Repair-It

So let me preface this post by saying, "Yes, I modded a Prius." And it really wasn't all that bad, either...

Since going from my 02 Si to the Prius for my daily driver, I have found the Prius to be a little lacking in the chassis department. I started doing some research and found I wasn't alone. Most people recommended the front strut tower bar along with some under chassis bracing and the TRD rear sway bar. Eventually, I will probably do all of this, but I decided to start with the easy one first. As it turns out, installing the FSTB wasn't all that easy. I had to remove the wipers, wiper motor assembly and a bunch of other junk. When I showed it to my wife, she said, "you were out there for hours just to do that??"

Driving Impressions:

The ride does seem to be much better over bumps. The amount of shake and twist when you hit bumps is noticeably reduced. The Prius is one of the more flexible new cars on the market, so I think the benefit of the FSTB is greater than on many other more rigid new cars. I could be dreaming, but I think the steering feel may have improved slightly too. Cornering doesn't appear to be noticeably affected (I'll have to wait on the TRD rear sway bar for that).

Bob wrote:When I showed it to my wife, she said, "you were out there for hours just to do that??"

You haven't been married for very long but you'll find working on car time to be surprisingly enjoyable sometimes

Also, need moar pics of installation.

I should have taken some when I was working on it. I will take a completed picture once we have good weather again.

http://priuschat.com/threads/gen-iii-su ... ns.119534/

I plan to do all four of these at some point. It's reassuring that person posting thought the Cusco FSTB (the one I installed) was the hardest to install. It means the other ones should be a piece of cake.

I did the center underbody box brace and the front underbody bar brace install over the weekend. I would say both together represent a nice incremental improvement in rigidity. The steering seems less disconnected now and the car does appear to track better on the highway, which is interesting. The ride over bumps is also firmer and better feeling. I would say these bring the car up to what I would expect from an average 2012 model sedan in terms of chassis performance (it was really lacking before). The final mod is the rear sway bar, which I plan to do later this month.

I finally completed the fourth of four suspension mods this weekend when I installed the TRD rear sway bar. I would say the sum of these mods makes the Prius significantly better than a stock Prius and maybe on par with some average handling small to medium sized cars. The sway bar helps to reduce the body roll to an acceptable level and makes the car satisfying to take a corner in. The slow steering ratio is now the biggest detractor from the handling of the car. I can always swap the faster ratio rack from the Prius Five, but I think I'll stop here and consider it good enough.

I've still never driven, or ridden in, any Prius. Or maybe I rode in a Prius many years ago....I can't remember

I guess it was forgettable You will have to drive mine at some point now that it is modded properly. I think you'll find it's not nearly as bad as all the enthusiast publications make it out to me.