Advice Needed On AE101 Suspension (Not Super Strut)

[LUMIN8]

OK this is my situation, then questions will follow.

Firstly when i lowered my car, i bought king springs 2nd hand.
I was told they came off a 101 Levin so i enlisted the help of t0ms_levin and we changed the springs.

We did notice however when it came to the rears, they didnt seem all that captive, but we tried it anyway.

The front sits nicely, the back was sitting pretty low and unfortunately the muffler bottomed out on speed bumps.

anyway, when it came time for a warrant the bad news hit us that they werent captive.

so i shot down to a mate at capital tyres and wanted some new kings for the back. a pair of rears wasnt in my budget. but he did have a pair of dark green "dobi's". at least im pretty sure they are dobi's.

When i picked the car up i noticed the back unusually high almost like it was factory, he said it would settle. indeed it has, not as high as factory, but the car does look a bit 'unique' with the back slightly higher than the front. he also said that the bumpstops were still on the shocks and this would make the ride rather uncomfortable. i had to agree. and he apparently removed them from what i can recall.

so a few months later i start hearing knocking noises. i take it that the rear shocks need replacing seeing as God knows how old they are and the car is lowered and so puts more strain on the shocks. funny thing is there are heaps of different 'specialists' with their own 'correct' opinions. each one is different.

one guy says you need lowered shocks coz standards will just crap out, others say coil overs, which are NOT in my budget especially with Low Volume Certs n sh*t. and others say standard shocks will do fine unless i wanna go mental with low volume n sh*t.

now i notice after the wife drives my car (i have no option if i could i would buy her her own car) that the wheel pulls to the left.

at the time i couldnt really afford a $55 wheel alignment, and i left it for the moment. I then struck a good deal with a good friend (coughcarlycough) and scored 15inch mags with brand new pirelli's. so my priority's changed a bit, and i got a wheel alignment at frank allan tyres for $45 cash.

i cant exactly remember where it was castor camber or toe that was the problem, but they also tried quoting me on new shocks and reckoned the knocking came from the rear sway bars.

i drove it home and it was fine. the next day i drove it, and started pulling again. i rung them up and spoke to the guy that did my alignment, i was implying he forgot to tighten something, i mean how does an alignment undo itself by driving it 20k's down the road and back. he basically said that he couldnt have possibly not tightened something, and if i brought it back he would switch the tires around WTF? blaming in the wheel balance when its been pulling with 2 sets of wheels regardless.

Now comes my questions:

1. I need to know if i should be kicking someones head in for blowing smoke up my ass over a shitty wheel alignment.

2. I need to know exactly what the situation is with lowered cars and standard shocks. is there such a thing as and do i need 'shocks for lowered cars'

3. whats up with bumpstops?

4. is it the rear sway bars causing the knocking? or are they exaggerating?

5. if i get a wheel alignment somwhere else and it still keeps pulling to the left, what the f**k is the problem???

thanks guys

[Dr-X]

You'll find the knocking is probably either warn bushes (eg swaybar bushes etc) or worn shocks. If the shocks need replacing, any aftermarket unit will be fine with low springs, so any straight replacement eg KYB, munroe gt, etc.

Bump stops are a legal requirement, and cannot be modified or removed.

As far as your wheel alignment, well, if it was done properly, it should be fine. Your car cant just 'unalign' itself. Just take it back and have them re check it. Make sure you get a difference person to the guy who did ir originally.

[LUMIN8]

thanks for the quick response.

should i take it back even though it was done over a month ago now? i rung up and bitched about it the next day, but i wasnt going to go through all the trouble of taking my car in during work hours so they can $&#$% with tyre swapping.

i dont suppose someone could tell me which shock is the more popular? or is the popularity based on price?

is there a website where i can look up the shocks i need so i can just ring a shop order them take them home and put them in.

i refuse to pay someone to do it, mainly because you have to dismantle most of the interior to get the back struts out.

[Perky]

http://www.kyb.com/catalog/

Supercheap Autos has good prices on KYB.

[KinLoud]

A common cause for some knocking noises in Toyotas is worn joints in the little link arms that connect the swaybars to the struts.
Check these for play first... even a tiny bit of play could cause a knocking sound. Better to replace these first, before getting new shocks and finding the noise is still there.
Read this:
viewtopic.php?t=23745&highlight=knock+clunk

Ken
Ham
021 408 863