Hey Guys,

I'm a new ES owner as of about 2 weeks ago. I wanted a cheap DD to put miles on and I was not at all considering a Lexus until I stumbled across a good deal on an '03. 134k miles, all stock, and the price was very good.

Long story short, it drives well but there are definitely some suspension components that will need replacing soon. I'm going to proactively go through the front end and take care of bushings and ball joints, etc. The struts don't seem overly worn but I cant stand the way this car drives after getting used to it. I'm a BMW guy through and through, and this is night and day from my other car ('03 M3). I was exploring the idea of putting springs on it to stiffen it up a bit and decrease the body roll, but then I found a set of coilovers for a great price. Only issue is they are for 01-06 Camrys.

Does anyone know if gen 5 Camry coilovers are compatible with the ES300? From what I can tell, the struts and springs for a V6 are the exact same, so I don't know why the coils would be any different. Obviously the Lexus weighs more but I don't know if that would have a huge impact on the functionality of them.

Any input is appreciated..

 

Find a place on line that sells both, and note if the part miners are identical.

That's probably your best bet.

Phil

 

I compared part numbers on struts from Rockauto and it appears that they all match. The struts are the exact same.. The only question would be springs so I also compared the quick struts and other fully assembled strut packages and they also appear to be the same. I think the only difference may be in spring rates on the coils themselves. Its possible that the Camry 4 cylinder has different spring rates to compensate for the weight.

As far as I can tell, the Camry V6 parts are an exact match for the ES.

 

OEM parts are different, but aftermarket ones will be same, at least thats what I found. They should fit as the mount points for everything wshould be same. The biggest difference was ride quality.

 

I wouldn't recommend putting coilovers on our cars because it would kind of defeat the purpose of the 'luxury' aspect of the driving experience. Instead, you should get some lowering springs. You can go low and very firm all the way to just a settle 1.5" drop and maintain all levels of comfort without the boat like steering. I purchased a set of Tanabe springs about 2 years ago and they are amazing.

http://www.tanabe-usa.com/springs.asp

 

Megafast - Do you have the Ns or the Ds? What struts are you running?

 

how low do you plan on going?

 

I got the N's and everything else on my suspension is stock. I am also still running stock wheels and somewhat thicker tires. Going back I wouldn't be opposed to getting the D's especially if I had aftermarket wheels, but both would be a great choice.

 

haitianb0i - I honestly don't plan on going low at all. The main reason I'm considering the coils is because of the ease of ordering an install, and the adjustability factor. I actually bought this car because I was sick of dding my M3 (which is slammed on HKS coils), so I wanted something more comfortable that I could take on long drives and pack friends in the back. It will cost me the same to buy decent struts and mounts, etc, as it would to but the coils... so it was just a thought.

The more I think about it though, it may be a bad idea. I'll definitely risk turning my comfortable DD into another car that I swerve at the sight of the slightest pothole. This damn "mod bug"... I swear I'm incapable of ordering oem parts.

 

well im slammed on D2's and i love it :-)

 

Can anyone help me out on some torque specs?

Strut top nuts (3)
Strut bottom nuts (2?)
Sway bar end link nut (1)
Strut rod center nut (1)

I cant seem to find any thread that clearly spells these out.

Thanks!