mattshel

Greetings from summery NZ, noob poster with my awesome 2012 ( pre-update) 25 000 km LS 600h, sadly mourning my incisive, arrow-like 2004 A8 but not the repair bills. Just replaced it with a bought privately "freshly imported" Japanese car, after test driving and creaming ( can i say that? ) over a Toyota imported 2007 model that was sold from under me. Lexus pre-purchase inspection of my 2012 Midnight Blue ( actually a gorgeous v dark purple) validated it's mileage and gave the all clear except for (the expected) perished front control arm bushes and they recommended replacement of same, plus upper control arms and, reassuringly, said it could wait until 1 year when next gov inspection ( we call it Warrant of Fitness here) is due, so i didnt feel they were doing hard sell. The tech said that likely the low kms explained the quick degradation ( 7 years) of the original bushes , but I have learned that the rubber just doesnt last well in the LS suspension. Nevertheless they quoted about 5K in USD terms for the job if they did it. As the inspection was before I bought the car, the seller/importer agreed to knock down the price provided i sourced and then bought cheaper parts, so using the part nos Lexus provided I bought german-made replacements for about 500 USD and my own mechanic reckons 4-6 hours of his time, though admitted unfamiliarity with this model. Such honesty in the car business!

I have spent hours on YT and this forum before and after purchase - without a warranty - but am not able to answer the following, and hope the formidable wisdom, knowledge, generosity and experience of you LS enthusiasts can either answer me here or direct me to specific threads already here so i don't waste your time.!

1. Could suspension mods reduce the boatiness of the handling, and without reducing the ride quality too much?. I am happy but my family aren't ( after the Audi), and the 9 yr old feels car sick for the first time in his life - even when i can persuade him not to gawp at the DVD screen in the back. I drive sensibly with passengers, honest! On my own I can hoof it, and she gets round corners pretty well, though you would never guess it going in to them! I don't expect German luxo-sport handling of course, I knew that going in. But I wonder if the perishing bushes are having an adverse effect on the handling right now?

2. My driver's seat just does not have the lateral support I crave, and I did not anticipate that auto upholsterers can't/won't add bolstering because of the airbags therein. Has anyone had experience of changing seats? I can easily forgo all the electronic and climate adjustments in the current seat if required, for the impression of being gripped firmly from behind by a geisha!

3. Finally, the tyres are Yokohama run-flats. Seem OK, but how much of a handling and steering feel difference might different tyres make?

I know I've bought a very different car to the A8 - and in lots of positive ways,too! - but still keen to optimise what I now have, if at all practical. I do love this car. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Dave144239

You might be able to swap the front seats for F Sport seats, which are more heavily bolstered, but should have all the same airbags and connections as your current seats.

As for tires, many people here recommend the Pirelli Cinturato P7 all season Plus II.

I have no idea whether anything can be done about the handling, apart from fixing the control arms. It's a big, heavy car, and designed for a comfortable ride. I have a 460, and find it a better-handling car than the Cadillac it replaced, which had the Sport suspension.

jdanielca

so it looks like you have a post 2010 model? you do not show the back seats so do you have bench or 4? I have a 460, 4 seater, my from passenger seats the headrest doesn't do that, or maybe it does I have to look, how do you get it to flip down?

So I assume you have the air suspension, I see the buttons, which I also have. I suggest to you to proactively deal with the strut mounts, with are rubber and can tear or delaminate with time. for the front it requires you to take off the cap covers, clean and then treat the rubber best you can with some form of cleaner, maybe a silicone spray, wipe then and your chosen rubber treatment, aerospace 303 or similar. The back seats would be more involved i think the mounts are located under the rear deck which is about head level behind the seats. But with such low miles, you might have a chance of getting ahead of the problem.

Now back to suspension, if you can, do not have it on height high and leave it on sport, see how that goes. For me here I hve no choice but to have it on heigh high to avoid frequently being worried about curbs while parking etc. But if you dont have to the settings i mentioned will help with the bouncyness. And just leave it on sport. See how that goes. I assume the bushings you mentioned were febest, you did not specify for some strange reason but if so you have lost the opportunity to tighten things up with selective use of bushings on certain areas. So for example the bottom ones you can use https://www.facebook.com/psbushings/ for the ones that and 4 on the bottom. For 2 on the bottom you can use http://www.hardrace.com/VEHICLE_Sear...pe=59&x=31&y=8, or if you want to spend the money you can use hardrace for all but I find it hard to justify the price. Also there is another brand super pro or something that makes the 4 top ones in polyurethane.

Depends on how things go with that, then let me know by posting back or by PMing me. last thing you can try is to swap out to stock style springs and struts, but you lose the heigh control and adjustability and unless you go for stock kyb and toyota parts, but even then you might lose some value, because you are modifying a significant function of the car with something of lesser value.

Fortunately for me labour is cheap in Ukraine, so unlike Canada and US and likely every other country out there haha, I have the ability to afford some trying out of cheaper options (and faster as I do not have to deal with unreliable post here and shipping)

I found some local companies that make polyurethane bushings, and they cost maybe 15 euros per piece. They do not make all the bushings I need but it would be a good try.

R Z

Welcome and what a beauty! Enjoy her she's fine. As for boaty feel, the control arms should shore up some of that, but having ridden in my son's A6, the hard feel of his car is certainly not felt in the LS. I personally prefer the luxury drive myself, and hope once you have the control arms done and check the shocks (are they air?), you should get a better ride. On the tires, a lot of folks swear by Pirelli tires. Check those out.

Nospinzone

Congrats on the new car and I wish you good luck with it.

No matter what you do that car will not handle like an A8. I would replace the run flat tires, that should help a little.

mattshel

Thanks Paul, yes indeed, its better in most ways! Just discovered the tyres are not run-flats anyway, eek! Had a monster high speed 4 hour trip yesterday, with no spare! There is a tyre inflator under the trunk but no spare, not even a space saver etc. Need to fix this quick..... Matt

mattshel

Thank you so much. What a wonderful drive! I'm so happy, will feedback once suspension done, but pretty happy as is. I'm sure a suspension shop would have lots of ideas and aftermarkets - at a price, and at the risk of changing her character too much, so I'll be careful if I ever venture down that rabbit hole. Happy to hear of others experiences

mattshel

Hi there, great info, thank you. Yes, early 2012, before new model, 5 seater, a rear passenger button can activate front passenger seat to move forward out the way, for the extending recliner seat - which I don't have!

Yes, was febest parts, haven't fitted them yet, and will check out your suggestions. I won't take a chainsaw to her and wreck her value and attributes. Just love the car though, goes like stink, and the family will just have to adapt! Thanks again. Oh, really sorry about your plane in Tehran. Terrible news.

mattshel

Hi Dave,

Thanks, investigating replacing seats as we speak. have to get lucky at a wreckers yard somewhere I think.

Re handling, I just had a 4 hr cross country blast - what a car! I'm no F1 driver, but the urge and torque is fab and cornering fine for my style of driving. The TCS was chirping heaps but rarely seemed to obtrusively intervene.

So the Yokohama Advan dBs are NOT run flats, so I have no spare. They do have a reinforced side wall for noise reduction ( they are exrtemely quiet). Not sure how it got a compliance cert on arrival here in NZ. Anyway, will have to get a space saver pretty fast.

So REALLY thrilled with her so far. The black paint is very hard to keep looking clean, she will get much more frequent washes!

Dave144239

There's room for a full-size spare in the trunk (is it a boot in NZ?), so look for an extra rim rather than a space saver.

jdanielca

yeah I would think the 600 is exactly the same with space for up to 19" spare in the trunk, lift the mat and cover. it is really supposed to come with one but i guess you have looked of course.should have taken money off for that too.