The cure for a saggy rear end

I tagged this post as Redneck Engineering because the product that's about to be described reminds me of spring rubbers commonly used in NASCAR.  While our Prius is a far cry from an 850+hp Sprint cup car and can turn both left and right, it needed some suspension modifications after the expansion of storage capacity led to an altitude adjustment of its rear end.


While the taildragger look works well on a 50s Merc, it isn't really flattering on a Prius nor does it help with ride quality for backseat passengers.  There's usually a couple of options for overload assistance ranging from spacers that install between the spring and seat to heavy duty replacement springs, which for the Prius are designed for carrying the load of upgraded battery packs and come at $300-$400 premium

After some poking around on the interwebs I ran across a product from Super Springs Int'l called SumoSprings that works much like a spring rubber to change the existing spring rate and compensate for times when the suspension is carrying extra load.  Installation was pretty straightforward, at least after watching a few YouTube videos of installation techniques that were far more effective than those provided in the instructions.  We haven't taken a fully loaded trip but I have noticed improved ride quality with the whole family aboard and our cargo carrier no longer scrapes when going up/down the driveway so it seems we've gained some altitude as well.

All of the reviews I read didn't mention any issues with the supplied zip ties but I'm a little concerned about how long they'll hold up, I suppose only time will tell...