TRD or not to TRD?

[4thalook]

Im planning on getting 18" Tork Revo rims on Nexen N3000 tires 225/40/18. Should I get the trd springs? My concern is that the trd springs will not fit with the rims i want. Any Suggestions? on lowering height, brands, etc....

[fsan619]

you will be just fine.... trd does not drop you very low.... quite frankly, if you put trd's you could probably fit 19's in there with little or no scraping.....

[trdmaster]

WOW, slow down man, i have trd spring and trd shocks, w/ TRD 18" rims, any little hard turn or dips and my tires rub

BTW, those Nexen tires u want suck, thats what im ridding on and those tires are only good for drifting, if u wanna drive w/ those in rain, good luck is all i say, they are made of a very hard compound, and for the price of those tires, i would say get something else

[4thalook]

Wow, Thanks. I was thinking about Hankook ventus HR II's instead of the nexen's... a friend of mine told me don't even bother with lowering unless im upgrading my shocks too, which i hadn't planned on doing... What would that cost do you think?...for the whole upgrade...

[trdmaster]

i payed for my shocks, spring, sway bar, and strut bar aroun 1200, i payed all at once and installed it myself cuz i have all the tools and i know how to do suspension work. but I bought all this from the dealer, keep that in mind.

but yea dont get the nexen n300 tires, i have those and i hate it, when it rains i swap my tires to my 17's which have yokohama on them, love those tires

here is a site that has TRD shocks and springs, TRD Sparks, they have good prices http://www.trdsparks.com/displaypart...1&parts_id=586

[engifineer]

Are you sure you actually got true trd springs trdmaster? There are some people who have gotten some screwed up knock offs that were much lower than they were supposed to be. You should never rub with the setup you have. Actually if you are running the same tire size as comes on the optional 18's, you are running almost exactly the same overall diameter. I have never heard of anyone rubbing at all with your setup. So I would say you have something else going on there.

I run trd springs, trd rear sway, the hotchkis front strut bar (very litttle improvement at all really) and Avon TECH M550s on mine and couldnt be more happy for a daily driver setup. Handles much better and isnt too harsh on the ride side of things.

[trdmaster]

as a matter of fact, yes!!! i know for 100% im sure my stuff is genuine cuz i bought them all from the dealers, stright up. I use to have 225x40x18 on my car, but i sold my rims already, no rim size bigger then 17 is good for performance, just gets toooo heavy. Besides i learned from the pros at NHRA. oh and dont forget, i have TRD springs, shocks, rear sway and fron strut tie down. So I know where to shop and i know not to buy something fake if i feel its fake, if u have TRD shocks as well, ur car does get a full 2" drop cuz the combined set-up w/ the TRD springs makes it dropp so nicely, but ill stick to my 17 size rims for now, i feel the difference and i can go faster, thats all i care about, FASTER!!!

[navylife59]

rock on trdmaster!

[chicotunner07]

so trdmaster, ur saying if i bought trd shocks combined with the h-techs i have now, it would acctually drop more?

[engifineer]

I post in two other forums, including ystc (which out of all car forums I have seen scion-wise is one of the more knowledge oriented ones around IMO, a lot of experienced people there and some good fact oriented info) There are plenty there running a decent amount of drop AND 245's on thier tC.. and auto-xing it.

The trd setup with those wheels should not rub. If so, something is out of whack for sure. This is the first I have ever heard of someone running that setup and rubbing.

Not trying to pick on you, but something is not right based on the info you gave and all of the info I have seen.

[engifineer]

And you should get the same drop with the trd struts as you will stock struts. The trd's have different damping characteristics due to the different spring rate on the trds springs, but the drop should not be affected.

Larger wheels are not automatically heavier. The stock wheels are heavy, and you can find 18's that are lighter than stock. However, there are other effects of having larger wheels. For one, with a larger radius (the d in the torque equation) the engine will have to provide more tq to the axle center to apply the same amount of lateral force to the ground (the F in the torque equation), given by the formula for torque and calculating backward to figure the amount of tq for a given F. So you lose some in that area.

Rotational friction is decreased. So you gain some in that area.

If the wheel is heavier, then you increase the moment of inertia, a loss in that area.

Running larger wheels will usually mean a lower sidewall to compensate for overall size. Too short of a sidewall is not always great either.

So overall, I prefer to stay with 17" wheels. But I will probably be moving towards a 245 setup at some time, especially as I start playing around with auto-xing the car.

For the tC, tires will be the easiest and best performance mod in the handling dept over stock. A thicker rear sway, or front and rear set (if you go much stiffer in back than the trd, then you will need a set with a stiffer front to keep it from promoting oversteer too much) is probably the next most noticeable and the springs are pretty close to that.

[trdmaster]

Originally Posted by chicotunner07

so trdmaster, ur saying if i bought trd shocks combined with the h-techs i have now, it would acctually drop more?

depending on how agressive u are on ur tC, the car will drop some more, but i bought and installed and shocks and springs at the same time. so i dont know how its gonna work w/ s-techs, now....me, im very agressive on corners and i drive a lot on canyons, so i drive the sh!t outta my car, and my shocks have adjusted to my driving, if u drive easy the TRD shocks will adjust. For example, when i take long drives to vegas, the TRD shocks adjust and my ride starts to become very smooth, once i hit hard cornering, they stiffen up almost instantly, so its all on ur driving. TRD doesnt make these shocks, Bilstein does w/ TRD badge on it. I've already researched and spoke w/ TRD, so i know.

[navylife59]

engifineer - what would say about a 17x8 setup with about a +40mm offset on 245/40/17?

[trdmaster]

ummm....no

changing ur original tire size from 45 to 40 will offset ur ODO, and then have to get it calibrated, besides...for performance, ill stick to my 225x45x17, i get better track. that way and i can put ultra high performance tires on it.

[navylife59]

looking to go wider not taller.

[trdmaster]

okay obviously u dont know anything about tires

the original size is 45x17
changing it to 40x17 will alter ur speedomotor, HELLO!!!
40 size tires are ment for 18's

45x17
40x18
35x19

tires get smaller as the rim gets bigger, duh...i have friends that work at tire shops, do ur HW and learn, let it sit in ur head a little

[rex_b]

i dont know diddly bout what you guys are talking about but its interesting i hope when i lower my car it doesnt mess up

[chicotunner07]

yeah, im with navylife, i was thinkin of keepin 17 in rims, but i want a wider wheel, like a 17x8, i would look sick, and with the same wall thickness of the stock rubber, i dont think it would mess anythin up!

[navylife59]

You can go any aspect ratio size that you want. What you want is a tire that fits the width of the rim properly. Too wide a tire on the rim would cause the sidewalls to loose support; a spongey ride. Too narrow a tire to the rim and you risk breaking the bead in a corner or on a pothole. Another aspect to look at is the combined diameter of the rim and tire. If it is too tall, it can cause interference with the fender. Too short and you will be rough riding on rubber bands, susceptible, to potholes. You odometer is based on tire/rim combined diameter.

I understand this. I typo'd the 40. Duh! Geez! What I wanted to know was is there any interference with an 8" wide rim to the struts and fender lip.

[chicotunner07]

thats wat i meant, a 17x8 rims, not just the tires