Celica Forums General Discussion Exterior Got TRD coilovers installed. Need Immediate Help!

Toyota installed my TRD coilovers yesterday. They originally estimated 4 hours. I got there, signed all the stuff, and then asked to speak to the service manager to ask if he could personally check the height when they were done. He takes one look at the parts and tells me that they gave me a bad estimate since they thought I was only having TRD springs put on. They changed it to 6 hours (an extra $180). I was kind of pissed at this point but I told them to go ahead. At the end of the day, I call and they tell me that the alignment machine is broken and they need to keep the car over night. Today they tell me that they cannot get the car on the alignment rack and that I need to bring it somewhere else for an alignment. At this point I am really upset and go down there to pick up my car and I ask if they set it to the TRD recommended height of 1.68" front and 1.75" rear. They told me that they did at first but it was sitting on the bumper stops so they raised it so that it would have some travel. They said it is about 1" now both front and back. After some quick research (especially since they said I needed an alignment immediately), I found a place that will do it. They will also readjust the coilovers if I want. They said that I have 3 choices: lower it to 1.68/1.75, lower it as far as they think it should be (assuming 1.68/1.75 is too low), or leave it as is.

Here is my problem. I already scraped once today going over a bump. What do most people have the coilovers set to? Why does it sit on the stops at TRD's recommended height? The second place (not Toyota) said that it might be because the springs haven't worn in yet, but when they soften won't the car get even lower? I couldn't really look tonight since it is raining pretty hard right now, but is 1" the highest it goes? I measured from the center of the wheel to the wheelwell lip and it is about 13.5" front and 14.5" rear. If it was done at the TRD specs, the difference would have only been 0.25" (13.5 - 13.25), so doesn't that mean the rear should be lowered some more?

Please help me, I am going to bring it in for the alignment tomorrow and I need to know what to tell them to do for the height.

i hope you know that installing coilovers takes less time and is less work than springs...

That's what I told them, but I got the typical response..

If you want it done here, then that is the price. Pay it or leave!

dealers can be such pricks, and your paying good money, for all the hoopla about Toyota having good service, they treat you like sh*t at some dealers.

that is typical with with dealerships in general. Most suck, some are cool but they always seem to over charge. The only reason I ever bring my car to the dealership is for warranty work or if you are having something installed that will only be warrantied if installed by the dealer. If you find the right dealer they won't give a shit where it was installed and will do warranty work regaurdless cause they still get paid.

I called my dealer a while back to see what the install time/cost on C/O would be and they told me 3 hours. Sounds like the dealer ripped you off

ha I wanted to have TRD springs/shock combo put on my car they quoted me 530 for the sprinsg and shocks. Then told me it would be almost 500 to get them installed. i was like WTF!!! Other places in town do it for 50 bucks a corner 200 all the way around and then go to a tire shop for an alinment. costing me less than 300 when they wanted 5!!! i was like um thanks... but no thanks.

It wound up costing me about 500, but I now have a 5 year warranty on it with parts & labor instead of just a 1 year warranty on parts.

I am 100% sure that if you actually went down there, that number would drastically change. They originally quoted me 4, changed it to 6, supposedly spent 9, and then charged me for 6.

my car is an 00 so warrenty is gone already. So either way im getting 1 year! lol

I doubt that, it only took them 5 hours to install my S/C

TRD shit is very expensive but is it worth it?

if you like TRD...

aside from performace they are more of a street comfy performer...

konis and teins if more performance is needed.


but seriously people paying 500 to get these installed is ridiculous...you can do it yourself for free or find a shop that can do it for around 100-150...it's not difficult.

My problem here is not what I paid, but how high they should be. They told me that they are set for a 1" drop, but when I measure from the wheelwell to the center of the rim, I get a little under 13.5" in the front and a little over 14" in the back. This seems off to me. Assuming that it should be 13.25"/13.5" at 1.68"/1.75", then shouldn't it be 13.93"/14.25" at 1"/1"? If 1.68"/1.75" is 42 turns/14 turns, then shouldn't 1"/1" be 52 turns/26 turns?

I am really desperate for help here because I need to make this decision before the alignment and I need the alignment ASAP. Please help me.

dealerships aren't always use to that kinda stuff
they are lucky if they get someone in there who does know, usually it's just mechanics who don't know anything about aftermarket parts.

I'd deffinately install them myself it's not that hard a few bolts and then it only costs you 50 dollars for an alignment. It's not worth the warranty for 500-600 dollars and you can buy a whole new set for 700-800 dollars. I couldn't find any instruction manuals on the TRD coilovers on the internet do you have instructions for it? here is a tein instruction manual http://www.tein.com/ti/inst/ky70u.pdf . so I'd probably redo the whole adjustment to go to the suggested ride height and check it after you put the wheels on and set it back down. and then adjust it from there to be what you want it to be. so if your going with a 1" roughly after you adjust it between 1/2in and 3/4 in all around so you can keep the slightly lower rear angle. and then double check it with the wheels on and down on the ground to make sure the actual ride height is what you want.

Ok, I have these too. I finally decided on leaving it at 1.5 inches lower all the way around. I measured from ground to fender lip. For me, each wheel is roughly about 24.5 inches from ground to fender lip. I did the install myself, wasn't hard at all. If you follow the instructions, the height is not even close to what TRD recommends. I've since tweaked it myself and gotten an alignment done.

Also, in the process of tweaking it, I mistakenly lowered the rear height to two inches lower, and that was a mistake. I could hear squeaking coming from back there every time I hit a bump. I guess I was hitting the bumpstop.

What you need to do is adjust them yourself, and here's the process I did:

1) Loosen the tightening screw with a 5mm hex wrench.
2) Make a dot on the lower spring support with a dark permanent marker (for identification purposes when adjusting height)
3) Each FULL turn of the lower spring support equates to a height change of 1/16 of an inch.
4) I THINK you need to turn the support COUNTER-CLOCKWISE to lower it. You want to move the support LOWER down the strut assembly towards the ground.
5) Count the number of times you see your dot pass. That equals one full turn. To lower it a half inch more, you'll need 8 full turns all around.
6) When you're finished, tighten the locking screw with the 5mm hex wrench.

If you wait until tomorrow, I'll go out to my car and I'll be able to tell you how many threads I have extra, and you can match it. Hope I helped you!!

I'd appreciate that. I postponed the alignment until Saturday. Can you also tell me the distance from the center of the wheel the wheelwell lip at 1.5"? You mentioned that you had problems when you set it to the TRD height of 1.68/1.75, what were they?

I never actually had mine set at that precise height. I actually managed to pass it all around. So I reduced it back to 1.5" all around. I had it around 1.75 lower in front, 2 inches lower in back. When it was like that, the coilovers would bottom out. If I hit a bump, I would bang the bumpstop and I could hear it squeak. I thought it was my brakes out back, but it wasn't. It actually felt like the ride was softer when it was that low. It's stiffer since I raised it.

OK, I just went out and got under the car. There are 43 threads under the spring perch on the front and 21 on the back. This should mean that it is even lower than TRD's specs, yet I measure 13.75"/14" from the center of the wheel to the bottom of the wheelwell. How could this be?

I might be wrong, but I don't believe I had that many threads left. I'm in class at the moment, but I will take a look at mine when I leave here in a couple hours.

I haven't taken thread measurements yet, but from the center of the wheel to the lip of the fender, here are my measurements:

FRONT: 13 inches
BACK: 12.75 inches

That means that your front is .75 inches higher than mine, and your rear is 1.25 inches higher than mine. The way I measured my height adjustment during this was by measuring from ground to fender lip on all four corners. I took a stock measurement, and then a subsequent measurement each time I adjusted the height. In the end, the height decreased by roughly 1.5 inches all around.

Comparing our two measurements, it looks like you will have to lower your front by 12 complete turns, and lower your rear by 20 complete turns. I'm going now to count threads.

Assuming these numbers are correct...

turns drop measurement
69 0 14.9375
42 0 15.25

53 -1 13.9375
26 -1 14.25

45 -1.5 13.4375
18 -1.5 13.75

42 -1.6875 13.25
14 -1.75 13.5

It sounds like you must be around...

38 -1.9375 13
2 -2.5 12.75

That would make you much lower than 1.5 or even TRD's number of 1.68/1.75.

Is is better to be even front and rear or match TRD's of 1.68/1.75? In other words, which is better 1/1 or 1.5/1.5 vs. 0.94/1 or 1.44/1.5?

54 -0.9375 14
26 -1 14.25

46 -1.4375 13.5
18 -1.5 13.75

Ok, so I just jacked up the car and took up a front and rear tire. I have 27 threads remaining on the front, measuring each thread from the bottom up the strut assembly until the last visible thread before the spring support. In the rear I have 13 threads remaining, measuring in the same method. Hope all this helps!!

Is it possible that since you have a GTS that maybe your original ride height is different than my GT? Does the GTS sit any lower stock?

i got ried of reading, so someone may have already said this. the find out if they cut the bumper stops. my eibachs required to have about 3/8" taken off them. i did the whole thing myself. thats free.

I doubt this will be needed. Especially since everything needed to install the coilovers is included. I doubt TRD would make a perfectly good product, and then expect the installer to cut it up. I'm guessing springs are different, especially when they aren't matched before hand with a shock/strut.

That should mean that you car is dropped -2.6/-1.8 and the measurement should be 12.3/13.4. Maybe there is a difference between the GT and GTS height but they don't mention anything about that in the instructions. Assuming your overall wheel/tire size is the same as stock, how much of a gap is there between your tire and your wheelwell?

Before this progresses any further let me just point out that CRBN BLU has 17" rims. Your GT has 15" rims add about an inch onto you calculations

You're right, I do have 17" rims, but with the tires I have, the overall diameter is very nearly equal to the overall diameter of the stock 15" wheels w/tires. As far as fender gap, mine is about a 2-3 finger gap at each corner. I'll have to take some pictures.

So if I go 1 or 1.5 is it better to make the front slightly higher like TRD does?

-0.9375/-1 vs. -1/-1
-1.4375/-1.5 vs -1.5/-1.5

OK, I just go the alignment done and they are telling me that at the TRD drop of 1.68/1.75, I need to buy rear camber links in order to get the rear camber adjusted properly. They said with the stock links, it is 1 degree off. Has anybody else had this problem?

I didn't have any problem getting an alignment done. All my wheels are at about between 1.2 and 1.7 negative degrees of camber. I have a policy that allows me to get unlimited alignments for three years. I've been in there about a half dozen times in the past month tweaking with the coilovers.

2004_5_GTS, what are your camber readings, or did they not tell you?

They didn't tell me, but I've read from a number of people that if you drop the car more than 1.25" then you need rear camber links. At first I thought they might have been trying to jerk me around, but it seems to be true so I ordered the Hotchkis rear camber links today. I spent the afternoon today setting the height. I found that turning the collars clockwise raised them. I also found that if you go by thread count instead of turns, then you go up to the bottom of the collar. You don't have to add more to account for the collar. I now have 42 threads under my front and 14 under my rear. After driving the car around the block to get the springs to compress a little, I now measure 13.25" in front and 13.5" in rear between middle of wheel and wheelwell lip.