Hey everybody. I just have a few questions about choosing the best setup for my specific needs. This is more of a hypothetical at this point as I have no real intent to go buy anything anytime soon, but I need a reference to how much money I'd need to set aside.

My xB right now is pretty much bone stock. The reason I've been reluctant to drop so far is because of my parents' house driveway. It is up a little hill and the driveway is at about a 30-45 degree angle relative to the street. I go back to their place often enough to make it an issue. So with that given I can only have a subtle drop without having to tackle the driveway at extreme angles.

A bunch of springs out there are more for look than actual practical performance improvements. And that's fine, but where I draw the line is that it cannot have a negative effect on handling.

Quality over price, but obviously a better price would be better. Comfort would be nice, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker.

So what kind of shocks, springs, and/or coilovers or other misc things are recommended.

Other things of note that may or may not effect the decision. I plan on getting Hotchkis sway set while I'm doing this. I'll probably getting some rims. So right now I'm looking at some 18's, possibly Konig afterburners, but nothing is set in sand let alone stone.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks people.

 

If you don't want a negative effect on handling don't lower the front more than 1 inch. It uses a MacPherson Strut system and the common "maximum lowering" for it would be around 1 inch.

The Eibach Pro-kit seems to be perfect for that. Doesn't lower it too much but offers more stiffness than Tanabe NF210s. The rates aren't out for the Pro-kit, but I read that they are shorter than the NF210s but the NF210s lower more. This obviously means the pro-kits are stiffer. More stiffness is better too so the front doesn't bottom out on bumps (for example: on the highway if the road isn't completely level). So as far as I can tell, Tanabe NF210/Eibach Prokit will help you out in the looks area, but won't hurt you in the handling department. Both will help the handling, with the pro-kit helping more.

For dampers, the only choices are TRD/Tokico, which not many use or know about. They are assumed to be upgrades, but no one really knows.

Hotchkis stabilizers will help handling the most, since they don't really have many design restrictions (unlike aftermarket springs). Aftermarket springs have to be comfortable, and lower, etc etc. They've got too many design concepts going on that don't allow them to help handling as much.

If you want to look into it, a strut bar will help a decent bit too. Strut bars actually help on our cars, because as I said above, we use the MacPherson strut system. You COULD buy an Underbrace as well, but that'll be a very low point of the car and it'll probably bottom out and get smashed up, especially if you lower the car.

Hope this helped!

 

I have the Tanabe Df's with the hotchkis sways on stock shocks. It is great for comfort and daily driving. I have not noticed any negative effect in the handling at all. Although the sways help more than the springs in my opinion. I also have a very steep incline driveway. I don't scrape at all. I also clear speed bumps with no problems. I hope this helps.

 

From another thread:

 

Thanks for the info guys. Sorry I didn't get back to the thread earlier, was busy.

Would rims look odd with such a subtle drop?

Again thanks.

 

No.