LED Turn Signals, TRD Exhaust, TRD Rear Sway Bar

Donabed Kopoian

Donabed Kopoian

6 Speed Master
#1
#1
LED Turn signals are still a work in progress, but I will get those updated when I can (waiting on new sockets since I barely have enough wire to work with - that and the vampire clips that came with the load resistors are the wrong gauge. Instead, I will remove the old sockets and solder in the new ones with the load resistors).

Out of the box:


And into the car:



After centering the exhaust tip:


TRD Rear Sway Bar out of the box:


And installed in the car:


The exhaust is nice. Was hoping it would have more volume at higher rpm but the volume at idle and while cruising at 75 m.p.h. is perfect. The rear-sway bar make a HUGE difference in handling. I'm even considering not getting the Eibach springs because the rear-sway bar did such a great job on its own. Before I often got the VSC light to blink at me when cornering ... now I barely trigger it taking the turns at 5-10 m.p.h. quicker than I could before.

I'll update this thread when I get the LED turn signals installed. After that, I'll just have the LED high beams left.
 
JoshTRD

JoshTRD

New Member
#2
#2
love it!! and I'm not a mechanical expert but is installing the sway bar able to be done with just a socket wrench and some elbow grease right?:0 and btw how did you lift your car by its two back wheels? xD
 
Donabed Kopoian

Donabed Kopoian

6 Speed Master
#3
#3
JoshTRD said:
love it!! and I'm not a mechanical expert but is installing the sway bar able to be done with just a socket wrench and some elbow grease right?:0 and btw how did you lift your car by its two back wheels? xD
Click to expand...
You'll want a torque wrench, as you are tightening those bolts to 184 ft-lb. I had to use a piece of pipe on my ratchet as a cheater bar to get the old bolts out because they weren't budging. Don't guess torque on suspension, ever.

In the trunk, you'll see a donut with a rod sticking out of it. Put that on your jack (rod-side up), and you'll see where it goes just behind the center of the rear bumper cover. It is also in the manual.
 
Donabed Kopoian

Donabed Kopoian

6 Speed Master
#5
#5
The LED turns I got from Superbright LEDs. I'll post the part numbers along with the pictures when those parts get in and I finish installing them.

The high beams I haven't bought yet, but VLED came out with a 4500 lumen kit that I will pick up in the next couple months or so.
 
HanSolo

HanSolo

New Member
#6
#6
Keep us updated on the LED high beams and I know many of us are interested. As for the rear swaybar upgrade, practice caution and really get used to how it feels especially when cornering around flawed pavement. The additional rigidity means that there is less articulation in the rear. This means that when cornering around flawed pavement, it could potentially result in one of the rear tires not being in contact in pavement. The additional rigidity also makes your vehicle much more prone to oversteer which can be dangerous if it happens unpredictably.
 
Donabed Kopoian

Donabed Kopoian

6 Speed Master
#7
#7
So far the car is incredibly balanced. Before the rear sway bar upgrade, the understeer was horrid (I used to have to hit the brakes to load the front of the car and jerk the wheel into a corner to induce a slight oversteer going in, now I don't have to do that anymore). I've driven my share of RWD vehicles so I'm familiar with preventing oversteer and managing it when it does happen.

I'm taking corners at 5 - 10 mph faster than I used to and feel more confident that I can push the car a little harder. Best suspension upgrade there is for this car.
 
HanSolo

HanSolo

New Member
#8
#8
I keep forgetting that you must have the S. In my LE premium with the fake leather seats(only way Toyota lets you get the heated seats), I can't take corners very hard as my ass slides right out. I did test drive a 6 speed S which had nicely supported seats, but then common sense came over me as I knew that this Corolla would be spending lots of its time in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic.
 
Donabed Kopoian

Donabed Kopoian

6 Speed Master
#9
#9
Yup, S+ 6MT.

I have the Softex seats with the cloth inserts. The seats surprisingly have pretty good lateral support (better than my '82 and '96 Mustang GT did), so I don't slide around much at all. Kinda wish Toyota gave 6MT cars the option for the power heated seats, but since I live in SoCal, it would just be more bragging right (the car is LOADED) than anything else. I'm the only driver for the car so I don't need power seats anyway, but the heated seats would have been nice when I travel up to Reno in the winter time.
 
Donabed Kopoian

Donabed Kopoian

6 Speed Master
#21
#21
I have a separate thread on the LED High Beams (finally, took me a while to get them in). Worth every dime. If you search here for "VLEDS LMZ 4500 Lumen" the thread should pop up.

I still need to get pics of the side markers, as I got those done as well.
 
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