Done deal, got my Blizzard White Persona!

Just installed my Plus springs. Install went pretty smooth with assist of PC thread's. Thanks to the forum members that shared their details. I took about 4 hours and that's due to forgetting to put back the bump stock on one side. Most of the time was to remove the covers to get to the front towers.

Love the look but not certain on the ride.

A few details to add;
1. Have a 1/2" breaker bar and long cheater bar. The lower strut bolts are the def. torque down to 250ft. lbs!
2. Having a impact gun helps tremendously. I used my small 3/8" 18V makita.
2. Spring compressor not mandatory if you're experienced. Unloading without compressor only with an impact gun. Plus springs are short enough without compressor.

Here's a before and after.

Before;



After;

 

Some feedback after my first commute;

A lot of the float is gone compared to stock springs. IMHO, if you cruise on freeway a lot, going with Plus springs isn't a tough decision. If you drive in the city a lot with bad roads, it maybe a concern. Overall you feel the undulation of the road more.

 

Here are the parts that needs to be removed to install springs to give you an idea of work involved.

 

A little annoyance is worth it.. at least so far.. looks great, improved handling and it even looks faster..

 

Enjoying the nice weather after club ride.


Untitled by sfcyclist2012, on Flickr

 

Just finish installing Xenon Depot's Volt HID. Looks like a very good quality kit. Didn't realized how much I miss HID. Some serious lumens these put out compared to halogens. I got the 35watt, 4.3k kit. Great deal at $89!

 

lol.. you guys are a bit overly anxious maybe?

 

I haven't updated this for a little while.. since, I've made the 500 miles per tank.. 2x's. Installed window visors and that's about it. The car has 0 issues. MPG has been going up but I think that's due to technique and weather(warmer).

500 miles tank and got a best 48 mpg.



Window visors installed. At less than $20, I'm very happy overall. First off, they work.. I guess that's not asking much.. but they also reduce gust blowing in when you leave the window cracked on the freeway. I've always try to leave the windows cracked open on the freeway for ventilation but due to noise and gusts, I often can't. With these, no problem. I can even open the front window about 1/3 of the way and still not too noisy nor too windy. And at the end, it's sits cooler, as in temp and aesthetically.

 

Still miss what it replaced..

 

Furthest tank yet (530 miles) and slightly better mpg than my last 500 mile tank. Cheap Thrills! Filled up with 10.9 gallons.

530 mile tank

 

It's been a while since I updated this thread as I haven't done much to the car. The reliability and fuel economy has been as expected. I do have a few updates now though. The pressurized trunk support failed, sound dampening and changed speakers.

What failed were the 2 lift support for the trunk. The pressurized supports have developed a slow leak and needed to be replaced. The car was only 2.5 year old when it started happening. I brought it in to a local Toyota dealership and just gave me a hard time about it. They wanted to schedule an appointment just to have a "technician" confirm the problem. Though it was still holding the trunk up after you manually push it up when it's warmer, it did not help lift it. Then when it was cold, it barely held it up. This was clearly a waste of time for me so I brought it to another dealership. At the time I brought it in the first time, the car was still under the 36k miles warranty. When I brought in the 2nd time, the car has just past the 36k miles mark by about 110 miles. The service writer at the 2nd dealership still took care of it under warranty without having a "technician" verify it. Thanks City Toyota.

When I brought it in for servicing, I did get a chance to see the 4th gen. Prius. Wow, what a change but I can't say aesthetically to my liking right now. Something about it reminds me of the Subaru SVX.

The other thing that has been bothering me and numeorus Gen 3 owners is the road noise. I've read about Dynamat methods a while back but did not want to remove the car's panels just yet. At the same time I had to panels off, I also wanted to upgrade the speakers as well. I did accomplish the updates to the front last week and glad to report it was well worth it. The plan was the replace all 6 speakers in my non-JBL Navi system and sound dampen the doors all within a reasonable budget. More detail on speakers later after I gather up the part numbers but they def. sound better than stock speakers driven by the stock radio. For the sound dampening, I used "Peal and Seal" from Lowe's. Install took about 4 hours total for 4 front speakers and sound dampener the 2 front doors. I'm very happy with the results. Sound is improved in terms of clarity and range. Mainly the highs are improved over stock. The Peak and Seal definetily reduced the road noise by reducing the resonation from the sheet metal.

All I used for sound dampening was 3/4 of the $17 roll of Peal and Seal. It was well worth it. The doors clearly do not resonate as they did before. I am sure this was what added to the road noise on the freeway. Not only do you have the road noise from the tires but body panels resonate adding to it.

The stock speakers are as cheap as I have seen but I'm pretty amazed that even sound ok with how they are made!

 

The Prius deserves some attention... been neglected since I got the 911. Washed and waxed!

It's been a great car and trouble free to no surrpise. The Toyo A20 seems to already near end of it's life. I'm at just over 40k miles and I think maybe another 6k miles max?

 

Each is beautiful in it's own way.. clearly you're biased..