Full Review - Tanabe Sustec Pro-OC coilovers

Hello folks,

My intention for this review is to inform anyone who would like to add Tanabe coilovers to their ride to know what they are getting into. My Prius is the Canadian sport package model and did not include the performance plus lowering springs (I'm guessing that Toyota Canada figured that the winters in our country would have us covered in 3 feet of snow so a lowered car would not be ideal). I was looking for a good quality suspension system that was most importantly comfortable and would give me a good height range to work with since I didn't intend to slam the ride.

Like all my posts, my review is going to be long and descriptive so if you do not have time to read, scroll down past the pictures to the very end where my verdict is posted! If you're like me, you're picky about your mods and do a lot of research before purchasing goods - My overall goal is to keep the practicality, high MPG, comfort and good looks of the car. I suspect that many here would want the same; which is why they bought this unique car in the first place. I could not find much reviews on the net about Tanabe coilovers. People who have reviewed them were driving early model Lexus IS300's or Infiniti G35's. Often times they mentioned that the Tanabes were comfortable, made the driving "smoother" and the car rode better. This is not very helpful as everyone has different levels that they consider comfortable. A 19 year old probably considers a comfortable ride totally opposite to a 65 year old's opinion.

The first few days after the coilovers where installed, I had regrets. Mainly I thought the ride was a lot stiffer than I wanted. I'm in my mid 30's, have chronic back pain and feel that my joints are slowly starting to go bad. However, after 2 weeks and 500km on the car, I feel that I have enough experience to provide a better write up. I live in a Canadian city where roads are not maintained very well. Initially, I purposely looked for the most horrible roads to drive on. Even aimed to go over the worst potholes and sucken manhole covers to see if I could live with this new setup. I then did a road trip with my GF to Washington state. I wanted to see if the stiffer suspension would increase driver fatigue on long drives since road trips is what having a fuel efficient car is all about. So on with the pictures and commentary:

Purchased coilovers May 2014. $891USD + free shipping (best price I could find online) from Evasive motorsports. Backordered and out of stock so arrived a month later.



In true Japanese fashion, everything was carefully packed and free of grease / dirt. There are English instructions provided but they are not the clearest. Also, there is a chart in the instructions with guidelines on ride actual height vs. perch height. This is great as it lets you set the height on the perches before installing everything onto the car. Otherwise, you'll have to do a trial and error with screwing around the perches, putting the wheels back on for a short drive, and then parking the car, jacking it up, removing the wheels and then repeating all the steps above to get the perfect ride height.



The front adjustable sleeves are anodized red but the rear sleeves are just aluminum colored. I wonder why not just leave everything aluminum or everything red - it would have looked more consistent that way. No big deal. Just a heads up that when you use the spanner wrenches to adjust the front coilover, the red anodized perches' paint will chip off easily.



Strange color scheme for the suspension: I noticed their strut bars are red, the chasses stiffeners are bright red and then here we have purple shocks. But then again, no one really gets to see them except your mechanic when you bring the car in for servicing! Notice the springs are wrapped in a grey sheathing on some parts? Apparently, these are supposed to prevent "clunking" noises which are common with coilovers (more about this issue later).



Being the geek I am, I weighed all old parts vs. new parts. Old parts are 49lbs, new parts are 46.8 lbs. Another point added for weight savings!



In terms of quality, there is no match when you compared with the oem stuff. The coilovers feel and look a lot more well built.



The instructions recommend to trim the oem front rubber shock boot when reinstalling. The dust boot prevents dirt from getting into the seals and piston of the shocks. From this picture, it looks like the shop that did my installation may have cut off too much from the boot. However, when the car is set down on the ground, the shock boot covers the piston and overlaps the shock body just enough to provide some protection. Just a warning to others to be carefull when trimming the shock boot. Cutting too little is better than cutting too much.



Sept 30, 2013 - This is the car the day I picked it up from the Toyota dealership. Oem springs with 4x4 ride height:



This is another shot before lowering. Floaty suspension and huge wheel gap = not cool



Here is the car w/1 inch lowering all around. Not too low so I don't have to worry about speed bumps.




I am going to have to give credit to my Sony NEX camera for these great night shots. I'd never be able to do this with a point and shoot camera.



Conservative 1 inch lowering but looks great with the sport package Prius. It has a more aggressive and ground hugging stance.




Overall, the ride handles insanely well around corners and it appears that a lot of understeer is gone. Cornering even feels better than my past 1999 Impreza WRX w/4 wheel independent suspension, huge sway bars and aftermarket springs and shocks. The Prius does buckle severely over the worst roads and the car can lose its composure in these times but all other roads in my city, it feels very solid and planted. I can feel all the little imperfections on the road but I suspect that the Toyo Proxes A20 w/ 215-45R17 with the super stiff sidewalls and tread are the cause for this since before this suspension mod, it was the same feeling.

Driving on the Canadian highways and American Interstates, the car is comfortable and does not feel any different than stock suspension. I don't think anyone will get fatigued by a 4 hour road trip with this setup unless you are slammed to the ground with these coilovers and run 18 inch wheels. With my 1 inch lowering and 17 Prius Plus wheels, I feel that the car is perfect. Perhaps I will switch to Michelin Primacy MXM4' in the future for less road noise and more comfort.

The Tanabe's have an adjustment range of -0.75 inches to -2.0 inches front and -1.0 inches to -2.5 inches rear. I was considering the Tein street basis / street advance coilovers before this purchase but the Tein setup had the rear at -1.9 inches at the highest setting which was a bit too low for my tastes. Many shops that I have talked to told me that Tein's are by far much more popular than any other brand when it comes to coilovers. The garage that installed my suspension even went as far to say that they don't carry Tanabe because of bad experience with their products - mainly the springs have completely rusted out in a few years. Only time will tell - I find it hard to believe that a Japanese made product like this would have that issue. I used to run H&R springs on my 1989 civic and not only did the car ride like crap, the springs rusted out in 6 months! What I suspect is that some install shops use C-clamp type spring compressors that have the potential to scratch the springs during installation and this exposes the wound steel to the elements causing rust. FYI - KYB Japan makes all the shocks for Tanabe's Sustec Pro-oc and the higher end Z40 coilovers.

So would I recommend this setup to all Prius owners looking for a new set of springs / shocks? I would definitely say yes. My car is a daily driver and even with my bad back and horrible city roads, I love the way the car handles razor sharp and the comfort is good even on long road trips. I can't imagine retired folks or established families having a lowered and stiffened ride so I would say that this is not everyone's cup of tea. For me, I can't wait to get into my car and drive it every morning. It's a great pleasure to roll around and feel the cushioning provided by the damping of the new suspension. Some types of irregularities on the road are more easily transferred into the cabin but I don't think they are harsh enough to warrant the car as being uncomfortable. Even the GF doesn't notice anything about the ride being a little more firm I am astounded that this budget economy car, with its primitive solid beam axle in the rear can be tuned to handle so well. I am looking to install some Cusco chassis stiffening bars underneath the car to strengthen the structure of the vehicle but no doubt this will probably add to the harshness of the ride. Perhaps I might hold off on those.

One more thing that I would like to bring up is that I occasionally hear a clunk at low speeds when I do very sharp turns in the parking lot. I am guessing that this is the infamous "coilover clunk" which I have read about many times for people with lowered cars and perhaps this is why the springs are wrapped up in grey noise insulating rubber. I am hoping this is temporary and would go away after the springs settle. I will post an update in a few weeks time since the clunking seems to be less and less frequent.

Here are some quick specs on the Tanabe's suspension products:

Spring rates - F /R
OEM: 2.10 / 2.47
Tanabe NF210: 2.2 / 2.6 (5% increase in spring rates over OEM)
Tanabe GF210: 2.3 / 3.0 (15% increase in spring rates)
Tanabe Sustec Pro-oc: 3.4 / 4.0 (60% increase in spring rates)

 

Thanks Burna J,

Yes, horrendous color choices by Tanabe. However, Tein is no better IMHO. Their green colored coilovers remind me of the incredible hulk green. And some of their lowering springs are gold colored. Well at least we don't have pink or lavender colored shocks eh?

 

Another update here for the coilovers - any harshness of the impacts from the road imperfections seemed to have lessened after almost 900km of driving with them on. I'm not sure if this is a psychological thing or perhaps that the coilovers needed some time to break in. Possibly the latter since after manufacturing, they were not loaded with the weight of the car - they seemed to have softened up a lot more and my cornering ability; although still good has a little decreased slightly.

My best friend seems to have noticed this as well after sitting in the car today. Huge bumps in the road and railroad tracks don't seem to be a threat and I don't hold my breath when I go over them now..

Also, the clunks from the suspension that I have been hearing the first few weeks are what is known as spring binding. This happens on Macpherson designs often since the shocks slightly rotate when there is sharp steering input. On the OEM suspension, a rubber pad stops the spring from shifting on the perch of the oem shock, but it appears that most aftermarket shocks don't use this rubber pad - the springs occasional "slip" or rub on the perch they sit on, creating a slight noise.

The spring binding on my new suspension seems to have disappeared as time went on.

I can say now with full confidence that anyone who uses Tanabe coilovers will find little to fault with them. If you're looking for a JDM product with a very comfortable ride as a priority, excellent height adjustability and a little bit of that go-cart cornering experience here and there on your commutes, you'll love them. The only bad thing I have to say is that the stiffness cannot be adjusted but then again, these are entry level coilovers meant for people who want to just set their ride height and forget everything else. Fancier setups will run a few hundred bucks more.

I am planning to keep my car for a long time so I hope they will last me at least 5 years. Only time will tell!