What did you do to ur Gen III Prius today????

From what I've seen it's some gimmick to "realign" the subframe by centering the bolts. The claims however... better handling, better braking.... the subframe is centered from factory, so unless it was removed at some point, I doubt it would be off.

 

Hahaha “Gimmick”

Love your skepticism but it does help with the alignment of the chassis

As a Mechanic working on Cars like the Prius, I have come across Cars that you can visually see the frame misalignment. Not from an accident but from the accepted tolerances Toyota has approved from assembly at the Manufacturer Plant


iPhone ?

 

Okay, thanks!

 

OOOkay, HOW can the frame be misaligned? Unless it's bent.
Is the Prius frame in pieces, and bolted together?
NOT being sarcastic, I've just never know a frame that needed any piece to align it.

 

Very good question!

It’s all about the subframe and the mating to the body.

Our cars are assembled on the factory by Robots. So when mating to the subframe to frame, Toyota has tolerances where there is room to mate up at a degree of error.

When pulling down the subframe you can visually see the tolerances, so when reinstalling you can mate both pieces together easily.

Unfortunately when installing some Cusco sway bars, you will need to pull down the subframe for an install. Visually I have seen it and it’s a slight gap for error when installing back up.


iPhone ?

 

I'm a mechanic in a Toyota dealer and my skepticism comes from that... Sure, it's a good thing if it's properly aligned, but their claims are just ridiculous.

- Improved handling: Your subframe would need to be seriously out of wack and mess your alignment for those inserts to improve the handling.

- Improved steering response: How? Steering rack remains the same, shocks remains the same. It's not like the subframe is moving without those inserts.

- Improved better braking: Again, how?

- Offer precise turning angle: By doing what? Everything else is the same!

- Reduced vibration: There's now a smaller contact area between the body and the subframe. If anything, I'd see this as allowing more flex and possibly more noises.

- Reduced noise: Unless those are made out of rubber, doubt that.

- Promote comfort cabin: Sitting normally VS sitting upside down would do the same.

- Pro-long undercarriage parts life span: Now what?

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I called it a gimmick for a reason. If they were simply saying that it's to properly center the subframe to ensure that you're not compensating for a crooked subframe when doing an alignment, I'd be "fine" with it.


Slightly less off-topic. Boredom from being at home due to the whole pandemic situation made me install the air horns I had on my matte green Corolla...

 

So the terminology is not really correct. It's the sub frame and/or body attaching to the frame.
I can see for the average car, close enough is good enough. An alignment will offset the difference.
I guess it probably wouldn't hurt to use that product, but it probably doesn't do a whole lot.
Thanks for the info!!!!! Ya learn sumthin new every day!

 

I truly understand your skepticism and myself at a time could not understand how these collars would make any difference at all.

Well - back in 2012 after I purchased my PiP, I took the blind faith and ordered the original Spoon collars as my first mod. The collars at that time were 8 pieces (4 for front subframe) (2 per side for the rear)

Indeed it made a difference in the above statements you pointed out. Hell I took the car on the Track to really push the car.

I am not trying to promote this product to you, but to give you a real world experience that it really works. But for the average day Prius Driver such as yourself - save your money and pass on this.


iPhone ?

 

Pretty cool how they do the installation.

As they've been doing it for 25+ years (when I first saw that stuff in my work), it is a combo of people and special purpose assembly machines. Maybe not general purpose enough to call these things robots, although many people do.

For the stuff I used to work with, almost every single operation, including engine installation took 60 seconds, or whatever speed they were running the line at. Think about that next time you get an estimate from your mechanic. Really amazing to see.

Here's a video. In case youtube does not cue it up, then engine goes in at 1:18.

I have no reason to think that Toyota's procedure and tolerances are not good enough in this area.

 

Very interesting. Maybe 10 years ago we got the tour of Toyota's plant in Georgetown, KY. But as I watched the video I was wondering what kind of cross checks they have to make sure that a fastener hasn't been missed or a bolt or nut not tightened to spec., or maybe even missed altogether?

 

Those vides are nifty! THANKS!

 

Cut fenders, places flares and got wide Maybe going lower whatchuthink

 

the more you stretch your tires the better....

why don't you buy appropriate tires to the rim size ?

 

How wide are the flares?

 

2.28in Front an 2.56in Rear

 

It’s basically just for the style your going for and for better wheel well clearance running wide rims on a car.

 

Finished installing the front and rear collars (18 piece set) Man did it make a difference . No more flex

 

well, nothing wrong with the look
I would just be concerned about the stretched tires /

 

Installed a Miller CatShield:

 

This truly is the real deal for protection of theft.