Lexus IS Go-to Performance Upgrades from Club Lexus Members
Looking to up the power in your Lexus IS? This thread contains everything you need to know.
Generally, there are two questions that new Lexus IS owners immediately have following their purchase. How do I make it look better, and how do I make it faster? We’ve covered the former topic before, with loads of great tips from the Club Lexus community. But after member darkfire picked up a 2018 IS350 F-Sport recently, he headed to the forums looking for some advice on the best ways to extract extra speed from his shiny new ride.
“I’m the happy owner of a new 2018 IS350 F-Sport. I’m a car enthusiast and a Superbike rider and racer. I love to upgrade vehicles and this IS350 will be no exception! I’m wondering what go-to performance upgrades you folks recommend? Specifically, since this is a brand new vehicle and still under warranty, I’m curious about options that improve performance (acceleration and/or handling) without voiding the warranty. Though, of course, long-term all options are on the table.”
Without delay, itsx offers up a pretty comprehensive list of goodies.
“For handling, I’d recommend sway bars. For your car, SARD, TRD or T-Demand all have offerings. There are lots of coilover options as well. LCA bushings offered by RR-Racing, Figs, GSF/RCF/ISF OE replacements.
Intake options include an F-Sport Drop in filter, K&N, intake tube replacements, RR Racing, JoeZ and others. There’s also short ram intake with a cone filter offered by Takeda, Injen and some others. I personally run the F-Sport drop in filter.
RR-Racing has a tune for this generation IS, and I think OVTune has something. There’s a bunch of exhaust options out there. The popular midpipes are Tsudo and Invidia, with Ark having a full cat back system. Borla, Invidia, Joez, and Magnaflow make axle back systems.”
RRRacing is also happy to chime in with some great suggestions, including some upgrades that might not actually provide any bang for the buck.
“Swaybars aren’t a necessity with a good set of coilovers. USRS bushings are a must and dramatically change the feel and steering aspect of the vehicle to be more responsive. Exhaust, you have tons of options. But we’ve found, especially power wise for gains and tone, RR Racing tuned headers (made specifically for us by PPE) and an ARK exhaust are best.
Intakes, for Lexus cars (and you can ask anyone who has been around them for a while), an intake BY ITSELF will give no gains and more than likely hinder power. A tune + FBO you’ll see gains of 30-40 whp. Next and last on the list is our supercharger. FBO + supercharger kit you’ll see 410 whp out of your car.”
And that’s just scratching the surface of the immense amount of great information contained in this thread. So if you’re looking to up the power in your Lexus IS, head over here and check out all the fantastic suggestions on how to do just that!
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