salimshah

What a change from the last boaring ten days

I am a sedate driver in a comfortable, stylish, reliable raised car. Just read the published 'g' numbers. RX is far less an SUV than a sports car guys.

Feel free to disagree.

Salim

TunedRX300

It depends on what one prefers. You correctly commented SUV is more prone to body roll than sedan because of increased height and weight. Lexus makes tradeoff just like Honda/Acura does. But the gap is huge: RX300 has 14mm rear, 16mm front when a 4 cylinder Civic has 17mm rear and 22mm front. You can make your own conclusion on whether Lexus' tradeoff is optimum for yourself. But one thing is clear - Civic is not a sport car and RX300 is taller and heavier than a Civic

Lexmex

Reminds me when I get into 'road races' on some of the major arteries late at night with some other luxury SUVs (X5s, Cayennes, etc.) and though they can haul well in a straight line, coming turning time, the RX is one mean machine on turns even though it is not a car.

TunedRX300

I doubt it, chasis is different. RX's rear sway curves toward the rear and hop over the muffler.
Even RX330's rear sway is different, it curves toward the front and hop over the mid exhaust pipe.
I will contact Saner and see how much it costs, I can take the rear sway off my RX (should take no more than 20 minutes) if that is what they need to perform measurement.

DoubleWhoosh

Basically a Camry chassis, but very different as far as the hardware and mounting position goes. Too bad I'm sure there are parts out there for Camrys already. Plus you have the added problem of AWD on some, FWD only on others. And the 01+ are a little different in the back too. Nice. This is why there aren't any bars for that car already on the market.

I wish I had something to make my RX300 drive better. Even crosswinds make it scary at anything over 65 mph.

The Camry chassis isn't super great for stability to start with, add a higher CG (much higher) and you get what the problem is. You can always fix it with the lifted 4x4 thing and put some huge mongo sticking out tires. Those seem to handle pretty flat Yeah right

DoubleWhoosh

Bars are hard to make, but not impossible of course. Problem is when you make a set, you have the fitment issue, normally the first one won't fit exactly right, and you need to make a second or third one for perfect fitment. Then you have the other issue of actual performance, the sizing can be calculated to some extent, but once the bars are on the car, all that goes out the window! So there you are playing around with different bar sizes too! Couple that with needing a bushing to fit all those different sized bars and you can see that it's a pretty big job. Of course you can just guess and maybe put a 19mm rear bar on it and just go with that, but you never know if that's optimal since you aren't comparing it with anything. Then again, anything is better than nothing too.

Maybe I should just ante up and make some bars here real quick just for fun, but it would probably end up to be some huge production.

Just FYI the front bar is very critical on shape and bends, as it snakes around all of the crossmember and arms. Rear is pretty easy but it's mounted on some cheesy bracket assembly, which by virtue negates a lot of what you are trying to accomplish. Sort of a diminishing return until you end up bending or breaking that bracket.

DoubleWhoosh

Yup, you are the target consumer for the RX, which is exactly why it is what it is.

TunedRX300

Nornally companies make a freebie for the person willing to be the guinea pig because of hassle you mentioned.
I think there is a huge market opportunity for a set of sway bars with solid material and sound design.
This means proper fitment, well lubed bushings to minimize noise, good painting to resistant rust, and front sway size to match with increased stiffness of rear sway. RX out sell many automakers' entire lines.
Personally, I think the rear sway should be 22mm, and front sway should be 27mm, but I don't design sways by trade. Yes, anything is better than 14mm and 16mm.

salimshah

Agreed there are lots and lots of RX on the road.

TunedRX300, the real question is is how many are lining up to get an after market sway bar? If you are sure that the market is huge, you have discovered an oppertunity to make money.

The way I see it, enthusiast like you are few and far inbetween.

Salim

DoubleWhoosh

Yes, this is the point. There are a lot out there, but probably not enough to warrant making something. This is why I asked once before, but there was no response, which was the answer I expected.

Obviously I am not trying to sell anything here, I have no sway bars to offer. In fact, I have springs and shocks to offer, but those would not reap enough benefit compared to a true upgraded sway bar set.

On the RX for the most part, we normally just replace the worn OEM parts with new OEM parts. This seems to be what the RX owners prefer the most.

ACleanSC4

iTrader: (7)

Offer some custom sway bars and spring/shock combo or even coilovers for my 01 RX AWD and i'll be all over it...

pcmw

Build the aftermarket parts and I may just go out and buy me an RX. Aclean and I can compete who can drift their RX first!!!!

ACleanSC4

iTrader: (7)

oh my...look who came back from the grave...where have you been bud? long time no see man... still enjoying that car cover?

pcmw

Yeah....I saw the noise on this thread about sway bars and thought I would peak in and see. I was thinking of buying an RX but they do tend to ride funny when taking the 110 to the I-5 at 90mph down the canyon. So I was hoping for some aftermarket before I buy a used one to stomp around in.

I liked the "Toyota has billions of dollars so they shoulda made it better" (not exact quote). But I used to hear that alot when working on the hundreds of cars. Lexus built and marketed the RX to be the SUV that was not a TRUCK. It competed at first with the Exploder, 4runner, jeep and other truck based SUVS. I think they made it slushy on purpose. Now, by todays standard, aftermarket engineering has improved the ride quality and handling of cars (especially after the exploder kept rolling over). So that idea is simply not true. I would have to agree to disagree with that comment. No offense. Ford had alot of money too (not any more) and they still built terrible handling cars.

On the springs/shocks vs Swaybar handling improvement. I have to again, agree to disagree based on the facts. The idea and invent of SPRING was NOT to make a car necessarily handle better. It was primarily to LOWER the stance for looks. The dramatic ride degregation was a result and the aftermarket spring people spun it as "Aggressive handling improvement". Then the likes of Eibach and H&R came in with progressive spring rates to reintroduce ride quality and handling to the picture. Unfortunately the lower geometry of changing the arm angles causes the funny camber characteristics that cause the bad ride. Much of these are outside the factory adjustment and the pivoting is not adjustable unless to re-mount the entire suspension. Similar in idea to what the truck guys do to lower an F150.

A sway bar is a huge factor in INCREASING ride quality where as it CHANGES the ride dynamic and does not Deteriorate the overall ride just CHANGES IT. To look at the FACTS here you would have to realize that the sway bar is built to effectively transfer the force more evenly accross the two wheels. The stiffer the bar, the more the two front wheels act in unison rather than independently. Hence the TRD ULTRA UBER SUPER STIFF bar in the Supra has a rigorous effect on the ride as it in essence unified the front wheels into a TRUCK like straight axle. If you think that a sway bar that is well engineered makes the ride WORSE. Then go unhook the two endlinks on your RX right now and drive around the block. The car will ride terrible and we all know the end result is you will likely flip the thing onto your neighbors lawn. Finally, let me add that THICKER bars are not always the necessary factor. STIFFER ones are the idea. For example, my SC300 has Supra factory sways on it that are not thicker but more solid and straighter in design anchoring more usable torque accross the wheels. This IMPROVED the ride dynamic of the car so much that my WIFE noticed (non factual info).

Finally, the idea of why Lexus doesn't improve the newer models sway bars. I agree, it is odd that they don't improve it, but then again I am a suspension nut and love to hang turns. My wife would want it as is. She drives 25mph on onramps and LUVS to hit huge pot holes and not feel them. The Chevrolet Tahoe LT rides NICE and yet people always buy the Z71 that rides like crap (diff springs and shocks) because it was an upgrade. It cannot be figured out. The idea of upgradable sway bars is enticing to me. I never understood why Toyota didn't make a single turbo model that produced more hp than the twins either, but the supra guys are better at that than I am.

I love the models of thought that this provokes. It simply says in a "free market" economy people buy what is good and better. That is what some are saying here. Aftermarket accessories today are a $31 billion dollar industry according to SEMA. So plenty of people believe that these parts IMPROVE the vehicles ride and drivability. Otherwise that same philosophy would not only tank the sales of the RX but of the $31billion that people spent on stuff to "ruin" there cars?!?@?!?@

My .02 and NO I don't make money off of telling the truth but I am sure glad someone is out their building good parts and not afraid to stand up for them. Otherwise we might all drive Hyundais??? Eekk...

MW

TunedRX300

Market opportunity does not equal to make $. I do not have the core competency or existing infrastructure to launch an aftermarket car product. There is a distinct difference between creating value and capturing the value. The idea of iPOD has been around for a while, it is Apple that first made it RIGHT in order and make it $ off it.
I believe there is a lot of RX owners that are willing to spend $300 on a pair of well engineered sways. Outlaw engineering needs just 20 owners to develope an application for spacers. Unothodox Racing needs 30 owners to develope an application for under-drive lightweight crank pulleys. These are just ball park figures which these aftermarket specialists will reach breakeven point. Sways may require more engineering or raw material to make, we don't know.
But 20-30 owners out of how many RX300? The % must be around 0.xxx.
Just count how many members on this thread already interested. Anyone who drive a car with a propered engineered sway bar can tell you cornering is a "night and day" difference. Please also don't forget what the "S" stands for in "SUV"