Testing out some suspension parts

That is good information. I got mine today. It's definitely 24mm and looks like the right shape. Wont have time to put it in maybe until next weekend or during the holidays.

Some questions:
Did you have to remove the exhaust? If so, did you replace the exhaust gaskets or just re-use the old ones? Also do you feel like the front end needs to be re-aligned?

 

The exhaust is not in the way. You have to lower the plate that attaches to the
wheels and the steering. Remove 4 bolts holding the plate using the 19mm socket,
and 2 bolts using the 14 mm socket, then on top of the plate, the steering
4 bolts using the 17 mm socket , then sway bar brackets 4 bolts 12
mm socket. That plate will come down to take the bar out. You will need a jack
to push the plate back up. I don't think you really disturb the alignment. Don't
remove the 4 bolts holding the wheel arms.

 

So you just lowered the plate enough to reach up there and unbolt the steering rack (leaving the rack attached to the car), and the two sway bar brackets.

The service manual [SP-28] wants you to completely remove the steering rack and the exhaust. What a PITA. I think I'll try it your way.

 

Thanks for your research on the front sway bar. I'm kind of annoyed that the '06 bar wasn't the correct one. I'll see if the salvage yard will swap it for an '03. Then someday I will be well enough to install it myself. I'm not about to pay $200 to have it put on when it's just a bit of manual labor that I can normally do myself.

I find that I am actually happy with the way the car handles even with the 15s. I just hate the way the wheels look. The suck up into the wheel well and look so dinky compared to the 17s. One good aspect is that you don't kick as many rocks up on the sides of the car with the narrower wheels!

 

F8L Before you get rid of that 06 bar I would take a good look at the bar thats
on there and make sure the one you have will not fit.

 

The way Toyota do things, it seems a logical extension that there is a commonality of parts across some models. Certainly Corolla/Matrix and by extension Levin, seem like a good fit to that proposition.

so I wonder what else is out there that is of potential benefit to Prius ...

 

If you go back to the source where I did my research (try this link) and look at the 03 Corolla, it depends on when it was manufactured. You could end up with the same bar you have. I don't understand the part numbering system - but maybe Wilsid is right - maybe the bar you already have fits. Take a look at the picture in this posting and see if the bar looks the same.

 

Paseo/cynos...?

 

This site might help you find out which model a part was used on.
ToyoDIY.com
I recently found it and haven't used it much but it looks promising.
Note that it won't tell you all models a part will fit, only which models the part has been used on by Toyota..

 

Okay, I did it. I installed the '05 Matrix front sway bar in my '09 Prius. I did it without removing the "Front Suspension Crossmember Sub-assembly" (plate).

I followed Wilsid's instructions with a few modifications (this is from memory, so there might be a few deviations).

Refer to service manual pages SP-18 and SP-27, SP-28.

In the following, "Loosened" means I backed the bolt out maybe 1/4 to 3/4 inches, but did not remove it.

If I were to do this again, I would have a breaker bar on hand. I had a short section of pipe that fit over the end of my ratchet. 1/2 inch drive was used for large sockets. Also a Torque wrench capable of at least 100 ft.lbs.

0) Blocked back tires, Jacked Front of car from the center of the plate using a hydraulic jack, sat car on jack stands at front jack points on both sides of car (also had a backup system in place just in case the car fell off the jack stands).
1) Removed front wheels (21mm tire wrench or impact wrench)
2) Removed plastic shield at back of plate (10 mm socket)
3) Removed front sway bar links (17 mm socket, pliers)
4) Loosened two bolts holding "Front suspension lower arm sub-assemblies" (Control arms) at back of plate - 19 mm socket.
5) Removed 4 bolts holding plate (19mm socket). There are 2 bolts at the rear of the plate and 2 up by the sway bar links.
6) At front of plate, removed single (horizontal) bolt on rubber engine mount (19mm?).
7) Loosened two horizontal bolts at front of plate facing engine (19mm). Had to rock the engine towards the front of the car to access these bolts.
8) Removed bolts on front sway bar bushing brackets. (12 mm socket). It was a real bear to get these out, especially the back drivers side one (used 12 mm wrench and a lot of patience). Used 1/4 inch drive ratchet/socket and 3/8" drive ratchet with universal joint and lots of adapters and very short extensions. Noted how the bar was oriented before removing it.
9) Pushed sway bar between car body and plate on passengers side until it fell on the floor. Did not force anything, just worked it out with as little pressure as possible (remembering that everything is hanging from the steering rack, which I didn't want to mess up). Rotated this end of the bar towards the back of the car once I got that end off. Noted again how the bar was oriented.
10) twisted and pulled other side of bar until it came out. Made a special point to remember how it came out.
11) Reversed the above procedure to put the new bar in. It was a real bear to get the bar back in too, so I was really glad that I paid special attention to how I got it out in steps 8, 9, and 10.
12) Used the hydraulic jack to lift the plate back into place when I re-installed it. Started with the bolts by the sway bar links first, then the bolts at the back of the plate.

It took me about 5 hours.

If I were to do this again, I would use stock Toyota front sway bar bushings from either a Matrix or an older Corolla. I used bushings from energysuspensionparts.com, but the brackets that came with them were taller than the stock ones. There's not much room, so I had to remove the grease fittings from the Energy Suspension brackets. The stock Toyota parts will just fit inside the old brackets.

I will report in a few days on how the car performs with the new front sway bar.

Here's a couple of pictures of the sway bars, side by side:

 

The picture of the matrix bar and the 03 corolla bar that I got look the same.
bushings and brackets came with the bar. The links came with it too but I used
the ones on the car as they were the same size.

 

I'm pretty sure both of them are the same part number.

I got my bar from a junk yard off of ebay. It came with only one bushing on it, so I ordered a couple from Energy Suspension (ES). But the ES bushings are larger than the stock Toyota bushings, so I had to use the ES brackets instead of the stock brackets. The stock brackets are lower profile - easier to put in. I wish I would have just ordered the stock Matrix/Corolla bushings from Toyota.

Thanks for your instructions Wilsid. It would have been a lot more work without them because I would have simply followed the service manual, which wanted a lot more dis-assembly.

 

I have the progress rear bar, stiffening brace and the $99 strut tower brace off of ebay. It feels like a whole different car.

 

Yeah, I have a similar setup, except I have the cheaper ebay tower brace - the $99.00 one was not available when I put it in.

So, after a few days of driving with the Matrix/Corolla front sway bar, my subjective opinion is: it does not have the same WOW effect as the progress rear sway bar. However, the front sway bar does seem to improve higher speed (>60 mph) handling quite a bit, and body roll is almost completely gone. I can take one hand off the steering wheel and feel completely comfortable in situations where (before I did sway bar mods), I would be holding on with both hands and feeling a bit unsafe. I think if I had better tires (currently running Hankook Optimo 727s which have very poor steering response), the high speed improvement would be much better. I am not noticing any significant under or over-steer, but this is all fair weather driving.

The front sway bar is much more difficult to install than the rear sway bar.