TRD Plus Package Sway Bar on PIP

You'll find a few posts here in this forum, but many in the Mods & Accessories forum.. but the short answer is "yes, it makes a huge difference".

I know a couple of other PiP owners who installed the RSB (who normally would never consider modding their car) who were pleasantly surprised at the difference and dont regret the purchase.

I'm sure the lack of a rear sway bar is both for cost cutting and, generally speaking, "unnecessary" since your typical Prius owner wouldnt know the difference (or even care) whether the car had one or not.

I've installed the RSB, front and mid lower chassis braces and will soon be installing the Cusco front strut tower bar. The RSB made the biggest difference. But I expect the front strut tower bar to make a noticeable difference also. The first item I installed was the mid lower chassis brace, which I did notice. But I suspect it was because it was the first item I installed.

 

Yes, correct, stock.

If you decide to install yourself, if you Google it, there's a guy (probably on here somewhere too) that installed it himself and created a tutorial on his blog. He installed without jacking up his car. The thought was appealing to me so I tried it without jacking up the car and I dont think its possible with normal sized human hands . I fiddled with it for about 10-15 minutes before I just decided to jack it up and remove the rear wheels. It made it soooo much easier. So, if you read or hear it can be done without jacking the car.. yeah, I'm sure its possible.. but if you own a jack, save yourself the frustration.

 

As far as I know, there were no changes from 2012 to 2013 to 2014 in the Prius suspension. The stock mid chassis brace was updated in 2012 (I think) from 2010. Rude person's said the newer one was much better than the earlier one, but he believed (and I as well as many others here agree) that his mid chassis brace did make a difference. He tossed around some numbers about increased rigidity n' all that.. but bottom line, its better than stock.

I'm kind of torn about the lower braces even though I have them. I did them first so each brace was somewhat noticeable. But I wonder if it would still be noticeable if you did the strut tower bar and the RSB. I guess my point is.. the lower chassis braces help.. I'm confident in that. But would they still be helpful if you already had the STB and RSB? I don't know. But I wouldnt remove my Rude person's braces and sell them either.

In any case, your order is pretty much the same as me. I guess the benefit of following that order is you'll know the parts you bought and installed made a difference because you will notice it. Not sure if that's helpful, but it would make me feel better . But I pretty much followed that route for the same reason(s).. its cheap to start with lower braces.. easy to install.. and I figured if it made the car funner to drive, then I would continue with the mods..

BUT.. now that I have the RSB, I think it made a huge difference.. much more of a difference than the lower chassis braces. So I guess if I had a chance to try out each component first, individually, I would've gone with the RSB first.

If you want to get Rude person's's braces.. you'll have to find them on eBay because he was told he cannot conduct business on PriusChat (I'm guessing since he's not a paid advertiser or something along those lines). A couple weeks ago he said he was going to stop selling for a bit since he was going on vacation.. so dont be alarmed if you cant find them.. it just means he's not back yet.

Something else to consider.. now with all the pieces installed, you really feel the weakness of the tires

 

It shouldnt violate any warranty. The only way Toyota COULD try to invalidate part of your warranty is if they could prove that the STB CAUSED damage that would not otherwise have happened without the STB (and being such a "basic" device and how it connects to the car, I cant see that ever happening). But Toyota could never say "oh, you have an STB, then we wont warranty your hybrid system" since they are totally unrelated (see this article for more info)

The Cusco STB does not interfere with anything that comes to mind (brake fluid reservoir cap can be removed and fuse box cover can be removed too.. I believe the Tenabe one restricts access to these items). But even if you ever decided to do something crazy, like pull the engine , the actual bar of the STB comes off with just a couple of nuts/bolts.

 

I did 4 new struts on my 2010 and it definitely made a difference. I used kyb brand struts. Tire and wheel changes make the most noticeable change to handling IMHO.

 

I contacted a local Toyota dealer about the RSB part cost and installation. They indicated the part is only for the regular (Non-PIP) Prius. That said, the parts guy indicated the mounting points are identical so he wasn't sure why the RSB wouldn't be compatible with the PIP. Clearly it mounts just fine, so I'm curious if any folks have had different experiences at the dealer. If so, any dealers in the Bay Area you can recommend?

 

You don't need a dealer to install the RSB. Any one with a few tools can do it in their driveway. A car lift makes the job much easier. The TRD part comes with full instructions/parts that any local auto mechanic can follow.

 

When my co-worker was trying to buy the RSB for his PiP, he got the same line from the local dealer about it not fitting the PiP. I do recall reading somewhere around here (probably the Accessories and Mods forum) that someone got it installed at a dealer. This seems like one of those things where you could get a different answer from someone else at the same dealer depending on when you call.

 

The RSB fits like a glove on my Plug In! Toyota's part number for the RSB has not been updated for compatibility for the PIP. This was reflected from the response from the parts guy.

Overall the RSB did improve the handling characteristic of the car without sacrificing ride comfort and is a good investment!

 

A good and helpful conversation, lads! I'm getting all of the above-mentioned items for my PiP, and I'm also getting some lowering springs which I'm having the devil of a time deciding on because it's a bit scary for us PiP-ers due to our heavier rear ends .

I have to say that I have received little good info from my dealer about any of these items, even the TRD RSB, an official Toyota part! Maybe it's all down to whether or not one's dealer has any real car guys on staff, or perhaps it's just that there's an official Toyota policy for staff members — even if they are real car guys — not to get involved with enthusiastic owners like us, as if doing so might cause Toyota some sort of trouble.

Actually, the company is a complete mystery to me in another way, too. I'm a hard-core environmentalist, sure, but I'm also a hard-core motor racing fan, and I'm completely baffled by Toyota Canada's (and Toyota USA's) seeming total lack of interest in the amazing success of the company's own TS040 hybrid prototype in the World Endurance Championship (toyotahybridracing.com). The car has won the first two races of the series (beating Audi and Porsche in the process), but not a word on Toyota Canada's website, and only news about NASCAR, drag racing, off-road etc. on Toyota USA's racing webpage. Strange...

 

+1

 

Yes, absolutely and for the better.