Mcpherson Strut Question! Help me raise my P5.

[mcnarsty]

Hey guys,

I'm a bit new to the forum but I've had my Protege 5 for a little more than a year now.

I bought it lowered, and it was cool a year ago. But now its just breaking my back. The ride is terrible. I've been looking at it and I want to raise it back up.

It seems to have some aftermarket Tokico Gas Shocks. Is there an easy way to raise it back up? I was thinking maybe i could just buy some larger springs to put on top of the struts. Would that work? or am i going to have to find all of the Stock parts?

Plz help! ha Thanks guys.

 

[CR3 Motorsports]

Best way to do it get get the OEM springs, thats the only way to raise it back up.

 

[aMaff]

Yep. You can probably swap your springs with someone who wants to lower their car. Easy button

 

[mcnarsty]

Yep. You can probably swap your springs with someone who wants to lower their car. Easy button

haha i could do that.

but does anyone know where i can get the stock springs? ive been looking everywhere and all i can find is lowering springs..

 

[aMaff]

You can get them from a dealership, but you'll spend an arm and a leg. Like I said, most folks want to lower their cars. If you have a garage and the tools / know-how to do it, the sway is not exactly intensive (last time I did it on mine, from pulling the car in the garage to pulling it out was an hour). In an afternoon you can be back to stock and someone else can be lowered. Post up in the Ohio Section, there's a ton of P5s up there. I practically guarantee you can find someone that'll take you up on it. And probably find someone with a place / tools / know-how to do the swap if you don't have that yourself.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Go one further and just swap the whole unit with someone who has some oems in good shape. Then it'll just be swap the struts and not have to bother taking them apart just to swap springs. Getting the lowering springs off/on won't require spring compressor but getting the oems off/on will.

 

[aMaff]

Getting the lowering springs off/on won't require spring compressor but getting the oems off/on will.

No, it doesn't. Get a friend that weighs 200 lb+ and you won't have a problem getting the stock springs on the struts. The stock springs are soft. Really soft. You don't really have any danger of hurting yourself pulling one off. Put the strut assembly horizontal on the ground, put a foot on the spring and hit the top nut with an impact. If the strut goes a foot once the nut is off it will have gone far.

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Ok, then just save time then by swapping whole unit. I should have put in the "by yourself" clause on the strut disassembly, my bad......and the 200lb friend might want beer or food so the free spring compressor rental might be cheaper and save time in the end.

 

[aca2983]

Tires make a difference also

A less-stiff, comfort-oriented tire makes a slight difference. Car will never be a Caddy, but you can smooth out some of the road imperfections. When I had my P5, there was a car I often saw that had swapped to 15" wheels, with a taller profile tire. I had 14"s for winter tires. Definitely smoothed out the ride a bit, which was nice on the urban streets I drive on. Car still handled well in everyday driving. Even on the stock 16" wheels, when I replaced "summer" (which were all-season) tires and switched from 195's to 205's, that made a small ride improvement- again, slightly more sidewall cushion.

 

[iamthewheelman]

If you want a good stock suspension I have all four struts and springs in my garage in really good shape. They only have about 45,000 miles on them and were used by a lady driver. PM me if you are interested.