Is anyone else having trouble getting parts for the xD? I picked up my car on Tuesday, the 30th and was told the Rear Sway would be in by Friday but it didn't come. Now my dealer's saying the part is on back order until December 15th??? Is this a long wait or is it just because the D is such a new car that parts are scarce?

By the way, I love my new car and have been driving it all over town. Did anyone else turn on the MPG calculator while driving? On a turn while coasting I got the MPGs all the way up to 99.9--obviously inaccurate, but I could have taken a picture and posted it on those "hypermiler" sites and said it was achievable. Ha, ha.

I show the TRD rear sway bar for the 2008 xD as available-- maybe the region does not have a very big inventory of them? Did you speak to the Parts Manager directly????

i do show them as being on backorder but they can be ordered on CRITICAL status as toyota calls it. right now they have 28 available.....

I waited about a month to get my sway bar. Scion gave me a $100 credit towards future accessories for the inconvenience.

with having a rear beam setup, i never thought a bar would help much. what say you, shea43?

Yea, the lady in the service dept. thought the same...said I might not even notice a difference. Having had the car a month w/o it, I certainly noticed a difference :-)

does it make the ride harsh at all? i've read a few different cars where the bars make the ride uncomfortable, but in my experience swaybar upgrades have only stiffened the chassis around corners. hell, on my '87, the new sway bars helped even out and smooth the ride out.

around the corners, are we talking about a night/day difference, or more of a "ooh that's fun"?

I don't think it makes the ride any harsher. Cornering has gone from, "Umm, I think I'm going too fast..." to "O_o, lets go a lil bit faster!" It certainly brings the car a step closer to that Mini Cooper feeling.

Best overall performance investment I made on my xA! Am definately putting one on my xD. Will not use TRD springs though, because I found them way too harsh. Will go with Tanabe this time.

We have plenty of them in stock, here's the link to our site.

http://www.trdsparks.com/displayparts.php?Mdl_dtl=586&Part_cat=11&parts_id=1374

Ken
www.trdsparks.com

We have plenty of them in stock, here's the link to our site.

http://www.trdsparks.com/displayparts.php?Mdl_dtl=586&Part_cat=11&parts_id=1374

Ken
www.trdsparks.com

I can attest to Sparks' reliability! I'm a repeat customer and couldn't ask for better service. :bow:

By the way, I love my new car and have been driving it all over town. Did anyone else turn on the MPG calculator while driving? On a turn while coasting I got the MPGs all the way up to 99.9--obviously inaccurate, but I could have taken a picture and posted it on those "hypermiler" sites and said it was achievable. Ha, ha.

There is a difference between instant MPG and average MPG. You are looking at instant - which is gas mileage in the last several seconds, so when you are coasting, getting 100+MPG is normal, not "obviously inaccurate".

230 mpg on my xa ;-) (ScanGaugeII). only going downhill at 60 mph, cruising with no gas... lol..

I got my xD a couple of weeks ago and the sway bar came in about 2 weeks afterward. Had it installed yesterday. Haven't noticed much of a difference yet, but I drive for MPG and don't drive fast at all.

is this something that I can install myself?

Yea you can :) I'll check and see if I can install it myself when I buy one, if not I'm sure there's someone around me who'll help.

Takes about 10 minutes to install if you have a 14mm socket.

Does it come with instructions on where to attach? Do you need to jack the car up, or can you just crawl underneath and get it done?

I just crawled underneath and did it. And it does come with instruction sheet. If it doesn't - PM me, I can get you a PDF.

If you're still having trouble getting a sway bar, try scionpartspeople.com - cheapest source I could find at $143+shipping. Part Number PTR11-52071. According to UPS's tracking, mine's on the truck for delivery as we "speak". They also have TRD air filters, the quickshifter, and other accessories for the xD that might not appear on their website, but if you email them, they'll send you a "special order" item number.
Andy
No affiliation...

Is it worthwhile installing a sway bar without putting in any other suspension mods, i.e lowering springs, sport suspension?

It can be. It depends on what you are looking for. If all you want is for the car to have less body roll, it might be a good start. Fair warning - it will, as most mods, most likely lead to other mods!!

On the xD, I'm pretty sure the effect of ANY sway bar will be noticeable/desired, but if you are aiming for next-to-no body lean, it won't accomplish this alone. But again, it will play a good part. Even with semi-independent suspension, a rear sway bar will definately help control body lean.

Also, you don't necessarily need "dropped" springs to help with body roll, just tougher ones. Most tend to drop, of course, but that does NOT mean that a drop kit will do anything more than drop the car. Lowering the center of gravity will always help, but i've seen drop kits with softer then OEM springs, which to me completely defeats the purpose.

The best thing to do for body roll and cornering is always a good combo of springs/shocks, but i only say this to stress the point. Sway bars definately help, though, and they are a fairly cheap and extremely easy mod for these cars.