KYB Strut Plus Issue

Can't see it in these photos... Either the mounting plate failed or the spring failed where it mounts to the plate... If you bought springs and shocks already assembled they'll have no choice but to admit they did it wrong. But if you mounted the springs to the shock yourself, then they'll probably tell you that you did it wrong and that you need to try again. Or maybe you used the wrong size spring or shock?

 

I will NOT be a KYB customer.... /

 

Those are the part numbers that I used for my Gen 2 Prii....I hope Gen 3 is the same.

 

You have to try and get your camera on wide angle and slide it up into the fender well and see the bottom spring seat there is a place where the tail piece generally twists and rotates and the bottom pigtail of the spring seats very nicely in this coil slot that matches the spring almost perfectly If it's not in that sometimes you can jack up the car and literally grab the spring with your hands no kidding and twist it until you feel it hit the stop I've seen other people take a medium sized mallet and something to tap with like a long or not so long metal bar maybe a brass bar that sort of thing I don't think the springs in the KYB setup are sloppy they're compressed and should be in there properly usually when you mount the struts you look at the top and the bottom plates that would be the top and bottom seats if you will and you make sure that the pigtail is in the detent that mirrors the bottom of the spring or the top of the spring is the case may be it mirrors the seats. And it needs to be seated That's interesting for it to come loose like that but it does look like the bottom is a little twisted.

 

I’m no suspension expert but definitely looks twisted out of place. I suspect something wrong with the upper mount maybe allowing it to rotate freely only one way, getting stuck turning the other…

 

I will be replacing the struts (as asemblies) in my wife's Prius in the near future, so am starting my research on brands now. I know this is an older thread, but wanted to chime in on the fact that it doesn't look "off-center" to me.

If you look at the trajectory of the spring, along with the where the strut enters the bottom plate, it appears to be in line with the upper assembly. What appears to throw it off (visually) is that the bottom plate is wider toward the "wheel side," such that there is a "gap" on that side of the spring.

You can see that the spring is intended to sit further to the "right" of the plate (as visualized in the pic) by looking at where the strut enters the bottom plate, along with where the dip in the plate is (where the bottom of the spring seats on the plate).

You can see the offset in this snip of a KYB unit.

 

Bottom is a little reclined, therefore the spring bended a little also

 

Those springs in the initial post look way too close to the fender wall for my comfort.

I believe the OP’s Prius was at another shop and that shop noticed this, sending him those pictures. (I’m not the only one concerned with how it looks).

 

Interesting you pointed that out. While looking at the KYB units, I saw a few reviews that mention similar complaints to this (which turned me away from KYB)

 

Yes when I was running KYB a lot was in the mid '80s when mostly you were buying inserts to put in your housings with whatever type of springs you selected whether that was from Toyota or from a spring bender out in California or whatever poison you picked usually weren't you weren't buying complete strut assemblies like Bilstein and Koni were selling at the time. Then came the coilovers and complete assemblies and that kind of dominated the game up until today You can fit a pair of coilovers on a Prius very easily and have those little what are they 4 inch or 5-in diameter springs that leave your whole strut tower empty and reach your hand all the way up and running around the spring and never touch the spring or the strut housing You got so much room. But yes this pictures that was posted by the shop that looks way too close now maybe nothing happens with that I don't know if the spring is mounted correctly on the two plates top and bottom and it squeezed correctly may not bother a thing until you get it to shocks or the springs limit of travel especially on the downward stroke which then the springs could hit the strut tower in our wall which would not be cool and make a racket. Was this car making a racket on any kind of spirited driving?