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My 05 LS430 has been lowered for a few years now and I love the way it looks. My 02 LS430 is completely stock except for a black front grille, tint, and a muffler delete. My 05 LS UL with the sport 18 inch wheels never rode as smooth as my stock 02 base model LS does. It's so smooth that I don't ever plan on modifying it until it comes time to replace the worn out parts. At that point I would probably get stock struts and Tanabe lowering springs for a slight drop.
I am a huge fan of modded cars,,, but I remember when my Dad had this car new and it was a great driving vehicle and I respect that some would always keep it bone stock....
160K miles later this car handled like a Chinese Freighter in the South Sea....
I chose a middle route and changed to a conservative tire/wheel combo (245/45/18) with an adjustable shock and the added bonus of height adjustability (BC Racing struts)... I set the setting fairly soft and didnt lower it an extreme amount so I gained a vehicle that I can actually drive aggressively into and out of corners with and still ride to LA in comfort.... It has minimal rub and I think looks an appropriate amount of "Gangsta" for me...
3 months after my last post in here and now I'm looking at my options for air vs. coilovers ahahaha ahhhhhhhhh ClubLexus never fails.
I absolutely love the stock ride... but it's time for some changes. It's kind of hard to resist when your next door neighbor is this guy lol
I am very impressed with my new BC Racing Coilovers... 5 minutes on any wheel for precise adjustments to the ride height,,, 30 clicks of Soft to Stiff shock adjustments... as well as easy enough installation for me to do in the driveway...
I don't mean this wrong, but why do people lower the 430? the car is a luxury car, not a race car. Wouldn't the lowering make it ride bad? I understand that its america and people can do what ever they want, but I am just trying to understand the purpose, or what they are thinking. Maybe I am the one missing out.
Why do some people wear droopy drawers? Life is a mystery.
Lowering the car will lower the point of gravity. The car will be more stable (relatively). Imagine you could plant the car on a pole and could move the pole. The closer the car to the ground the less "swing (instability)"
you would have. That is why racecars drive almost with the body touching the road. Of course it would be impractical for ordinary driving conditions. You would scrape your oilpan over every manhole cover or bump in the road. So you compromise. I swapped out the air and installed Bilstein coilovers. I could have lowered the car even more than is shown on the picture but I wanted to get at least a gardenhose nozzle between the top of the tire and the fender in order to wash out the inner fender liners and suspension parts.
The car corners MUCH better - the beefier rear stabilizer contributed to it also.
With the car being black and the tires are black the gap almost disappears
People lower the LS because they "want to". It's just a human decision. They shouldn't have to rationalize why they do it. Why do some pickup owners raise their truck bodies until you can actually see underneath the truck bed until you can see daylight on the other side when viewed from the side?