CenterIsl

Hello fellow SC430 owners!

Monday afternoon I flew down to SF and purchased TomLexus's 2002 SC430, driving it home 849 miles that night (averaging a little over 70 mph through a snowstorm in the mountains, and getting 24.5 mpg).

It's a great car - I love the Indigo Ink Pearl color and it's been well cared for. I'm just not sure I'm going to stay with the Tein CS. OK, the braces are a clear win. And the sway bars indeed help a lot. But I'm just not sure whether - for my roads and typical driving - I want to give up the quietness and smoothness of the stock Lexus shocks / springs. Sure it was great on the curvey bits of I5 heading north, but now that I have it home...on familiar streets...it really seems to communicate too much to me.

Anyone else have this same experience? Anyone go back after installing coilovers? Or are there any special tips to making the CS setup quieter (most important on un-smooth surfaces) and ideally transmitting less of the road surface?

Keith

Lexiss_sc430

iTrader: (2)

Congratulations on the new purchase!!

as far as the suspension info goes I can't help you too much since I'm still on oem stuff, maybe one of the other guys can chime in.

talwang

iTrader: (4)

Posting some pics of your new ride will be great.

You can add a Tein EDFC unit or just manually use the hex wrench to turn the adjustment **** to the softer setting before you go back to stock.
Also check your tires to see if they are still rft.

Seize

Congrats and welcome to Club Lexus

CenterIsl

At this point, the pics would be the same as the ones in the FS section, except it's raining here. Also, I don't think I'm allowed to post pics and URLs until I've posted a few messages, right? At least that's the way it works on other car forums...

TomLexus had 19" wheels with larger tires, but put back the stock wheels (and non-rft tires) when he sold it to me.

As for the EDFC...this car has a TOM's STB, and my reading on the forum indicates that even though the EDFC is listed as not fitting the SC430, it will fit _except_ if there's an STB installed. Plus, you have to admit - that EDFC control is just plain ugly. (smile)

I forgot to get the wrench, but it's in the mail to me as we speak. I will try playing with the settings, but I'm also wondering if softer springs would be in order. In any event, I think that these settings wouldn't really affect the "road noise" that's being transmitted into the car...am I right?

Thanks for the help...

Keith

margaux01

Congradulation for getting the SC! Glad to know that you made the 800 plus miles trip back to WA in the SC not under the best driving condition. I was making the same trip from SF last October but was forced to abort 250 miles out of SF when the windshield accidentally cracked.

Gojirra99

Welcome to Club Lexus & congratulations

RFFG

Welcome to Club Lexus...

talwang

iTrader: (4)

The EDFC motors won't fit if Tom's STB is installed.
That was why I had sold my Tom's STB for EDFC.

UGLY? To each his own, I have no comment on it.
Have fun when you adjust both rear *****. That is all I can say.
I have experienced no noise from my Tein CST so far.

CenterIsl

Really? Are you saying that - everything else being equal - the Tein CST (that's the newer CS, right?) does not produce any additional noise over the stock suspension? Can I ask what springs you used? And which of the "click" settings you are using? If it's possible to get much of the stock ride / quietness with the Tein CS (possibly a different animal than the CST) then I'd almost certainly leave them installed.

Thanks!

Keith

CenterIsl

I combed this forum pretty thoroughly before getting the SC, and I did see that thread about cracked windshields - very alarming. I think that most of the folks with that problem got them fixed under warrenty, but now that the older cars (like mine) are no longer under warranty some of these issues are probably going to get a lot louder. Of course, reasonable fixes may then emerge (like the site that sells replacement trunk struts for $70/pair, about 15% of the Lexus dealer price).

My only regret from the trip was that it was entirely in the dark - I would loved to have seen the mountain scenery in the Siskiyous (I went through a slushy snowstorm). At least I had the road mostly to myself.

Keith

talwang

iTrader: (4)

I hadn't experienced noise even I had Tein H springs with stock shocks before I installed Tein CST. I am using the springs that originally come with CST.

Tein recommends 12/12 for CST, but CS might be different.

CenterIsl

Um, did you at one time have the stock setup?

aquanuke

I was driving on the stock shocks for almost 4 years, recently changed to Tein CS no noticeable sound difference.

Is it set low? I only have about 15mm drop as I have the wald kit.

CenterIsl

Well...the previous owner said that stock for the CS was F10/R10, but he went to F12 (I have the 10s). And the front is set...hmm, I forget which click. But the back is set at 2, which is next to the firmest setting. So...obviously, I have a lot of room to dial back the rears...and possibly the fronts. FWIW, I did see another message on the forum saying that you _can_ get the CS to work with the...EFDC? (from memory) and Tom's STB but you have to remove a plastic piece.

I'm not sure if the height has been changed (and I'm not familiar with the "wald kit"). Presumably this would mean cutting the springs (which I don't think he did)? I'm not very familiar with suspension bits...I may be missing something here.

The other major piece to the noise issue is possibly the tires (Potenzas). It turns out he had them set to 37psi in the front, 20psi in the rear (apparently to compensate for that extra firm setting). Then he swapped wheels. Then he put the old wheels back on to sell it. Except he put the 37s on the passenger's side, and the 20s on the driver's side! I set them all back to 33, and have since lowered the pressure to 30. Just doing that seemed to improve things a bit. It also made the TPMS warning go away (I figured it was dead batteries!).

Anyway, if it's really the forum concensus that the CS system does not necessarily transmit any additional road noise, then I guess I'll be staying with them and just playing with the settings - and possibly springs - to get a more acceptable ride.

Thanks for all the comments...

Keith