Jeremy-KY

I think it would be interesting to see how the ES performs on the AutoX with these coilovers.

I might join my local time attack for fun! I might actually learn something about the handling of the vehicle.

While I might not be able to compete with the regular Evo's, Skylines, Subaru's, and the light weight civic's and integras, I'm at sure to at least learn something from it.

Jeremy-KY

Heres a picture of my car right now, (picture taken 2 hours ago) I'm still waiting on the weather to clear up so I can get my car properly cleaned and get some more photos done soon. but in the mean time, here's what I was able to get so far; apologies for a dirty car in advance



the car looks factory, one would never know coilovers are on the vehicle at first glance

I am thinking of lowering the front eventually to match the rear. I might do this at the same time I sort out the sway-bar end-links hopefully by this weekend, but for now this is how it will stay.


On a random note, I wonder if Vossen will eventually offer some of their wheels in smaller sizes, (smaller than 20 inches) I'd love to find a set of their wheels to go along with my car.

abobiznow

gonna get some mud tires to go along with that set-up?

Jeremy-KY

AHAHAHA ok!! sure!! lets see... hmmm I wonder, 225/55R16 that should qualify as mud tires. XD, let me just lift the rear up a little more!...


The ride its actually 9.5 in. (10.20 in. factory spec.) in the rear, and 8 inches (8.39 in. factory spec.)in the front, the measurements were taken from the service manual locations specified below:

*1: Front measuring point
Measure from the ground to the center of the front side lower
suspension arm mounting bolt.

*2: Rear measuring point
Measure from the ground to the center of the front side strut rod
mounting bolt.


It's only just slightly lower than factory ride actually.

EEngineer

are you trying to drive your suv over that parking curb?

lol
ohh now you mention vossen...my friend just got a set of 20x9 20x10.5 Vossen rims for his G35 Coupe.

only if our cars are made for those huge wheels setup....

Jeremy-KY

I know..... maybe Vossen will show some love for us soon, when they introduce smaller diameter wheels. I'd love to put my favorites on my car, they are the CV3 and CV2, those wheels are my favorites.

I'm a suckker for multi-spoke wheels but I absolutely love the clean simple look of the CV3.

Just a shame they can't really fit our cars

EEngineer

well, technically anything can fit...as long as you are willing to pay for the modifications.


ultra low profile tires, shaved and pulled fender. mad camber LOL

Jeremy-KY

Nah, this is as far as I really want to go with modifications, I'm happy with the results I have right now. I was able to kept the factory ride height, but have a stiffer and more firm suspension that feels great. No more "boat" like feeling when turning the car, it now corners pretty damn flat ( or with minimal body roll when coilovers are set to soft as they are now) when they are set to hard, body roll is practically eliminated!!!

And they are just as comfortable when the car's original A.V.S. was set to sport, with this, my goals have actually been achieved.

Right now though I'm considering returning to the factory wheels so I can get the wheels I have on the car now, refreshed, and cleaned up a bit, they've picked up some curb rash over the years I've had them due to other family members driving my vehicle. Plus there seems to be some slight damage to my rear wheels, that I would like to get repaired, I also need to get the rear tires matched now with the front.

So I think over the next few months my small projects will be; new tires for the rear (Toyo T1R's to match the front), new brake pads for the rear, (already have a new set for the fronts) they are at my best guess 75% worn now. and eventually have all of the brake rotors resurfaced.

Then get the rear bumper repaired and resprayed, due to a parking lot incident that occurred while I was in the store buying groceries.

I just forgot something else that needs to be done before! I attend to other small issues, need to get the alignment done asap.

Jeremy-KY

Ok got around to double checking that everything is tight and secure with the suspension after a couple of miles of driving. That is now done, and now time to attend to the next issue, regarding the sway-bar end links.

So without further delay, here you go, take a look.



Picture of the swaybar itself on how it looks from above:




Picture of the swaybar (hard photo to take due to lack of space, sorry it isn't as clear)


The metal part that you see on the middle of the picture is the Lower control arm.

The metal part that you see above that is the sway bar itself.
Hopefully when I swap the rear swaybar end links with the front, it will have more clearance than what it is shown currently.


Here a photo where you can see everything:


The rear sway bar end links are alot shorter than the front ones, (roughly by about an inch or so) I'm going to move the rear end links to the front and the long front end links to the rear.

Although I haven't done so already because due to lack of time lately, as well as ran out of light when I took these photos today but I'll be working on these small issues hopefully before this weekend arrives.

CircuitMS

iTrader: (51)

How are you liking the setup? You figure out the Swaybar link issue?

How did the lower moutns work out? If you guys give me all the info I can relay it to BC and make sure future kits have what they need for the different year ES if there is an issue.

Jeremy-KY

The setup is nice and it definitely met my goals for this project. The only quirk I have is that changing the damper settings I've found pretty much does nothing, and well Rear Camber has been a little bit annoying to dial in.

The speed sensor clip has a bit of play when you attach it to the lower mount but it seems that it stays there without any problems, as for the brake line I ended up just securing it with a zip-tie.

In the end I didn't sort out the problem with the swaybar link, it seems really close, but it really isn't touching the lower control arm at all. And I haven't noticed any major issues from it at all. So if it aint broke.... you know the rest.

If anything if for future buyers of this kit depending on the vehicle and model years, the Camry Kit are 100% direct fit, just ask EEnginner and they come with top mounts so you wont have to buy new mounts or reuse your old mounts. So in the end I would probably recommend the Camry kit for the 2nd gen and 3rd gen ES's and Toyota Windom's over the lexus specific kit which requires the use of factory upper mounts.