Lakitu's Toyota 86 Journal

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Any plans to lower?

Absolutely! Ordering BC Racing coilovers today!

[Clipdat]

Is there still time to not order or cancel the order?

Save up and get something nicer...

Originally Posted by Lakitu

Absolutely! Ordering BC Racing coilovers today!

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by Clipdat

Is there still time to not order or cancel the order?

Save up and get something nicer...

There's time to still cancel, but I was sold on the price, fair amount of reviews on youtube, and expect it to be fairly cheap and entry-level. What would you recommend instead?

I've spoken with some friends and they told me BC Racing is the best budget coilovers you can buy to get lowered without much hassle, at the cost of full adjustability. Though, it's not what they run on their cars. They recommended against it if going for racing or tracking. I know at least one of them mentioned dropping $5,000+ on suspension alone, lol.

[Clipdat]

In that price range I would go for Tein over BC. Just my opinion.

Originally Posted by Lakitu

There's time to still cancel, but I was sold on the price, fair amount of reviews on youtube, and expect it to be fairly cheap and entry-level. What would you recommend instead?

I've spoken with some friends and they told me BC Racing is the best budget coilovers you can buy to get lowered without much hassle, at the cost of full adjustability. Though, it's not what they run on their cars. They recommended against it if going for racing or tracking. I know at least one of them mentioned dropping $5,000+ on suspension alone, lol.

[Lakitu]

WTF, I lost 3 paragraphs of everything I was typing because stupid session timed out...

Long story short, I started installing open-ended Muteki lug nuts and couldn't get some of the OEM ones off. Took it to the shop that installed my wheels. They tried to loosen one but broke the wheel stud. Told me I need new studs and $200 for labor. I politely decline.


I'll do it myself when I do my brake upgrade. It can't be that hard with the right tools and resources. Internet ftw.

[DustinS]

Originally Posted by Lakitu

WTF, I lost 3 paragraphs of everything I was typing because stupid session timed out...

Long story short, I started installing open-ended Muteki lug nuts and couldn't get some of the OEM ones off. Took it to the shop that installed my wheels. They tried to loosen one but broke the wheel stud. Told me I need new studs and $200 for labor. I politely decline.


I'll do it myself when I do my brake upgrade. It can't be that hard with the right tools and resources. Internet ftw.

I hate when that happens.

Studs aren't awful to replace. You might need a slide hammer to get the rear hubs off if you live where they salt for winter.

[Lakitu]

Coilovers and brake kit came in, but have the coilovers are for a Cadillac CTS and the brake kit is missing 2 rotors. Fabulous!

[Lakitu]

Frustrating... Been smooth sailing up until the very last few mods of my phase 1 todo list. So, I have been told rear rotors are not included in the brake kit. So, everything else came in fours except rotors. That doesn't make sense. How can this be called a kit? So now I have to order 2 more rotors which happens to fall below the $200 minimum for free shipping. So either spend another $20 on some misc part that I don't need right now, or fork out for shipping. That's awesome.

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by Lakitu

Long story short, I started installing open-ended Muteki lug nuts and couldn't get some of the OEM ones off. Took it to the shop that installed my wheels. They tried to loosen one but broke the wheel stud. Told me I need new studs and $200 for labor. I politely decline.
.

Whoa whoa whoa..broken studs on a 2017 car?


Who tightened your lug nuts last?? I would take it back there and demand they repair it.

Sounds like whoever tightened them last either cross threaded them and/or blasted the lugs on with an impact and not a torque wrench.

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

Whoa whoa whoa..broken studs on a 2017 car?


Who tightened your lug nuts last?? I would take it back there and demand they repair it.

Sounds like whoever tightened them last either cross threaded them and/or blasted the lugs on with an impact and not a torque wrench.

The same company that put the wheels/tires on were the last to touch the lug nuts. I initially just thought they were over-torqued so I took the car to them to have the lug nuts loosened and torqued to proper spec so I can get them off myself to do my upgrades, and they broke a stud off and tried to charge me for it!

Instead of throwing a fit, I decided to just take this as an opportunity to learn to do it myself, and save myself money in the future if it happens again.

But what sucks is I can't think of any way to safely put new tires on wheels and balance myself, other than taking it to a shop... My trust of mechanics continues to grow thin.

After some research, its apparent that the studs used on these cars are fairly cheap, all the more reason to NOT use an air wrench on them. I am replacing the studs with ARPs that have really excellent reviews and doing the install myself. Replacing rotors anyway, so its just one more thing to do before I'm finished.

[JeremyR]

If possible, perhaps put your car on jack stands and take the wheels/tires in to be balanced yourself?

I'm guessing you took it to a big box tire shop maybe? It's probably time to find a new shop! A performance-based one if possible.

I used to work at a run-of-the-mill tire shop and you wouldn't believe the kind of shit they do.

[Lakitu]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

If possible, perhaps put your car on jack stands and take the wheels/tires in to be balanced yourself?

I'm guessing you took it to a big box tire shop maybe? It's probably time to find a new shop! A performance-based one if possible.

I used to work at a run-of-the-mill tire shop and you wouldn't believe the kind of shit they do.

Yeah that was my mistake. I went to a generic tire shop that didn't specialize in performance. To be honest I'm not even sure if those guys even take pride in their work. Probably just working for a paycheck. I'll tell you one thing, its not happening again.

[Lakitu]

After a lot of cuts, bruises, aching muscles, sweat and swearing, I managed to install the BC Racing coilovers. Job took me about 15 hours total, but I tried to do the stainless steel lines, rotors, and hub studs all in the same job and ran into issues. Started with driver side and couldn't get the damn rotor free from the hub so that knocked 2 things off my immediate task list for the day, and then when trying to replace the brake lines I stripped the brake line fitting where the host clip is. Instructions called for 10mm flare nut wrench and I thought I could just do it with a 10mm normal wrench. I was wrong. I should have realized something was wrong when after the very first attempt the wrench skidded off of it. I kept trying and worsened it until I realized something was wrong. Brake lines off my list for now.



So, went ahead and just installed the coilovers and Red Stuff brake pads. Coilovers were not easy, spent about 5 of the 15 hours total. Specifically the rear. The coilovers arrived super collapsed and threw me off a lot. Getting the lower control arm in the right position so that the coilovers, end link and whatever that other thing on the driver side is..holy crap... I swear this is a two-man job - having someone just to hold stuff in place and check the nuts that go through the other side of the control arm would be awesome.



So I finish up, put the wheels on, let the car down, torque the lug nuts. Start it up, press the brakes and foot sinks to the bottom. "FUCK." So had to take the wheels lose again, bleed the brakes. By this time I've made no ride height adjustment and it looks just like stock. My motivation went from 100% to 10%, just enough to get things done as minimal a way as possible. Started out ready to get shit done, as the photo shows below. Started at 2pm sat, went to bed at 6am sun. Hands look like I put them into a blender.

[Lakitu]

Preparation