Too Much Body Sway - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

Guest Buckeyeman

I have a 2001 CE 5-speed and I'm thinking about changing the sway bars to the Hocthkis kit #22421. When I travel on the e-way in a straight line the car feels unstable like your in a fish bowl. It doesn't feel safe, too much body wobble. Are the struts too soft and that's what's causeing this, or do I need to add a strut tower brace also? This car has excessive body sway from side to side going in a straight line at highway speeds.

I'm not trying to make an autocrosser out of this car, just increase the stability and safety.

I felt the same way about my '01 Rolla LE. I added a front strut bar and it make a very noticeable difference. It really tightened up the front end especially on high speed turns. Good luck with Hotchkis--I have been waiting for 3 months for these clowns and every time I ask how much longer they say a few more months!

Also, I just lowered the car about 1 inch all around and that gave the car a much sportier feel.

Springs may be getting too soft for you. Could upgrade to performance ones - also a good time to replace the struts. if both are found to be shot. Might want to upgrade the tires - best performance upgrade for the money. If your tire pressure and wear is not equal front and rear, left and right - car will have weird high speed behavior. If your not going to Auto-X - this kit is kinds overkill for the street - but depends on what you want out of it. I just upgraded my front pads and plus 2 the wheels - night and day difference in straight line stability and more confidence in cornering. The Hotchkis kit is pretty decent - but more chAssis modifications need to be made to get favorable results from the kit. ChAssis stiffness is not bad - but the Corolla is far from a "sporty" car.

Good Luck.

Fish is right. I also upgraded my tires to Kumho plus zero and that made a cornering difference also. How many miles on your '01 CE?

Guest Buckeyeman

Springs may be getting too soft for you. Could upgrade to performance ones - also a good time to replace the struts. if both are found to be shot. Might want to upgrade the tires - best performance upgrade for the money. If your tire pressure and wear is not equal front and rear, left and right - car will have weird high speed behavior. If your not going to Auto-X - this kit is kinds overkill for the street - but depends on what you want out of it. I just upgraded my front pads and plus 2 the wheels - night and day difference in straight line stability and more confidence in cornering. The Hotchkis kit is pretty decent - but more chAssis modifications need to be made to get favorable results from the kit. ChAssis stiffness is not bad - but the Corolla is far from a "sporty" car.
Good Luck.

I ordered the Hotchkis kit from NOPI for $239 and they said it would be direct shipped from the mfg. (hurry up and wait) I'm going to try this first and see if it tightens things up. I hate to change springs and struts on a car with only 11K miles on it, plus I really don't want to lower the car. I've been researching aftermarket spring mfgs. and most of them refuse to give you spring rates. How can you make a good decision on a purchase if you don't know what the spring rates are. I called TRD and they said the ones for the 98-01's were rated at FRONT 29nm (255 in. lbs.) and REAR 36nm (317 in lbs.). I would think the stiffer ones would be up front, he also said the fronts are Progressive and the rears were Linear.

This car is a daily driver, not an auto-x'er, just want to increase stability. If this isn't enough should I change springs with stock struts or vise-a-versa?

320 posts

I upgraded tires and didn't even change the size, and it made an incredible difference in handling without much change in ride.

Guest Buckeyeman

I upgraded tires and didn't even change the size, and it made an incredible difference in handling without much change in ride.

You took off the Michelin MXV4's and switched to what?

Dave has a good - tire upgrade is the best bang for your buck mod you can do to almost any car. That Hotchkis will help, if indeed, the car had some chAssis issues giving you that funny highway behavior which may not be helped with a tire switch.

You are correct that most manufactures don't list spring rates for their components. The fact that you are even aware of spring rates - means 1. You are smart and 2. You'll least likely to get screwed. That's why lots of springs and coil-overs end up on eBay and such - people get them because it would be "cool" and end up having the car ride like $hit.

Those spring rates sound about right. Being a FWD car - increasing the spring rate up front will increase understeer, increasing the tendancy of the car to push in turns. A good thing for a FWD - can't really steer out of a spin as well as a RWD. Progressive rates are recommended for soem FWD because of the weight distribution and stiffness of the chAssis subframe.

If you want to go with aftermarket springs - most will lower the car - you will have to get new struts because the OEM cannot handled the reduced ride height. Usually why some are sold as a set - the struts have a shorter body and valved differently for the revised spring rates.

I'd try the Hotchkis kit when you get it to see if the ride gets better. This assumes that the alignment and tire quality are all good. Adjustable struts may be the better answer - you can dial in more or less valving, depending on your tastes. Upside is you generally can keep the OEM springs and ride height - with the relatively low miles you have, I doubt they are shot.

Guest steronz

I think you made a good move with the sway bars. Don't bother with a strut tower brace or any other goofy tie-bar type things... those will help keep the chAssis from twisting during hard corning, but you won't notice them for normal driving. Sway bars will have the same effect as slightly stiffer springs without killing your ride quality.

Guest Buckeyeman

fishexpo101:

You wouldn't happen to know what the stock OEM spring rates are?

So what your saying is, keep the OEM springs and add aftermarket adjustable struts if the sway bars aren't enough.

Too bad they don't make spring rubbers for this car like they use in NASCAR just to see if makes a difference.

I'll keep everyone up to date once I get the sway bar kit installed.

I hate to say this, but if want a better handling car, you should have gotten a Civic. It's lower and has a much bettter suspension set-up. The corolla's simple MacPhereson strut design is 2 things.... 1) cheap 2) saves space.

My '03 Corolla had more truck space than my '04 Accord Coupe that's longer wider and heavier. The Accord has less interior space becasuse the supesnion is a multilink design. But on the opther hand, it tracks the pavemtn much bette. It never chatters or skips over buymps in turns and has less dive under braking.

You wouldn't happen to know what the stock OEM spring rates are?
So what your saying is, keep the OEM springs and add aftermarket adjustable struts if the sway bars aren't enough.

I'm not 100% sure - but they are something like 125lb/in in the front and like 100 lb/in in the rears. I believe that they flipped the spring rates on the newer Corollas (2003+) because they when to a torsion beam rear axle instead of the multi-link we have. Unless you noticed your ride height has dropped or is uneven - chances are your OEM springs are OK. But I know that the OEM struts are just adequate for all around driving. During "spirited" driving - they really don't give you that much control - adjustable struts may be the ticket. But if plan to go the coil-over option eventually - I'd just try out the sway kit first and see how things go.

Good Luck.

Guest Buckeyeman

I hate to say this, but if want a better handling car, you should have gotten a Civic. It's lower and has a much bettter suspension set-up. The corolla's simple MacPhereson strut design is 2 things.... 1) cheap 2) saves space.

Trust me, I would have never bought this car if I had a choice. My aunt is no longer able to drive because of her health and age, so she offered it to me for $3K with 10K miles on it. What would you do?

I currently own 2 Civics, a '92 VX and a '00 Si

My wife has a '04 Solora SE Sport V-6

Guest Buckeyeman

Good luck with Hotchkis--I have been waiting for 3 months for these clowns and every time I ask how much longer they say a few more months!

Well I called Hotchkis to find out where my sway bar kit is that I ordered from NOPI back in July. I talked to a guy named Drew and he say's it will be finished Friday 8/13 and will be shipped out. So I'll keep everyone posted if I get it or just got some more smoke blowed up my A_ _.

Guest Buckeyeman

Just bringing everyone up-to-date. I called NOPI today (8/27) and they called Hotchkis and the sway bar kit is being shipped out today......FINALLY!!!

So I will let you know once their installed if there's any improvement.

Guest nomad17

I also have a Hotchkis kit on the way, mainly to better balance the understeer that keeps me pointed straight but takes all the fun away. My stock right rear strut was blown by 20k miles, that may be part of your straight line stability problem.

Guest djwolford

Try monkeywrench racing for the hotchkis corolla kit, they can hook you up with everything that hotchkis has to offer. Also, grab some falken azenis tires and you won't be disappointed.