Hi - I have been driving an xB for a few months and running around SF it is just too hard a ride. I feel every bump and pothole right up my spine. Is there anything that can be done to improve the ride? I would really appreciate any thoughts out there. I love the car, but my back is killing me....... Thanks :bow: [/b]

try taller section tires.

softer springs.


I think teins/spy springs are softer and I know there are many others. You can often find springs for sale in classifieds(on this site) or you can shop around for the best price on new ones. I think www.kozztuning.com has teins for fairly little cash.

Mine came with the tires at 35 psi from the dealer, I set them to 29 psi all around as recommended by Scion on the door sticker and the ride is much much improved. Initially it felt like the tires were made of concrete. :shock:

I think the increased rolling resistance may be contributing to the less than stellar mileage I seeing now at about 24mpg city. Next fill up I'll take the tires up a couple of pounds and see what I get there.

go get some washable paint, like something water soluable, then paint a line or few across your treads, then drive around, if only the middle is worn out, then do as ronrika suggested and take some air pressure out of your tires.
you could technically throw some weight in your car, the added weight would slowen down the dampening rate of your shocks providing for a smother ride, however at the struggle of your engine trying to hit those SF hills. lol
i would check into some shocks, thats what provides the smoothness when your car hits potholes and such.

tein h-tech springs will lower you 1 inch and provide a soft comfortable ride.

assuming he can afford them, tiens may be the best, but definatly not the cheapest

Buy I diff. car. You have to make sacrifices, you are eather all or none. I have cut the springs on mine to get the look I want. Will it ride worse, yes, do I care nope, b/c I want the look.

you dont necessalary have to go all or none all the time, its all up to preference, you dont care about the ride so long as it looks good, someone else might not care about the look so much as the performance and/or handeling.
its a case by case scenario, its basicialy up to what furyinabox wants out of his/her car.
teins might work out well, but maybe they dont care for all the things tien may offer, maybe the just want a smoother ride, in such case, why pay 800+ dollars for what a 200 doller pair of kyb or konigs would work just as well for what they wanted.

I got the Tein S-Tech's and noticed a smoother ride along with better cornering...

tein h techs are cheap , if they want a comfy ride no need in even talking about coilovers. thats bank!!!

Ride in a 4x4 truck. You will appreciate the ride a whole lot.

I'm also looking for the same thing here in upstate New York. The winter roads demand it. I've decided to go with the Goodyear Assurance Comfortred in size
185/65 TR15 from Tire Rack. Check out the specs of this tire vs. the standard oem's
and the slightly taller sidewalls and rubber compounds look to soften the ride. Read
the reviews and talk to the guys @ Tire Rack.

FORGET DOWNGRADING YOUR TIRES GUYS

Mostly you'll just compromise handling and make the car unsafe to handle.

The best way to soften the ride would be to find an Echo or xA owner who wants better handling and swap springs with them.

The US market xB comes with special stiffer springs that the Echo, xA and JDM BB do not have.

Swap spring with any of those cars and you will have the nice, squishy ride you desire without running junk tires with a low speed rating. ;)

from what i'm told xa are the same as xb. they sit higher with stock springs or aftermarket cuz they weigh less. I may be wrong , but bb springs or echo springs should do a trick , probably harder to get than teins or the like tho.

I've got a PDF document given to dealers, it's 32 pages. I'm not sure where I got it originally, but it has literally every detail in it regarding the Scion product line.

On page 14, it says specifically that the U.S. xB has 148 in/lb in front and 160 in/lb rate springs in the rear. The xA, bB, Ist and Echo all have 134 in/lb springs

This is a document intended to introduce dealers to the Scion product line, I'm sure a few of you have it already.

Interestingly, it also says the xA and xB are 50 lbs apart.

That should put to rest any ideas that the xA is significantly lighter. Put 5 grocery bags in your xA and it will weigh the same as my xB. :yawn:

I'm also looking for the same thing here in upstate New York. The winter roads demand it. I've decided to go with the Goodyear Assurance Comfortred in size
185/65 TR15 from Tire Rack. Check out the specs of this tire vs. the standard oem's
and the slightly taller sidewalls and rubber compounds look to soften the ride. Read
the reviews and talk to the guys @ Tire Rack.

You and be both! NY roads are harsh.
I was looking at the Goodyear Assurance TripleTread.
Better traction and softer ride.

tein h-tech springs will lower you 1 inch and provide a soft comfortable ride.

Why are lower springs softer?
You would think they would be stiffer to prevent the car from bottoming out.
:question:
Does anyone make softer OEM ride height springs yet?

FORGET DOWNGRADING YOUR TIRES GUYS

Mostly you'll just compromise handling and make the car unsafe to handle.

The best way to soften the ride would be to find an Echo or xA owner who wants better handling and swap springs with them.

The US market xB comes with special stiffer springs that the Echo, xA and JDM BB do not have.

Swap spring with any of those cars and you will have the nice, squishy ride you desire without running junk tires with a low speed rating. ;)

One thing I can say is that my JDM bB sure rides hard...

I'm also looking for the same thing here in upstate New York. The winter roads demand it. I've decided to go with the Goodyear Assurance Comfortred in size
185/65 TR15 from Tire Rack. Check out the specs of this tire vs. the standard oem's
and the slightly taller sidewalls and rubber compounds look to soften the ride. Read
the reviews and talk to the guys @ Tire Rack.

23.74" 1856015 vs 24.47" 1856515 tire. You will be increasing your ride height which means raising the center of gravity on your box which means your box won't handle as well. The Comfortred is a great tire but I don't believe it is a H rated tire. So not only are your lessening the handling of the box but putting on a taller tire you are downgrading your tires speed rating.

oops forgot to add a 215/35/18 is only 23.95" in overall diameter (depends slightly on style of tire) 1856515 is still a 1/2 inch taller

tein h-tech springs will lower you 1 inch and provide a soft comfortable ride.

Why are lower springs softer?
You would think they would be stiffer to prevent the car from bottoming out.
:question:
Does anyone make softer OEM ride height springs yet?
actually the h-techs make the ride comfortable and less "bumpy" not hard bumps any more. they are softer cuz the springs are softer.

. . . You will be increasing your ride height which means raising the center of gravity on your box which means your box won't handle as well . . . So not only are your lessening the handling of the box but putting on a taller tire you are downgrading your tires speed rating.
:!: :!: :!:
I totally disagree... I have been running 195/60/15 Bridgestone Blizzaks since November ( I live in the snow belt ) and now the box rides a little bit smoother and handles the corners a LOT better than the stock tires ever did.
:D
Since the ride height is increased by only 1/2" it is not any more tippy at all. In fact, the wider tires keep it firmly planted to the road. The Speedometer is only off -3 Mph, which according to other threads is OK because the speedometer is off by about 2 to 3 Mph anyways. Also, the increased tire size is well within the safety limits of a recommended 3% diameter difference from the OEM tire.
BTW: Traction Control and Vehicle Stability Control still work flawlessly.
http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp
8)

Ok, here is my take on this post....

First off, the Daewoo guy, who suggest "adding more wieght" gimme a break. The guy wantes a softer ride, not dragging his ___ because of added wieght.

Secondly, i would check my tire pressure. Make sure you check it when its cold. Checking a hot tire ( driven more then 3 miles ) will give you an improper pressure reading. I would even lower the pressure to about 29 PSI like the other poster suggested.

and C .... i have the Tein H Tech springs. I was the second person here to install them on my box. I have had them in since April of last year, and 14K miles later, i still love the ride. Yeah it lowers it a bit, but the ride is so much softer then stock. I too was having problems with a soar back after riding in the box for any longer then 1/2 an hour. After installing the springs, not a problem any more. I did the install myself, which wasnt hard. I think i paid $175 for the springs, and its been the best money spent on my box. I know you can find them cheaper now, and more readily availible too. Hope this helps, and hit my link below if you would like to see before and after pics of the ride height.

. . . i have the Tein H Tech springs. I was the second person here to install them on my box. I have had them in since April of last year, and 14K miles later, i still love the ride. Yeah it lowers it a bit, but the ride is so much softer then stock. I too was having problems with a soar back after riding in the box for any longer then 1/2 an hour. After installing the springs, not a problem any more. I did the install myself, which wasnt hard. I think i paid $175 for the springs, and its been the best money spent on my box. I know you can find them cheaper now, and more readily availible too. Hope this helps, and hit my link below if you would like to see before and after pics of the ride height.

Thanks for the good write up.
So... the Tein H Tech springs *really* offer a noticeably softer ride than the OEM's?
What about changing the shocks & struts? Do they make these softer as well?
:question:

. . . You will be increasing your ride height which means raising the center of gravity on your box which means your box won't handle as well . . . So not only are your lessening the handling of the box but putting on a taller tire you are downgrading your tires speed rating.
:!: :!: :!:
I totally disagree... I have been running 195/60/15 Bridgestone Blizzaks since November ( I live in the snow belt ) and now the box rides a little bit smoother and handles the corners a LOT better than the stock tires ever did.
:D
Since the ride height is increased by only 1/2" it is not any more tippy at all. In fact, the wider tires keep it firmly planted to the road. The Speedometer is only off -3 Mph, which according to other threads is OK because the speedometer is off by about 2 to 3 Mph anyways. Also, the increased tire size is well within the safety limits of a recommended 3% diameter difference from the OEM tire.
BTW: Traction Control and Vehicle Stability Control still work flawlessly.

http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp
8)

a better bet would have been a 205/55/15 which is much closer to the OE specs plus a bit wider. it is always wisest to stay as close as possible to OE over diameter on tires. which is why pirelli developed the plus fitment years ago.

easy calculation for over all diameter

185/25.4=7.283 inches
7.283x.60 (aspect ratio)=4.3698 inches (half a sidewall)
4.3698x2 (2 sidewalls)= 8.7396
8.7396 + 15 (rim size)= 23.7396 overall diameter

Don't lose site of the original goal here. I know it's hard to believe, however, some people are willing to give up handling for increased ride comfort. I receive calls like this all the time and the vehicles range from the Ford Focus to BMW's and Mercedes. In many cases, the customer is in "Love" with their vehicle, however, road conditions or driving preferences call for options and trade offs regarding ride comfort verses handling. While going to a taller and possibly lower speed rated tire will definitely decrease the handling characteristics and steering response of the vehicle, it's a trade off some drivers are willing to make for improved ride comfort!

a better bet would have been a 205/55/15 which is much closer to the OE specs plus a bit wider. it is always wisest to stay as close as possible to OE over diameter on tires. which is why pirelli developed the plus fitment years ago.

easy calculation for over all diameter

185/25.4=7.283 inches
7.283x.60 (aspect ratio)=4.3698 inches (half a sidewall)
4.3698x2 (2 sidewalls)= 8.7396
8.7396 + 15 (rim size)= 23.7396 overall diameter

Hmmmm... a good idea. Is there enough clearance with the 205/55/15 or do they rub at full turn? I am looking for a new set of good, smoother riding, all season tires. Any suggestions?
:question:

good luck let us know what you do