SUSPENSION HELP, Opinions needed

[jon015]

Hello Solaraguy community, my name is jon, i am an old member first time poster. I wanted to any lowered guys or guys that know suspension real well on a very urgent problem of mine. Some background info, my car is a 99, lowered and thats all, i live in northern california, san jose area. So a couple days ago i brought my car into a suspension shop to check on my suspension because i've noticed my rear has sagged much lower than before (can barely put in 2 fingers between wheel gap). The mechanic diagnosed that my rear struts are blown and my fronts are leaking, and that my eibachs were heated with a blow torch when lowered and not compressed (basically a botched up installation when i first did, it was cheap..) and my sway bar bushings which came with the TRD RSB is v noisy, but didn't tell me what exactly the problem was with it. He gave me a total figure for JUST labor to fix all of that for 450$. i am guessing in parts i would need around 500, so a total repair cost of around 900. My question is do you guys know anyone or any shops that can do the labor for less but are reputable and good quality, because when i lowered it first, i got basically screwed. And secondly, do you guys think repairing it is imperative to vehicle safety and operation... the mechanic told me i could drive it like this for 100 yrs and it'd be fine, but i have some doubts.... ANY opinion, help on a shop or just this situation would be greatly appreciated,

THAnks

[blaK]

I couldn't have my ride like that, I'd start all over again and not do it welfare style.

[DaTwUnKrAziEpInOy]

I can work on it for a reasonable price.... if you like.....try and get a set of new struts and ask krawzyazn if he has any rear TRD springs still lying around. I'm pretty sure he has some and they're equivilant to the eibach springs. you can probably run as is for awhile but with a bouncy ride. I think you'll be looking @ between $350 - $500 roughly for parts. The squeeky sway bar can be fixed easily if you know how to take off the bushings and put some marine grease on them.

[CASTRO]

^
the TRD springs are actually re-badged eibach

[Sp33d]

I can work on it for a reasonable price.... if you like.....try and get a set of new struts and ask krawzyazn if he has any rear TRD springs still lying around. I'm pretty sure he has some and they're equivilant to the eibach springs. you can probably run as is for awhile but with a bouncy ride. I think you'll be looking @ between $350 - $500 roughly for parts. The squeeky sway bar can be fixed easily if you know how to take off the bushings and put some marine grease on them.

i have been to this man's house numerous times to get my struts re-installed and installed because of technical difficulties regarding TRD front struts. he is an AWESOME person to deal with. in terms of 450, that is total bs. buy the parts, and get them installed by datwunkraziepinoy.

he knows what he is doing, and does a damn good job at it. ill even stretch as far as escorting you over to his house if you dont want to get lost while driving to his house.

-Mark

[jon015]

That sounds so awesome, DaTwUnKrAziEpInOy, i really want to make sure that this time its done right, and also where do you guys recommend getting the parts, toyotaparts4u.com doesn't sell anything for 99 solaras for some reason.... and at the tein site, they don't have the H-tech springs for solaras just camrys... so any suggestions on this would be much appreciated.

[Sp33d]

my suggestion is this:

1)get tokico struts off of ebay. OR
2)i know a person that is trying to sell his KYB's for 80 with 30K on it.
3)buy some springs.

total cost? 280 if you buy the kyb's off of the person mentioned above and springs off of jackass-jeff, who i also recommend. he sold me tein springs for 200. bit steep when you compare to ebay, but at least you will for sure get 2 front springs and 2 rear springs.

or, you can buy brand new tokico's and shell out 500 for new tokico's and new tein springs, whichever you prefer.

-Mark

[sbsolara84]

Brand new tokicos: $355 shipped
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOKICO-H ... enameZWDVW

new eibach springs: $193 + $45 shipping

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/EIBACH-P ... enameZWD1V

and labor is around $300 to $500, depending on where you go.

I'm sure you can find the above set up for lower price somewhere else, or even here on the forum. But labor is labor. Just find a place that will garantee their work.

I paid 400 for tokico, 200 for my eibachs, and 450 to install em.