Im new to the whole upgrading scene.

So i was wondering to know the differece between springs and coilovers??
and which one should i get? I drive my baby everyday and take the ferry if that means anything.

Help my scion family :pray:

coilovers are adjustable in height, the spring sits upon threaded rings that are around either a sleeve or a strut. By moving the rings up and down you can raise or lower the vehicle.

With springs you have to stick to the height the springs are at.

springs:
http://www.evasivemotorsports.com/merchant2/graphics/suspension/tein_stech.jpg

Coilovers-
Sleeve type- http://www.nipponpower.com/images/skunk04.jpg
True coilover w/strut
http://www.forwardmotioninc.com/html/linked_photos/coilovers.jpg

...I drive my baby everyday and take the ferry if that means anything.

are ferry boats lower'ed friendly?

that is something you might want to think about

You had mentioned in a previous thread about your concern with ferry boats and lowered cars. Maybe a coilover would give you the ability to have the best of both worlds. Some are able to be adjusted so the car is at near stock ride hight, and then very low. The problem is that to raise or lower the car requires turning those little rings with that little wrench which is time consuming and tedious. I'd say coilovers if you don't mind the work. A mild spring drop if you want to be safe, TRD or Eibach. Or if you are lazy and have money to blow, there are now performance air ride systems that are fairly reliable and would alow at the touch of a botton to raise or lower the car a huge amount. There are a few bolt in kits on the market or you can get one custom fabricated. The price points for these differenent system are also very different.

Springs will run 120-300
I don't like sleeve style coil overs so I'll just skip those
Real coilovers 800-1500
Airbags 1800-4500

Feel free to call me if you want a more indepth answer.

And just putting springs on stock shocks will wear out your stock shocks rather quickly.

Trust me, I've done it. Not once, but twice.

T Dot ferries arent lower'ed friendly but I really dont want to drive around with stock "sus" and the 18's im putting on.

ohh, and whats the diff between "sleeve and none sleeve?"

ohh, and whats the diff between "sleeve and none sleeve?"

That's a pretty loaded question. Basically it boils down to perspective and opinion for most people. The sleeve basically replaces the spring perch with a height adjustable sleeve setup. It's up to you to upgrade the shocks and tune everything together so it’s all works optimally. The true coil over setup will replace the complete spring and strut assembly with a complete assembly that is specifically tuned and designed to work together, with a proper spring to shock setup in a package. For the xA and xB, the rear coil over from some (or all) companies is actually a sleeve style and external shock since it’s not a spring over shock assembly. Either way there will be options for adjustable shock stiffness. Then there is spring choice, some are constant single rate (single weight), others are a non true progressive rate where a single spring tapers at one end making that end softer which will improve ride comfort but since the rate varies across the spring it is not a true progressive rate setup which requires a separate helper (lower weight) spring in addition to the main spring. This is a pretty basic break down of options; it can get a lot more complicated.

The reason I say its a loaded question is because MANY people firmly believe that the tapered style progressive rate spring is equal or better than the separate helper spring style and/or that sleeve systems are equal or better than true coil over assemblies.

Honestly according to Bilstien and other sources a properly tuned for specific driving style and condition shock and spring setup that is not adjustable would be the optimal setup if you could set it to the exact road, driving style, vehicle weight, etc, but since many/most people traverse different road ways in different conditions and with different vigor depending on the circumstances ... like I said this can get a lot more complicated and there are lots of different theories.

Whoa that was deep foth, but thanks for the info!!!

btw don't forget tein Hs for a mild drop...
how low do the eibachs go?

eibach = 1.5