that is Great news Bob! So glad you are happy with the investment!

i wanted to ask you a favor, would you mind making a single post with a list of all the parts and part numbers for your front and rear shock. And include any additional parts you may have purchased.

I may go back to shocks after these coil overs wear out.

thank you sir!

 

Yes, I'll put out a comprehensive post of the whole project, but it might be a week or two. I'm kind of busy right now, but I will do it before long.

 

sounds good Bob!
thank you!

 

.....glad that you finally got everything in working order & enjoying the effort/wait......I've been riding on mine for over 3 years now & still enjoying the ride

 

Comprehensive Reply:
In Sept 2016 I noticed one of my rear shocks had discharged it's oil. It was time to research replacements for the rear shocks. Based on what I had read on Club Lexus (that rear shocks from a 2000 GS300 could be used on the rear of an SC430), I first checked on KYB shocks and KYB's part number for a 2000 GS300 rears is KYB Excel-G 341267 which translated to Partsgeek part number KYB W0133-1610040. Partsgeek's number for Bilstein Sport shocks for a 2000 GS300 rear is W0133-1911223. Bilstein offers rear shocks in 3 flavors. The first provides a ride similar to the OEM KYB shocks. The second is the heavy duty. Third is the Sport Bilstein shocks which are fairly stiff. The Bilstein B6 (HD) model have a more luxurious ride than the sports. The B6's used to be called HD and B8's used to be called Sport. Bilstein claims the BILSTEIN B6 is ideal gas-pressure shock absorber for those who refuse to compromise between performance or comfort. Just what I was looking for. One of the places it was available is Sport Compact Warehouse: https://sportcompactwarehouse.com/bi...us&Model=GS300& and the B6's part number for a 2000 GS300 is: Bilstein 24-027441 B6 HD Shock 46mm Monotube Shock Absorber. I've always liked Bilstein products so went with the Bilstein B6 HD 46mm shocks from Shockwarehouse.com Shock Warehouse had the HD's for $129 http://www.shockwarehouse.com/index....cted_year=2000

On May 7, 2017 I ordered the Bilstein part no. 24-027441 shocks. It took several weeks for them to come in plus a week or two for me to start the work. On Jun 15, '17 I tried to install the Bilstein HD shocks on the rear of our '05 Lexus SC430. The shocks I ordered were for a 2000 GS 300 and were part no. 24-027441. Got everything all apart and ready to install new shocks only to find out the spring seats that came with the shocks would not fit the SC430 tapered spring bottoms. The spring seat that comes with the 24-027441 shocks is about 5-1/2" in diameter while the spring base on the 2005 SC430 is about 3-1/2" in diameter. I contacted Bilstein USA 1-858-386-5900 in California and talked to Bryan. He told me the spring seats that come with the FRONT shocks (part no. 24-027434) for a 2000 Lexus GS300 are about 3-1/2 inches diameter at the bearing surface which would work with the rear springs I have on the '05 SC430. The spring seat part number needed is: Bilstein E4-FT2-Z006A01 Unfortunately they are very hard to find. Bryan was going to check his dealers who keep such parts to see if they might have them. He hadn't gotten back to me in nearly a month so I called him. Bryan told me the shocks and seats were made in Germany and that may turn out to be the only source for the spring seats as parts items. He told me I would have to go thru a dealer to get the Bilstein E4-FT2-Z006A01 spring seats. With this knowledge, I googled Bilstein E4-FT2-Z006A01 spring seats and found out AJUSA had HD shocks for a Corolla which used that spring seat, so I decided to order the shocks and when they got in, pitch the shocks and use the spring seats on my Bilstein 24-027441 B6 HD Shocks. So I placed the order with AJUSA. The shocks I ordered were Bilsteins for a Corolla, Bilstein Part #: 24-069243. These use the Spring Seats part E4-FT2-Z006A01 and AJUSA had them on sale for $85 each w/ free shipping, so I spent $170 to buy a pair.

A month after the order the shocks hadn't arrived so I got back with AJUSA. Turns out there was only one of the shocks in stock and they had ordered and were waiting for the second shock to arrive. When they checked Germany on the order they found the shock hadn't even been made yet. So. AJUSA offered to change the order to just a pair of the Bilstein E4-FT2-Z006A01 spring seats, which I agreed to. It took nearly 6 weeks for the spring seats to get to AJUSA and a week more to get to me.

Finally got the correct spring seats from AJUSA on October 22. I installed the shocks on October 31 with no issues. I've had a chance to try out the shocks on a round trip to San Antonio (300 miles round trip) and they work perfectly. The car has a nice comfortable controlled ride, just as you would expect from Bilsteins mid-duty shocks.

On the install, I did cut the rubber bump stop (that goes over the top of the shock piston shaft) by about 3/4". My bump stops did not provide an option to cut the bump stop 1-1/2" as someone recommended on another thread. I haven't been against the bump stop so seems to be working perfectly with 3/4" shortening of the bump stop. The bump stop was easy to cut with a razor knife. On a similar thought, on my shocks there were two grooves cut in the body of the shock near the bottom. Each groove represents a possible location of the spring seat. A metal clip comes with the shock and you can put the clip in the upper groove if you want the car to set higher in the rear, or in the lower groove if you want the car to set in the normal position. The spring seat bares on top of the clip that fits in the groove. The Bilstein Spring Seats part E4-FT2-Z006A01 fit the 2005 SC430 tapered bottom springs perfectly and fit the Bilstein 24-027441 B6 HD Shocks perfectly!

Hope this clears up some of these shock issues.

 

Are the Bilsteins just as safe as using OEM's? I've read different things online that contradict one another. Some say that OEM's are better since they are designed specifically to fit your car. Others say that aftermarket is better since it has been reverse engineered (not to mention that it is also cheaper). I do understand that you can get the unbranded OEM (Like KYB's) parts that are essentially the same as the original OEM without the Lexus branding.

 

Will the rear KYB's from a 2000 GS300 fit a 2005 SC430 without modification? I've got the KYB's on the front, but of course there are no listings for the rear.

 

.....you didn't specify what year your Sc was, but KYB makes front shocks for the Sc, depending on the year

 

Rear shocks for a 2005 SC430. I've got the fronts. Rears aren't listed.

 

....so I would say no, those will not fit......the 2005 rear suspension changed from the setup that 2002-04. I'm not sure if anyone has found a cross reference fit, for the rear shocks of the 2005 & up

 

....also if you read Thombiz's responses in this thread, you will see what he encountered in replacing his rear shocks,for his 2005 Sc.........hope some of this helps