Cels, Alloys, Toyota Lowering Springs...

[Big_Sid]

On Sunday I topped up my engine oil, investigated a squeaky noise coming from my drivers side rear wheel and then plopped some Redex Injection Cleaner in my fuel tank, popped up to the garage and filled up the tank...

This morning, on the way to work the CEL came on, and stayed on, and hasn't gone off since at all! The engine feels absolutely fine; no weird noises, no stuttering etc, responds normally and sounds OK.

I called Mr T today, and they said they can do a diagnostic on it for £35+VAT (does that sound reasonable?) but didn't want to hazard a guess at what could be causing it. The car's done 75K miles, so I'm guessing either me putting Redex in it has made the ECU go bonkers, or its just a coincidence and its about that time when the oxygen sensors decide to pack up.

At least thats kind of what I'm hoping for, I just hope its nothing more serious.

When I take it in to Toyota, I'm gonna get them to do a bunch of things to the car. One of the things I asked them about was fitting the Toyota Lowering Springs. They said they can supply and fit for £320 inc VAT (in 2hrs, not 4) which sounds ok to me, but just wondered what everyone else thinks about this price? Also, does anyone have any experience of these Toyota Lowering springs? Are these the ones that are made by Eibach?

Also, I'm going to be replacing the standard 16" five spoke Toyota rims with some new ones. I want some 17"s. I was looking at Wolfrace Ikon Plus Shadow Chrome, but now I'm thinking that I want some wheels that are going to be light weight.... lighter than the ones I'm replacing. Can anyone recommend an alloy wheel brand that make nice light wheels that aren't made of marzipan and will buckle it I drive over a pebble.

Cheers - Sid

[Big_Sid]

Update: Toyota did some diagnostics and got DTC P0410 Secondary ari injection system malfunction. They tested the MAF and everything checked out so they reset the light and told me to keep an eye on it... it's being put down to the Redex by them.

[sbdags]

Weird, I've used Redex and never had a problem like that before. Maybe it got confused for some reason like you said.....

Glad it's alright though - what's the car like on the lower springs?

[DefiantFrog]

£320 seems reasonable... I was quoted £300 over a year ago for the same job, so the additional 20 seems ok. Make sure you get a full re-alignment as part of the deal though so they re-adjust cambers, etc. I beleive they are the Eibach ones, and I've never heard of any probs coming from the upgrade.

[Big_Sid]

Not got the springs on yet. Got to order them, 2days for delivery and then arrange fitting. Waiting for my OZ Wheels to come first (latest Wednesday) so I'll get it all done together. I already aksed them about tracking etc, which they quoted £120ish for four wheel laser alignment and tracking (bit steep...might just take it to KwikFit for that). Anyway, that gives me some time to paint my calipers red with Foliatec paint I bought today, and fit the caliper decals I bought off eBay as well as the small chrome TRD badges, and have a go at touching up a scratch on the rear wing with the no.1 artist brush which is on order along with some colour matched mixed to order paint from www.autobright.eu.... hehehe, I'm excited like a big girl LOL! Will post photos when all finished.

SID

[aquazi]

Not got the springs on yet. Got to order them, 2days for delivery and then arrange fitting. Waiting for my OZ Wheels to come first (latest Wednesday) so I'll get it all done together. I already aksed them about tracking etc, which they quoted £120ish for four wheel laser alignment and tracking (bit steep...might just take it to KwikFit for that). Anyway, that gives me some time to paint my calipers red with Foliatec paint I bought today, and fit the caliper decals I bought off eBay as well as the small chrome TRD badges, and have a go at touching up a scratch on the rear wing with the no.1 artist brush which is on order along with some colour matched mixed to order paint from www.autobright.eu.... hehehe, I'm excited like a big girl LOL! Will post photos when all finished.

SID

The springs are marked as TTE.. Toyota Team Europe, but are the same as the Eibach, but are black instead of red!.

I got my springs for £130. You can prob get it fitted for about £100 outside of toyota from a competent garage.

dont pay £120 for alignment!

I noticed you live in the midlands.. I got mine done for £40 from the wheel alignment center in Old basford in Nottingham. And they much more accurate than the Toyota rubbish.

Also let the springs settle for alteast a month before alignment... mine was approx 26mm lowered straight after... then after a month or two it had settled to about 32mm.

[Big_Sid]

Thanks for the reply, the alignment did seem pricey so I may take it somewhere else for that. I was talking about this with a guy at work who has a lowered Supra MkIV and he said he got his alignment done at the same time as fitting the springs. When I said to him about them settling he made what I thought was quite a valid point... it's only the same as a new car from the factory with stock springs... they tool will settle but you don't tend to get your new car's wheels re-aligned after a month. Made sense to me I suppose.

[aquazi]

They is two types of tracking.. toe and camber.

The toe (the direction the wheel points) wont need to settle as this does not depend on the hight of the vehicle.

The camber (angle the wheel sits to the road) however will need to allow to settle... the car before settled will look like this /^\once settled will have wheels like this /-\ (stupid drawing but hopefully you get the idea!) So the angle between the car and the tires will be different.

After i got the car lowered i didnt bother with the camber... and the inside of my tires faded pretty quick. Got new tires and the camber aligned and it was well out.

Which ever garage you take it to make sure you get the camber done also as a lot of places only do the wheel toe alignment.

Also a new car with stock springs will be built with stock alignment.. which will (hopefully!) take into account the final settling point once it reaches the consumer after a month+ after being built.. inc stock lowered cars.

If you put aftermarket lower springs.. the stock alignment will be different.