Yet another one of these threads. My wife uses the XB as her daily driver and she's ready to sell it or trade it in for another car. She can no longer tolerate the harsh ride, but I told her to let me see if I can improve the ride. Over the weekend I raised the front of the seats with a longer bolt and spacer (nut), and that did improved the feel of the seat. But now I want to improve the suspension and try for a softer more forgiving ride.

I do have to watch the budget, so I've been reading about the Konis and Sensatracs shocks. Seems like the Sensatracks give a soft ride and are much cheaper than the Konis?

What else would I upgrade? I'm really not familiar with struts or springs or the suspension in general. The XB suspension is stock except for a Progress rear sway bar. Stock wheels and tires too.

I'd appreciate it if I could get a list of what parts to buy that will improve the suspension.

Thanks.

 

If she is really that ready to dump the car, I would buy one component at a time. If she ends up dead set on dumping her box, you want as little as possible invested. Start with new rear Sensatracs only. That should help. If it isn't enough, and she wants you to do more, I would get new front Sensatrac struts. If she still isn't satisfied, it may be time to give up.

If it is close, but livable, you may want to consider a set or Tein H Tech springs. They only drop the car about 1", but from what I have read they supply a pretty plush ride.

Good luck.

 

SensaTracs on the rear softened my ride a little, for $75 self-installed in 20 minutes. I am not feeling the need to do the fronts yet, as that is more involved. I am thinking that SensaTracs are not as dramatic an improvement as Konis. Konis on soft are reportedly much softer than SensaTracs, but cost about $550 for a set.

 

I assume you are still running the 15's, make sure they are not over inflated. The TRD system is more controlled than the stock and actually softer to a point because it is progressive. The stock rear shocks rebound harder and faster and the springs are not progressive so they are stiff all the time. I ran lowering springs on my 04 with 17's and I clinched at railroads and bumps. With the TRD shocks/struts/springs on my 06 I still clinch but only from habit, the ride is light years better. I know they are somewhat expensive but over the life time of the car it is not too bad.

 

I called around and cannot get the Sensatracks. The parts stores I called tell me that none of their warehouses have them listed as available.

So I'm going to order the Konis today. Even though they're more $$, at least everyone with the Konis swear by them. I figure even if we don't keep the XB, I'll just take them back off and sell them to recoup some of the money. I'll post after I have them installed, which hopefully will be this weekend.

 

Rebound is when the shock re-extends to let the wheel back down after a bump has raised it. Softness on extension, i.e. quick rebound, is desirable in order to get the full weight carried by the wheel back on the ground as soon as possible.

When I installed rear SensaTracs, I pushed and pulled on the KYB and SensaTrac pistons to compare the action. On compression, which is what you feel when hitting a bump, the SensaTrac piston was much easier to push in. On rebound, which you don't feel as much, the KYB and SensaTrac pistons were equally easy to pull out.

 

SensaTracs are made by Tenneco in various foreign countries, and sold here under brand names of Monroe, NAPA, Sears, Midas and others. The Monroe brand is carried at auto stores like Pep Boys, AutoZone, etc.

In looking for SensaTracs, you can give the numbers 5987 and 71575, but some stores can only look them up by application. Their books don't show Scions yet, so you have to tell them to look under 2000-2002 Echo.

Sears and an alighment shop said they had to be ordered. Pep Boys said they did not have those particular shocks in their system yet. I found my rear SensaTracs at the main NAPA store in my city. The word Monroe did not appear anywhere on the box or the shock - NAPA was on the box, and Tenneco was on the shocks.

 

I am really looking forward to hearing a fresh report on the Konis!

 

I don't have a local Pep Boys and the Advanced Auto has Monroes on the website, but were out of stock and could not order them from the warehouses. I did call a local Napa and I think the guy said they were in stock. But the close at 5:00PM and I do not get home until 6:30 and I didn't want to wait until the weekend. So I figure as long as I'll have to wait, I'll just get the Konis and know that this is probably as good of a ride the XB will have without then replacing struts and springs.

So far I've found the Konis for $96 each with free shipping. Still looking though.

 

I put the rear Monroes (ST-5987) on my box a few months ago, and they helped the ride the most . I also installed Tein H-Techs and they helped some also. I ordered the Monroes thru shockwarehouse.com for $61.00 for both with free shipping.

 

Some posted a bad experience with ShockWarehouse so I stayed away. There was a big local variation in prices on rear SensaTracs. An alignment shop was $106, Sears was $100, and NAPA was $75. Fortunately the only place that had them in stock was NAPA.

 

I stayed away from Shockwarehouse for the same reason. I wound up ordering the Konis today from an eBay seller and they have already shipped. So I should have them by Friday and on the car that night or Saturday.

 

same with vividracing.com. 2nd day air took 3 1/2 weeks to ship

 

I believe you were referring to my experience with shockwarehouse.

I went with Gabriels at a local store after I never got what I ordered from shockwarehouse. I am not happy with the Gabriels. I finally decided to get some SensaTracs. They are sitting in the local NAPA awaiting pickup tomorrow. I paid somewhere around $65. Advance said they were on backorder with no estimate on delivery date.

 

Whoops, the price was $73 at NAPA.

I installed the springs today and they helped out a LOT. I have Hotchkis springs which are some of the harshest and Sensatracs really calmed down the ride.