Brand new to the site and can't wait to find all about this car.

I have a 2009 XD in the dark grey. Love the car but have one complaint or question.

The ride is so sloppy it feels like a boat in the ocean. Took the family on a small road trip and everyone but my husband got car sick.

It has 30,000 miles on it and no damage to it

 

you might have a blown strut or a few not 100% sure on this. If you are looking into lowering your xD I would look into going with H&R for a good ride quality. You can take it back to where ever you bought the xD from & they should look at your car for free.

 

tell them to stop staring at things so close to the car.

if you think the suspension is too sloppy, then put on stiffer shocks and struts, and lowering springs to firm up the ride. also bigger wheels with lower profile tires.

 

I haven't put springs on yet, and it doesn't feel like a boat. I would strongly urge you to get that checked out.

 

I bought my xD with the TRD springs, struts, and shocks. At about 40,000 miles, I was fed up with the bumpy ride, and had everything replaced with stock hardware. The springs actually came off of a 2010 xD. Someone had replaced theirs with some aftermarket springs right off the bat. I bought the struts and shocks from TRD Sparks. I installed them a few months back and I am really happy with the stock setup. I don't think the ride is as refined as my VW Golf, but the lowering springs and "sportivo" shocks and struts just made things worse, in my opinion.

There may be some aftermarket suspension parts that actually improve the ride, but I would not recommend the TRD parts.

 

Sport parts generally increase NVH but they, among other things, make the car feel more direct. The op probably has a blown strut. Get it checked out.

 

Well had the vehicle checked out at the local dealership (Toyota of Modesto) and they said the struts all checked out fine.

What can my next move be to smooth this ride out short of selling it off for a SUV lol

 

What did you drive before the xD? I can't give you advise if I don't know what you consider a smooth ride.

 

Other cars include:

Chevy Avalanche with 6" lift and 33" mud tires
Chevy Tahoe Sport tuned
Dodge Charger Hemi and sport tuned
Ford Crown Victoria

Had a Suzuki Forenza (Crap car)

Victory Vision motorcycle

 

I'd hazard a guess and say that sport suspension would help you. Start with trd springs.

The ride will be smoother but you'll feel every bump.

 

It seems right now like the shocks are too stiff and instead of cushioning the ride the car seems to bounce all over the place. Whats hard to explain I guess is the description of the way it bounces.

Its not a hard bottoming out kind of bounce but rather a like riding a roller coaster when it drops down fast and your stomach jumps in to your throat kind of bounce lol.

I'm curious if changing out the shocks to something softer wouldn't help.

 

What sticks out to me is the very, very soft cushy rides you are used to. A Crown Vic in particular is like riding the living room sofa down the highway. Most notably, the first 4 cars you mentioned are all very heavy and have very long wheelbases and lots of travel in the suspension. The only car you've had that is lighter and has a short wheelbase you described as a "Crap car". Also, even if they were supposedly sport tuned, a Charger and a Tahoe have cushy suspension.

The xD has a stiffer suspension that gives you a very good feel of the road. If you want to take corners at high speed, this is a good thing. If you want a comfortable ride, it's not -- and going to TRD springs will make things stiffer, not more comfortable.

What's the pressure in your tires? Assuming you have the stock tires, the manual recommends 36psi IIRC. In my experience, increasing the pressure past that results in a very harsh ride.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post but it doesn't come off as too friendly. "supposedly"? Are you insinuating that I'm making things up? Just curious.

I understand the vehicles I listed have longer wheel bases but that should not matter when it comes to how a car takes bumps and dips in the road.

I should clarify one point though. When I said the Forenza was a crap car I should have been specific to say the car was a lemon and gave us nothing but problems. However the ride was comfortable and felt like what a car should feel like.

I will definitely check the pressure in the tires.

For around town this car is fine and has enough get up and go for what it is but for long distances this car just isn't cutting it.

 

I don't think he's trying to be mean. It's hard to figure out someone's perspective. It looks like you are familiar with "big" cars. Most of which listed have leaf springs which have a soft ride, but are very indirect for handling. Also a longer wheel base will help absorb a lot of road variances. Think of a seesaw. A shorter seesaw will be more abrupt when changing direction compared to a long seesaw. Also wheel travel on bigger cars is going to be a lot longer. Higher tire pressure may also translate into feeling the bumps more, but if you let too much out it can also be bad. Low tire pressure can cause tire roll, which can cause you to lose control of your car. I think you can either live with it or get another car (sorry). I don't know of anything that would fix what you think is wrong. Maybe have a long test drive before buying next time.

 

If their is nothing wrong with your xD then I suggest you sell it and buy a different vehicle. The ride is gonna be bumpy due to the short wheel base but sloppy/loose handling is not something you should be feeling in this car.