Ugh, so many websites, so many forum topics, and so little time. This means that before I spend ~$1K on parts that I need to order quickly, I'm forced to ask for suggestions so I can get all these parts for reasonable prices.

I am looking for brand recommendations for the following parts, and more specifically where to order them from. These will be going on an '02 TL with 200K miles that is a daily driver. I have other vehicle options if I want extreme performance, so I am looking for reasonably priced components to equal or improve performance vs OEM.

*front sway bar
*rear sway bar
*front and rear sway bar end links (Moog? Where should I order from?)
*shocks - Tokico blue (P/N TOHU3730, TOHU2934)? KYB Excel-G (P/N 341257, 341258)? Is there an installation kit necessary with one of these?
*Upper control arms, or just ball joints?
*Lower ball joints?

 

Progress Technology 24mm rear sway bar - highly recommended
Eibach sway bar front and rear are great also
Moog endlinks recommended
Ingalls adjustable upper control arms
Ingalls rear camber lower arms - though with 200k miles will prob have a sized cam bolt so... install might require cutting bolts.
Basically get all ball joints from Ingalls or Moog.

buy stuff from excelerateperformance.com, might be able to get acurazine member discount

I also highly recommend Ingalls engine torque damper and a set of fresh motor mounts.

 

I got eibach f & r sway bat from tire rack- best price at the time
Moog end links-rock auto had them for the best price
I would get tokico blue over kyb. Kyb make a strut bushing kit for like 8 dollars which you can get from rock auto

 

Which Model TL do you own? You left that out. Welcome to AZ.

 

1st post says 02 tl with 200k miles

 

Hey, you forgot to mention which model you own!!!

(Joke)

I seem to always get good results from Google under the shopping tab. Just type in the year and model and what part (ie: 2003 TL-S lowering springs) and it will search from hundreds of sites and display results with the web page, brand , picture and prices. Doesn't get any easier than that! I will admit, it's not ALWAYS the cheapest route. But is very simple.

Good luck.

 

I used to now it seems like I have to go to each website

 

I read that but I was referring to whether it was Type S or not but you're saying since he left that out is enough to know he has a base. I'm just so accustomed to people stating Base w or w/o Navi and Type S w/ or w/o Navi. when they post which car they have. BTW I hate tomatoes... Yuck... :-)

 

Good point I wasn't paying attention to that because these are parts that by switching would benefit a base or type s

 

Thanks for the suggestions.
Why would you choose the Tokico over KYB? I thought the KYB were quite a bit cheaper, so if I can save a few hundred bucks and get fairly similar performance, I think I'd lean toward the KYB.

I'll check Google shopping. Thanks.
It's a base model without navigation. Sorry for not being more specific. I'll add it to my garage now.

 

My kyb GR-2 I only had on the car for 40-50k miles and i can compress them by hand and they don't rebound or do so extremely slow The handling wasn't improved. Tokico blue is a better non adjustable shock if I remember correctly. Now my kyb agx's I have now are amazing, I only have them set at halfway for stiffness and they handle great sometimes a little ruff but I don't mind. I would never change struts/shocks in a car again without going with something where you can adjust stiffness.

 

I thought really hard about KYB vs Tokico. For the money saved by going with KYB I paid for a significant portion of the sway bars, which really allowed justifying the sway bars at this time. I figure the improvement by adding Eibach sway bars will outweigh the improvement I would have felt with the Tokicos.


Here are my parts order lists. If anyone sees anything that I missed or ordered wrongly, please let me know so I can get the order changed before it ships! The first order list is from Rock Auto and the second is from Tire Rack.

 

Looks right and looks like your going to be busy

 

If you are looking for springs, dampers and bars, I highly recommend the Eibach Pro System Plus kit. I have one, its getting installed this weekend. We already assembled all the struts with all new OEM pads and fittings. Quality looks excellent and comes with good instructions. I got it for $655 at amazon with free shipping. I also recommend Moog endlinks from Rockauto, by far the best price. I got the Raybestos adjustable upper ball joint , using oe control arm. Replacing lower control arm with Raybestos arm, keeping oe lower ball joint. And new tie rod ends. I got adjustable rear arms from Moog, which are reboxed SPC I think, comes with a new ball joint. Highly recommend preassembling with new fittings since you have 200k on your vehicle. Makes installation a breeze, unbolt and bolt the new one, your good to go. done!

 

Eibachs on Moogs. The first, and IMHO most important, improvement.
Relatively cheap for the bang for get.

 

I was trying not to replace/spend too much, so I'll be reusing control arms but did get Moog bushings. Sticking with OEM springs, but using KYB shocks. I will pull the control arms for the bushing install to hopefully make it go a little smoother - thanks for the tip. I didn't think about tie rod ends - hopefully mine are ok.
I remember how drastically improved my truck felt after I installed a rear sway bar (didn't have one originally). I am hoping for the same improvement on the TL.

 

All my orders have been shipped! Now just for the waiting game. Photos will be taken when everything shows up.

 

Hey man, better get well rested if you're going to tackle this all in a weekend !
And don't forget to stock up on some "Holiday Cheer" as ya may need it. BEER !!!!

 

Thanks! Should be a fun project.
The good news is I'll have the car on a two post body lift and my father-in-law helping me do the installations. He's quite good with a wrench.