I need some guidance on purchasing springs and shocks for my Box. I would like to lower it around 1.5” – 2”. I commute to work 100+ miles per day with this car, so I do not want to kill the ride. Any suggestions for a shock spring combination that would ride as good or better then stock and still give me a decent drop?

 

I am interested in knowing what ideas everyone has i too am looking into shok spring combo

 

Tanabe DF210 springs and Monroe 5897 shocks. (5870 will work as well, but they are a little shorter.)

The DF210s provide a 2.2" drop in front and 2" in the rear. The ride is excellent, but a little bumpy in the rear with the stock shocks. This is what my wife has on her xB currently. After our trip to Monterey this weekend with her pregnant friend and her husband in the back seat I have finally convinced the wife to let me put the new shocks on. Those well help smooth out the ride.

If you don't want to go quite so low, get yourself a set of Tein S Tech springs with the same rear shocks.

 

Thanks for the input. What about the front struts? Should I swap in some Monroe's up there too?

 

you could also go with the tanabe NF210's not too low and a nice ride. I also have the monroe struts and the ride is great.

 

if you want a subtle drop go with the H-techs. And I do also reccomend the monroes in the back at the very least. The Tanabes might be too much drop for you.


this is my friends car with the H-techs. Slight drop. shes rolling on 15" BTW.

 

I wouldn't really recommend swapping the front struts right away. You don't really need them to improve the ride. If you do decide to get new Monroe front struts, be aware that they drop the front an additional 1/2".

 

The monroes in front made a huge difference in ride quality, at least with me. I also like the additional drop, now my box doesn't sag in the rear.

 

df210s are very very low and nice. goldline is 2.0 all around. spiffy.

 

If you commute that much I say go with either H-techs or TRDs and the monroe rear shocks. You'll have the best of both worlds that you can live with on a daily basis. It will ride far better than stock and still look lower than stock.

 

Sorry to hijack the thread. What struts cause the spring to go a 1/2" and why?

 

The front Monroes that fit the Echo. Because the distance from the lower mounting holes to the spring seat is 1/2 inch shorter distance than stock.

 

So your saying that the toyal drop up front will be over 2 1/2" with the echo struts? I am getting the df 210s very shortly I might have to pick up some echo struts.

 

Only in the front. The rear will still only receive a drop from the springs. That means the end result is a raked look.

 

Exactly so. I threw on Monroe Sensitrac struts up front and shocks in the rear, and added Tein H techs. The overall effect is a raked look. The front dropped 1.75", and the back over 1.5" over stock. Actually, both dropped more than the H tech alone would provide, but the front dropped more than the back.

The ride is better than stock. No problem bottoming out.

Definately a raked look, with the front much lower than the rear. I personally like it alot.

 

omg sorry to steal the thread to but hows the tein ssp with pillow ball mounts i mean they are coilovers and if i get the edfc i heard i can change the stiffness of the ride but i wonder wuts the lowest possibility drop is

 

MyCrisis - do you have any pics of the car w/springs and shocks installed? I checked your sig, your Box does not look lowered in the pic there.

 

Yeah, that pic is before I did anything to the car. I'll post new pics on this thread tonight.

 

Well for the springs I would say go Hotchkis. They ride nice and they're aren't bouncy. The Hotchkis and the Goldlines sit almost I dentical to on another and according to a tape measure there's only like a 1.8th inch difference. The goldlines ride a little stiffer to. As far as struts go the I'm with everyone else go Monroe. If you were looking for handling they I would say TRD but since it's a daily drive go Monroe. Let me know of you're interested in the Hotchkis springs.

http://www.trdsparks.com/displaypart...1&parts_id=477

Josh

 

Here you go.

Front:



Back:



The Big Picture:



See the difference between back and front wheelwell gaps? Might bother some, but I'm pleased.

Did the work in the driveway, pretty basic, took longer than it should have cause I learned as I went (never seen it done, no instructions, never did it before). Go slow, it's hard to mess up.

H-techs from ebay, $100 for the 4. Shocks from ShockWarehouse.com, took over 3 weeks to arrive, but it was cheap! Total cost of parts about $320.

You can PM with questions, but I got most of my info off the tech section of ScionLife.