So, there are many postings on this board about how when you replace the stock xD springs with lowered springs you should also replace the shocks because of decrease travel, etc. However, except for the TRD replacement shocks for over 400 bucks from Sparks I don't see any short strut/shock options. Not only that, but the TRD set-up is supposed to work with either stock or short springs, so other than a high price tag and slightly different damping how are they different form the stock strut/shocks? Looking here and at Yaris World seems to reveal that both the stock and after market TRD shocks are merely KYB products after all and how these may differ from the after market branded KYB GR2 made for the Yaris is anyone's guess. Even those are replacement for the "stock" ride height in a Yaris.
So, if I'm replacing the springs and I DO NOT want to spend $415+shipping for rebranded KYB's (don't even start in with coil-over banter), what is the solution?
Do I have to crack the gland nut on the xD front strut housing, pull the strut cartridge (if this is even possible on this car) and custom order a replacement cartridge from Koni?

im with you man, ive been doing some research and NO one except KYB has shocks/struts. and the KYB's arent even released yet..so..as you said, its just rebranded TRD's for now. i was hoping tokico or koni would have something but doesnt look like much. Fortunately the TRD's are shock rated for a lowered car, but it depends on what springs you go with. I've heard that both the TRD springs (obviously) and Tanabe NF's will work fine. I haven't heard anything about DF's but im assuming TRD's will still be better than stockers. in my honest opinion coilovers seems pointless with the macpherson strut set up we have. but...most would call me stupid for that ideology so w/e.

can you explain what you mean by crack the gland nut and pull the strut cartidge? I'm not sure what you mean haha..sorry

The TRD have different specifications over the stock ones even though they're made by KYB. They'll support a stiffer suspension better while sacrificing a bit of comfort in ride quality. While they arent aggressively tuned they fit the need of people who want better performace.

does that include DF's? because DF"s are supposed to be softer springs. comfort isn't too important to me, i can stand all the bumps, etc.

overall stiffness is going to lie within ur choice of springs. the shocks are only going to bring it to its full potential basically.

ah makes sense. i think im just going to go with TRDs...but MAN its a steep price tag..

hmmm, I've been looking around and found RS-R suspension kits. cost as much as TRD and tucks tire. gotta look harder.

hmmm, I've been looking around and found RS-R springs. they are super low too. as usual tho, aftermarket is draggin it's feet thee days. well, so is the economy. rogue lenders FTL!

You don't need Upgraded shocks to install the lowering springs. Most aftermarket springs like the Tanabe / Tein were designed to ride with stock shocks. That's why the ride is very similar to stock and they don't go very low 1.0"-1.9" (depending on the brand/model)

Yes, the installation of lowering springs might affect a little the overall life of the OE shocks but depending on yor driving style and your roads... a shock failure could happen after 1 year or after 3 years. So buy the new shocks when your stock ones are gone!

If you are really interested in improving the handling an upgraded shock will make a difference for you... but as you mention that the ride confort is your priority then you don't really need / want upgraded shocks.

Also, tokico recently released a set of blues for the Yaris that should fit the xD. This are a little better priced than the TRD's but ot by much.

Then again... There are hundreds of Yaris running on lowered springs and stock shock with no problems...

just my 2cents

nah i know you dont NEED shocks to install springs, ive already installed em. but i plan on entering auto-x so im planning on at least basics in terms of suspension *sways/shocks/springs at least* Due to the weight difference between the xD and yaris im a little worried about sticking anything suspension related from one on the xD..400 lbs doesnt seem like much but..Id like to stay safe haha. maybe im just paranoid but thats how i see it. for now i just need to save up and let my springs settle since theyre literally 3 days old..we'll see

If i'm not mistaken xD should only be 100 lbs, 200 at most more then the Yaris.
I think some manufacturers actually sell their Yaris springs for the xD.

higher performance shocks are neccessary when upgrading springs. aftermarket springs are stiffer which in turn get the car bouncing more. this tends to make the shock fluid/gas get foamy for a lack of better words as well as the shock is intended to have certain amount of throw. high performance shocks resist that effect. so upgrading struts/shocks is what I always recommend when changing springs. this arguement happened in the tC and xB forums

haha for sure..i think it happens everywhere, but i agree, shocks are a must (regardless of your intentions when lowering the car). btw, since i didnt get a response from anyone by starting my own thread maybe someone here can help. i recently lowered my xD on DF210's, and it looks like the front of the car is sitting higher than the rear of the car (at least half an inch) its noticeable, and im wondering if
1) this was due to a mistake during the install or
2) it's because of the design of the fenders. Front quarter panels flare out and rears are flat along the rest of the body

so is it just an illusion? or did anyone else have this probelm.

Usually takes a week for the springs to settle to get the full drop. If your referring to the main difference in height, the front is always going to be higher since its carrying your engine there. And if you drive an automatic, the front suspension lowers/drops when you put it in drive, etc.

hrm well, i drive manual, but from what youre saying that makes sense, i was starting to think the same thing..maybe the springs have a stiffer construction since, as you said, its holding the engine. but i wasnt too sure if i was right, thanks for your help :D

haha for sure..i think it happens everywhere, but i agree, shocks are a must (regardless of your intentions when lowering the car). btw, since i didnt get a response from anyone by starting my own thread maybe someone here can help. i recently lowered my xD on DF210's, and it looks like the front of the car is sitting higher than the rear of the car (at least half an inch) its noticeable, and im wondering if
1) this was due to a mistake during the install or
2) it's because of the design of the fenders. Front quarter panels flare out and rears are flat along the rest of the body

so is it just an illusion? or did anyone else have this probelm.

settle shmettle. my TRD's are just as low as they were 5600 miles ago. no settling here. noticed the same thing on an xD here. back end is draggin like he's on Hydro's or there is a 1000lb box in back. My car is actualy raked higher in the back which I like anyway. So it's not just you

hmm alright. well ill just come to the conclusion that its the way the springs themselves, and how theyre manufactured/engineered. thanks for your imput as well :) thankfully mine isnt as dramatic as the xD you referred to haha..because THEN i would have problems with it..

Tanabe springs offered for the xD are the same as the Yaris. Do you wonder how they came up with a kit for the xD so fast? They already had it.

Same with Tein. Check the part number of their Basics coilover kit for the Yaris and the xD is the same!

Oh... and regarding the DF's they are like that. Lower on the back. Many people don't like this.

Do a search of Yaris pictures with DF's installed. This is more noticeble on a Yaris Sedan.

I use to have a sedan with DF's and it was like that.

Uh I thought it takes longer than a week for the springs to actually settle on the car. Heck, I think my springs have finally settled, or something is wrong lol, since the rear is much lower than it was 6mos after having the springs put on.

yay! finally cleared up haha. I'll trust what youre saying about yaris/xD. i know its the same chassis as the vitz, so it makes sense...but the thing is the vitz and the yaris ARE different in size (vitz is four door..yaris is 2 door) which means that yaris chassis SHOULD be slightly different..i might be wrong im just speculating..but hey, im not trying to argue haha just my thoughts

There is a Yaris 4 door. They, Toyota, are also releasing a 4-door hatch :)

that might be a discrepancy then. Yaris 2door is a lighter smaller car. same size as xA pretty much. park your xD by a Yaris or xA and you will see it's a bigger car overall. by just a little, but mismatched springs to a car can yeild different results. springs should be engineered for certain use. yaris 4door and xD DO use the same springs. America's side of things is judt taking a shortcut to make a buck I think.

yes there is a four door yaris in the U.S. but not the four door hatch (Vitz) which i was referring to, which is what our chassis is indirectly based off (we're technically from the Ractis platform). the four door yaris (U.S. sedan) is the belta in japan..which is based off another chassis (a contiuation of the toyota platz) which was known as the echo in the U.S....these are major differences....now if its true that spring companies base the xD springs off the yaris sedan, that again brings a question in my mind, which is weight difference. our car is 400 pounds heavier..which means theres definite strain put on the component, even though most think its not a big deal.

Our chassis are directly the same. Our weight comes from the engine, wheels and equipment such as side airbags, which are all optional on the yaris if im not mistaken which would carry almost the same weight if any a little less.

along with the extra size of the seats/body panels/hood/size of the spare tire, not to mention the extra doors..lol

thanks for the lesson on jdm cars. I knew all that already. lived in Japan for a couple years. so yeah, the Belta, Vitz, bB, Ist, Platz, Celsior, Aristo, Altezza, Voltz. They all have US counterparts. not to mention the Corolla and the Rumion

yes i know...and that post wasnt directed at you personally..sorry if i offended you in anyway, but im simply trying to point out that the chassis are different and that all these things definitely do affect how our springs should be engineered, and affect the way our handling characteristics. again..im not aiming this at you..im simply stating what my view on it is and backing it up with the information that i know..

and to what zefoxe said, i dont believe that our chassis is directly the same as the yaris chassis because of the fact that our cars are quite different in size, and that our cars were chosen over the 5 door vitz to be sold in the us, and the vitz was remodeled to accomodate the need for a small, toyota badged hatch. which in turn gave US the three door hatch yaris. if you take a look at the toyota ractis, you'll notice that it is also a five door hatch, and the same can be said for the toyota vitz. THESE are the cars that our chassis is based off, not the yaris

talk to rockland toyota, his yaris chassis stabilizer bars all fit on my xD. yaris 3 door has a longer front door then the 5 door. its differences are almost insignificant.

im not trying to say that the parts dont fit.. I'm simply saying that because our chassis are still different, parts should be specfically engineered. even though our chassis are the same width, doesnt mean theyre the same length or height. it doesnt mean the same weight is put on it, nor does it mean the weight transfer is the same, which i know i dont need to tell anyone is important to suspension and handling. so while they still may be similar, its characteristics will still be different. while the differences VISUALLY will be insignificant to some, any characteristic of handling you want to throw at it, will still differ between the chassis. thats all im trying to say...

im not arguing that these parts dont fit, and im not trying to start a fight with anyone...if you think that the chassis differences are insignificant, i can't sway you from that opinion, and i dont want to if thats how you truly feel about it.

Come on people stop the argument.

The xD is based on the Yaris platform. Period.

Some othe clarifications...

The 5door Yaris LiftBack is now available on the US as a 2009 model just go check your dealer.

The size of a 3 door 5 door Yaris is the same. is not like the 5 door is longer or anything.

The yaris 3 door and the Yaris 5 door share the same platform and everything. As matter of fact and even if you find it hard to believe... the 3 door and 5 door weight the same!

The Yaris sedan also weight the same as a Liftback.

The official weight I believe is 2300lbs. That will vary depending on the tranny and equipment.
My Yaris comes with the 1.8L engine and fully loaded with a buch of other features and it weight 2450lbs. I can tell you that my car with the 2zr engine on it even share the same engine mounting points as the regular yaris.
I'm Using an xD Fujita intake on my Yaris and it fits OK.

And yes, I agree some manufacturers are cutting corners. How bad is this with a weight diff of +/- 400Lbs. I don't know... should ask them.

Is a fact that the Tein and Tanabe (both made in Japan parts) offered for the US Scion xD are the same that they been offering for the last 2 years for the Yaris.

Good or bad? Not sure... I'm just pointing the facts.

Look what Edmuds says about the JDM IST:

The five-door hatchback shares its underpinnings with the Toyota Yaris.

In Japan the IST even comes standard with the 1.5L Yaris engine and the 1.8 is optional and only offered with an automatic trans.

how does the fact that theyre bringing in the four door yaris hatchback mean that the xD is based off the yaris chassis? thats why i said before, its indirectly based off the VITZ chassis which has BEEN a 4 door hatch in japan long before they decided to bring the four door here. regardless of which ENGINE we have, has no bearing on whether or not our cars have the same chassis, it means we have the same engine, which is TRUE. we also share the engine with the corolla, but this doesnt mean that the corolla chassis is the same as ours OR yours. the basic definition of the chassis is the FRAME of the car, and there IS significant difference in a three door car frame and a four door car frame. the fact that theres an extra gap for a door between the B pillar and the C pillar MEANS that there is in fact a major difference. despite what edmunds may say, we are NOT related to the yaris chassis directly because we're not even related to the vitz chassis directly. ill reiterate what i have already said, we are directly related to the toyota ractis chasis which in turn, is related in some manner to the vitz chassis. but the changes in these chassis means that we are INDIRECTLY related to the vitz.

and to what edmunds says about the JDM IST being the same as the yaris, i've read articles where they say in their review that the toyota yaris' scion cousin is the xA, and we all know that the xA and the xD have major differences as well. if you want to say that the scion xD is based off of the 2009 yaris chassis, go ahead but its not possible to state that the chassis of a 3 door is the same as the chassis of a 5 door. they may be BASED off, one another, but theres nothing to prove that they are EXACTLY the same. one chassis that is based off the other means that the "other" chassis is a modified chassis, which no longer makes it the same. once you start modifying a chassis twice (such as the case for the Vitz --> Ractis --> xD/iSt) then thats creating major differences between the origin chassis, and the chassis at hand (the xD/iSt).

i sound like a broken record having to repeat all this information again and again. if anyone can show me a scan of the YARIS LIFTBACK chassis and the scion xD chassis, then go ahead and prove me wrong. however, dont show me the chassis from the european four door yaris liftback, because thats not the car that youve all been bringing up. so show me a picture of the 3 door liftback chassis and the xD chassis, and if its the same, ill admit that im wrong and that im an ___, and whatever else youd like me to admit, but until then, im standing by my knowledge that the yaris chassis and the xD chassis are not the same. period.

I said Platform not chasis... but I see your point.
Ofcourse the body of both cars is different. They share the platform not the body.

Don't understand why take so bad my comment that the xD is based on the Yaris? Is not like is a bad thing!

There are a couple of errors on you post.

First, the Yaris is not based on the Vitz. The Yaris IS the Vitz. Vitz is the name for the Yaris in Japan only. For the rest of the world is Yaris.

There has been 2 generation on the Vitz/Yaris so far...

First gen 99-05 Second gen 06+

The US never saw the first gen Vitz/Yaris. In Cadana they were know as the Echo Hatchback.

The other comment regarding the xA / Yaris relation. You are correct. The xA was based on the Yaris but in the 1st GEN yaris. scion xA share the same platform as the echo/echo hatch. SAme suspension/brakes transmision.

The current generation of the Yaris came in the 2006. It got to the US until 2007.
This is the NCP91/NCP95 chasis.

The JDM new IST was based on the NCP91 Yaris/Vitz platform.

JDM IST = US xD


There are a lot of differences between the cars I know. Some more that are introduced in order to make the car comply with the US regulations also.

The Corolla is the Corolla... that is a base NEW platform. The Matrix for example shares the corolla platform. The European Auris share the corolla platform.

The Solara shares the Camry platform and yet they are quite different in the looks!

That's what I'm talking about. Dont meant to sound like an ___!

i know that theres already been multiple generations of the vitz, but the vitz and the yaris arent the same car. theyre only the same in europe and japan because theyre both the 5 door, yet the U.S. model yaris is still different because its the 3 door liftback, which is different from the vitz. youre right however that they are the same platform. yaris shares the same looks and body design as the vitz, yet the vitz is still a 5 door liftback, and this has been the fact that i was trying to point out. i know that the ist is the japanese equivalent to our car, the xD. i have the badges. and that was main point is that it is based off of the VITZ chassis (however its still indirectly based since the iSt went through the ractis, which is the directly related chassis to the vitz)

since you however, are talking about platform, i now understand what you meant, and i dont mean to start arguements. just simply trying to share my knowledge.

to get back on topic...has anyone actually installed the TRD shocks? if so, how do they feel?

you know, maybe the xD is based off the 5door Vitz. end of arguement. I'm sure that car is a tad longer than the 3door

i was actually viewing this as a debate. we're all trying to clarify some things here, but ..yeah thats basically what castrex and i have pointed out before.

Well, MY xD is based on THIS platform...

http://troyfrey.com/scion/lecar_2.jpg

Haha, my old friend, a 1982 Renault LeCar...!! :bow:

So there. :P


...Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I just couldn't resist!!

there is a reason RS-R has three different spring sets for the xD. one for the 1.5, one for the 1.8 and one for the AWD. I just don't like the the sag of the Tanabe's. it looks cheesy

man..I would love to have RS-R suspension....too bad its so expensive.. T_T..oh well