Well I now have my black sand pearl 2006 xA. I love it. I spent most of today driving down some nice windy country roads. Lots of fun!!!

I just had a couple of questions and was hoping you guys could help me out.

First, will the car get and lower as the factory springs settle out? It has 180 miles on it and it just seems high. I'm not going to spend the money on new springs or anything, just hoping the current ones will settle out a little. Any thoughts?

Also, I love the car, but occasionaly I look at it and think it is somewhat girly. That is why I got black and ordered the Yakima roof rack. I was hoping I could get TONS of advice and unique or not-unique things I could do to make the car clearly a guys car. I'm not the type who would like the look of some souped up, street racing looking thing. I go mountain bikin/skiing/camping/roadtrips type of a person. Help me get a vision for this car.

I'm not planning on spending lots of money on wheels. Truthfully, I want to stick with 15" and spend around $115 or less per wheel. Any suggestions? As I said, the car is black and will have the Yakima roof rack once I put it on. PLEASE, give me some tips on how to make this clearly a guys car without spending thousands on mods. Should I get the Yakima faring with the white "Yakima" on it, or will that look dumb??

I was thinking white wheels would be kida cool but have no idea.

Come on guys, be creative and help me out here, I'm far from a car expert and don't even know what all is out there. Help me to get an overall "picture" of what I want my xA to look like. THanks.

 

i just wanted to say, i know i'm asking a lot, but i have confidence in all of your creative abilities.

maybe some type of rally car look?? any cool stickers or extra badging? black white white lettering? crome wheels, white wheels, gun mettal wheels? how can i make this thing look sporty? would some type of metal type grill be cool???

thanks again,
donnie

 

FYI - i am a total noob, and may be way off on this, but you said you like hiking/camping.. i do too, and i've also been trying to take into consideration that i may be taking a couple trips per year to West Virginia, so i was doing some reasearch on good traction tires (all weather, winter, etc.) and i came across these Nokian tires..

http://www.nokiantires.com/newsite/tires.cfm

I called a local dealer and he told me the all weathers usually ran around $84... apparentely they have amazing traction.

again, i don't know much, but i've read a lot of good things about this brand.

 

i have the 04 Xa and i think that if you add the spoiler and fog light and even the Xa rims from the dealer it looks way better and cheaper. i never seen the Yakima roof rack instaled on the car so i could not tell you what i think about it. i doubt that the car will lower i gat 18000 miles and it still looks a lil high of the ground specialy the back wheels. And no don't think that if you drive a lil car it a girly car

 

Hopefully you don't think my setup is too girly ...

Here's a pic of my xA with Yakima roof racks and Rocky Mount bike trays (painted red). I think ridding myself of the stock wheelcovers really helped enhance the xA's stance. I also have TRD springs, so the car is a small bit lower than stock. For the winter months, I have a ski carrier up there as well, between the two bike trays.

 

I like the roof rack. I'm still not sure if I should by a faring thing or not. If I do it'll probably have the white "yakima" on it. Hopefully the rack won't reduce mpg too much or cause a lot of excess noise.

I don't think i'll just take of my wheel covers, but i'm not sure what wheels will go with the look i'm going for.

I feel like once i get the rack on there, I need to do: something with the wheels (would white wheels on a black car be cool?? anyone have pics??); something with the grill, and some type of unique decal or emblem, maybe do something with the badging.

Keep the suggestions coming.

Does anyone have pics of the xA raised 3 or 4 inches?? is that possible? I feel like the stock height is just not right. Lower would be better, higher would be interesting. I'm thinking that way because my girlfriend said the car in general looks like a little SUV. I got the xA after my Nissan Pathfinder rusted out.

 

I've recently removed my fairing and created a custom 'blade' that's 28" x 2", and attached by the standard Yakima bar clamps. The fairing actually creates more drag over many miles, and truthfully, *any* redirection of air over the round bars will eliminate the standing wave noise.

Personally, I like bronze wheels on a black car. It gives it the dark (but not too dark), semi-mysterious look and hides dirt. I think white would stand out too much.

If you raise it, the front control arms would need to be lengthened to keep the proper wheel to wheel width along the front of the car. For both front and rear, the brake lines would also need to be lengthened. Overall, I think the car would tip over too easily if raised (think Suzuki Samurai).

 

Rallying in a FF? Raising an xA? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but your expectations of the xA is far from achievable. As much as you would want to mod it for some off road, rugged capability, the xA, in essence is a commuter car not a mini SUV.

With that said, it's not entirely hopeless. You can expand on it's "SUV"ish qualities by adding frame and chassis supports like a frame brace and sway bars to stiffen the car. Lifting the car is not possible without heavy modification so I would recommend getting the TRD springs and monroe shocks to help with the ride without sacrificing much ride hieght. A set of oversized mud tires will add a bit of height, but often they are heavier which in turn gives you less HP at the wheel and MPG.

The xA isn't an SUV. It barely is suitable for towing let alone heavy duty usage. You might have been better off with a Rav4 or a truck instead.

 

Lower the thing. The xA does NOT want to be an SUV. Believe me, mine whispers to me all the time.

I think that roof rack looks pretty cool though.

I don't think the xA is a very "manly" looking car. I think it's pretty gender neutral, bordering on "cute". Lower it a good bit, get some new wheels on there, and it will look tons better.

 

you are all right about making it into some type of SUV thing. I really don't want that either. I bought it for its incredible gas mileage. my old pathfinder got around 13mpg. I am interested, however, in making it appear sporty (not as in a street racing type thing) and looking like it fits in hauling bikes and skis and such. With the wheels, it seems like most people have chromed out type things which are cool, but not for me.

For some reason, I feel like I haven't seen any wheels that would match the little xA with a roof rack on top. Also I think I need something different for the grill. The bar with the badge across the middle seems a little too fancy for me. I'm thinking metal wire type grill thing. I have no idea..... I got the thing yesterday and my mind is already racing about what I can do to this thing.

By the way; its so ridiculously fun to drive compared to my old pathfinder where i could watch the fuel needle slowly go down if i stared at it hard.

 

put 2 or 3 huge Hella beams mounted on the front bumper or roof.. i always thought that would be sooo nice looking... and at like 135 watts per you will be seeing everything for a mile.

 

haha. for real, i'm going to look into that. hmmm

 

Nice "rack" ASC... I have the same thing...



I also have a Yakima Spacebooster that I use to transport skis and when I need the extra storage space.

 

Great minds think alike!

 

ya actually you could prolly mount the Hella beams on your roof rack...

 

Okay. I don't know if this has been answered yet. But no, the stock springs are not going any lower! If they do, it'll only be fractions of an inch.

Second. The cheapest thing to do to make your xA less "girly" is to change that concept in your mind!!! I don't think xA's are girly. I don't think that the larger portion of male xA drivers think that xA's are girly...

Besides that, there is not much that can be done if you don't want to spend money. My suggestions for starters is to give your xA nice, clean window tints and lowering springs. You may not want to spend all the money. But $500 later (for both mods) you'll be rolling around in a manlier (man-ly-er) car.

-- gg

 

how do lowering springs effect the ride and gas mileage?

i saw my car last night (without any extras on it) and the first thing i thought was - tint the windows and lower this guy a little bit and it would be a totally different car.

 

You might want to take some cues from the Subaru Impreza "Outback Sport"--essentially a commuter car (and my previous ride) made to look manly and off-road-worthy with a few simple additions. A cheap addition might be tires with raised white letters. You can get them in lots of differnt brands and in the right sizes. (See link below) Typically they are indicated by "RWL" after the usual tire dimensions. I know for the subie, it makes a big difference in appearing tough. Also a spoiler and fog lights add to the look and simple clean wheels always look nice. I like the idea of some big off-road style hellas mounted to the front grill. That would solve your problem of not liking the way the grill looks, too. Post pics! I like where you are going with this.

http://www.forty-ninersubaru.com/Images/WheelBaja.jpg

 

Dude how did you get the polished lip on the steelies?

 

It looks like trim rings. They are usually made of plastic with a chrome look.