I currently have H&R's and was wondering if I should get the Sway bars before the tower braces. Where would be the best place to get these and how difficult is the install?

 

It all depends on what kind of output you are looking out of these mods...Sways are def. the best bang for your buck in terms of handling mods. However you will most likely need to have the sways installed by a shop unless you have access to a lift and are very handy. With the stb's they are very easy to install by yourslef. You can pick up up the TRD front and rear sways or most stb's at:
Carson Toyota by calling (800) 90-TOYOTA and ask for the retail parts dept.

 

If you have a jack and jack stands and some hand tools, sways are about an hour driveway job. Hardest part, after the car up in the air, is taking out the numerous screws on the plastic under engine tray before doing the front bar. Rear bar is a snap.

 

sways give the most noticeable changes to handling. brakes and stb they are not that noticeable actually. i would get the daizen or trd sways, good stuff, both are about 500 bucks. trd sways, you get it from steve (supratrd on this forum). daizen you can get it from tmengineering (www.tmengineering.net)

 

I'm planning my Daizen sway upgrade. Ron says this is a driveway job. Is this even true for someone who's never played with any suspension parts before? (Geez, I have 2 engineering degrees and have taken the whole interior apart and I do my own brakes, but suspension stuff makes me squeamish...) And am I correct in assuming a re-alignment is NOT required?

 

No realignment with sway install. You don't get close to anything affecting alignment. Daizen rear bar is a little more work than the TRDs but not much. Just follow the instructions.

 

Thanks, Ron!

 

I agree with Ron...hardest part aside from getting it lifted and properly secured so it doesn't fall on you and ruin your day is taking off that damn engine tray...probably like 300+ bolts/screws (at least it seems that way!) Good luck...personally I would be MORE afraid to take the whole interior apart then the exterior.

 

Sways or Strut Bar.....it doesn't matter which one you get first.....both will help your ride.

Strut Bar is easier to install because you don't need to lift the car.

As for the Sways....I bought ramps from Pepboyz....about $20 for a set. Install was straight forward and easy (I agree....too many screws to remove) for the front. For the rear....it was easy until I ran into the endlink (need to be reversed for the Daizen sways). In order to reverse it, you need to loosen the lower bolt that holds the strut shock in place. I would suggest an impact wrench for this one.

Pete

 

Don't remember the torque setting for the lower shock bolt but it does need to be released (not removed, just backed off so that control arm spreads a bit) to get the link out for the Daizen install. Impact wrench would make short work of the loosening but I just used a half inch drive ratchet and it wasn't that bad.

 

Yeah, but most of the stuff in the interior won't kill you if it falls apart while driving... :-)

 

Good point.

 

if u drive hard u might wanna invest in the strut tower bars first, at least the frt one. remember that flexing and bending the strut towers can and does happen over time. most bang for the buck deff comes from the sways though, but don't get overconfident in them...