I hated the way my xB rode on the freeway with the sectional pavement and going over speed bumps the lunchbox seemed to hop. I did a search on SL and found that going with the Koni yellow shocks seems to fix the problem.
sohiperformance on eBay sells the shocks for just under $200 delivered. They provided me with excellent service and I highly recommend them. The installation was easy although the instructions were horrible. Total installation time should take maybe 15-20 minutes.
The one thing that was confusing for me was how to adjust the shocks. Turns out you just push the piston all the way in, then take an allen wrench and turn it counter clockwise for softer, clockwise for stiffer. I wanted as smooth a ride as possible so I went all the way counter clockwise. With the maximum stiffness setting, the piston will be very hard to pull back out as well as depress. By comparison, with the stock xB shock, you can easily tell that it's stiffer by the amount of force it takes to depress the shock.
I took my car out for a spin on the freeway and it was a LOT smoother. I think the fronts are still a bit on the stiff side but the difference is night and day.
Thanks to this jomo and thread below for the idea and advice.
http://www.scionlife.com/forums/view...highlight=koni
Now here's the DIY
Tools needed:
1 - 14mm socket with wrench (deep socket preferably)
1 - 14mm wrench
1 - 17mm wrench
1 - 17mm socket
1 - Flathead screwdriver
It doesn't come with much. Just 2 shocks, 4 nuts, 2 plastic washers, and 2 Chinese menus. You can pretty much throw those menus away. Do one side at a time.
Step 1 - Take the screwdriver and remove the plastic cover from the rear shock tower. Exposed will be 2 nuts.
Step 2 - Take the 14mm wrench and 14mm socket wrench and while holding the bottom nut with the open ended wrench, loosen and remove the top nut with the socket wrench. Now if you have a deep 14mm socket, you can use it to remove the last nut.
Step 3 - Remove the washer and rubber bushing and this should be what you have left.
Step 4 - Go underneath the car. No need to jack the car up unless you are really big and cannot fit underneath. Find your shock, it should look like this.
Step 5 - Grab your 17mm socket wrench and remove the washer and the bolt.
Step 6 - Extract the shock by pulling the bottom of the shock off of the bolt that you just removed the nut from. Then drop the shock and remove it.
Step 7 - Remove the plastic cover off of the top of the shock by pulling it off. It should come off really easy and you might want to clean it up.
Step 8 - At this point, make sure your shock is adjusted. Pull the shock piston all the way out and take the plastic washer that came with the shocks and slip it onto the piston.
Step 9 - Put the plastic cover onto the Koni shock (sorry, no picture). Then stick the shock back into place. Installation is reverse of removal.
IMPORTANT: When mounting the shock to the shock axle, the eye on the shock has a large side and a small side. You can feel which side is larger if you stick your finger in it. The large side of the eye slips over the shock axle first. If you have the eye reversed, just spin the shock around and it should slide right back in.
When it is reversed, it's difficult to slip the shock onto the shock axle and push it in. When it's on correctly, it's slips on with no resistance. Take the original rubber bushing and stick it back into place as shown below. You will center the shock via the bushing.
Step 10 - Take the washer and the new Koni 17mm nut and tighten the nut until the piston begins to spin. Start the nut off with 17mm socket. Then you'll bring it all the way down with the 17mm openmouth wrench.
Step 11 - Take the other nut and tighten it. Use the openmouth wrench and socket combo, tighten the bolts up.
Step 12 - Go back under the car and tighten the 17mm nut.
Repeat the 12 step program for the other side.
Koni yellow adjustable shock DIY for a smoother ride
