I just purchased my 06 SW tC and have a few questions about my suspension options. I am looking to lower the car for a daily driver, and have searched through many threads and decided on the TRD springs. However I cannot seem to find much information on the effect of the TRD shocks. My question is how big of a difference do the TRD Shocks have on ride quality? I know that lowering a car will make the ride firmer, but I do not want a bouncy, bone jarring ride. I am trying to decide between purchasing just the springs and ride on stock shocks/struts, or if I should save up and purchase the TRD shocks as well.

Cliff Notes:
Want to lower car.
How much of a difference do the TRD shocks make regarding ride quality?

 

I got the whole trd suspenstion package and I like it. It rides a lot smoother and still maintains it stiffness. I handle courners a lot faster with little body roll with the sway bar in the street setting. The stuts make the diffrence. If I kept the oe struts the car would ride a lot worse. Talk with TRD Spaks. I did and Ken that works there hooked me up with a great price for everything.

 

with a harder spring the damper will have to work harder to keep the spring under control. in other words will wear out the oem struts faster. as far as ride quality shouldn't make a whole lot of difference until the car is pushed hard, then the benefits of the trd struts would be felt.

 

Trust me just everyday driving have the trd stuts compaired to stock still rides smoother even though the car is sitting lower.

 

ok awesome, thanks guys!

I am still unsure how much a ride difference the TRD shocks make over stock shocks. I am not terribly worried about handling, I am lowering mroe for aesthetics, and this is my daily driver. My only hesitation about the TRD Shocks is that they are quite expensive on my budget and I would like to save myself the 400 bucks if I could. However, if I end up getting the springs only and buying hte TRD shocks later it will cost even more because I would have to pay the installation fee twice.

So I am trying to figure out if, for daily driving, the shocks make a huge difference in the smoothness of the ride.

 

trust me it will be worth saving to get the trd struts too.

 

the actually ride quality between the TRD shocks and the OEM shocks will depend on time, TRD springs will wear out the OEM shocks much faster than they wear out the TRD shocks. Initially you shouldnt notice a big difference, but after about a year, you will definetely be able to tell the difference.

 

The reason I said you will notice a diffrence is b/c of the valving in the TRD Struts compared to the OEM Struts. The dampening force with the TRD Struts varies unlike the OEM which is one consistant force.

 

why don't you just install them yourself, that way you can save the money on the shocks and just buy springs now, and in a year buy TRD shocks and install them yourself. this gives you time to save up for the shocks that you'll eventually be buying anyway. or just buy basics like me! haha

 

I also wonder, for all yall that installed springs that drop lower than TRD did yall also buy the TRD struts?

 

not everyone knows how to install stuff...

 

Some people knows how but doesn't have a extra hand or time and the garage to do it at. Thats why I paid at least. I have done this for a living for the last 8 years and sometimes you just get tired of working on cars all the time so you wind up paying others from time to time.

 

which is why you have this forum to learn and tools are free to rent from your local autozone. plus if you're young, it's the best time to do it. like the previous poster said, when you're older you'll be lazy, so better do it now or you'll be paying ppl to do it forever.

 

I like the ride of the TRD shocks and springs more than stock.

Sure, it's stiffer, but it feels firm--not hard. If anything, the ride is far less 'bouncy' than stock. In short, you aren't going to loose any teeth going over potholes.

I've also noticed that the majority of people who complain about ride height, fender gap and other problems with the TRD lowering springs did not install TRD shocks at the same time, and are still on stock shocks.

Again, I don't know if I'm just 'Special' or whatever, but my dealership, Power Toyota, installed the shocks and springs for the price of the parts.

Most of the service reps and the parts department still maintain that the cost of parts, installation, and labor are all seperate.

All the managers I've talked to, however, including the service manager, have told me that all TRD parts include the cost of installation in their dealership purchase price.

A lot of Scion customers seem to be misinformed about this, but I don't believe it's just a special deal through Power Toyota. As near as I can tell, Scion and Toyota generally don't broadcast this because their dealerships are already complaining about 'profit loss' from Pure Pricing.

 

Kinda idiotic of them...profit loss is a term they can use when sales are below expectations.

But as for installation being included in the price? I dont think thats completely true because scions own website states in red lettering that all of the performance parts do not include installation.