Nic Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Just collected my car, had new HKS Hypermax II coilovers, all new TRD/Toyota suspension bushes and wheel bearings fitted. What a transformation, the ride quality is amazing, compliant over rough surfaces, yet very stable cornering at speed. The other thing I noticed is the difference in the level of grip, my old Tein HA's were teeth rattlingly firm on anything other than a smooth road surface, causing the car to skip and lose grip. I use to also get wheel spin accelarating hard through 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears when boost kicked in. Now with the new shocks fitted the suspension soaks up the bumps which generates so much more grip, cornering speeds were perceptively higher and accelarating hard I was getting only minor wheel spin in 2nd gear and none in 3rd. The new bushes have also made a massive difference, steering input now feels very precise and sharp. The rear also feels very tight no longer do I feel any wandering at the back, as I was getting with my old worn bushes. My car is 94 model and has covered 70+K kms, the new suspension and bushes have completely transformed the handling. I would recomend anyone with a similarly aged car, who have the original bushes fitted to get the car on a ramp and get them checked over, as you could be riding around in a car that is handling far below its potential as mine clearly was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Sounds good - glad it's improved it. I'm looking at the TRD page and am trying to workout if I need all 13 bushes or not...can you supply the specific part no.s you fitted? http://www.trdparts.jp/parts_bush-supra.html Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 Got the prices knocked down a bit but still pretty expensive, I'd hate to think how much they would be there. Prices are in HK$. Sounds good - glad it's improved it. I'm looking at the TRD page and am trying to workout if I need all 13 bushes or not...can you supply the specific part no.s you fitted? http://www.trdparts.jp/parts_bush-supra.html Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilg Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Hi Nic, Do you mind me asking, where did you get the bushes from? What did the full lot cost you? PM me if you like. I Have a suspension kit on its way to me and im just trying to way up to do the bushes or not. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Walker Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 We've supplied a few TRD bush kits to customers now and they have also commented on how "able" it makes the car feel. I think this will be a popular upgrade as the cars get older Regards, Gaz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeT Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 We've supplied a few TRD bush kits to customers now and they have also commented on how "able" it makes the car feel. I think this will be a popular upgrade as the cars get older Regards, Gaz. got a price gaz? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz Walker Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 If my currency conversion serves me right - that cost Nic over £1100. It depends exactly what you want Lee, as Nic has posted, theres lots of options. Gaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Terry S Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 Nic what are the roads like in HK compared to the UK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiefgroover Posted March 14, 2005 Share Posted March 14, 2005 I'd like to get a spin in a Hypermax 2 equiped car on local roads to check the ride quality out, I refuse to "suck it and see" anymore unless its at someone elses cost!. I have the TRD bushes hope to fit soon, glad to hear the good feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 Nic what are the roads like in HK compared to the UK? Hong Kong roads are definitely worse than UK roads, concrete use to be the prefered surface as it was hard wearing. Thankfully they are now using tarmac when resurfacing, but in many cases you'd swear they'd just dumped the tarmac out of the truck and let the traffic flatten it! There also seems to be a fascination here, for digging up a road, then filling it back in again, digging up filling up, etc.... Most of the roads tend to be dual carriageways, but on the whole the road speeds are slower than UK, as there just isn't the space here to open it up much, unless you are on a highway. I still drive over 1000 miles a year on UK roads when I'm back, usually in a hire car and the UK roads are a joy to drive in comparison. I use to drive my friends BMW M3 (E46) a lot in Hong Kong, this had good shock absorbtion setup and gave very good general grip levels. The shock absorbtion of my new set up is comparable to the M3, but slightly firmer sprung and lower set giving less roll and more feedback through the wheel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 Hi Nic, Do you mind me asking, where did you get the bushes from? What did the full lot cost you? PM me if you like. I Have a suspension kit on its way to me and im just trying to way up to do the bushes or not. Thanks I would say do the bushes at the same time, it's not cheap but the difference it has made to the handling is significant. I got them here in Hong Kong, if anyone wants a set sourcing PM me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted March 14, 2005 Author Share Posted March 14, 2005 If my currency conversion serves me right - that cost Nic over £1100. It depends exactly what you want Lee, as Nic has posted, theres lots of options. Gaz The list I posted was to replace all the bushes AFAIK, when I checked underneath the car with the mechanic, it looked as though the bushes were all pretty much worn out to the same degree. I'd have thought it would be sensible to replace the whole lot at once, otherwise you would be driving around on some that are brand new and others that are worn to some degree. Note, that price also includes 4 new wheel bearings and seals. Plus bushes for the mounting of the rear diff case which were also very worn. The diff bushes seem to have reduced vibration at the backend significantly. I use to get a juddering on the back as the wheels lost traction and 'hopped' when accelerating hard with the old stiff rear set up. This no longer happens, instead the rear squats slightly and soaks up the torque, which pins the rear tyre to the road a lot better, resulting in more grip and less wheel spin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted March 15, 2005 Author Share Posted March 15, 2005 Also noticed today in the daylight that the tuners have set the car with a slightly nose down stance, rather than being level. The front is slightly lower than it was and the rear looks slightly higher (perhaps 1cm either way.) I'm guessing that because the rear is slightly higher and less wound down on the height adjustment, that this is providing more rear travel and less spring tension, thus providing more grip when accelerating. It also seems to have had a good effect on the front, the steering is more precise and there is a lot more grip at the front when cornering and less understeer. Went for a long drive out today to really test it, I thought the handling was good before (prior to bushes wearing out) but it is so much better now, overall I am very pleased with the results Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonball Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 I had HKS on mine - felt superb - Was woried about harshness - but they were great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted March 20, 2005 Author Share Posted March 20, 2005 Just an update after driving with the new suspension/tyre set up for the last week. Went out early this morning to get a quiet road to have a play. Went on my 'private test track' that I have driven a lot so I could try to gauge the difference the new set up has made to the handling. Pushing it into corners before I use to get understeer at the front and out of the corner had to be careful to feed the power in to avoid the back coming out. Going into the same corner today I could go into it quicker and instead of understeer at the front the car felt a lot more neutral, basically with the front and rears starting to lose traction at around the same time. Coming out of the corner I could really put the power down earlier and the rears stuck so much better. The other thing I noticed is the positive effect the new sus/tyres have made to the braking. Really pushed the car quickly on an incline, leaving the braking late coming into the roundabout at the bottom of the hill. I've done the same thing on the old set up and the front end use to get a bit twitchy under heavy braking, today it felt so much more settled and the amount of grip from the front tyres before the ABS kicked in was so much greater than before. Pushed it around the roundabout and again the car felt very neutral no washing out of the front tyres as I would have got before, just a lot of grip and slight sideways step as the front and rear tyres started to lose traction. Really very happy with the new set up, it has really improved the handling and the car feels a lot safer and more controllable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nic Posted March 21, 2005 Author Share Posted March 21, 2005 I've had quite a few people ask me about the bushes and shock. If there is enough interest then I could organise a group buy on these (subsequent to mods approval) at very good prices. Post here or pm me if interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Whiffin Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 How about replacing with new suspension arms from Toyota, this way you get new ball joints as well. Thats what I've just bought for my car, I wanted to replace the ball joints as well and these are only available with the arms, pain! But they are MUCH cheaper from Japan than they are from the UK. Definately worth doing as the suspension seems to be gettin a bit tired now on the older cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandan Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Which arms did you replace Paul and at what kind of cost? Top and bottom front and rear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Whiffin Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Every suspension component on the car! All the arms/bars, track rod ends and anti roll bar links. Email me which ones you need if any and I'll give ya prices. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 that's a goddamn huge amount of money for bushes what's goin on? I mean.. my Alfa GTV used to wear out it's bushes, and you just bought a new front A-arm for £40, which had the bush as part of it. ummmmm what am I missing folks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason m Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 that's a goddamn huge amount of money for bushes what's goin on? I mean.. my Alfa GTV used to wear out it's bushes, and you just bought a new front A-arm for £40, which had the bush as part of it. ummmmm what am I missing folks? Have a look here for an alternative HKS HiperMax II Coilovers - £900.00 to your door - in MVP board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl0s Posted March 25, 2005 Share Posted March 25, 2005 Have a look here for an alternative HKS HiperMax II Coilovers - £900.00 to your door - in MVP board oooh lavley - £100 a set! I presume you're meaning the R2 Racing control arm bushes, yep? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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