I am looking to drop 1-2" on 2nd gen xB, but unsure which spring set would be best for me.

I want to keep a near stock ride, that's my #1 goal. The TRD springs look interesting - how do they ride?

I'm also looking to get some information from THE MANUAL, most likely the suspension and possibly the brakes sections. I don't think I have the complete service manual on CD, but knowing which sections are needed to swap springs would be helpful.

thanks

 

Forget TRD they are to high in the rear . Go with NF 210 tanabee . Ride is close or I think better than stock .

 

My wife has Tein S-Techs. Good drop, decent ride.

As far as the manuals go, I can't help ya. I do know the rear is a breeze; the front is a little more work. There should be several write ups on the process here on scionlife.

 

There's got to be more people out there with lowering springs. Is there a 'short list' of preferred vendors? Again, I am looking to drop without changing the ride characteristics of something along the stock.

thanks,
Mark

 

Specs for NF210 say 1.7" drop in front and 1.2" in rear rear; shouldn't the rear drop be at least as much as the front? This would make the xB rakes more like a chopper, with the front lowered more than the rear.

-mark

 

go with the nf's. best bet for what you're looking for.

 

Are any type of offset camber bolts or shims needed in the rear, to get camber back to OEM specs (NF 210)?

 

NF 210 is 1.0 front 1.7 rear . My XB sit's perfect even a slight bit lower in the rear .

 

Nope. Rear of the car is a 'torsion beam' type of axle. No real way of adjusting it. There are the EZ Shims that work decently well, but you'll have to shim the brake caliper as well.

 

Camber in the rear won't change enough to matter; it's toe that becomes the problem. You'll likely have to shim the rear hub 1/64" (put them behind the hub on the front most two bolts on each side) to keep the toe within reason. With that little shim adjustment, you should be fine without shimming the calipers.

The front can be aligned to spec with any of the popular spring sets without modification.

Regarding brakes, you don't have to remove any of the brakes to do the spring installation, though I'm always a fan on swapping in the front TC2 brakes and calipers while you have everything disassembled (larger and thicker rotors, bigger calipers, bigger pads).

 

FWIW, I actually liked my TRD springs before buying Megan Racing coilovers.

 

Having a hard time visualizing placement of a shim behuind the rear hubs. Do you mean take off the rotors and put them there, or do they go somewhere else?

Looked more into the shims. They give a general idea of what a single shim will do to camber if added. I saw shims sold by the piece part, and some sold as a "kit".



Is it that easy to determine how many shims you need? I mean once you get your initial alignment, you look at the rear camber and compute the number of additional shims which will be needed, to bring back to factory? If it involves both camber and toe, I'm guessing that the number of shims required is somewhat a guessing game? This is for approximately a 1.2"/1.7" F/R drop (or close), gen 2. Tires/wheels 16", fwiw.

thanks

 

Don't think you need shims . It's a real mild drop . I got 30,000 miles or 50,000 km and hardly any camber wear . Swap out your OEM shocks for better ones I hear it helps the ride comfort .