NYCxB

Need suggestions...

Max

Hit the gas, turn the wheel, car should handle as was designed.

But seriously, strut tower brace, larger wheels, lower profile tires, lowering springs all help.

dinkjs

Actually you will want to upgrade your rear sway bar....if you want do the front too

Personally I think the stock front sway bar is thick enough....if you want it to work more efficently then upgrade the endlinks and upgrade the swaybar bushings

But the rest yea.....better tires

As for a strut tower bar....REAR ONLY you will see really no benefit with a front because the shock towers are so close to the fire wall

Rion

Thicker rear anti-sway bar is the single best bang for the buck mod you can do for handling.

DON'T add a thicker FRONT bar, unless you want worse handling and you like understeer.

DON'T get a strut tower bar, unless you're just doing it for looks because they do d*ck for handling in reality.

Tires and wheels can do a great deal. I would consider the rear anti-sway and some LIGHT wheels with ultra high performance tires. Size isn't as important as weight. 18's and 19's aren't going to handle that much better than 16's or 17's, you will just ride like crap, have heavier wheels and pay out the a$$ for your tires. If you fo it for looks, cool, but for performance, go with some very light 16's honestly.

After that, see if you want suspension. Consider some coilovers.

365Motorwerks

A note on wheel size,
Size does matter.....with equally weighted wheels the smaller one has less rotating mass than it's larger counterpart which in turn is easier to spin-up coming out of a corner and also makes less work for the brakes, all is very important to getting a smaller lower horsepower car to handle. I was running 17's with 205/40's and have switched to 15's with 205/50's for this reason, the thicker sidewall also give you that much more of a complient ride over rougher roads allowing the suspention to do it's work better.....

xBino

I have to agree, 15's give a much better ride than 17+ wheels. A modest drop of 1~1.25" doesn't hurt either.

hotbox05

Actually you want a neutral tire size 15 is still too much sidewall for seriously spirited driving some light weight 16's should work nice.And thicker tires just eat up more bump and alter how your suspension works , coilovers on steelies would be dumb the tires eat up bumps causing an extra buffer between car and the road, you want the suspension to do work not the tires sidewall. if you go with 16's and a 45 or 50 series wou should still have a "compliant" ride as well as a stiffer sidewall.

Chimmy3

front sways can improve handling if the car has a lot of body roll... this is more true I think if you have soft springs in the front, so don't discount upgrading it completely.

"Stiffer front sway bars will, in many cases, decrease understeer because of reduced body roll and better camber control."

from this page
http://www.rogerkrausracing.com/overundr.html

which was cited here before in the oversteer/understeer discussions.

Btw where can you get stuff to upgrade the bushings and endlinks for the front sways... i may need it when I put the springs in.

hotbox05

Energy suspension , eurethane

bBTOY

For Everyday STOCK racing in CITY TRAFFIC , I think they came up with a nice Size and Road Handling to start the car out with, I was Supprised ~How tight the Handling and Cornering the STOCK xB IS~ I thought the STABILITY CONTROL gave the xBOX more of a SPORT TUNING- FEEL . I have been VERY SATISFIED with my car. :D But I ~ONLY RACE~ in EVERYDAY TRAFFIC

dgHotLava

these two are soooooo close on this one...

its ADD a rear sway bar, there is not one there to upgrade or get a thicker one....

ADD a rear sway bar....single best mod for handling(city or highway...)

BOXMAN

I would run a nice set of springs (Tein Stechs/Df210's/Goldlines). A great light weight set of rims and high quality tires. Also look into lower frame braces ( GT spec type 2 front bar and TRD rear lower bar. If you want it real fast in the turns SWAYBAR for the rear and I run a new front one as well some on here dont. Its all your choice. Hope this helped


PM me for any questions about parts i listed.

Chimmy3

Hey DG does the stock RSB still contribute if you bolt a thick RSB like the progress one on?
The hotchkis one is small and flexes.. so i'm guessing that's why they say it works in conjunction with the stock rear sway..
But the progress is a stiff hunk of metal..
I'm just wondering cuz then in that case.. it really isn't "adding" .. its replacing even though we never take the stock one off.

dgHotLava

ok, plain and simple...the xA and xB do NOT have a stock rear sway bar...

if you DO NOT have a stock one you can not get a thicker one or upgrade it....

you will ADD a rear sway bar to the car...got it.

it does not matter which one you go for, you will be adding it....

Derk-xB

Does anyone have a pic of either the progress or the hochkis bar installed?

wnsham

I did the Hotchkis thing on my '05xB. Front & Rear bars and their sport springs, too.
Curves I used to take at 30 I'm taking at 45 now. And the car stays level when I enter a turn. They don't drop the car to the ground like some springs do. It's only low enough to be just right for handling. About 1.5" lower. I haven't bottomed out yet.

Springs go on easy, and the rear bar is on in 10 minutes. But man is that front bar tough to change out!

Rion

I respectfully disagree. That especially doesn't apply in a FWD, front-engine car. Perhaps in a long wheelbase RWD car with the engine mostly behind the front axle that could be true.

He suggests alot of things there, that while technically correct, taken out of context, would make your handling worse.

Ashe_WCM

Crap!!
I better let everyone that runs stock class SCCA that the stiffer front sway doesn't reduce understeer. I bet all those Mini and Civic Drivers are Imagining it.

Derk-xB

Anyone?

Fujiz_xb