jeak

Sorry, but I could not find a clear answer to this in the archive. Here’s the deal:

I love my new silver xA with AT. My only complaint is the body roll on all the curvy mountain roads I have to drive on. If I take it slow, it’s no problem. If I want to have a little fun, I get nervous about the body roll.

I was thinking about the TRD springs, but I do not want to lower the car (I’ll need ground clearance for snow). I just want the car stiffer in corners.

Then I noticed the TRD shocks. Local dealer charges $850 for them installed. Ouch!

Then I noticed the front strut tie bar, which the local dealer installs for $250.

Which option do I need: springs, struts, or bar? Or should I just slow down and not have any fun?

Thanks.

sindekat

The Strut Tower brace is great-Turn in will be a lot better than stock and you'll hold the corner more-The best and simplest mod is a wheel and tire upgrade-So no problems with a lowered car or too stiff a ride unless you go nuts and go beyond a 16 or 17 rim. I think someone out there has some beefy anti-roll/sway bars-that would help too without compromising ride quality.

A customer of ours has autocrossed his xA and his mods are just a simple wheel and tire upgrade and the strut tower brace-Ride was still really good.

mikochu

I installed a DC Sports CS-2 Strut Bar last week and I do feel less roll. You may want more braces. They have underbody braces you can install to stiff up the chassis. You can also get sway bars installed...

dgHotLava

sway bars!!!!

then springs. (trd drops only 1 inch, should be fine in the snow)

sindekat

Any cure for this type of body roll

*snip*



mikochu: Please refrain from posting such filth.

cobb

Speaking of body rolls, ha ha.

I was thinking of getting a shock tower brace in addition to the trd sway bars. I notice the trd one seems to only cover 2 mounting poits of the shock towers where as the other one at the sparks website shows it fully encloses the shock tower mounting range. I know from experience its not too difficult to crack the mounting holes on the shock towers, so it seems the one with the two end loops vs the open end loops would give more support. Any word on this? Is the trd one ment for more show than go?

PS, any linkes for body braces? So far I have only been able to find, sway bars, strut braces and springs, oh my.

Also, if I go with the trd 1 inch lower springs with stock shocks, will it suffer from the pogo stick thing because the stock shocks will be stock length while the springs are shorter?

Cobb

draxcaliber

i say start with sways, they are guarenteed to tighten up your xa. strut tower brace is one of those mods that people really question about how effective they are. i didn't really notice mine, but i have a tc, different car. my car felt super solid after i had hotchkis front and rear sways installed.

DriverXa

jeak, Get the TRD Rear Swaybar first be4 anything else. This is a must have mod for every xA and xB. I'm goin on 2weeks now with the bar and it has completely transformed the handling characteristics of the car. I also have lightweight 15" rims on the stock Goodyears n the car just sticks to the road. Lane changes and turn in are very responsive and I'm able to really push the car in the corners, especially those long curved on/off ramps which are a real blast to drive on all while retaining really good ride comfort and stock ride height.

I got the bar from TRDSparks.com for $145 and I have no regrets. Also with the rear swarbar it eliminates that "O sh*t the backend feels like it's gonna flip" characteristic the stock suspension does when cornering hard. Definitly do the rear swaybar first before u do any other suspension mod. All it is is 4bolts and its on, u will need a friend to hold the other side as it's heavy but it's really simple to install.

draxcaliber

i say get the hotchkis set. coming from the trd rear sway bar to front and rear hotchkis set on my tc, was like amazed by how much better the car responded with both a front and rear sway bar. trust me on this, get the front and rear set. it will make a great improvement!

scion04xb

he doesnt need a front sway bar. The front one on our xa is larger then the one on your tc. xa=25mm > tc=21mm. For the weight of the car 25mm is plenty. Just get the trd rear sway as posted above... the strut bars will not help with body roll but will help with chassis flex. After the sway bar I would get the trd springs and struts if your worried about being too low for snow...

chuck1073

The three keys to minimizing body roll on my 04 xA have been...
1.Springs (Eibach Pro-Kit 1.5" drop)
2. Front sway-bar bushings (Energy Suspension)
3. Rear sway-bar. (Progress)

That combination has thte car very "planted feeling"...add to that the 18" wheels and the xA really handles!

mikochu

For the body roll, I have...

- TRD rear frame brace
- Progress rear sway bar
- GT Spec 4 point chassis brace
- Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs
- DC Sports CS-2 strut bar
- Energy Suspension poly urethane front sway bar bushings
- One Ton Garage rear spacer shims

The parts in bold significantly help with body roll issues. The GT Spec chassis brace and DC strut bar help with stiffening the chassis for a more solid feel.

cobb

Driverxa nailed what I am referring to, the oh shoot it may flip feeling.

The hotchkis set looks like it bolt in place with the existing bars. The other ones look like replacements. Seems sparks sells the kit for about the price of the rear trd one.

THe shock tower braces seems they have from toyota that looks beefier and more supportive than the trd one that seems to be for more show.

Body braces? Where do you find those?

Thanks. Making my list. The lower springs are tempting, but if you use the stock shocks, wont you have extra travel in them and cause some funnyness when you go over a bump like that of a pogo stick?

jct

you get lucky finding the trd rear lower frame brace

DriverXa

Front swaybars will hinder performance. They will cause more understeer, the rear swaybar with a stock front swaybar will make the car more close to neutral( still abit of understeer but much improved). Srings are very good to get and should be done after the rear swaybar. Wheels n tires are also very important. Those three alone will drastically improve the handling of the ride.

From what I've heard with talking to people at the cruise spots the strutbar doesn't doo much. It's more for if ur going to be raceing the car and pushing it really hard in the corners. And a frame brace, I don't think it will be much of an improvement for the average driver. The chassis is short and pretty rigid and again like the strutbar will most likely be noticed by extreme cornering and not the avery joe.