Suspension?

Sorry For The Long Post. I Am On A Portugese Island With Nothing To Do

I am getting good cornering/braking performance with the Hotchkis Stage I TVS springs, rear sway bar, front strut bar, and OEM front swaybar on the stock craptenzas. I can't tell you much about translating from one corner to another as I have yet to hit a track. I can say that I can take some bumpy, sharp, and flat curve on gravel/asphalt Texas Farm to Market roads at twice the posted speed limits.

I currently changed to the Greddy front strutbar and have a MMW rear strutbar. I have a solid opinion of the following:

* Rear strutbars are useless as the rear strut towers are on even keel with
the rear subframe and are interconnected with a multi-setion, semi-box
beam.

* Being a hatchback and with a retractable roof, rear body stiffening is more
important. The front and rear subframes break is just after the B-Pillar.
There are a few companies out there muddling around with stiffening
enhancements here but I feel that mostly miss the mark in stemming body-
flex.

* Front strutbars are mainly have the same capability in stopping strut tower flexing. The tC has a hefty steel lower front crossmember attached directly to the frame and the strut towers are short so flexing is not a large problem.

With that in mind any lightweight should be capable in staying longitudinal stresses, as long as, it is of sufficient quality. However, the main differences are the routing of the bar and the mounting of the assembly to the strut towers. The strut towers have ridges not smooth surfaces.


Hotchkis and TRD make adequate strutbars that have excellent fit an function. Greddy makes a heavy duty unit, but has the drawbacks of the bar being just over the coilpacks and the mounts not mating smoothly with the strut towers. The mount plates are IMO to thick to utilize the strut mounting studs properly to get a ful 2 threads above the top of the nut. Note: I have been using this strutbar for over 6 months w/o problems using my own shims.


My recommendations for a good street/light track use setup that is easy, solid, and inexpensive are the following:

1. Hotckis Stage I TVS
2. Hotchkis Rear Camber Links
3. Hotchkis or TRD Front Strutbar
4. TRD, Koni, Tokico, or other performance strut replacement
5. Higher quality tires
6. A Dealership alignment based on TRD Lowering Springs specs

I have exact even wear on all tires with them on the rear and nothing on the front. Recommended on anything close to a 2" drop which is beyond the factory rear camber adjustments.