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Toyota Camry: Suspension Modifications

Are you looking to modify your Camry's suspension? Well look no further. Here are some popular options you have available to upgrade your car's suspension.

By Neftali Medina - August 7, 2015

This article applies to the Toyota Camry 4th, 5th, and 6th generation (1997-2015).

One of the best ways to create a smoother, firmer, and flatter handling ride on your Toyota Camry is to upgrade its suspension system. The suspension system on a vehicle is made up of several different components that all work together to provide vibration resistance and handling. Struts are responsible for supporting all four corners of the chassis, while the rubberized bushings are found in every suspension oriented component and is used to help support against compression, load, and road vibrations. There are are several components you can upgrade to help increase the suspension's potential on your Camry, but the most common ways include installing strut kits, sway bars, or upgrading the stock bushings to polyurethane.

Suspension Modifications

There are three specific components you should first invest in: struts and springs, bushings, and stabilizer bars. For those of you interested in function over form, we encourage you to allow enough space under your chassis to deal with daily driving.

Figure 1. Modified Camry.

Lowering Kits

DIY Cost – $400+

Professional Cost – $680+

Skill Level – Moderate; you have to raise each side of the car to replace the strut and spring.

There are two common types of strut kits available on the market: coilovers and lowering kits. Performance coilovers, which originate from race cars, offer a slew of different adjustable features. These features allow you to customize the softness or hardness of the shocks, along with individual ride height. Coilovers are usually the go-to choice for drivers looking at tracking or showcasing their vehicle. Companies that produce coilover kits for your Camry include Megan Racing, TRD and D2 Racing.

Alternatively, you can opt for lowering springs alone. These kits include four shorter, stiffer springs designed to offer a non-adjustable lowered ride height. With this solution, you will have to pair a set of lowering springs with the new struts individually. This a la carte solution is less expensive than adjustable coilovers, and can be done piece by piece if that is your preference. You can install just the springs with your existing struts, and then upgrade those later on down the road. KYB struts are often paired with TEIN or EiBach lowering springs. Recommended for drivers who either want a race car-like Camry or a showcase Camry.

Stabilizer Bars

DIY Cost – $145+

Professional Cost – $210+

Skill Level – Easy; just jack the car up and install it.

Stabilizer bars, also called sway bars, are a great way to help prevent body roll from occurring on your vehicle by adding additional support directly to the left and right wheels. When your car exhibits body lean under cornering, a push-pull effect occurs between the the two shocks on a given axle because the outside corner is completely loaded up, and the inside corner isn't. The anti-roll bars effectively "tie" your suspension together, side-to-side, resulting in less body lean and limiting the ability of the loaded corner to lean. Your vehicle has both front and rear bars, corresponding to the front and rear struts respectively.

Sway bars are often paired with another suspension upgrade called strut tower support bars, which provide the same resistance towards body roll but from the top of the vehicle. If you are looking to increase the Camry's over-all handling due to your daily driving endeavors or interest in sport racing, then a stabilizer bar is an absolute must. Ultra Racing and NextGen Tuning are two popular brands that produce stabilizer bars for your Toyota Camry. Recommended for drivers who want additional support to their wheels to avoid body roll.

Polyurethane Bushings

DIY Cost – $50-$500+ (depending on how many bushings you buy)

Professional Cost – $300-800+

Skill Level – Moderate; you have to take apart and replace the old bushings, which can be tedious.

Your vehicle's entire suspension is outfitted with rubber bushings. These soft bushings are meant to absorb road imperfections at the expense of handling. Polyurethane bushings are a step up from the stock rubber bushings Toyota uses. They offer more resistance to road debris, tears, oils and other chemicals. Besides lasting longer than the stock bushings, your ride quality will also increase because these bushings offer better support in terms of compression and load. Because polyurethane is considered to be more durable than rubber, it is often used in aftermarket engine swap mounts. In order to completely retrofit your chassis with polyurethane bushings, you will have to spend approximately 8-10 hours of your time. However, although it is tedious, the cost for you to completely update the chassis should remain less than a few hundred dollars.

Energy suspension makes kits for all aspects of you Camry, including a Master variation, which comes with all the pieces required for you to completely replace every bushing on the chassis. These kits usually include control arm bushings, sway bar bushings, and subframe mounting bushings. Recommended for drivers who want an increased ride quality.

Pro Tip

Although each of these parts will help improve their specific sections on the chassis, the best way to increase your Toyota Camry's overall ride quality is to upgrade all of them.

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