posdriftin

iTrader: (5)

i am looking to buy some coilovers for my 03 ls430 and wondering which ones are better than others.. im thinking about jic ones... any feed back from people....????

motohide

Judging from most LS430 coil-over systems using 10-14km/mm spring front and 6-8kg/mm at the rear, I would think that ratio gives soft as possible ride considering how much travel (not much) is left on a 2" or more drop...

I use a Tanabe Sustec 5, which uses a much harder 12kg/mm F and 10kg/mm rear. It does a better job of preventing bottom outs on Los Angeles metro's horrible roads... however the ride, especially at the rear suspension, is a bit harsh I would imagine for most Lexus owners. It's all a compromise though when you drop a car that low and DRIVE it at that height... (mine about 2.2" drop F and 1.9" R drop sitting on 20 inch 245/40 and 275/35.)

So for general rule of thumb from me...
For ultra low driving height, I'd recommend Tanabe SUSTEC 5 for firmer rates and shorter piston in strut, and for less than 2" drop, go with others with softer rates.
Some, like JIC and Aragosta offer full-tap shocks but considering LS430 has limited suspension travel before upper arm hits the wheel well top, I would think it's rather unnecessary feature if the piston does not bottom before it does. (and provided you are not crazier than me and have actually carved away at it and C sectioned your frame to go lower...LOL)
(note: Sustec 5 does come with nice KYB made damper with electronic adjustment capability I found easier and more effective range than TEIN CS.
And spring rates are totally adjustable by buying additional sets of coil springs at later time to fine-tune... So if you have cash for that too, then Tanabe isn't a bad choice at all...)
Now that I found rear wheels clear the fenders fine and has 2.7" more travel, I will install 7kg/mm rear spring soon...

As for ride...front being slightly stiff generally isn't uncomfortable...but stiff rear certainly makes a jumpy car so rear suspension tuning is key for any luxury car...
Also note 2.2/1.9 seems not much in terms of LS430 drop, but 20s flush with fender certainly fills the wells so it looks adequate. for 19" and deeper set wheels, I think closer to 2.5" would be ideal for ultra-low coil-over setups...though you start to run into ground clearance and suspension arm contact issues on dynamic changes.


Tanabe Sustec 5 = all the right parts, nice dampers, wrong 10kg/mm spring rate for rear (buy 8kg with it and you're good). TEAS allows electronic adjustment for dampers.
TEIN CS = good for price/comfy but lacks damping rates to cover firmer springs. EDFC allows electronic damper control.
JIC = Full Tap and fancy... Good rates on rear but front is hard. (again not an issue if you customise it with different springs at time of purchase, or later... It's what coil-over in general allows, cheap way to infinitely tune it )

Air suspension? Well nice for shows but I prefer the control and ride of nicely balanced mechanical suspension.
Plus, I hate being a turtle when the hoses blow...(yes, I used to do air and repaired many of them too... not fun and definitely not cheap)



____________

Moto-P
www.club4ag.com

airtime

Nice ride Motohide. You have to post additional images of your car

motohide

I'll get around to it when I get a better location than in front of my house...LOL
THANKS!

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

I have the Tein CS kit (the pre-'07 version with the aluminum body, not the later steel body) and I'm happy with it for my purposes. They are silent in operation (which may not be the case with setups that use pillow ball mounts) and they allow what I consider to be a reasonable range of adjustment for a non-high-performance car like the LS . On the softer valving settings (they have ~16 positions, IIRC, and I run them at ~5) the ride is similar to the stock setup. I only needed to drop my car about 1.5" or so to acheive the ride height I wanted, so there's still plenty of travel left. Supposedly, the later steel body version has a different valving system that is claimed to improve ride quality, but as I said, I have no coil-over related complaints in that area (I do wish I had Michelin tires instead of Dunlops, though).

I bought mine from Titan Motorsports. Always excellent service and reasonable prices, IME.

anotherLS

iTrader: (9)

thanks that info helped me, got me some used set of Tein CS with the EDFC that i have to still install hopefully it will ride way better than my blown struts now! haha! ill have pics after install

JDMUSCLE

iTrader: (1)

sorry to get side tracked but....what does the dealer say when you guys take your car for service with after market suspension? do they give you guys a hard time with any kind of warranty work at all?

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

My car has 58K miles on it and the only warranty work that it ever had was replacing the remote mirror control at 48K. I'm assuming that they would only complain if the suspension change had an effect on the warranty item itself. Of course you might have some dealers who would complain otherwise, but they wouldn't have grounds, and given Lexus' tendency to try to make customers happy, it shouldn't be a difficult argument to win with the dealer.