These may be stupid questions but this is my first new car.

1. Is it a good idea to buy wheel locks? I've had the car maybe a month and a half.

2. The ride on the tC seems a bit on the rough side, is there anything I can do to soften it? I used to drive around an older Avalon, I know those are a bit more upscale so they'd have better suspensions. Seems like I feel every crack / bump in the road.

So far I'm loving this car. Love the BSP hate to keep it clean .

 

get the locks from trdsparks. they're like $35 or so.

 

1) Yes, plain and simple. ^^

2) Well, you're in the minority. The majority of tC owners want to stiffen the ride to give it more stable handling in the corners, less body roll, etc. Nonetheless, to soften the ride your only real choice at the moment is changing the tires since there are no softer springs or shocks available yet, that I know if . You may or may not need to replace the rims, it will depend on the tire you get. You'll want to find a tire with a much thicker sidewall, one that was designed for ride comfort over performance. A 215/55 should be able to fit. A 215/65 would make the tire's 3"s taller then stock and you might have rubbing issues. If you're willing to change the tires and rims, you could drop to a 16" rim and have a 195/65/16 sized tire, and that would only increase the diameter by 1.3"s. With the stock suspension setup, you shouldn’t have a problem with tires that tall.

 

 

Ya, as jmiller suggested, it is likely the rim size with low pro tires. If you go with a 16" or 15" wheel with larger side walls, you'll get a softer ride... but whats the fun in that on a car like this?

 

screw the oem 35 dallor locks, just go get yourself some 15 dallor gorrolla locks. Lets put it this way, if they really want your rims, they'll take it no matter what. Other wise save your money and get the cheaper ones..

 

DO NOT GET GORILLA LOCKS! There has already been a post where some guys bolts snapped because the locks didn't fit right, and his wheel came off while driving! The only locks that fit corrects are ones directly from Scion, which I would recommend getting. (Their only like 35 dollars.) Also you can imporve your ride quality by decreasing your rim size, and getting some higher profile tires.

 

The only reason the Gorilla locks did not work properly is because the person who installed them did so incorrectly. I purchased and installed my own set of Gorilla locks and have had no problems. Rotated and balanced the tires myself yesterday, locks came off without a snag. He may have just gotten the wrong thread pitch, or simply way over tightened them. Just because one person messes up, don't label an entire brand as bad.

 

NO, I bought the Gorilla locks too at first, and if you noticed, the gorilla locks have a conical seat, while the stock lugs have a flat seat(from that washer that is on it.) YOU NEED THAT WASHER. Your locking lugs need to match exactly the stock lugs that you took off your tC. You can think what you want to think, but I'm warning you that for an extra 15 dollars its worth getting the locking lugs that fit properly.

 

you dont need the washer, heck if you buy those oem locks, good luck using them on aftermarket rims. my locks went on perfectly and with no problems..

 

This is plain common sense, use oem locking lugs on oem rims, use aftermarket lugs on aftermarket wheels.

oem wheels have a ball style seat, its rounded, aftermarket lugs use an accorn seat. If you use aftermarket lug on a oem rim the lug will not seat properly, you can damage the wheel stud, rim, and the lug it self might back off.

 

Am I the only person here that's thinking there's more than 1 Gorilla lock? Yeah, you could get the wrong one, but you could also get the right one. I mean, that's what I just put on my car, but damn if it didn't take the tire shop an hour to find the right locks (after looking thru 4 different catalogues). They ended up with some Toyota-styled locks which I thought was quite appropriate. Thoughts?

 

Exactly, for whatever reason, bubba doesn't understand that. YOU DO NEED THAT WASHER! No ____ the locks will go on, but just because they screw on, it doesn't mean that they will work properly. Dont get mad when your bolts snap while your driving on the freeway and total your car. The other person was atleast lucky enough that his wheel didn't go flying off, and he had time to pull over before any other damage occured.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. most aftermarket companies usually make lugnuts in the styles that are out there, not the "Gorilla style" or their own version...

You just need the right tool for the job.

And, BTW isn't this just a simple discussion, why are people getting worked up over this?

 

The reason I am stressing this point, is because you can bring serious harm to both yourself and others if you dont get the right equiptment.

 

The locks I bought are specific Gorilla Toyota Style locks with the washer. I work for Discount Tire, I think I know which lugs need to go on my car to be safe. Hell, if you keep arguing with me about it I will take a picture of the locks to show you they are the right ones.

Actually, go here: http://www.gorilla-auto.com/products...=259&sfID2=260
Scroll down to the bottom, left hand side. See the one that says Toyota Lock? That particular set, the set I have, come with a set of the washers that a mag seat wheel such as our needs. Now, back to my original statement, the person who destroyed his own studs did so by either using the wrong set of locks, or cross threading them when he was installing them.