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Toyota Echo Accessories and Modifications

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Comments

  • mnmanmnman Member Posts: 36
    echoecho7- so I take it that you didn't get a Rostra electronic cruise? I put a Rostra in and it is the smoothest cruise I have ever had! But I have not driven many luxury cars...

    I took the Echo in for a flush/fill on the brake fluid tonight, kinda surprised Toyota didn't use a dot 4 or 5 rated fluid in the car. I have a 180 mile trip in it tomorrow, chow for now.
  • kneisl1kneisl1 Member Posts: 1,694
    Well Dot 5 bf is based on silicone or something so, hell no, you dont want to use it in your ECHO! It would just gum up the works! Dot 4 is just "improved" Dot 3. Who knows what that means? My new Yaris takes Dot 3 also.
  • dakedake Member Posts: 131
    edited June 2010
    Alright gang - I bit the bullet and ordered these: Raceinpsired.com Tein basic coilovers - does anyone have any experience with them?
  • kneisl1kneisl1 Member Posts: 1,694
    No I have no idea what they are made for. Racing or something? (with an ECHO?)
  • dakedake Member Posts: 131
    Well, not really for racing, but just for tightening up the body roll a bit on the Echo. I figure I'm going to be driving this car for a while yet and my only complaint has always been squishy suspension. It's not like I'll be out doing road courses in this, but it'd be nice if it stayed even a little flatter through the bends.
  • kneisl1kneisl1 Member Posts: 1,694
    Thats a common complaint about the ECHO and something that isnt going to get better as the cars age. :mad: Let us know what happens!
  • nippononlynippononly Member Posts: 12,555
    The Echo rolls like a drunken sailor who hasn't got his land legs back yet! :-P

    I know they did it to smooth out the ride with such a short wheelbase, but really the amount of body roll is totally over the top for a roadgoing vehicle.

    2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)

  • kneisl1kneisl1 Member Posts: 1,694
    Actually Ive heard it does pretty well in a skidpad test.
  • nippononlynippononly Member Posts: 12,555
    0.77, just slightly better than that king of flat cornering, the Jeep Grand Cherokee! :-P

    http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~kpfleger/auto/handling.html

    And then, of course, how fast it can go around a skidpad doesn't measure how far onto its side it leans to accomplish the task....

    2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)

  • dakedake Member Posts: 131
    edited July 2010
    Thought I'd do a quick update on these bad boys. I finally had some time to spend switching out the old for the new.

    This set is pretty nice - Everything is beefier than the stock components and high quality.

    image
    image

    As you can see from the comparison shots, the rear springs are quite a bit shorter. This is somewhat made up with the new base that allows for height adjustment.

    The front springs are actually shorter than the stock, but obviously much harder as they have more coils for the length.

    Installation was relatively easy. I've never replaced shocks before, so I tried to just take it slow. I borrowed a spring compressor from O'Reillys (it's free if you return it within 2 days) and I had everything else I needed.

    The set provides you with everything you need when used in conjunction with a few OEM components. This actually is my only real complaint b/c while everything else was fine, there's a dust seal at the top of the front shock column which the instructions say to reuse but mine had completely disintegrated. This can't be more than a 50 cent fiber or composite washer basically and there's no reason they couldn't have thrown it in with their kit - they are good about providing all-new top and bottom nuts and what not, but for whatever reason they didn't provide this part. The nuisance here is this stupid little gasket thing was a pita to replace.

    Outside of that it all works as advertised. The directions are minimalist - basically just an exploded view of the shock tower which shows you how to build it from the bottom up and a few notes on basic settings for your car.

    Once all was said and done - WOW what a difference (Toyota)!

    These do lower the ride height a bit - a solid inch if not closer to two. That being said, the ride is fantastic. Still perfectly comfortable, but stiffer and more responsive. Body roll no more - cornering and braking are both noticeably better.

    All in all, I would have no problem recommending this to anyone who wanted to spruce up the ride of their Echo just for fun. It's a little costly and it took me all day to do it myself - but I'm very happy with the results.
  • kneisl1kneisl1 Member Posts: 1,694
    Good work!
  • echofanechofan Member Posts: 20
    I'm very late to this forum; just bought an '02 with auto trans about a year ago. One annoyance for me was the O/D off button, which I kept bumping with my right leg (I'm about 6' 4"). Not a big deal at low speeds, but after it happened a couple of times at 70+ mph I decided I'd spare the engine and trans the sudden downshifts and do something about it.

    Rather than permanently disable it, I put a toggle switch in series with the wire to the button, and mounted the switch on the front of the center console, pointing forward & out of the way. So if I ever need to lock out 4th gear (have had this feature on my cars for the last 10 years & have never used it, but who knows) I can flip the switch & the button will work again.

    Anyway, if anyone else has this problem & wants to do something similar, let me know; I could take pictures or something if it would help. It was pretty easy; the console comes off with only one screw (underneath the rear cupholder - remove the little plug to get to it).
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