[al74dart]

Hi all, I hope to be buying an 06 or 07 xB soon and have a little different needs then most of you and wanted a little input. I need to keep a lot of ground clearance because of where I will be driving. I will be buying 6.5x15 light weight aluminum wheels and installing Michelin 195/65 HR15 tires. The tires are 25" tall compared to the stock tires at 23.6" tall. I will be keeping the stock hight but will be increasing the spring rate at a later time once I determine how much stiffer I need to go and where. I will also be adding a rear anti sway bar and a home made front strut brace. I am not sure if there is any need for a rear strut brace or not yet? The rear shocks will most likely go and be replaced with a set of adjustables. My first question is besides doing a front end alignment and tire/wheel balance, is there anything else I should be doing? How do I go about adjusting the speedo to read correctly? If I missed anything please jump in. Thanks Al

 

[1LowXB]

thats what size tires i had on mine 2 winters ago and i don't think you will have a problem your speedo would only be a few mph off nothing really to worry about...

 

[Anime Gee]

Hmmmm... ('_' )?? You might want to try this setup instead.

You should do 205/55-15 tires instead. That's what I have on my box. It's more wider than stock, but pretty much the same overall diameter. It will keep the speedometer & odometer accurate.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

The Falken Ziex ZE-512 tires are pretty cheap & damn good for a box. The have very good dry grip & excellent wet traction. That's what I run year round. ( ^o^) <3

http://ec-securehost.com/OnlineTires.com/Falken_ZIEX_ZE-512.html

^ 205/55-15 = $59 each

http://edgeracing.com/tire/746/

^ 205/55-15 = $62 each

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/d...cf=false&sw=false&cs=205&pc=28738&rd=15&ar=55

^ 205/55-15 = $67 each (free shipping)





By the way, you can also do some 15" x 7" to 8" wheels & some 225/50-15 tires. Same diameter as stock, but much wider! (^o^ )

 

[al74dart]

The 205/55-15's do not do what I need to do. I need the extra hight to clear the roads I will need to be driving down. The 195/65R15's are 25" tall and the 205/55R15's are 23.9" tall. I would loss about 1/2" of ground clearance. Also I do not want to go to overly wide rims, too heavy and increasses unsprung weight. The 205/55R15 show a max recommended rim size of 7.5 in the Michelin spec's. The 8" would be too wide and also too heavy for me. The Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S tires meet my needs. They do everything very well and are quiet and are excellent in the rain, important for me. I have spent many hours looking at tires and their spec's and reading many reviews. Not everyone has the same requirments in tires or rims. One reason for me not going wider then 6.5" wheels is this is the widest that the stock tires are designed to use and .5" under the max for the 195/65R15 tires. I will be running the stock tires until it is time to replace them on the new wheels. The wider wheels with the stock tires should provide a very slight improvement over the stock 5.5" wheels in performance.

Thanks for your input, I am sure it will be useful to others who will be using their xB's like most of the people in this group. It's just that my needs and wants are very different then most others. Al

 

[Anime Gee]

^ Sounds good. Looks like you know what you're doing, so I think you got everything covered. ( ^_^)

 

[hayalex6]

why don't you get a Rav4 or CRV if you're worried about ground clearance?

 

[al74dart]

I was looking into buying the RAV4 about a year ago until the gas prices doubled. I retired about 18 months ago and will be doing a lot of driving in Mexico and the US so gas mileage is of major importance. If the RAV4 could come close to 40MPG on the highway I would be buying it. The xB with the auto and easy driving will get a lot more MPG then ether the RAV4 or the CRV. Like I said my needs and wants are a lot different then most of the members here.

 

[hayalex6]

to get 40 mpg, you'll need to drive your car like 55 mpg with a tailwind.

and accelerate 1 mph/ min.

 

[hubbard]

Yea, the best I get with my auto tranny is 35 mpg around town and on the highway.

 

[al74dart]

Hi all, actually 40 MPG is not really that unrealistic. The problem as I see it is that most owners in this group don't seem to be into improving their gas mileage. I read about how to lower my ride and putting big heavy wheels and tires on and more HP. This is not the way to get better gas mileage. Some of the owners here have reported 35-38MPG without doing anything to improve their mileage just driving reasonable. My driving will be about 95% highway so my MPG will most likely be higher then someone who does a lot of city or a mix of city and highway driving. I am also buying the xB with the auto and will be going to tires that are 1 1/2 inch taller then stock. I always use a synthetic oil after the break in period. I don't drive over the speed limit much any more. In fact with the high price of gas the last year or so now I am now driving under the max on some of the highways. I keep a quality air pressure guage in my cars and I check the tire pressure monthly. My tire pressure is usually 2-4 pounds under the max for the tire. I don't see how fast I can get to the next light.

In last April's issue of Consumer Reports (CR), page 9, they talked about improving your gas mileage. One of their test vehicles was a 2005 Toyota Camry with the 2.4L 4 cyl engine. At 75MPH it got 30MPG, at 65MPH it got 35MPG, and at 55MPH it got 40MPG. The xB according to CR with the auto trans got 37MPG highway on their review in August 2004. Now the 37MPG was not driving just 55MPH, it was whatever the posted speed was in there driving loop. With my improvements 40MPG is a reasonable expetation. I will also be adding a fuel additive called Ethos FR, 1 ounce per 10 gallons of gas that has been proven to give you better gas mileage and cleaner exhaust emissions. I was so impressed with the reviews that I just signed up to buy it at a discount for myself. After I signed up I was talking to my friend about it and he told me he had used it and it did infact improve his mileage about 10%. Here is a link so you can take a look at it and deside for yourselves.
http://www.gasclubusa.net/go/daviddameron/

Not responsable for any spelling errors, just too tired.

 

[1xb2envy]

My xb has stock size wheels and tires but is a manual trans i get around 35 in town with the a/c going

 

[hayalex6]

you can't drive the speedlimit here. If you do, you'll get shot.

 

[al74dart]

I shoot back!!!