Increase handing

[MR 988]

hello everyone,

I am thinking to increase more handing for my camry 2003 sportivo , and i have lowered for 2 inch, so anything i should get for that car in order to increase handing? rear sway bar? control arms? any good suggestions? thanks a lot

Edited June 9, 2009 by eric123

[lateralus]

apart from lowering, the easiest "bolt-on" handling mods are:

thicker rear sway bar (whiteline offer a 19mm for around the $200 mark)

better tyres

larger and wider rims

more rigid front strut brace

you can go for harder springs (if you havent already)

better rotors (eg. dba slotted)

better pads (mind you performance pads are relatively dusty, thats for you to weigh up if you can be stuffed keeping them clean)

or you can venture where no camry owner has gone before and start upgrading:

get 18" wheels to allow more brake room, then upgrade the front rotors to those of the old chevy corvette (yes it will fit!)

upgrade the brake calipers to pbr twin pistons on the front

faster ratio steering rack, with stiffer rack bushes

but we can all keep dreaming for the latter :P

[RoM2nV]

Change it from FWD to AWD! :D

[mulla]

Highly recommend the Whiteline rear sway bar. Just got it upgraded a month ago and definately noticed the immediate effect. Although, mine isn't lowered only had a tyre / rim upgrade on it. Effects on a lowered car might be less dramatic?

Sorry to hijack:

lateralus - Do you know if adding a front strut brace to a 2005 Altise will make much effect in handling improvements? Approximate costs? :)

[MR 988]

ok, thanks guys, and how much for the sway bar and installation? around 250? could u tell me any improvement that u can really feel after u installed the sway bar? also, i read other messages before, they said it would make some noize because the bar hit the the body of car, did that happen to u as well? cheers

[mulla]

I think I paid $205 for the sway bar itself and $70 for installation. I did experience a clonking noise whenver I hit a pot hole on the left rear shortly after installation due to the sway bar moving to one side due to my hard cornering ;) Took it back and they've put some clips in place to prevent it from moving again. Now it runs perfectly no weird noises *touch wood*

[lateralus]

you will notice significantly more reponse from the front end with a strut brace. more so going from nothing to having one, rather than strengtening the one youve already got.

if you're eager and have some muscles, just install it yourself (getting the thing undone is a bitch, haha). the reason some people get funny bumps and noises from upgrading the sway bar, is EVERYBODY FOGETS THE LATERAL LOCKING BUSHES!!!!

get 2 of those (whiteline sell 2 for $25 in 20mm, or go to pedders and get some), and put one next to each of the d-mounts and youll be right. i did that straight away, and i havent had any problems.

[mbruce]

I installed a Sportivo strut brace on my Altise, and in my experience I found the strut brace to make not that much difference, but it may just be me. Unless you’re the sort of person that likes the push the car to its limits I wouldn’t worry. But if you do want one, get the whiteline adjustable brace, as it would be stiffer that the Sportivo one I imagine, unless you can get a Sportivo one from a wrecker.

But in regard to the sway bars, I highly recommend you get one, it is the best bang for buck handling mod you can do for sure. There are two 20mm bars made by whiteline, the BTR39 and BTR39Z adjustable which is what I have. I also have a front adjustable one which is no longer on the site, so not sure if they are still made, but I found that to make a good difference also.

I have seen the Gen 5 on coilovers before in Aus, so they must be available, but maybe a bit of overkill unless your wanting to take it to the track. So alliteratively you would be best lowing it on some King springs and maybe KYB struts or some other brand.

Edited June 12, 2009 by mbruce

[prometheus]

Cheapest handling mod ever ..... add another 5 psi to each tyre.

;-)

[STYLSH]

Install the RSB yourself! Its only 4 or so bolts on each side! I even managed to install mine without taking any of the wheels off lol. But it would be heaps easier if you took at least 1 off though.

[herman munster]

hi there, I have a 99 camry touring which already has thicker front and rear sway bars, stiffer springs and gas shocks. I notice the whiteline sway bar at the back is pretty popular handling mod. is it likely to make much of a difference to my car as it already has to stiffer rear sway bar from the factory?