Another suspension issue.

[TRD_ZERO]

Ok so im havinf an issue with my front suspension in my s/s ae111. I got second hand shocks and trd springs (seperatly). When i put the combination together and in my car they sit on the bump stops. I love the ride height but its obvious something is wrong. The shocks dnt bounce back like they should so they are poked. The rear ones are in the same condition as the fronts but sit just fine. Thought it might be an issue with the front springs so put a standard one back in and it bottoms out too.
So the question is is it just a simple fix and get new front struts or am i just that unlucky and all the springs/shocks are rubbish. Shocks are trd adjuatables. One last thing, if the car sits on the spring while its bottomed out will it damage the spring in any way?

[Bling]

You sure the TRD springs are for your model of car? And how low does it sit, the S/S ae111 I wrecked sits lower than my non S/S ae111 which has lowering springs. Weird I thought.

[TRD_ZERO]

yeah im sure cause i got them from I1I the toyota guy. That stil doesnt explain why the factory spring i put bak in bottoms out too.

[Bling]

Did you put back in the factory shock + spring or just the spring? Does sound very strange though...

[tsoob]

are you sure you have the top hats and all the washers in correctly?

[TRD_ZERO]

I dnt have a factory shock just adjustable coilovers. I did put it together properly but im using camber plates instead of normal tophats. That cant be the cause can it?

[touge_ae101]

yeah you will have to use the factory tophats with the factory shocks. is everything captive??

sometimes if a shock doesn't bounce back then it doesn't mean the shock is $&#$%, that is the springs job. the way to tell is if it has play in the travel and you can hear it squelching inside the shock or if it thuds of any description, especially at the bottom of the travel.

[tsoob]

photos of the setup will help mate!

[TRD_ZERO]

yeah shocks arnt showing any signs of leaks but have been told if the shocks dnt bounce bak they are pokt. I didnt think having changed the factory tophats to camber plates would make any differece on howmuch the car sags. Yeah the springs are captive i even cut a coil out of a factory spring and its stil captive (just as a test). I just put camber plates on instead of normal tophats cause they are a little thinner.

[THA SHZ]

yeah you will have to use the factory tophats with the factory shocks. is everything captive??

sometimes if a shock doesn't bounce back then it doesn't mean the shock is $&#$%, that is the springs job. the way to tell is if it has play in the travel and you can hear it squelching inside the shock or if it thuds of any description, especially at the bottom of the travel.

that is a whole bunch of dribble , if it doesnt bounce back the shocks are toast , end of story full stop .
sounds very much like your shocks are gone , and if the springs are second hand and have been with buggared shocks then might possibly have sagged , and do you have any bump stops in it at all ?
factory tophats arent going to make two fifths of any difference if the adjustable tophats that are used are made to suit the vehicle .

[touge_ae101]

i bought brand new shocks and noticed they didn't bounce back so went in to ask about them and there are different types of shocks and not all bounce back even from new so its not a definate sign that they are $&#$%, but ultimately the shock is designed to absorb variations in suspension travel in both directions and the spring is there to return it to the original position and do what a spring does essentially.

[Dell'Orto]

that is a whole bunch of dribble , if it doesnt bounce back the shocks are toast , end of story full stop .

Ah no, only gas struts will rebound by themselves, oil ones dont.

[TRD_ZERO]

So will putting the tophats back raise the car back to what it should be? Is there any point in trying to change them? Im still stuck with what to do? I dont see how putting the tophats on will magically do something to the setup and raise it up. Im using the camber plates because they are thinner than normal tophats and makes the strut assembly about 20mm shorter so in the end lovering the car a little more. But not to the point where there is no travel.

[touge_ae101]

well if you put the standard tophats back in you will gain 20mm of suspension travel and not have it sitting on the bump stops. this is what you want yea? well then it would solve your problem.

still only 20mm isn't much travel for even a race car and IIRC TRD springs aren't that stiff so it might still hit bumpstops
maybe shouldn't have cut springs. its a trade off between whether you want to have functional suspension or look gangsta with ae111 & ae101. you can't have both unless a lot of work is done revalving and shortening shocks.

[spencer]

Are these the ones I sold? If so they were fine with the springs they had car rode well, not floppy like it had screwed shocks.

The springs hold the car up so if you are on the bumps you are using inappropriate springs for this setup, or your cars got real heavy

[THA SHZ]

that is a whole bunch of dribble , if it doesnt bounce back the shocks are toast , end of story full stop .

Ah no, only gas struts will rebound by themselves, oil ones dont.

wow if you are cheaping out and putting in oil shocks then thats different isnt it

[TRD_ZERO]

that is a whole bunch of dribble , if it doesnt bounce back the shocks are toast , end of story full stop .

Ah no, only gas struts will rebound by themselves, oil ones dont.

wow if you are cheaping out and putting in oil shocks then thats different isnt it

What you telling me trd shocks are cheap shit?

I cut 1 factory spring just to see what happens.
Yeah i know how the suspension sat in the car you had spencer and that is what blows my mind how it is so much different in mine. Ill have to throw the factory tophats back in and hope for the best.

[touge_ae101]

TRD shocks are most definately not cheap shit and quite the contrary, most high end shocks such as koni, bilstein etc don't have gas in them as it keeps them more predictable when they get hot in hard driving situations.

also, a 'gas strut' still has oil inside it, they just pressurise it with gas to make them return by themselves. suppose this way you can 'tune' a std crappy car with soft springs for soft compression but have them rebound just as quick to give a smooth ride.

@TRD_ZERO my mistake i misunderstood that you cut a factory spring. i would recommend running the TRD spring with the shocks and make sure the package is going to work with std top hats before deciding where to go from there if you want to make it lower.

[sergei]

TRD shocks are most definately not cheap shit and quite the contrary, most high end shocks such as koni, bilstein etc don't have gas in them as it keeps them more predictable when they get hot in hard driving situations.

also, a 'gas strut' still has oil inside it, they just pressurise it with gas to make them return by themselves. suppose this way you can 'tune' a std crappy car with soft springs for soft compression but have them rebound just as quick to give a smooth ride.

@TRD_ZERO my mistake i misunderstood that you cut a factory spring. i would recommend running the TRD spring with the shocks and make sure the package is going to work with std top hats before deciding where to go from there if you want to make it lower.

pressurised gas is there to stop oil from foaming.