When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Yup, it was definitely a great sigh of relief to find out that the source of the screeching noise that I've been hearing the past week wasn't from a worn out wheel bearing but instead it was from the wear pin on the front brake pad. The pin was scratching the outer lip of the rotor so I popped out the worn EBC Yellow Pads and threw in my old but good OEM pads as a temporary measure until I get a chance to order a set of new front brake pads and new rotors.
Here's what the pads looked like after taking them out. They were a bit worn out after all! I guess I put them to good use at the track.
We'll see what pads and rotors I end up going with.
On an older post, I mentioned that I took out a plastic panel in-between the front bumper and radiator in order to allow more air to force feed into the engine bay and into the big hole of the lower intake box. I ended up trimming off a portion of the panel which would still allow the outside air to enter the engine bay but I left the bottom portion of the panel intact in case it helped with directing air into the radiator:
This monday, I'll be off for two weeks on a business trip to Japan, the motherland of Lexus and Toyota. If I see some interesting JDM vehicles while I'm over there, I'll be sure to take a few pics and post them on this thread.
I will be waiting, whenever buddies go they tell me they don't really see modded cars on the street.
I am so grateful to have found this thread. I just purchased a 2006 is350 with lots of f-sport goodies(exhaust, intake, springs, and sways). Your thread has lots of good info for what I'm looking to do. Do you know of any others in the community doing track and autocross with there cars? I am anxious for my first track day.
Hey there Spencer, sorry if i missed it but have you dyno the car yet after the ECU tune? Is it still active or did the ecu go back to factory settings on its own?
I haven't done a dyno on my car so I wouldn't have a baseline to refer to so I can see what gains were obtained from the ECU tune. I can only go off the dyno graph that RR-Racing provided as the estimated HP and TQ gains. The IS350 does pull hard throughout the powerband and continues to do so up to the rev limit so my butt dyno indicates that the power isn't dropping beyond the 6700 RPM range.
Originally Posted by Aprescott
I am so grateful to have found this thread. I just purchased a 2006 is350 with lots of f-sport goodies(exhaust, intake, springs, and sways). Your thread has lots of good info for what I'm looking to do. Do you know of any others in the community doing track and autocross with there cars? I am anxious for my first track day.
We have quite a few spirited corner carvers that you'll regularly see posting in the Suspension and Brakes sub-forums such as Gville350, WylieKylie, Sportskid1, obe1, etc. If you're looking for a good thread on what upgrades to consider for your first track day, I suggest checking out this helpful link: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...uspension.html
I will be waiting, whenever buddies go they tell me they don't really see modded cars on the street.
Ask and ye shall receive
Here's a modded Toyota Altezza that I found at a parking lot:
Here's a clean looking Toyota 86:
Here's a few shots of different R32 Skylines that were a common sight in Japan (most versions were the GTS model but I did spot a pair of R32 GTRs seen in the last pic):
Some other noteworthy JDM cars that I spotted but was unable to take a pic were the Honda Integra Type R, older generation Mitsubishi Evos and Subaru STIs, and Nissan S15 Silvias.
You are thinking of the suspension upright. I had wanted to run a square setup as well, but I found out the hard way that a 17 x 9 +48 PF01 rubbed on both the caliper, and the front upright. They didn't fit all that well on the back either, too far inset and close to the fender liner. I *think* for a square setup to fit without spacers or rolling you are going to need a wheel in the 38-42 offset range. Ideally I *think* a 40 offset on the front and a 35 offset on the rear is pretty close to ideal, but different offsets defeats the whole square thing anyway...
You also might want to look through the last couple of pages of Jeff Lange's manual IS350 build thread. He found that the same square setup he ran on his IS250 didn't work as well on the IS350 because the VDIM on an IS350 really expects different size tires front to rear, and reads similar size tires as wheel slip.
I will be installing a set of 245/40R17 and 245/45R17 Potenza RE-71R's in the next little while, it will be interesting to see how the VDIM responds after that. I really did not expect the big difference between how the VDIM would react between the IS250 and IS350.
Regarding fitment, personally I think if you wanted to do a square setup, 17x9 +40 would be probably the best for overall fit. It's not absolutely ideal for either the front or the rear (probably better for the front), but it's the happiest compromise. Still, with how the VDIM reacts, spirited driving is pretty much not a thing without turning TRAC off.
Yeah, the trip was good but flying back to Florida from Japan can really mess with your sleep cycle!
I didn't get a chance to buy any JDM goodies but a fellow CL member (plankton07) did inform me of an interesting JDM product from Spoon for the ISX50/IS-F that is supposed to greatly improve the rigidity of the front and rear subframes. It's a Rigid Collar Kit and its application sounds like a very novel idea!
Looks like you'll get them installed before me haha
I'm still looking at sway bars and that 4 point brace before these.
Got Figs LCAs on the way though.
Yep, seen those, but never looked into them before due to the overall cost for both the front and rear kits...
Yeah, they are a premium-priced kit and I would prefer if they were sold at a more reasonable MSRP for what you get (essentially a pack of crush washers). Perhaps when my car reaches the super-high mileage club, I might consider this kit.
Speaking of mileage, my car reached a milestone earlier this week. Perhaps it's a good time to buy a lottery ticket?
BTW, I have some new car parts on the way and should hopefully be here by next week.
Dirty hand prints I guess. Still happy enough with the Yellows I guess to get them again huh?
Absolutely! The EBC Yellow Stuff have been extremely reliable on both the street and the track. Excellent bite even when they're cold and very consistent brake modulation with high-speed stops. They're supposedly stable up to 900 degrees Celcius so that's a big plus as well. The pads do get very dusty but in a way, I'm kinda addicted to the brake dust.