This winter I mounted my 17's with 40 series Goodyears on my wife's 06 BOP xB and had her stock wheels and tires on my 06 PW xB. Since we drive mine more, I figured that if we had really bad weather, I didn't want to chance damaging the 17's, plus I could slip on chains if I needed to.

Two weeks ago, I put fresh Goodyear Integrity's on the steel wheels and put them back on hers. Now that I have the 17's back, they look good, but the ride is worse than I remember while hers rides like new .

I'm ready now to just store the wheels and paint my extra set of steelies white or use some bB wheel covers. (peel off the Scion sticker as in a previous thread)

Being that roads are rough all over, I wonder if anyone else has conceded to using stock wheels for daily driving and saving their larger wheels and lower profile tires for shows, etc. I can't be the only one who wants a better ride and less squeaks and rattles am I?

 

"Being that roads are rough all over, I wonder if anyone else has conceded to using stock wheels for daily driving and saving their larger wheels and lower profile tires for shows, etc. I can't be the only one who wants a better ride and less squeaks and rattles am I?"

... no, on that I feel the same way glock32.

I just need to solve the finding the dust cover problem & I'll be happy with my 16" steelies. FTW

 

I have the original wheels and tires, with SensaTrac rear shocks, and 20K miles on the car. It a better ride than our Buick or Forester. Firm, but smooth. The Buick is sloppy, and the Forester is harsh. The xB is ideal. The only other car I had that rode like the xB was my BMW 2002 with Konis.

 

Arnie, I see those phone dial/bB caps on ebay all the time. You may even be able to get a set from the dealer. The set I got was like 60 bucks at the dealer.

 

Got several quotes from body and paint shops for painting and clearcoating the wheels and they average $150.00. I know I could rattle can them white, but I'd rather have a good shiny finish.

I can get a set of those seven hole OEM wheel covers from Toyota for $68.00. The parts guy thinks he can get me another set of new take-off Goodyears with wheels for $200. Sounds like the way to go.

I am not crazy about the idea of selling the 17's on Craig's List, so I'll probably store them and only put them on for pics or something. There is only one other SL member I know of in Salem and he already has nice steelies, but if anyone in interested from Vancouver to Albany, PM me.

 

I have a feeling that if you went with Monroe struts up front your 17's would ride nicer. My 18"ers ride nicer than they did before the switch to Monroe struts.
I'm with you tho. If the ride hadn't improved I was ready to trade the TRDs for some nice 15" rims/tires. I was sick and tired of having a hardass ride.

 

What model Monroe struts are you running up front Jeff? You ever change the rear shocks?

 

Shortly after I got my xB, I upgraded to alloy wheels and better tires in the stock size. I didn't want larger rims because of the rougher ride and extra weight. Better tires make a big difference in handling and traction over the stock Goodyears.

For the winter, I got 14" steelies and winter tires. It was cheaper than 15's. They're heavy and don't corner as well anyway. I hate hubcaps so I did the NAPA grease cap mod for the centers. They're like $2/each. It's not a particularly pretty look, but it's more finished than seeing bare axle nut and hub.

There was someone posting on here a while ago that had downsized to 14's for year round use to help smooth the bumpy ride.

 

I'm running the 72245s up front and the 5987s out back. It's nice to have the fronts match the rears for a change.
The front struts were 168 shipped for me from www.coolparts.com .
I've had the rears on for more than a year and I got those from NAPA.
You should be able to get all 4 from that same place for around 200 bucks shipped.

 

I have never seen a Polar White xB with matching white steel wheels and think that would be a good contrast, especially with the center caps and nice lugnuts. I'll probably go with the Goodyears, but Toyo has some nice touring tires too.

I think I'm inspired by Saddlesore's blue and grey boxes on steelies (his are powder coated, not painted). I may still get the 7 spoke covers (bB style) and put them on Mrs. Glock32's BOP to replace the scraped up covers that came with hers.

As far as the struts, I'll probably look at those next year along with shocks. I plan on a cold air intake and exhaust after I solve my wheel dilema. I appreciate everyone's ideas and help.

That's one nice thing about xB's, there are so many ways to individualize your car and few ways to screw it up. Well, some people can find a way.

 

thnx for the flowers!

A really high gloss white might look good.
BTW.. there is an outfit on hwy 22 west of salem and another in alumsville that might be able to do a small powder coat jobs.
so many places are setup to only do large industrial stuff. and they want a small mint to do just 4 wheels

 

Arnie, have you thought about having a set of bB caps painted polar white.

 

Hi Red, I'll call around tomorrow and see about powder coating. I'd assume that would be durable and shiny.

Jeff, I like the idea of bB hubcaps, but hadn't thought about painting them white. Are there pics out there of bB's with JDM wheel covers?

 

Powder coating is shiny and much more durable than paint. They would look hot with some stainless trimrings and chrome lugs.
BTW I test drove the box tonight with the 18s, stock springs and the Monroe struts and it is way better than I thought it would be.

 

Brother I'm way ahead of ya.
I got a second set of the OEM 15" steelies which I have a set of Blizzak snow tires on now.
For next winter, I'm going to scuff sand and paint them white with Duplicolor wheel paint and the clearcoat.

Here's a little Photoshop mock-up of the look.

 

Thanks Typhoonorchid. That helps a lot. You da man.

 

Guys, no one seems interested in helping a scion tC with this look, so forgive the jack.

The 08 xB seems to have the same specifications as mine for wheels 205/55-16x6.5". So far I've been unsuccessful with the dealer finding a nice dust/bearing cover. I'm using an aftermarket one now, but it's for 1st generation xB; ie. it's the wrong size.

Please advise on an aftermarket dust cover part numbers?

 

If the outside diameter of your wheel center is different than the first gen xB you will have to do the trial and error things like we did in the beginning. Go to Napa and buy a bunch of different sized caps and then find which one fits the tightest. Then you will have to polish them and clearcoat them and get your stainless trim rings and chrome lugs to finish the look. Good luck in your search for the right caps.

 

Yep, already on it, tho' merely a hope that I could save the trouble ....& someone had done up their second generation xB.

I appreciate the input, bB2NER.

 

NP, just post up pics when you are done.