What have you done to your c today?

Today I installed a trailer hitch. As is typical with hitch bars, it wasn’t going to fit without modification. I got some nice heavy stainless steel spacers to cure the misfit and it’s perfect now.

The surprise was that the wiring kit was also a misfit. Seems to have been made for the liftback prius, though the instructions that came with it clearly (!) stated that this was for a “PRUIS C”. Some of the pictures showed a c, others showed the liftback.

Either way the connectors mate up properly, but the wires aren’t the right length. Had to extend a few lines.

 

I touched up a detail on the trailer wiring system today and while I was working back there I added a Chek-a-Spare hose to the spare tire- so now I can read the pressure and top up the spare without removing it.

 

What type/brand of plasti-dip did you use? & where’d you buy it?

 

What did you use for the backup cam? The little red c is the only vehicle we have w/o the backup camera (because it was manufactured in 2014), and we are kind of missing it

 

Today I thought I was successful installing my Cusco tower strut bar!!

Until I realized that it wasn't really solid. It still moved a bit.
I checked the nuts and found I had somehow managed to shear off almost all of the bolts. So had to go back and remove everything.


Thanks to Brandon for the installation advice. But somehow either my torque wrench wasn't calibrated properly, I replaced the wrong kind of nut for the job or it was crappy materials. I've contacted Cusco USA to see if there are any replacement brackets.

 

You beat me too it! I just installed a Tanabe Sustec tower brace today and was going to post pictures but forgot to take them... Tomorrow though!

Also how did you reach into the wheel well to tighten the bolts? Did you take the suspension springs off or just wing it? And another question, does your bar allow access to that (what i presume is a fuse box) on the driver side?

 

The Cusco bar has a bracket that goes in from the wheel well. The bolts are welded to the bracket and point upwards, so when you add the bracket the bolts stick out through those holes near the top of the suspension. I had to lift the car and just reach up to insert them in the right place. Without lifting the car the suspension is under load and you can't fit the bracket in.

Unfortunately I didn't have the bar in long enough to worry about access to the fuse box. After I found I shredded the bolts I had to go back in and remove all pieces. But the bar piece can be easily removed to access the engine.

 

I had no problems with the nuts and bolts with that bracket. It’s just the adjusting where you’re square takes a bit.

 

Ah, the tanabe one has a bolt that isn't welded to the bracket so I had to put the bolt in from the bottom with the car lifted and have my girlfriend tighten it with the nut from above. This is all while I tried to hold the bolt in place with my hand tangled through the suspension coil. And also the bracket on the tanabe lays flush ontop of the fuse box so theres no access without loosening the bracket.

For anyone interested, the brace I used is called the
Tanabe TTB168F Sustec Tower Bar

 

We put the new towing kit to work today, I rented a 5’x8’ utility trailer from the local bigbox home improvement store so we could move some equipment that could not possibly fit in the cabin. Both hitchbar and lighting interface worked as advertised.

We were clearly up on the edge of max payload, but it never felt unsafe. Just slow. Really slow. Especially when I had to stop halfway up a 10% grade for a traffic situation- getting going again was very g r a d u a l . I had picked the route carefully to avoid the freeway and the densest traffic.

Result: we moved the goods and saved about $50 vs renting a truck. A couple more like that and the whole kit will have paid for itself. Bonus: now I’m all set for my bike carrier too! Maybe 34MPG during the heavy hauling.

Also, We got a compliment on the matching orange color of the combination.

 

Oooh, you so strong... That sucks, but I'm sure Cusco will help you out.

 

It was just under $50 on amazon.
AIE - Rear Camera Interface Kit for (2012-2015 Select Models) of Toyota w/ 6.1" LCD Radio Screen – Includes Drill-in Camera

My C is a three, so it already had the LCD screen for navigation.

 

I didn't know I could do that!

 

Put the TRD sway bar in, you can see bits of it peeking out. The front strut bar makes the car feel a lot more stable around the corners, but doesn't actually improve cornering at high speeds. But rear sway bar actually allows you to take those corners faster... My lifetime mpg has dropped from 55.8 to 55.0 since I installed it cause it's much more fun to drive! But normal driving has no mpg hit.

 

Wrapped My C with 17x7.5 +40 offset wheels. Rolling on 215/45/17s. Lowered on Tanabe DF210s. Front spring change took a long time. Rear springs took less than 10 minutes LOL

 

I replaced the drivers side axle. That fixed the ticking noise I was hearing from the front wheel.

 

Before all the mods.

 

I had my C washed ($9.00 at Sheetz, with polish) and took a picture of it ... does it qualify for an honorable place here?

 

Woke up this morning to this.... ugh.