost appears as if the rear driver spring was on the front passenger side, the problem would be solved,...but front what I understand, the springs are specifically for front / rear and aren't interchangeable... can anyone confirm that? If that isn't the case, then a solution may be possible, at least for the sideways tilt action.

 

that is correct- springs are different sizes... that would be a pretty hard mistake to make. it sounds like the springs are settling at different rates to me.

 

What you have is mismatched springs.
When they mfg springs no 2 are ever the same.
The factory trys to test and sell them as matched pairs but sometimes they ship out mismatches.
Had the same problem with a set of modded springs I put on a BMW.
Rob

 

mismatched springs?? ok,.. so, should I be receiving another set of springs?? I don't think their inability to reproduce a product consistently should cost me more money than the purchase of the POS "high performance" aftermarket parts. Hell, this is why I didn't buy Intrax junk, and still end up with junk from Tokico. It almost makes me wish I didn't blow well over a grand on this project.

 

It's a very common problem with Eibachs...I have the same problem too but I dont wanna bother fixing it since Im getting new Teins in a couple of weeks...Good luck..