shrktank

Been cruising around in my XB for the past month and love the car! You all have been wonderful resources in helping reach the decision to purchase the vehicle. I wanted the Camo, but my wife told me any color but the Camo. I settled with the TCM and love it. I have various questions regarding the XB and I am posting them all on this post. I look forward to your responses.

1. I keep reading about the ground wire kit which seems to add 3-5 HP to the XB. Can I assume this has no impact on gas mileage and also if this works so well why does Scion do it as part of production? Also would a more powerful battery have the same effect?

2. I know my XB has ABS, VSC and TRAC as safety features. Can you please explain the purpose of each of these and how one is to use these features? Main concern is snow, but also in general what is one to do if VSC kicks in, etc. This is like my 6th car and I never had any of the features.

3. I purchased the front mask from the dealer. I noticed at freeway speeds the mask flapped in the center. I removed it to wash the car and noticed there were minor scratches from the mask. Has any one else had this problem? Any way to make mask work better or should I try to return to dealer.

4. In regards to #3, is any one using the WADE bug deflecter and if so how does it perform and look

5. I am considering installing a CAI. Any preference on brand and by adding this can my warranty be voided?

Thanks for your replies. Looking forward to start personalizing my XB in the near future. I need to watch out as I am 46 and some of these mods seem to be for you younger folks.

Have a great weekend on the road in your XB

fireballfish

ABS (anti-lock braking system)- when you would nrmally lock up your tires, this system modulates the brakes to prevent a skid. unlike regular power brakes, you should not modulate the pedal, but apply consistant pressure until at a stop and/or under control.

VSC (vehicle stability control)- This helps prevent skids under hard cornering, or anytime your rearend would want to normally slide out. no neeed to deviate from normal driving with this.

Traction control- modulates the brakes when accelerating and one wheel is getting less traction than the other. Sounds horrible when it kicks in in the snow (sounds like a machine gun) but works wonders in low traction conditions. once again, just drive it normally... however, just like if you didn't have it, when it kicks in you should lean back off the throttle a bit.

mgithens

the ground wire kit adds horsepower by guaranteeing that the spark plug actually fires every time... there is some resistance of the electricity to flow from the block back to the engine because a lot of it is isolated by rubber dampners... the ground kit provides a path of least resistance from the battery to a few key parts on the engine... should you pay $100 for a kit... you can, you can also get the same effect with $20 at radio shack...

I've heard that theory that spark plugs miss as much as 1 in 25 fires... so by lowering resistance you are hoping to reduce this number... in modern day cars with higher voltage coils and better wiring this isn't as much a problem as it was on your Grandpa's Caddy... but can it help, yes... how much?? who knows... will you notice a difference... probably not...

a more powerful battery won't change the quality of grounding that the motor sees...

Scott17

Modern cars sparkplugs never miss, if they do you will get a check engine light and the resulting code will tell you which cylinder was missing. The freeze-frame data list will tell exactly the percentage of missfire of the offending cylinder. Normal operation is 0% missfire. Ground wire kits on Scions do little to nothing.

ikhonlord

Ground Wike Kits DO NOT ADD HP...I repeat...DO NOT ADD HP

The only reason why some people are getting GWK is to:

1) Dress Up the engine Bay

2) It helps to ground the car better than the way it came stock. Supposibly it will help the idle of the car and some people usually say that the car picks up better and it feels better but that varies...

:D

dgHotLava

yeah, what he said ^^^^

nest

Precisely.

nest

Precisely.

nest

Precisely.

dgHotLava

so nice he said it trice...

nest

LOL .... damn back button..

mgithens

I totally believe that the fire rate is 100%, but back in the day... on the General Lee or your dad's Model T... this was a real issue...

that is why I clarified...

and also... you got to remember that people are gonna believe what they want to believe... they'll buy higher octane fuel "cause it gives more horsepower" and they'll buy a $10 widget called the tornado because it adds turbulence...

you can't save them all... but I am doing my part to educate a few...

dgHotLava

the tornado does not add turbulence....
it organizes the flow into uniform directions (spining)
it is still voodoo to me....(i won't comment on it adding HP)

lonewolfxb

forget that junk and put your money to real use in the handling dept. get tires and springs,you are going to get good mpg. out of the box,spend your money wisely unless you are rich if so go for it.my 2 cents.

fireballfish

^^^
I agree. Turbulence is un-uniform, where as the tornado creates a vortex in your intake. very sound in theory. so does it work? yes. will you nitice a power increase? no will you notice an increase in MPG? no. I think it poses more of a hazzard than anything