Hello, new guy here.

[dougdangger]

Hello everyone. 2005 Solara SE owner. It was the wife's car. After having our 1st child, she got my SUV and I now have the Solara since she drives the little one around more than I do.

Mine is a silver 4cyl automatic. So far I really like the car. It's very smooth and gets decent mileage for its size. If anything I can change about it would be to put a better head unit and a bit firmer suspension. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from you guys.

[PlateLunch]

Welcome! I say drop it on some springs and throw some front/rear sway bars on there and you'll have a whole new driving experience

[GzNutz]

Welcome!

[SteveSolara]

Welcome! I say drop it on some springs and throw some front/rear sway bars on there and you'll have a whole new driving experience

There is your answer, I would go for that if you are looking for a firmer suspension and better handling Def go for Front&rear Sway Bars. As for Audio there is plenty of after market stuff out there, especially online. I usually get mine at http://www.sonicelectronix.com

Welcome and let us know if you need help.

[GzNutz]

Start with the rear sway bar. It's the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to the gen2's suspension.

[DSM_Lara]

As we say in Hawaii "E Komo Mai" to Solaraguy.

[dougdangger]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

My only gripe with the head unit is that it doesn't have an aux input. Otherwise, the sound of the stock unit and speakers are pretty good. I have the older cd unit that doesn't read MP3 and I don't like flipping thru discs while driving. No biggie, but i'll survive.

My other gripe is what I'm sure many of you know by now is the pulling to the left problem that our cars are plagued with. Unfortunately, mine didn't show up until 6 years since it was new (warranty over). I saw some fixes here and I'll definitely give them a try. What I did was rotate my tires and the car now pulls to the right. I'm guessing that it could be the tires that are bad since a shop that I took the car to said that the alignment was fine.

The other problem I have is suspension related. The rack and pinion boot has ruptured and some grease has escaped. When I turn the wheel left and right I sometimes hear a clunking sound. My uncle (retired mechanic) says that it's more of an annoyance than a driving hazard. As long as a wheel doesn't snap off at 80mph Also what I notice is that when exiting my driveway turning left, I hear a soft thud like sound from the right axle. I know it's not a cv joint since on a level surface, doing a tight turn I don't hear clicking.

I really like this car. The engine and tranny are bullet proof and the styling is pretty nice. However, I'm afraid that problems might start appearing left and right and cost me major cash. We're in a mini recession now so I'll hold on to this for a while. However, I don't want to wait too long and it needs major repair and nobody will buy it (for an amount that won't make me cry at least). If I had the cash I'd get a Sequoia. But in the mean time, she'll have to do.

By the way, I think one of right struts might be shot. The car bounces a bit on the right when hitting a pot hole. That's why I'm thinking of doing a suspension setup.

Thanks again!

[PlateLunch]

This might help with the input issue

http://www.trdsparks.com/displayparts.p ... ts_id=2505

New tires will def help out, I think some of the torque steer issues are just a fact of life with FWD cars like ours. I know that they make replacement cv boots that you just put around the joint, button up, and then fill with grease. This way you don't have to remove the whole thing just to replace the boot. I'm not sure if they make one for the steering, but it will be cherry if they do. The sound could be a tie rod, as I don't know if your generation has the same problem with suspension mounts like the gen 1-1.5s. Good luck!