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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Improving the ride on a stock road car


SUPRA4EVA

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One thing I don't enjoy at times is the ride, it's very harsh and clunky.

Obviously it's an age/wear thing and it's soon to be 30 years old.

I have not really had the chance to look and see what state the suspension components are in but I did have sticky front pistons, which contributed to poor braking. Its still not amazing and the next thing would be to look the rears.

Basically I just want to know, what can improve the ride on a stock road car? I don't care about 'racing', just smooth cursing.

I also don't know what a new Supra felt like but OEM must be the only option to get it back to original?

Aftermarket parts tend to only make it stiffer, switch is no use for a road car.

Just looking for any suggestions/thoughts.

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When I replaced all my suspension with new OEM arms, OEM bushes and also new Bilstein shocks finished up with new wheel bearings I think I could say its riding like a new car would (except maybe for the coil springs which are still the original ones) and the ride became a lot smoother and quieter over rippled surface dressed roads than it was before the entire 100k mile setup was renewed. Comparing the new to old parts though the only differences I could physically discern was with the two rear diff bushes that appeared to be quite a bit softer than their new replacements. 

Its probably near on impossible to replace the full setup with new OEM parts now unless you put the call out and strike lucky combining parts from several sources. There are a few of us holding some spare OEM bushes but putting a full set together would be a major task these days, although some parts do still remain available from Toyota which would ease the task. Maybe if you identify your wear points and go from there or just go for a poly bush setup.

As evinx says though, small wheels and decent tyres can make a massive difference. So if you are running 18" wheels first shop stop should be to try the car out on 17" wheels.

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First question I would ask is.

Is your car the white UK spec and still on the OE 17's with OE tyre sizes ? 

Is it all original or has anything suspension wise been replaced ? 

If its original then I would imagine several of the eccentric adjusters will be seized solid, mine were

and that was a long time ago. 

Only way to fix these usually is to replace the whole suspension arm if you want to keep 

it with OE bushes. 

Time to see if any of the adjusters actually move

Edited by Dnk (see edit history)
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