Reviews on the TRD Door Latches/Stabilizer

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Sootyblackhill

Lololol my bad I was just looking it up and the post popped up didn't even check the date sorry

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It is an easy trap to fall into.

[bcj]

Originally Posted by Sootyblackhill

I have them on mine I didn't order them though they were on it when I got the car what info do you need about them?

Do you like them?
Are they laterally stiff, yet vertically compliant? (bicycle joke)
Do they chafe and require ointment?

We need the long term on this burning issue.

[corry29]

Since this was made years ago,

I guess it is kind of okay for me to go Necromancer on this thread, since someone brought it back from the grave. This way all the new members can know whats up.

I've had the TRD door stabilizers since beginning of 2013(?), not sure, but I've had it long enough when these cars are still considered new to the public eye.

I'll be honest with you. These two-four pieces of metal makes almost-to-no difference whatsoever. Whether you're tracking it or just driving it to point A to point B, it does nothing.

Tracking, you can feel a SLIGHT improvement. To be honest, I'm not even sure if it's the placebo effect fxcking with me. But I guarantee you it's probably your other suspension components that's doing the improving. The TRD door stabilizer is just the cherry on top to the improvement. I mean, I guess it helps...
My door stabilizer was installed at the very end after my suspensions change.

Regular driving? It won't do jack-shit. It'll just give you an extra point in the cool department.

Should you get it? No. Only get it when you absolutely run out of ideas on how to spend your money. Or it should be the last thing on your list...

When I got these installed, I completely forgot about it the next day and on-wards, until a few months later when my co-worker sat in my car and then she noticed the extra shine and started playing with the reclining mechanism on the stabilizer. Then I was like, oh yeah my $150 dollars.....1 cool pt


Till today, these are just a cool factor, and a fun little thing to have to boost your car's ego.

I don't know about your bicycle joke though..
And ointment, not sure if it's a joke or a real question, but haha!




*edit: Now let's put this topic to rest

[ThomasKrown]

Originally Posted by DSOmegaX

For those that have installed this mod, did you guys have issues with door alignment after putting them on? And how can I adjust the position of the latch? My driver door now sits out more at the top rear portion of the door (not flush with the rear quarter panel). Also, the driver side door is noticeably harder to close (coupled with a clunking noise when closing, definitely making harder contact somewhere). No such issues with the passenger side.

I just received mine and have this same exact issue with the driver side door, did you figure out a fix?? I could really use some advice! Thank you

[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by ThomasKrown

I just received mine and have this same exact issue with the driver side door, did you figure out a fix?? I could really use some advice! Thank you

How did you install it?

The upper & lower bolt moves the metal piece inside the body. You loose both of them & tighten them as you check how much the plate in the back is rotating. (Door Stablizer rotates with that thing to a degree.... Since it sits on it)

Hope this helps.

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[chaoskaze]

Originally Posted by corry29

I've had the TRD door stabilizers since beginning of 2013(?), not sure, but I've had it long enough when these cars are still considered new to the public eye.

I'll be honest with you. These two-four pieces of metal makes almost-to-no difference whatsoever. Whether you're tracking it or just driving it to point A to point B, it does nothing.

Tracking, you can feel a SLIGHT improvement. To be honest, I'm not even sure if it's the placebo effect fxcking with me. But I guarantee you it's probably your other suspension components that's doing the improving. The TRD door stabilizer is just the cherry on top to the improvement. I mean, I guess it helps...
My door stabilizer was installed at the very end after my suspensions change.

Regular driving? It won't do jack-shit.


Till today, these are just a cool factor, and a fun little thing to have to boost your car's ego.

I don't know about your bicycle joke though..
And ointment, not sure if it's a joke or a real question, but haha!




*edit: Now let's put this topic to rest

I don't know about what placebo effect you feeling. But this thing makes the rear of the car moves @ a even pace when rear comes lose & stop the rear slingshoting to a good degree. Without it our car's rear wonders around more when it's unsettled.


Translation, it stops your rear from snapping back when it's on the lose.


But obviously if you get wider wheel/better suspension... You won't notice this unless you are going @ a much much higher speed?

But hey 150 is much cheaper then wider tires & new damper right?



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[Pointmutation]

My review of the TRD Door stabilizers...



Picked these up in Japan for a decent price. Just installed them a week ago. Initial impressions...



On installation... Fast and easy. 15-30min job depending how many pictures you wanna take of the process. Lol. The stock door latch screws were no problem to remove with just a socket wrench. I wouldn't want to try to loosen it with just a screwdriver though. No impact tools needed. I mean, if you're weak, then I guess a socket wrench might not be enough. But my socket wrench I used was only maybe 4-5". Not much leverage at all. Not sure why some people have harder time than others removing the stock patch screws. And yes, mine were covered in blue loctite.



Maybe all our crappy Hawaii roads jostled and vibrated my screws looser than normal. Haha. Install is pretty straight forward. Just be sure the door closes nicely before you tighten down the door latch completely.







Door closing... slightly lower in tone but barely noticeable. And by barely I mean I could only really tell the difference after installation on the first door by opening and closing the stabilized and unstabilized doors one after the other. The 'thunk' feels firmer as expected since there's extra metal and plastic wedged between the door and body now. As far as amount of force used to close the door, I haven't had it bounce back out on me unless very very gently intently closing the door, which is almost never. Mid-install I took a vid of opening and closing the stabilized side vs unstabilized side and advancing the video slowly I can see the unstabilized door bounces back and forth on the top by the window vs the stabilized door not doing that. Basically there's a firmer fit between door and car now.

Dive feel... Definitely better. FYI, I'm on stock suspension. Taking my driving mods slow here, wheels and tires were approx 5 months ago. Not sure how this change feels on a car with modded suspension bits. From the first drive, the car feels tighter. I'm talking about driving on the twisties here. Tight, hard, and fast turns. Tantalus and Round Top drive for you folks that know Oahu/Hawaii. The steering is more responsive to my inputs. Like there's less slop in the back end. Like the front and back of the car are more connected. Like the front and back move as a whole now instead of two separated pieces. I thought the steering response in this car was good before, it's better now.

In normal granny driving on regular roads and on the freeway I don't really notice a difference. And I don't have a track or wide sweeping turns to test this out on like people in more open areas on the mainland do.

The difference is in the winding twisty touge roads. (Side note: is there an English word for touge? Mountain pass doesn't seem to be the right word, and it's not canyon driving, mountain roads maybe?? I'll just call them twisties). Anyway, it's not a placebo effect as I know those twisty roads well and have to drive them in the dark even (middle of the night/early mornings with no sunlight and no street lamp posts around) where you'll need to trust your muscle memory more than your eyes, to take the turn at speed. Depending on work, I'm driving these roads 3-5x per week, 2-5 passes a day, so I know how my car feels on every turn of those roads. I noticed my steering inputs are different now to take the turn the way I normally want to. Different enough where I won't take the turns at my normal speeds in the dark until I get used to the new feel. And in case anyone asks, my tire pressures are fine.

Overall impression... Do you take your car to the limit on the twisties? If so, then this mod may be worth it to you. It's worth it to me and cheap enough where even if it did nothing, it's an extra shiny bling that says TRD on the BRZ. Haha. If you only drive like a granny and/or never on twisty roads, then money may be better spent elsewhere for your needs.

TL;DR - Car drives better on the sharp, tight, fast turns in the mountain twisties... And no real change in normal granny driving.

[therealstoly]

Installed, did a test drive, drove some more just to be sure, and gotta say, I'm impressed. NLSP has a lot of the same bracing I do and seeing his comments about these piqued my interest. Did a lot of searching/reading and kept a tally and in the end... a whole lotta people that don't have these declare placebo effect as a blind statement-of-fact and there are a few people that have them with mixed results/impressions/reviews.

People with Ole Factory making accusations of Placebo Effect with reckless abandon?
Sign me up.

One side effect I've noticed with my car is after installing all of the bracing I was getting a little bit of the interior crickets. Not squeaks or rattles per se but these little plasticy sounds... a little tinge of crashy but not chassis crashy. That little bit of annoyance in my left ear from the door/jamb/b-pillar junction area on roughish corners and joints in the road. I thought if these can help with that I'll be happy.

Installation is relatively easy and I'm gonna take a slight detour as there are several comments about getting the OEM screws out of the jamb. I think part of the problem people are having is they are using a phillips head screwdriver/bit. There isn't a single phillips head screw used in the manufacturing of JDM vehicles. They are JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) and although they look similar they are different enough to cause problems when dealing with screws that have been installed with a decent amount of torque and locktite.

revlimiter.net has an entire blog post on the differences and also sells them. You'll never use a phillips head screwdriver again. https://revlimiter.net/blog/2014/09/...-screwdrivers/

A few smacks of the Vessel impact screwdriver to knock the locktite loose and they came out quite easily. The door side of the installation required nothing more than the JIS screwdriver.

Took longer to type this out than to install. A few pictures.

Vessel JIS


OEM jamb screws came out with zero issues using the correct bit.








Review:
I really did think there was some sort of translation error and that error got the copy/paste treatment for every vendor that publishes in English. This effects steering? You're telling me that my car will cut in quicker and be more solidly planted in the nose with some door jamb piece? That's exactly what I'm telling you. It does. And as a bonus it has also addressed my interior irritations. Interior is much more solid in feel and quieter. Even with all the Cusco bracing this does make a noticeable difference. I didn't have a whole lotta crashy left to resolve and these do improve the driving experience and the behaviour of the car.

Worth it? I think so but then again I actually own these and have installed these so not sure my review is more relevant than the people that don't own these telling everyone how worthless they are.

As an aside, NLSP installed these as one of his first chassis improvements and reported he experienced noticeable improvement. I installed these as one of my last chassis improvements and have noticeable improvement.

[Spankopotomous]

9/10 for the discerning driver, highly recommended but TRD Tax is steep.

Install was 10 min, quick and easy. Just be sure to have the proper sized Philips head to prevent stripping.

Door closes with less rebound and vibration, satisfying audible *thunk* sound gives off a luxury car impression. These are the tangible differences that should sway your decision. If you are the kind of person that appreciates a nice closing car door, these stabilizers provide that level of satisfaction.

If you have no idea what I meant in that last sentence, then don't worry about it.
If it reduces driving door noise, it is not noticeable over road/wind/window noise.
If it is meant to improve chassis rigidity, it is a fractional improvement compared to other complementary chassis bracing options.

[sygfrid]

I have them for 3+ years now. IMO, this should be the 1st body stiffening mod to do without upsetting the balance of the car esp if you like driving on twisties

[RToyo86]

Did my install. It was painless process for me; around 10 minutes. #3 screwdriver on a 3/8 Rachet. Slow steady torque and broke all the bolts loose.
Can't comment on driving characteristics. Maybe I will update this post later if I feel anything is relevant. Only driven the car 5 minutes to the shops.



It certainly passes the thunk test. I must have done this at least twenty times per side
The window rattle is gone when as the door doesnt rebound as previously mentioned.
While driving on rougher roads there is less window rattle when you have it cracked open or partially down.

[KMA KiCKz]

Originally Posted by RToyo86

It certainly passes the thunk test. I must have done this at least twenty times per side
The window rattle is gone when as the door doesnt rebound as previously mentioned.
While driving on rougher roads there is less window rattle when you have it cracked open or partially down.

Had mine for about 2 weeks so far and I'm noticing the same results.

Closing the doors has become more satisfying.
Window rattle has gone down exponentially.

This could be a placebo affect for me but at least they look pretty.

[nemu-iii]

Had mine for about 1 week.
Since my car is manufactured in June 2012, the chassis screws has full threadlocker throughout the threads, and had to use a hammer impact screwdriver to remove the bolts, plus using WD-40 to have it "soak" overnight. Lesson learned is that the larger the hammer, the better to remove the old screws.

I can confirm that the above feeling of better door closing and window rattle is significantly reduced. As for lateral movement and stiffness, it's a simple way to marginally increase stiffness on an already stiff chassis. But, I have a BMW E46 at home and it has something similar to this door stabilizer to reduce and connect the gap between the door and chassis, so it seems that Aisin/TRD is doing great to emulate the concept.

[RToyo86]

Update for people who live in winter climate and wash your vehicle.

The door latch and pad on the door froze together and pulled the plastic pads off the door. Fortunately nothing was broken and I just reinstalled it. Something to keep an eye on, I will need to wipe the area down and ensure its dry from now on.

Secondly water got into the spring mechanism and froze up.


After driving the car and warming it up it appears to be mostly fully functional now.


I can't remember if I can take the assembly apart but I may consider using some silicone lube on the springs to mitigate this happening again.