I have been driving on my new TRD 18" rims and Pirelli tires for about a week and I can't believe how poorly they handle on the freeway. The whole Box drifts from side to side and it's almost impossible to keep it straight. I had the lowering spring installed at the same time and there is a "cluncking" noise in the left front now. I took it to the dealer and they "don't hear anything", "it drives fine for us". They rotated my tires and told me that tire pressure was too high. (since they just installed them I would have to say it was the service department that screwed that one up) I am going in tomorrow morning to ride with one of the techs and show him what the noise is. I'm just interested to see if anyone else has experienced this problem.

 

Mine does the same thing as far as the "drifting" A lot of the time the tiny 215/35/18 or whatever size tire you are running, will folllow the road and go where it wants to. If there is a groove in the road that drifts to the side, the tire will fall into that little tiny groove and you have to kind of control it out of the groove. If you get what I am saying.

 

When I was running my 18's on 215-35s on spring tech springs I had no problem what so ever. I'd worry that a strut wasn't installed correctly or somthing was bumped or put in wrongly. I live in milwaukee Wiscosnin and we have more pot holes than road...The freeway was the nicest ride I had and I had no drifting what so ever. Depends on wheel-tire-spring-tire thread and so on I guess. If you got some tuner friends have them take your car for a ride...they'll tell you whats up

 

shoulda kept the stock steelies or check these out... the "rota" auto-x... carbon fiber ne body

 

I've had the TRD 18" wheel and tire package from day one. Car drives perfectly. Although I do believe that low profile tires handle differently. I still have the stock suspension though! I doubt the "clunking" noise is normal. Let us know how you make out. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the input. I don't trust the dealer after all the crud I've had to go through with them. I'll let you know what they say tomorrow.

Love the Box, not the dealer.

 

My expereince with wider wheels and tires is like it was stated above. You get more rode feel, and thus, yes, you feel all those bumbs and stuff inthe road, and it does track into those grooves and things in the road. But have any of you noticed, that when the road is nice and flat and even, that the car seems to handle better? That's what I experience.

 

just got a set of 18" rims with 215/35/18R today! So I'll hit you back in a few days =)

 

i thought my 18s handled better then the stocks...and i live in New England lol, maybe your tires are installed the wrong way on the rim so the tread is going the wrong way, that would prob makes things noisey and wierd feeling....

 

the wider contact patch of the tires you have will cause the box to track/drift with the grooves in the road a bit more than a narrower tire will.

As for the clunking noise, def get that fixed asap.

 

um the clunking noise is common a loose big nut up top and or spring clash aka normal.

the "drifting" is from grooves in the road or wind.

 

If you are running directional pattern tires, your car will"track" because of the rain grooves in the pavement. Much like driving over a steel grating bridge.

The clunk is prolly your strut nut banging the top hat because it came loose.

I'm pretty sure someone will post up contrary to what I have cuz I'm no expert.

 

^^^ lol. Brad but to some of us your words are wisdom!!

thanks!


but i'm on 19's w/ 215 35 in Socal and im not having any problems at all (knocks on wood)
but check that bolt on top of the strut.. i can almost bet the farm it will be that...lol!!

 

ditto on the top nut thats the problem I had with the noise from the front

 

What a pain in the @ss. I went to the dealer after work this morning and waited for 30 minutes to take a test drive with one of the service techs. I drove us out of the lot and on the first driveway he asked "what's that noise?". I replied "exactly". That is the noise that no one was able to hear all day on Monday. The tech said that he would check into it and get back to me. I got a call at 5:00 pm tonight telling me that the springs and struts had been removed and replace twice so far and the noise is still there. They have to keep it a third day to determine what the noise is.

As to the problem of drifting on the freeway it does appear that it is a combination of the rain grooves on the road and the wide grooves in my new tires. I guess I'll just avoid the 5 and 91 freeways as much as I can.

More to come as the dealer attempts to fix whatever it is they did to my beloved Box.

ps: When the dealer installed my new fog lights and tail lights they chipped the paint on both areas. When I dropped the xB off on Monday I poiinted it out to the service writer. When I received a call Monday night telling me that they couldn't hear any noise in the front end, the service manager mentioned that he had placed a bottle of touch up point in the cubby hole of my dash. They didn't touch of the paint, they expect me to do it with the paint provided. That's customer service for you!

 

um clunking will happen. it;s no longer stock. it's not that bad just up the stereo

 

sounds like accelerated steering... do you have a camber kit? do the wheels look cambered? if you are driving on the tire's edge it will easly (too easily) steer where it wants...

 

The rear wheels look cambered but the dealer didn't say anything about putting in a kit. The front wheels look normal. I think it's the groove size in the tires, I don't have trouble on all freeways, just those with the larger water run off grooves. Guess I don't want to get my groove on...lol...I'm here all week, try the waitress, tip the veal!

 

um xb's don't get camber........ and surprisingly my 3 or 4 degree cambered out supra never wandered. then again it was a 3450 pound beast.

 

I'm not a suspension guru, or anything close. Thanks for the input.