how to improve the handling of a prius c? need some advice!

the 1.75 deg tilt should be good for 3/8", and it is just pushing edge in not up/down.

Your obsession with fender gap similar to thigh gap obsession of opposite sex, huh

 

Ha ha funny you say that

 

It is nice to have have access to good equipment, makes life a whole lot easier.

Finally got around to borrow alignment tool (pic below) from friend. Even with 1 turn it was severely (more then 1/2") toe-in. To maintain original alignment you need ~2 1/3 turn on -1.75 camber change. After a couple tries got it set to 3/32" toe-out.

When comparing to what it used to it is scary how much grip those POS OEM FuelMax have. No it is still not a go-kart but it is as close as you get it w/o major investment. It is as close to neutral as it can be, and yes with weight transfer rear may slide out

When the tires break in I'll set Torque app and try to measure what it can generate on skidpad.

Pic of toe-in tool:

 

Ah yes, super old school!

 

Where are you guys purchasing the rear sway bars?

Is the TRD p/n PTR11-52071?

 

Purchased my rear sway bar on ebay for $170 shipped brand new. That was the cheapest I was able to find it shipped with no taxes. Seller was toyotamall1

Yes that's the correct part number too. Bolted right up. Took about 30 minutes to install.

 

TRD Sparks

TRD Rear Sway Bar at Sparks Toyota-Scion, Myrtle Beach, SC

Part is listed for 2010 Yaris or 2011 Scion xD

 

About the same after shipping if I remember correct.

 

Let us know how you like the bar MaxPowers! Mertech seems to like his, I've just got done getting my Leaf set up to handle better with some 17x9's on 245's with RPF1 wheels and a camber kit up front. I'm thinking rear sway and camber kit on the C also. I already bought some 15x6.5" Konig Heliums and have 195/55/15's on them and the grip is improved decently, but the rear definitely could use an increase in stiffness. I think the rear sway could be the answer to waking this car up in the turns, along with a camber kit up front. All for under $200 too!

 

have TRD sway bar and camber kit, and if you;re staying with stock springs/shocks and not planning getting Pilots or Star Specs, it will suffice. Just swaybar isn't enough we are running 1.75deg camber kit at maximum and it still doesn't want to oversteer. Otherwise it is spot on, wouldn't wanna go more.

If I decide upgrade wheels, better shocks would be on shopping list. Too much rebound damping for my liking.

EDIT: you need 2 1/3 turns of toe-out to compensate for -1.75deg camber good luck

 

THanks for the tip on the toe out turns. I can tell you I just did my Nissan Leaf and that takes exactly 2 turns to dial back in 0 toe, but that isn't mcuh help in this forum! Lol. I might just pull the trigger on all this!

 

Actually from what I've seen most McPherson fronts are very similar so 2 turns on one, 2 1/3 on other 15% difference. Still in the same ballpark. 0.2deg toe adjustment for 1/6 of the turn.

BTW I think most of improvement comes from camber, swaybar just helps to reduce body roll

 

My current setup consists of ultra racing front strut bar, trd rear sway bar, Rude person's mid chassis, trd t3 16x7 +33 offset wheels, penguingarage rear shim -3 camber, removed front sway bar end link on driver side, and tanabe df210 springs. I couldn't be happier with the way the suspension feels tighter and beefed up. The only issue I have is the rear would rub with only 1 passenger even though my fenders are rolled and I'm running rear camber. So in the meantime, i put the rear stock springs to prevent anymore rubbing, but it looks a little funny with the height on the rear now. I might keep it this way until i have to replace all 4 tires and slap on some better fitting tires.

 

I am curious of people just disconnecting front sway bar.

I have tried to run 0.5 deg less front camber, and front would slip unless you brake into corners. Especially pronounced on cone wave, were there isn't much time to transfer weight to help with grip. To me that is an indication that more static camber needed.

I suppose OEM rubber part of it, but even if you throw better ones, what are you gonna do when it rains? Do you think your wheels will grip better in wet than fuelmax in dry?

 

Disconnecting the front sway is a trick auto-crossers use to get the car balanced in stock classes. But zi think you are typically allowed a rear sway if the car came with one on one of the other models (not sure but maybe you can add a rear sway bar in stock class no mattter what? I've never run stock class). Either that, or the rear bar addition didn't get him the balance he wanted? Doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, but yeah. I',m pretty close to pulling the trigger on the TRD rear bar. My only worry is that I bought 2 sets of Konig Heliums, and that if I'm going to start modifying the susp for better handling, I'd like some more offset in the wheels, although that is me being petty. As a hybrid, I really do want to keep the car with proper aero. If I have some wide sticky tires sticking flush with the fenders, the mileage will suffer. Maybe I stick with just adding 3mm wheel spacers on the Heliums as a compromise. Right now I have the stock tires on one set and some 195/55/15 Hankooks on the others. Dunlop does make their newish DZ102 in a 205/55/15 and it is the same 24" diameter as the stock 175/65/15.

Regarding the alignment, after setting the bolts to max neg camber, I park on a level surface, and measure both in front of and behind the front tires by placing the tape measure in a tire groove (using a helper like my wife). I adjust toe evenly on both sides then drop the car, let it roll back and forth a couple feet then re-measure. I repeat this until the measurement front and rear distance is the same, indicating zero toe. =)

 

Not sure what is going on from what I've heard even camber bolts are not allowed in stock class. Yaris owners end up using 12mm OEM bolts just to get neg camber, and have issues with them slipping under load.

I've looked at disconnecting front sway, but you only get and extra 1-1.5" compression on outside wheel w/o it, and this adds what? 0.6-1deg of camber? plus the issues we had were the initial tire hook up, so static neg camber was the easiest fix.

Not to say that it would not benefit from smaller diameter front sway, but there isn't any? I've looked at fitting one off 3-door Yaris ($50) but it is 23mm and OEM is 23.8. Doesn't look like it will make much difference, if any at all.

Stock springs are soft but they are not bad at all for budget OEMs and the damping on shocks is a good match for springs. Only issue we have that the rebound on shocks looks to be off, so as soon as there any potholes or deeps it will loose traction. But this is probably not an issue for SoCal.

Maybe if I win the lottery I'd buy coilovers, a set of dial-ins and through some star spec zii on them. If not get excel-g's when OEMs wear out

I found this Comparison of permitted modifications in SCCA classes: Comparison of permitted modifications in SCCA classes

If I am reading correctly, "shocking" camber bolts are legal in stock class on McPherson.

Irreguardless, I may be wrong on disconnecting front sway bar. On a couple occasions coming around sharp corner I was able to lift inside front tire enough for ESP to kick in. This is on stock 15" FuelMax LRRs BTW. So I'll try the disconnect + boosters.

Apologies to MaxPowers

 

I actually went ahead and reinstalled the front sway bar. Handling is about the same for daily driving. I went ahead and purchased new tires as well to better the handling.

 

Which ones are you getting?

With front the issue is inside front wheel lift on stock shocks/springs. Happen only a few times in sharp low speed switchback turn. If you are not pushing enough to get wheel off the ground, it will not be big deal. Will give you a little understeer that's all.

I am on the fence what to do next. I know it needs better shocks, tires and something done with wheel lift. Not sure which order to tuckle it in. Maybe just get a set of TEINs. We installed set on son's car last weekend, very nice!

 

Buying this and YES it's on Ultra Racing's site as a fit for Prius C. Super cheap too, over 100 cheaper than ebay!

TOYOTA VIOS (2007): ULTRA RACING Side Lower Bar [UR-SD6-805] - MaxAudio.com.my

The Ultra Racing link.
Toyota Prius C 1.5 (2011) Side Lower Bar / Side Floor Bar - Ultra Racing Product Catalog

Looking for fender braces now.