Difference in aftermarket support for FRS and the BRZ.
 

Now that price and options are mostly confirmed, I see a lot of threads and news about aftermarket support (body kits, strut bars, suspension stuff, etc). Thing is, I realize that a lot of them are for the FRS/86, at least for the news that are relevant to north america anyways. I realized stuff like the fiveaxis body kit (especially the wing :wub:) are something i would really like but I am in the BRZ boat as of now. Question is, will these parts be interchangeable between these two cars?

Everything except front lips should be compatible between models.

As old greg mentioned, the only major difference is the front bumper. Outside of that, most everything is the same. What I will find funny is when people start adding TRD accessories to the BRZ...........because they are interchangeable, that's just gonna be FUNNY! :eyebulge:

What makes that FUNNY?

It's funny, because TRD stands for Toyota Racing Development (their in-house tuning shop). While there have been plenty of vehicles released over the years that shared platforms and various components, it is not commonplace to use parts that are branded by a different car manufacturer.

Umm.... we've been told that the suspension tuning is not the same, courtesy of different spring rates and shock valving. Both cars' suspensions are very carefully tuned. It's not clear to me that piecewise suspension component changes will have the same effect on both cars.

Parts compatibility? Yes. Same handling outcome? I'm not so sure...

We've got forum members who've crawled through each car's suspension. Can anyone who's examined both cars shed some light on this?

TRD = A company that contracts other aftermarket companies to build their parts so they can put their branding on it. For example, if I remember correctly, the TRD springs for the 7th gen Celica were made by Eibach.

Seems perfectly sound to put TRD parts on my BRZ to me :thumbsup: *



*Assuming I want to pay the markup for TRD parts

Not completely true. There were TRD Japan springs (aka Toyota Technocraft) for the Celica which were different than TRD USA Celica springs. Same is true for their exhausts and parts for other cars such as the MR2 Spyder. Not sure if TRD Japan parts are developed in-house or also outsourced but from my experience I found TRD Japan parts more reliable/developed than TRD USA parts.

thats only for the stock suspension.

put the same set of Hipermax Pro on either the BRZ or 86, it will end up the same

I think Toyota/BRZ intentionally made parts interchangeable between the twins knowing owners would mix and match. For example, the useless side grill is a customization piece (I expect the aftermarket to jump in on this one) that will be swapped. I'm thinking of putting a Scion front bumper or even NUR-spec or TRD kit on my BRZ (though I prefer keeping everything original). People will be swapping headlights and dashboard panels. I find no shame in it. It's part of the fun of ownership/customization for those who are into that sort of thing which will help this car be a huge success.

The 'T' in TRD stands for Toyota. Regardless of where any of their parts was engineered, it's going to feel tied in to Toyota. Having that slapped onto a car from a competing manufacturer seems funny to me.

It reminds me of the late 90's, seeing GTR badges on Preludes. I sure as hell wouldn't ever buy a keyboard or mouse with the Apple logo, regardless of how nicely it slid into my USB port. Something just feels off when the "wrong" company is attached to the product.

Except in this case, both manufacturers were collaborating. There's a huge Toyota "T" on the BRZ (see: http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/07/t...86-subaru-brz/) which is the same "T" patterned on interior panels and the FR-S front grille. The power steering and auto gearbox are Toyota units as is the D4-S technology. And Subaru-stamped parts are all over the FR-S.

The only difference is in the springs and dampers. If you change them out for aftermarket items you'll have the same handling characteristics. The differences in stock handling are subtle.

I am curious about the differences in shape between the FR-S and BRZ headlights. If the outer contours are the same, then any bodykit that replaces the front bumper should fit both cars with a minimum of fuss (we don't know if the mounting points underneath are the same).

This is correct, TRD USA is often rebranded parts from other manufacturers, or exclusive parts developed/engineered by another company for TRD USA.

TRD Japan on the other hand develops almost all of their parts in-house and they are of higher quality. They are far more "OEM" performance parts than you'll get from TRD USA. You'll get things like engine mounts that were made in the same factory/mould as the factory ones, but with harder rubber, or shocks/springs made by the OEM companies to TRD's engineering specs (versus relabelling Eibach springs, etc.).

In short, and generally speaking (tldr): TRD Japan is very high quality stuff, but it's going to cost you. TRD USA sells parts made for them by other companies, so they're basically aftermarket parts distributed and supported by Toyota and Toyota's warranty.

Jeff