Rear suspension

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

So I work at a new shop now that has a hunter laser alignment machine and put my car on it and checked the spec for the rear alignment after doing this mod. Surprisingly all my rear specs for caster camber and toe were all within green and very close to perfect. Its been awile since I had an alignment and my mods in the back are trd springs swaybar and this rear mod. So apparently shifting it does correct alignment issues from lowering the car.

Does the rear axle hit your rear lower tie bar? I want to re-try this "mod", but I'm pretty low on S.Tech's, and I don't want the axle hitting my rear lower tie bar.

[marcus]

Should be more worried hitting your gas tank... So I've heard.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by marcus

Should be more worried hitting your gas tank... So I've heard.

hahaha, yeah, I was just wondering if it was touching/hitting the tie bar, since it was, then for sure it would be hitting the gas tank. Looks like I won't be re-trying this "mod" again.

[YarisSedan]

Ive taken my rear lower tie bar few days after doing this mod due to it hitting it on bumps.

[YarisSedan]

Ive only hit my gas tank maybe twice and only on a really huge bump with the car really loaded when i had my factory shocks. Once switching to tokikos i havent had issues since.

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by YarisSedan

Ive only hit my gas tank maybe twice and only on a really huge bump with the car really loaded when i had my factory shocks. Once switching to tokikos i havent had issues since.

Are you on the Blues or Reds? Also, I'm lower than you and only on TRD shocks, so it's not as dampened as yours =\

[my2sense]

Sorry to revive a 10 month old thread but I just got a Yaris LB with M2 lowering springs and am interested to see if anyone can provide any long-term update on this mod.

1) Any solution to the rubbing talked about in this thread?
2) Are you using aftermarket struts/shocks?

Thanks

[Lil Abner]

I've been running this mod for over a year with well over 40,000 miles of Michigan roads. I have stock shocks and DF210 springs. The rear springs have rubber inserts to stiffen the back up. The inserts fixed the rubbing of the suspension member on the fuel tank. Also, when I took the car in for an alignment, there were no changes that needed to be made.

[Autocross72]

I moved mine back to the stock holes until I could get some bump stops. Then I started autocrossing the car and I really like how the car handles as is, so I decided to leave it. It enters the corners very predictably and if I trail brake int the corner I can get the rear to rotate for me. When the rear rotates, it is so controlled and predictable that I didn't want to take the chance of messing that up. By the way I have a 2008 3door LB with Megan Racing coil-overs, UltraRacing rear brace, and A rear swaybar that I think is 22 mm. For racing I turn the rear dampers all the wy up.

[why?]

so for those who have had problems, are your running a full interior or have you removed any rear interior pieces?

[Autocross72]

I am running stock interior, including spare tire.

[yaris 2sz]

i think that the upper holes are for the 4wd version

[sheekeebut]

Wait, what? AWD? Which country?

[why?]

Originally Posted by sheekeebut

Wait, what? AWD? Which country?

japan, and other countries that get Japanese cars. Toyota, and other Japanese car companies give their home market a hell of a lot more toys than they give us.

[sheekeebut]

Originally Posted by why?

japan, and other countries that get Japanese cars. Toyota, and other Japanese car companies give their home market a hell of a lot more toys than they give us.

Well then, bless the Japanese for giving me the only toy I need. It's the lightest car I've ever driven (with exception to Smart, but that's a different price bracket), and I've lived in Europe.

Anyone know how much heavier the AWD version is?

[lormagni]

Anyone knows if this mod is possible also on the 3rd generation Yaris? I saw the hole, but i don't know if it's threaded inside like the 2nd gen

[SirDigby]

it's not that big of a deal if it's not threaded, just get the ol' tap and die set out and make it so...

[tmontague]

Alright, I'm bringing this thread back form the dead with some hopefully helpful hints and updates.

I stumbled upon this thread last week and switched my axle yesterday. I am currently running MI lowering springs and Tokiko Blue's in the rear. I have a custom exhaust that already hit the axle (I'm getting a new one made in a month) so other than the axle still hitting the exhaust on bumps, there doesn't seem to be any extra impacts (gas tank etc).

The rear end feels like it is sitting much lower when I am driving the car and the turn in is much more improved. It's too the point where I found myself over turning on high speed sweeping turns like off ramps. The car doesn't actually sit any lower, it just feels this way. The rear suspension also feels slightly stiffer now and the highway stability has seemed to improve

As others have stated, this likely changes the toe of the rear to proper factory specs which improves it's planted feel and turn in. The increased stiffness likely has to do with the angle that the springs are now compressed in relation to the pivot point of the rear axle.

These are my alignment specs from a month ago


If you are doing this mod I'd recommend a tap to clear out the rusted threaded hole. I have an '08 and at first I thought that there were no threads. Turns out rust and oil spray were covering them and the bolts wouldn't thread it would just spin. The bolts have a 1/4" or so of threadless space at the tip which was the reason it was just spinning. The bolt threads couldn't grab the threads in the hole since they were all gummed up. The threadless part allows you to safely tap the bolt into position if need be without damaging the threads, just don't go ape on it.

I didn't have a tap of the correct size so I use a ton of PB blaster to push out any dissolved rust as well as a long air nozzle to spray out any loose rust. I put anti seize on the bolt and used a ratchet to slowly tighten a bit and loosen a bit. Then I'd remove the bolt and flush it with PB blaster. This took about 20 minutes a side (didn't want to damage the threads) but if you had a tap it would take 2 mins as the rust would have a place to go in the grooves of the tap instead of jamming up the threads.

I figured out a convenient trick to getting the axle bushings lined up with the new hole. I used an extra axle stand and a long pry bar, the axle stand gave me a fulcrum where there previously wasn't one. I had the car sitting on jack stands and a jack was placed under the center of the axle so I could move it how I wanted. I then used the pry bar and the bolt to line up the hole. I covered the whole bolt in antiseize before I reinstalled them. Torqued them down to 62 ft/lbs when I put weight on the axle via the jack.





My bolts were in good shape when I pulled them out, minimal to no rust. I covered the old empty hole and areas around with an anti rust spray



All in all I'm happy with the mod, especially since it cost nothing. For anyone with a 2010 or higher who said they don't seem to have threads. Make sure you spray out the hole with a penetrant and stick your finger or something to actually feel for threads. I almost convinced myself that mine didn't have any with how much crap was on them. Worst case scenario you could always use a tap and cut your own.