New to the forum, new TC owner

[Jay666]

Hey, just wanted to say hello to everyone. I'm brand new to the forum and have had a TC for only a a few months now.

Just wanted to say that you guys seem pretty cool and the forum looks like it's run well. When I first got the car, I joined another forum and had no idea what I was talking about in regards to the car, and people were sort of rude and arrogant, so I was really reluctant to look elsewhere for Scion owners.

I stumbled on this forum quite by mistake and thought I'd give it another shot. So, I just wanted to say "thanx". I'm pretty new to all this, but I am learning and I absolutely LOVE my car and have put a crap ton of work and money into it already, and I'm nowhere near being finished. So, any help, suggestions and patience to my seemingly dumb questions is appreciated. Some people like me are still learning...

One question I do have... I bought the car slightly used and it was already pretty well loaded up from the dealer with a lot of the TRD upgrades. I pretty much finished the job and have added everything else there is to add (almost) with the exception of the last couple pricey things (am saving my money up), IE the trani stuff and the super charger.

Are there any quality issues or any other reasons I should or should not have gone with all the TRD upgrades versus other brands? I'm pretty much almost done with the OEM TRD upgrades available and will be moving on to the after market performance stuff very soon. But, I'm curious about the current upgrades that I have on the car, because it's almost completely loaded up with TRD parts as it is, and I'm very happy thus far, but want some feedback. Any comments, feedback or suggestions would be MUCH appreciated.

[crf3973]

TRD is one of the best stock things that I think you can put on your car... TRD (toyota racing devlop.) makes these parts FOR these cars, which not many aftermarket brands can say... It also is backed by toyota's legendary name!!! Yes you could have recieved parts for cheaper than TRD, but I haven heard of any quality issues.

[bdis3]

Some of the TRD upgrades are useless, and most are overpriced. For example the muffler they sell as an "exhaust".

[crf3973]

Yah, like I said.. overpriced, but made for our vehicles.

Like that $525 muffler that you can add.. It comes the way it comes.

or

You can go to a custom muffler shop that will let you build your based on size, sound, etc for $125 ish less (at least thats how it worked out for me)

[Jay666]

Some of the TRD upgrades are useless, and most are overpriced. For example the muffler they sell as an "exhaust".

What else would you consider "useless" as far as the TRD stuff.

[Jay666]

Yah, like I said.. overpriced, but made for our vehicles.

Like that $525 muffler that you can add.. It comes the way it comes.

or

You can go to a custom muffler shop that will let you build your based on size, sound, etc for $125 ish less (at least thats how it worked out for me)

I am about to upgrade my entire exhaust system. I have decided on the MMW Weapon R headers and I also am going to get a Cat Back exhaust. I am 90% sure I'm going with the Megan Cat Back, but I wanted to do a little more research and was considering the Injen Cat Back, or maybe another. But, I have heard the MMW header and Megan Cat Back are a great combo, quality wise, horsepower wise, and sound wise.

So, I have heard...

[TheFantasticG]

A lot of TRD stuff is just rebadged aftermarket parts. Take the TRD LSD for example. That's the Quaife LSD, rebadged with a TRD sticker. If I'm not mistaken, Eibach makes TRD springs, just rebadged. I know that for the Toyota Tercel, the TRD springs were rebadged Eibachs because they sets I saw in person had BOTH names on them.

Can you make a list of all the things you have done? You weren't very clear on whats on the car.

Also, what was the name of the other Scion forum you tried?

[Jay666]

Yeah, I've heard that too. I actually had the dude at the dealer tell me that the TRD Supercharger is made by another company specifically for the TC, and TRD just slaps their name on it.

I honestly don't recall the forum I was on initially. It was back in February. Maybe I was just too new at this and one or two pricks who thought they new everything and saw an opportunity to be cool. It's not the forum's fault. But, it certainly did rub me the wrong way.

Here's a list of everything I have on my car at the moment. I think this covers it. The majority of the stuff was already on the car when I bought it, so as long as the quality is okay, I don't really mind if it was over priced re-packaged stuff. I only paid for some of it...

TRD Cold Air Intake
TRD Rear Sway Bar
TRD Quick Shifter Kit
TRD Front Strut Tie Bar
TRD Sport Muffler
TRD Lowering Kit
TRD Struts/Shock Kit
OEM Ground Effects Kit
OEM Fog Light Kit
OEM Rear Lip Spoiler
Blue LED Interior Lights
Razo Sports Pedals
Door Still Enhancements
Scion VIP Security
Scion AMX Super 7x 18" alloy wheels/Pirelli tires
Bazooka Subwoofer

[TheFantasticG]

Looks like a pretty good list to me.

You should get some pictures up a.s.a.p.

[thaipnoy]

The trd intake is made by aem, Injen works better then it but harder to install cause the tube Is bigger

The good part about having the trd parts is that if something goes wrong with the car the warrenty still covers the car and parts

[Jay666]

Looks like a pretty good list to me.

You should get some pictures up a.s.a.p.

Thanx!

I know, I am working on it. I planned on it last weekend, had the car all washed and detailed, ready to take pictures, and then we had a huge insane storm here in Chicago and now it's super dirty again.

I wanna take pictures when it's all nice and clean. Maybe this weekend.

[Jay666]

The trd intake is made by aem, Injen works better then it but harder to install cause the tube Is bigger

The good part about having the trd parts is that if something goes wrong with the car the warrenty still covers the car and parts

Yeah, that's part of the reason why I chose to stay with TRD when I finished what was on the car, and why I'm not super worried about having TRD vs other brands. As long as the quality is good. I know most other people have aftermarket stuff, so I was just not sure if there was a quality issue or something. I appreciate the feedback.

[TheFantasticG]

Actually, as far as your warranty goes, your warranty won't cover it ONLY IF the aftermarket item was PROVEN to be the cause of the failure.

There was a well publicised law signed unto the land a few years back that protects people from being shafted by manufactures on warranties dealing with aftermarket products.

[Jay666]

That's good to hear too.

I imagine in those situations though, you'd be best off having your own mechanic provide an assesment on that that you can take to a dealer. Otherwise, the dealer is just going to say "yeah, that aftermarket part caused that problem", so they can avoid the issue.

I mean, it's a great idea, and I'm glad they implimented it, I could just see dealers trying to pull a fast one on you, saying THEY (dealers) need to be the ones who make that assesment, and even then they'll just say the aftermarket part caused the problem.

I hate dealers sometimes. I really do.

[navylife59]

Late to the rodeo, but welcome to the Forum anyway. Thanks for the compliments on the site. We have a great bunch of Scion enthusiast on here and a few others who don't even own a Scion. I drop the axe on any of that jockeying that you have experienced on those other forums. This is the place to be relaxed and feel free to ask any questions. There are several very knowledgeable people on here that can pretty much answer any question.

As for your TRD parts, keep them. They are all quality parts. The TRD axle-back is more of a show piece than a performance mod. It does sound sweet though and built solid. You might be able to pick up a used one from someones upgrade fairly cheap.

[Jay666]

Thanx so much for commenting back. I have received so much help already and everyone has been a lot more understanding in their responses to a newbie like myself than the first fourm I tried to ask quesions on months back. I think you guys have a great thing going here, and I am literally on the forum every day since I have joined.

And thank you for the feedback on the TRD parts. I am happy with them thus far.

I actually have the TRD exahaust already, and other than sounding pretty sweet like you said, it does seem pretty strurdy. But I pretty much assumed it was just eye candy. At least it's well made.

I actually placed an order for the MMW header (very excited to say) a couple days ago and am trying to decide on a Cat Back exhaust to upgrade from the TRD exhaust. I think I'm going with the Agency exhaust to combine with the MMW header.

What do you have?

[navylife59]

Full blown custom 2.5" SS exhaust made by Jotech consisting of a DC Sports Ceramic header, 2x 12" top speed barrel resonators, an HKS Powermax muffler and a custom exhaust positioning clamp by me.

BTW... Prepare for the killer bees when you replace your OEM header with the TRD muffler.

[Jay666]

Wow, that's a lot of custom work. I'm sure it's sweet.

Yeah, I assumed and had heard it would sound like crap with just the headers replaced and running on the OEM exhaust. I am not going to put the headers on until I have replace the exhaust. That way I avoid it sounding like crap and do all the exhaust work at once while I'm under there.

Just waiting to decide on the exhaust, but I am 99.99% sure I'm going with the Agency cat back. Will most likely place an order for those today.

Have any thoughts on that set up?

[bdis3]

$$$$$$$$$$$

[navylife59]

I am not too familiar with the Agency products. As you can tell, they are pricey compared to others. When it comes to exhaust components, you get what you pay for. Check out our Performance Section. There are a couple of different stickies that fully discuss the ins and outs of what is out there.