Anybody have the Toyota, factory-installed, OEM Rear Sway Bar Kit (code: HR) on their Gen-III Prius? I've got a couple questions: 1) How much $$ (parts) and $$ (installation)? 2) Was it an EASY or DIFFICULT installation? 3) Did you notice any handling improvement (less corner lean)? 4) Was it "worth" the co$t? I am NOT looking for motorcross handling, just less LEAN and body SWAY when making turns.
I put it on myself. I think it cost less than $250 for the full kit. Just Google the part number PTR11-47010 to find the best deal. I found a Toyota dealer in Boston that shipped the kit for free to California. I takes about a hour if you have access to a lift. I didn't and just drove it up on a makeshift ramp that was about 10 inches high. It probably took about two to three hours and then a few days later I had to jack it up to tighten one of the links. I didn't remove the lower shock bolts and it made the job much harder to get the link bolts tight. It would be much easier with a lift and removal of the shock bolts. The rear bar controls body lean and reduces the under steer that Toyota likes to put into all their cars. You might want to try Rude person's's front and mid chassis bars first. He sells them on Ebay for about $150. I use a similar Sustec chassis brace (TUB153F) I bought on Amazon and a Ebay mid chassis brace bought from China. They both bolt in with the car on the ground. My 2010 had a weak mid chassis brace that was fixed in later models. So you might not need an upgrade for it. I bought the Sustec front/mid brace when I had some Amazon rebate bucks to spend. I didn't expect much, but it does firm up the steering feel. These two braces are often sited for their ability to reduce the effect of side wind pushing the car around. I hope that helps.
1) you can buy the kit on amazon or ebay for 250$ 2) I bargained with the salesman and got him to include the swaybar for free. My best friends works as a tech at the same dealership so he installed the bar for me. Didn't say much about it other than it is thick and heavy. He's impressed with it. 3) Hmmm...I don't have a baseline to compare since it was installed when I took delivery of the car. To me, the car still has a lot of body roll even with my Plus 17' wheels. But I am coming from a previous impreza with the suspension modded to the max with a stiff ride. I guess the Prius with sway bar is decent for the average joe. If I compared it to my friend's Lexus IS350 with sport package and 18 inch wheels, there is a Ton of body roll in the Prius. But then that's like comparing apples and oranges. I think you'll like the swaybar. It's a cheap mod and its a cool color that drivers behind you can see . 4) Would I do it again if I had this car all over again? YES.
Thanks! Especially for that Toyota P/N (PTR11-47010), as now I know what to ask for. Like I said, not after motorcrossing, just want to keep the door handles from getting 'pavement rash' each time I turn a corner (wink,wink).
Just be sure you get the end links with the kit. Some of the dealers tell you you need to buy a separate end-link kit. I don't know if they are confused because Toyota sells a replacement end-link kit or it they are jacking up the price by splitting up the parts.
oh btw. I read on the swaybar instructions that the endlinks should be replaced every 100,000km I believe. I think that is 60,000miles for all you americans. Don't quote me on this!
I'm a little baffled when threads get started for which has been discussed ad nauseum. If you will search for rear sway bar, there are several. I installed. It was easy. Bought on Amazon. Don't need end link kit. Yes it helped. SCH-I545 ?
Actually, I *DID* searches here on: REAR SWAY BAR and SWAY BAR and came of with LOTs of nonsense threads...which took me a couple hours to speed through...before I actually posted my question.
The search function on Prius Chat is garbage. Your question is OK by me - otherwise I wouldn't have answered.
I agree. For people who have been trawling the forum for years it's obvious what content is here already. In my opinion you're better off using the siteriuschat.com (where is colon 'p') operator on a google search. (Or better yet, an image search.) I would love to see a Prius themed site on stackexchange.com. The StackExchange model is a strictly enforced/moderated question & answer site. Answers are ranked by reader votes and the original question poster designates the "chosen" answer -- and the search function works excellent. This relieves the new user from having to slog through pages and pages of marginally relevant content and it spares all of us paragraph upon paragraph of discussion about how to conduct ourselves on the site. On that note, I'm done.
