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

Do you have a camber kit yet? what spring rates are you running?

thx for links.. I wonder how much shipping would cost.

 

It's 71 dollars to west coast via fedex. No camber kit. Stock springs and shocks. It'd be IMO a TOTAL waste to buy upgraded static suspension when my goal is air suspension.

 

you need 15mm camber bolts for C, they cost <$10 on Amazon. On stock springs, shocks AND tires front has enough traction to spin inside tire in sharp turn. Still has mild understeer. No braces, just camber kit and TRD sway bar.

 

I need camber bolts for what exactly? Again once I get my air setup it will have adjustable top hat for camber. I'm just gearing up for when my ride goes to poop on air.

 

you don't really have to do anything.

Unless air kit comes with built in camber or slotted shocks, there will be simply not enough camber adjustment at the top. Not 0.5"+ on those mounts. Bolts give you 2mm adjustment, ~1.7-1.9deg and max it still understeers, YMMV

 

The kit I'm looking at has struts similar to coilovers so about 5 degrees negative adjustment possible.

 

any links? Do they rely on adjustment plates at the top? If so very skeptical. C/Yaris/xD top mountholes are really tiny pop hood and take a look.

 

Yes, I know top are small. There's also adjustment at the upper bolt on lower mount. Between both close to 7 degrees. On xB there was almost 10 degrees.



Let me find the link.



Multiple links none have vehicle specific pics. But yeah airrex.

 

How much do they run? When are you getting them? If not for a while $10 camber bolts will work short term.

I am probably gonna stay with stock springs maybe upgrade shocks when replace tires. This is a daily drive doesn't make sense to put $$$ into it. Unless it gets really bumpy, as is it is good enough to get 98% out of all season tires, and I am not putting anything on which will wear out in a few months.

 

I guess I see no reason to buy camber bolt,s spend the time to install them, the money and time to get the car aligned again just to have to deal with the alignment again once on air. The setup I want is ridiculously pricey so debating on piecing something else together as far as the bags and struts. msrp of over 6k. seen as cheap as about 4k. this includes air management, lines, tank, compressor, everything.

 

Nothing affects a cars handling as significantly as tires. They are the only thing that will affect acceleration, braking and lateral grip simultaneously. Don't increase the width, don't increase the diameter, just go with a stickier class of tire. I.e. All season > summer all season > UHP > EHP. A good alignment will maximize the contact patch of the tire so make sure the toe is even and within reason.

 

On 2mm camber bolts set at max you have to toe-out by 2 1/3 turn to maintain original alignment.

The major difference I don't have the budget so even a $700 set of TEIN Basics is out of question. Plus most coilovers will lower car which is not intended. As is there hardly enough clearance.

 

Lol at saying a a camber bolt installed will require 2.33 turns out to be in alignment. yeah i;m sure that's spot on for every car out there. hell most cars aren't aligned perfectly from the factory. If I'm changing much of anything it goes to get an alignment. Any other act or talk of turns out or in is asking for close at best.









































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Guess I also don't get wanting a car to handle but not willing to put sticky tires or lower it both BY FAR the greatest gains to be had...
But yes I'm stupid as well goign to bag a car and still aim for handling. on Hipari tires even ha ha.





















































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And yes I know sticky tires will kill mpg. OTOH lowering the vehicle will help mpg.
Devils advocate.

 

Not necessarily. I just put camber kit in sons Mirage and it needed 1 1/3 turns. Getting it right not an issue, with 2 wheels off the ground took 3 measurements to get it within 1/6 of the turn. Don't think any shop would go any further.

I just drove C ~1000mi through the mountains, and while obviously not being a handling car it was not bad, really. It didn't feel like improvement in one specific area is needed, just overall limited. It would loose traction on bumps, so better shocks would help, and light understeer on medium/high speed sweepers. On tail of Dragon I was able to drive it hard into corner to compress front and keep it hooked, so right-hand switchback turns were blast. I did have issues with left turns but mostly because of A-pillar stuck in the middle of sight line. It understeered partially due to lack of suspension compression, partially due to lack of accelerator input.

Lowering front would help, but as is we had clearance issues. Stickier tires should somewhat help to carry it through initial dead zone. Irregardless I am not putting any MPG killers, perhaps TrueContacts in 195/60 size when FuelMaxes are finished. After 9mo/24k wear is pretty even, so 2.5deg of negative camber doesn't seem to impact tires.

It definitely needs better shocks, so will have a set of Excel-Gs or Monroe OEspectrums off xD ordered. This probably not an issue for you, roads on West Coast are much smoother, no potholes to speak of. So IMHO for you guys stock dampers will do. For us they are fine 90-95% of the time, perhaps less if you live in pothole haven NE.

I've priced out a set of dialins with Danlop StarSpecs, it was 1k. My biggest problem I would need a net set of tires every 9mo.

EDIT: IMHO C is not worth putting 4-6k into suspension. It is too front heavy to handle well, and there is only so much you can do with camber bolt kit to negate it. Don't think you can get longer/different control arms for C/Yaris/xD, but if you can let me know!

If you want a light well handling car 2017 Mirage GT looks as a better starting point. 2L 150HP in 2000lbs package, with many EVO bits available. With moderate lowering, TEINs and camber kit it will actually oversteer in some conditions. MPG-wise 3cyl is better than C at 73MPH. Either that or Gen4 if you're driving a lot in city.

 

Every shop on earth will put it on an alignment rack and do it correctly to ensure is to spec vs oh it looks good vs random measurements.Mirage is dead. And s terrible terrible TERRIBLE piece of garbage car. There are major reasons why Mitsubishi has quit selling CARS in the usa and is sticking with their still terrible suvs. NO ONE BUYS THEM. Terrible interior build quality, poor mpg, ridiculously laughably low resale, oh and outside of an Evo a positively MINUSCULE amount of aftermarket parts support. Don't get where you think this car is too front heavy it's a fwd economy hatch. It's 61/39 distribution is by no means perfect but for what it is. Easy to work with. In reality the light rear makes it easy to control rear end step out.

 

The OEM specs are within 0.4deg+, and 1/6 turn is 0.1-0.2 deg, do you think they would bother if it is within range?

Of cause the difference btw 0.4deg and 0deg can be 2-3MPG but this is for you not for them.

With respect to rear stepping out, good luck trying! If you can get it do that without installing bold rears or shimming rear to reduce camber, let me know how.

 

IMHO nothing short of a race car is worth $4-6k in suspension. For this car to handle, less than $2,000 in suspension and chassis braving would do it. I'm putting so much money into the car as my plan is to keep it and I want digitally controlled, coilover bag perch, rebuildable strut, ride height adjustability and the best cost money.


















































































































































































































































Every tire shop I've ever went to, or worked at did. They could care less if you say yada yada anything alignment they put it on the rack, loosen the tie rod stay nuts and then measure and adjust. It's very VERY easy to do , has ZERO guesswork at the end of the day and they have a print out that shows the owner exactly where the car sits. Guessing is just meh. It's what ya do to get you home, not to continually drive on. A GOOD alignment shop will put it to spec OR how you want it in respect to both camber and toe, hell if adjustable they'd even change caster for ya if you wanted to. My last car I had multiple adjustment points for front camber so I had it set up a few different ways over the years. As much as 5 degrees negative and running a bit less than 1. Low profile tires do show camber wear easier than fat squishy 65 series narrow oe fitments would.

 

If you willing to go that far look into getting different control arms at some point. The arch with stock arms is less than ideal and unless you do something to rear to reduce grip beyond installing sway bar it will never step out.

Your opinion on Mitsu is noted, but different from mine. DSM was a nice car to mod, and Gen6 Mirage is the lightest car sold in US. They sold for 10k new, in a couple years you can get one for <5k. Here is what can be done with one:

 

Wanna step the rear out? Stiffer suspension will do it. Especially on dinky stock tire fitment. That wouldn't be very comfortable in a daily driver though and again if dinky tire fitment you'll start losing traction up front. Luckily I feel no need to step the rear end out on a daily driver fwd eco machine. I whip through cloverleafs faster than most every car short of a sportminded individual in a "sportscar". That's good enough, the look on folks faces after getting obliterated by a 99 hp prius with dual bosozoku exhaust pipes stocking out. Ha ha.

 

I want it to be able to oversteer it w/o resorting to hand brake. At least get it to the point where it doesn't understeer. And no tires won't do it, front will always loose traction first unless you're willing to run different front/rears. Stiffening rear springs does not count too, b/c it falls into category of "reducing rear grip". If you find way to increase front grip to the point it will grip better than rear - let me know how.