Just curious if you all are just swapping out the springs and leaving the stock shocks in?? How's the ride, any problems with the bumpstops?

Thanks.

Anxiously awaiting an Xb in Virginia!

2001 Nissan Maxima SE --to be sold for a box
2004 Nissan Xterra

what i've noticed is that most people who've lowered their scions thus far have only changed the springs and not their struts. so to answer your question, it is fine to just change the struts. but i do recommend cutting the bump stops to compensate the travel lost on the strut from the lowering. my 2 cents

I believe the Eibachs come with new bumpstops as well.

you don't need to cut the bumpstops. i had 2" spy springs and i don't remember hitting them under normal use (not taking jumps).

I recommend trimming the bumpstops down whenever you lower your car more than 1.75". The bumpstop itself acts as a spring, so when you're down like 2" or so, as the suspension compresses, and contacts the bumpstop, it will alter your spring characteristics, effectively increasing the spring rate and giving you an unpredictable feeling front end. Removing the bumpstop from the equation will allow the spring to act as it should, and the bumpstop will only be called into duty as it was intended (to prevent bottoming out during the last bit of suspension travel).

I recommend trimming the bumpstops down whenever you lower your car more than 1.75". The bumpstop itself acts as a spring, so when you're down like 2" or so, as the suspension compresses, and contacts the bumpstop, it will alter your spring characteristics, effectively increasing the spring rate and giving you an unpredictable feeling front end. Removing the bumpstop from the equation will allow the spring to act as it should, and the bumpstop will only be called into duty as it was intended (to prevent bottoming out during the last bit of suspension travel).

i totally agree with you van, remember what i kept saying last sunday, you gotta give you the suspension travel to work well/right.

Okay, so how much of the bumpstop are we supposed to be cutting here?

I have the eibach and have not had any problems. I was afraid I was going to lose the ride but it ended up the same. I love my lowered ride.

They will ride ok for lil while but will soon lose their resiliency.

Stock shox and struts are designed to work at a certain height and are valved to work with a certain spring rate. Anytime you go and change one thing in the equation, its best to change everything related for a matched set. Otherwise, you deal with premature failure.

The TRD springs, Eibach and the other NON AGGRESSIVE drops with have less of an impact compared to the 2"+ lowering springs. But in the end, it s only a matter of time.

Most people havnt changed the sturts for 2 reasons, A i think TRD are the only ones available at this time and B because it costs a lot more.

Oh yeah, Van is exactly right about the bumpstops, they should be trimmed a little unless the springs you bought came with their own. You should never remove them entirely as these are your last line of defense against the units bottoming out and being destroyed.

with aftermarket springs, the shocks will last for a period of time (since I am assuming your xb or xa is quite new), but since the shocks are made with a different height and spring rate spec, they will die out eventually. To get aftermarket shocks to match with the springs will help, and will make the ride better as well, or it has with my experience....

funny how ppl haven't mentioned that ppl with 17s/18s will also have a decreased life span on the shocks due to increased load from the shorter sidewalls.