AMIRZA786

@RRRacing I have a quick question. Do I need to get an alignment done after changing the bushings? My mechanic who changed them said it was not necessary, he tested the car and the steering is completely straight. I've been driving it for more than a week and I have not experienced any issues, in fact the steering has never felt this good! He told me to watch the front tires for any unusual wear.

He's a very experienced mechanic and has been working on my cars since 2009. There is an alignment shop he partners with next to his shop that he sends his customers to (which he gets a cut) so if felt it was necessary he would have sent it next door, but I just wanted to check with you guys since you manufacture this bushing

RRRacing

iTrader: (1)

Anytime you make suspension modifications, it's always a good idea to have the alignment checked and corrected if necessary.

AMIRZA786

I drove today nearly 400 miles from Northern to Southern California, I have to say that I am definitely entirely happy with both the F-Sport Sway bars and the RR Racing LCA bushings. At high speeds and doing high speed on curves the car is completely stable, and steering is nice and tight. When roads are a little rougher you feel some feedback in the steering, so if you are used to no road feel you will need to get used to it. It's not too bad though. I really didn't notice any additional NVH driving a steady 80 mph. I was hoping it would get rid of the steering getting stuck for a second at high speeds (it seems to happen only when I head to Southern Cal and when the winds are strong and gusty), but that is still present. Hoping to eliminate this by installing the ISF steering ECU in the next few months. I still haven't decided if I am going to install the one I have that was pulled off of a 2010 or buy one for a 2011-2012.I emailed the dealer I bought my F-Sport Sway bars from and he will notify me when they put it on sale.

All in all, I can now say that this was worth doing. If you are on the fence...just do it!

davidbusta

iTrader: (1)

you should install that 2010 ecu you have. The install is easy and since it’s used you don’t need to get it calibrated. You should install it and feel the difference. And if you are still going to get the 2011 one it won’t make a difference whether or not you have installed the 2010 one when you comes down to reselling it.

AMIRZA786

That's true. I will see if I have time to install it weekend after next. BTW, do I need to remove the battery to get to the steering ECU (I know I have to disconnect it)? Is it just under the battery tray?

redspencer

iTrader: (1)

Yes to both questions. Pretty easy mod to do though one of the connectors may be slightly tricky to remove.

davidbusta

iTrader: (1)

oh man those connectors i hate them haha

AMIRZA786

I got back from SoCal today and since I had some free time, I grabbed my 16 year son, got out my tools and we installed the ISF Steering ECU. The connectors were a bit tricky and were quite frankly a pain, but we Youtubed it and figured out how to unlatch them. I had to remove the brackets from the stock steering ECU and put them on the ISF steering ecu. After hooking everything back up and re-installing the battery I started the car, it died the first time but restarted it and the car re-calibrated, no codes, the steering works so I am assuming I connected everything correctly and the new ecu works. Took it for a drive and the steering is a lot stiffer than before.

One thing I am noticing is there seems to be a rattling noise like something is lose when I take off or go over bumps. This has nothing to do with the steering ecu swap as this started while I was in Socal on Friday. I'm thinking maybe one of the new LCA bushings became lose. I'm going to get it checked out tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm going to drive for a few days with the new steering ecu and if I don't like it I will swap back to stock

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

I know you installed these already but here is what I did.

Drive the car forward holding the steering wheel in the cars straight tracking position.
Measure the toe from equal tread locations on the front and back of the tires. Confirm you not hitting anything with the tape and repeat at least once to verify toe.

Jack car and find some body holes that mirror each other and measure to the center of the A-Arm shaft where the nut is. Record values.

Install LCAB. Measure the points as done before shifting LCAB as needed to duplicate values.
Tighten to spec. - - - If using ISF or RCF LCAB, load the tires as if the car is sitting on all fours and THEN TIGHTEN the nut on the LCA. If don't, you will ruin the bushing.

Verify work and get the car down.

Drive it in and out of the shop a few times steering excessively.
Drive it in straight and check and set the toe back to previous values.
Done.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

With COVID forcing our giant medical company to make us take next week off, I'll be installing the 2011 IS-F EPS ECU next week. We can do some comparisons. Although, as noted my only real gripe with the F-Sport EPS ECU is the early onset of the nannies taking over when pushed, so it may not be much of a comparison as its stable, firm, and predictable as is. It genuinely drives straight on many a road with minimal steering corrections, and firms up at speed.

AMIRZA786

My mechanic did the install, he is experienced and very competent. I haven't done this type of DIY work since I was in my 20's, which was 30 years ago LOL! I was a little worried about stripping bolts since many of these in that area can become seized, and he has the tools and experience to deal with these types of issues. Plus he has a Benpak which makes the job way easier than trying to do it on jacks! He only charged me $200 so it was worth it to me. Plus if anything goes wrong I can take it back to him anytime

AMIRZA786

I would definitely want to know how much it differs from the EPS ECU that I installed that came from a 2010 ISF. It's pretty stiff when compared to the stock IS350 EPS ECU and so far in turn it seems pretty good. I would need to do some freeway driving as well. I am hoping that the issue I have been experiencing where the steering seems to lock for a second (resist is a better word) when correcting at high speeds goes away, which is very annoying. If that is gone that alone is worth doing the swap alone! Anyway please post your experience once you are able to do the swap, I am interested in knowing if the 2011 ISF EPS ECU makes a huge difference

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

My best description of driving cars that present that stiction feeling while making minor corrections (not my F-Sport EPS) is perhaps what many would call is dead band. In the zone of dead band, it feels as though there is no assist until you overcome a force which is greater than the actual correction force needed to stay in your lane comfortably. Stiction is a word created by me to express the force needed to get out of the dead band zone and apply correctional steering input. Ideally a well designed steering has none of this. But then there are exceptions.

I've felt this dead band on other Toyota / Lexus products as well and don't care for it. If that mostly describes your original EPS unit, it will be hard to turn back.

AMIRZA786

Thanks for explaining that. I've never experienced this on any other car, including every rental I've ever driven. Since 1995 I've owned a Corolla, three Camry's, two Sienna's and this Lexus and never experienced this issue. All my Toyota's except the current Sienna and my IS350 all had/have traditional power steering. I even had a 2018 Camry SE for 3 weeks as a rental driving back and forth between NorCal and SoCal with no steering issues. I've driven all them on long trips at high speed and this "Stiction" you mentioned has only happened on my Lexus. I assumed that this might have been caused by overzealous VSC, but wasn't sure. I'm hoping that it's gone now that I exchanged the EPS ECU