Suspension interchangeability

[Pete McCue]

Evening all
Quick question please. Are the suspension struts, shocks, springs the same for pre & post facelift cars??
Thanks.

[Carolyn]

As far as I am aware there's no difference.

[fawtytoo]

I thought the rear springs were different?

[Carolyn]

You might be right, but it's minimal.

[Ardent]

Changes by Year

Courtesy of GSB of MR2 Roadster Owners Club | August 2, 2004

2000 – Mk3 is launched in Europe, having previously been launched in Japanese and US markets. A small modification is made after the car has been rolling off the lines for a while, when Toyota add very small aerodynamic "spoilers" under the car ahead of each wheel. These were fitted to aid high speed stability.

2001 – As 2000.

2002 – Addition of improved Oil Control Rings fitted to the Pistons.

2003 – (Production actually from late 2002) Mid term revision. Essentially a cosmetic overhaul of the car, however some mechanical changes have been made:

New front bumper with integrated front fog lamps. New headlights with seperate high/low beam units and chrome housings. New redesigned taillight lenses. Addition of new colour coded rear bumper inserts adjacent to number plate. New colour coded side vents. Interior gets new chrome detailing on vents, tweeter surrounds, heater controls, and door handles. Redesigned seats fitted. Instrument and ventilation control fascia's redesigned with new typeface. New Toyota Branded CD/tuner replaces Double DIN Sony CD/Tape/tuner fitted to previous years. 16″ rear wheels replace 15″ wheels previously fitted. Rear tyre goes up to 215/45/16 to fit the new larger wheels, up from the previous 205/50/15 sizes fitted in previous years. Front tyres remain the same. Updated suspension spring and damper setings. Improved suspension member brace set up installed on front and rear suspension. 6 Speed gearbox fitted to both manual and SMT cars, replacing the 5 speed unit fitted to previous models. SMT gets Electronic Traction and Stability Control. Options list is expanded to include TTE accesories, which were previously unavailable in the UK.

2004 – Visually the same as the 2003 car but some major upgrades have been made under the skin. Essentially these have been made to improve safety although they do have the advantage of increasing chassis stifness as well:

New front under-members and momentum cancellers on the strut towers to help prevent the side members from rising in the event of a frontal impact, reducing dash panel intrusion into the cabin space. improved in-cabin passive safety package adopting an anti-intrusion mechanism on the brake pedal and cushioning material below the accelerator pedal – where the driver's heel rests. Reinforcements to the upper front members and the door beltlines help disperse collision energy forces applied to the front side members, minimising any cabin deformation. New rear bumper brace, a new strut bracket brace and new floor-to-rocker brace panels attached to the main rear-cabin cross member. Refinements to the kick panel reinforcements, floor-tunnel reinforcements and floor cross members help minimise intrusion of the dash panel in the event of a collision. The centre pillar has been reinforced with additional gussets and reinforcement of the centre floor cross-member. New pads in the doors and retuning the hardness of the trim padding to reduce the chance of crash impact injury to the torso area. New Steering braces. New suspension settings. New design of heatshield fitted to Main Cat to revent the broken weld related rattle on the previous design. Manifold Support Brackets are now cast steel items, bolted to four points on the engine block, replacing the previous pressed steel items that bolted at only 2 points.

2005 – No technical revisions occur, small small additions to available options packs:

Heated Seats offered as dealer fit option. "Chrome Pack" option introduced MR2 Withdrawn from US market

2006 – No technical revisions occur, MR2 Withdrawn from sale in UK and Europe.

TTE (Toyota Team Europe) Turbo kit becomes available for retrofit to all mk3 MR2's. TF300 run-out model introduced, a "special edition" of 300 cars with various minor cosmetic mods, built to dispose of Toyota GB's remaining stock.

2007 – Toyota cease production of Mk3 MR2 in Japan.

[Pete McCue]

That'll do it!
Thanks.
The issue is that I may, (but unlikely), replace my 2k pre-facelift with a low mileage 2003 facelift, but I have just fitted brand new genuine struts and was hoping I could swap them over, but it seems not.

[SurreyMR2]

That'll do it!
Thanks.
The issue is that I may, (but unlikely), replace my 2k pre-facelift with a low mileage 2003 facelift, but I have just fitted brand new genuine struts and was hoping I could swap them over, but it seems not.

I thought you could. I replaced all mine with new KYB struts all round and they state 00 to 07.

Mine is a 2001 & is 25 years young tomorrow 🥳.

[Carolyn]

That'll do it!
Thanks.
The issue is that I may, (but unlikely), replace my 2k pre-facelift with a low mileage 2003 facelift, but I have just fitted brand new genuine struts and was hoping I could swap them over, but it seems not.

Yes you can swap them over.  The only difference is the car will sit very slightly lower at the rear.

[Beachbum957]

Digging through the part numbers for springs reveals there were 2 different front springs listed for all markets other than Japan.  Springs for Japanese market cars were unique.

Front
48131-17690 ( - 01/2004)
48131-17710 (02/2004 - 12/2004)

There were 3 different rear springs listed

48231-17890 (12/1999 - 07/2002)
48231-1R350 (08/2002 - 01/2004)
48231-17A10 (02/2004 - 12/2004)

Aftermarket springs like KYB show the same spring breakdowns, but nothing for after 02/2004

Measuring actual springs from a 2000-2002 and a 2003 showed the front springs measured exactly the same. The rear 2003 spring (48231-1R350) had 1/2 more coils than the earlier rear spring (48231-17890).  That calculates to about 8-9% softer for the 2003 spring, although the ride height didn't change much, if at all

As for the struts, there were different OEM part numbers for different years, but they all seem to supersede to the same number except for cars built after 02/2004.  Aftermarket struts like KYB list the same struts for all years prior to 02/2004, so the difference in OEM numbers could be in damping.

Although the part numbers changed for cars after 02/2004, there seems to be little or no confirmed information on what changed.  Some articles suggest the later models were raised 1" (25mm), but actual measurements on a late 2005 US model and a 2003 reveals they were both almost exactly the same height.  Other markets may have been different.

[Pete McCue]

Great. Thanks for the info!