Suspension compliance on our 08
03-26-18, 11:19 AM
#1
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Suspension compliance on our 08
Since acquiring our 08 with 18k miles I have been conscious of the shocks less than perfect dampening curve from Lexus.
Too stiff on high speed compression and too loose on low speed dampening.
Chsnged to a IS rear sway bar and a shock tower brace across the front reduced the “boat” feel quite a bit and the Michelin pilot super sports helped the steering accuracy and ride quality and noise noticeably.
point of this post is that we took a back road in our Orange County, ca area that is a rough road after rains. Chuck holes. Big sharp edged dips. I am a long term off road rider on bikes and used to aggressively ride this same road before it was paved. So I was attacking the trail as it were over 10 miles or so.
Driving the car now it’s noticeable that the shocks resistance against sharp edges has lessened. Less kick back.
Shocks appear to be more broken in now? Still has a soft spring rate progression and soft slow speed dampening but the cross rut freeway block kickback is much less.
serms our cars shocks needed thrashing. I can almost guarantee no one drove our 08 PB hard on a bad road before.
may have to give the sc another run coming up just to see if more break in(wear) will show more high speed compression dampening improvement.
Shocks have no progression internally. They do not set stiffer as the get close to bottoming.
we borrowed a bmw x-3 last year and it had plusher shocks and spring rates yet resisted bottoming much better and no sharp kickback from square edges. The 45 series tires probably do not help but the shocks and springs are not up to the cars overall quality level as has been posted here many times.
meister r guys mentioned the springs were the right rate but too long. They use a similar rste spring but shorter.
that tends to make the spring more progressively stiffer as it goes through it travel in my off road experience.
with a better shock curve the combo should be a big improvement.
just had to post my experience in driving our xc hard on a somewhat bad road.
Anyone else seen this or want to test theirs?
Too stiff on high speed compression and too loose on low speed dampening.
Chsnged to a IS rear sway bar and a shock tower brace across the front reduced the “boat” feel quite a bit and the Michelin pilot super sports helped the steering accuracy and ride quality and noise noticeably.
point of this post is that we took a back road in our Orange County, ca area that is a rough road after rains. Chuck holes. Big sharp edged dips. I am a long term off road rider on bikes and used to aggressively ride this same road before it was paved. So I was attacking the trail as it were over 10 miles or so.
Driving the car now it’s noticeable that the shocks resistance against sharp edges has lessened. Less kick back.
Shocks appear to be more broken in now? Still has a soft spring rate progression and soft slow speed dampening but the cross rut freeway block kickback is much less.
serms our cars shocks needed thrashing. I can almost guarantee no one drove our 08 PB hard on a bad road before.
may have to give the sc another run coming up just to see if more break in(wear) will show more high speed compression dampening improvement.
Shocks have no progression internally. They do not set stiffer as the get close to bottoming.
we borrowed a bmw x-3 last year and it had plusher shocks and spring rates yet resisted bottoming much better and no sharp kickback from square edges. The 45 series tires probably do not help but the shocks and springs are not up to the cars overall quality level as has been posted here many times.
meister r guys mentioned the springs were the right rate but too long. They use a similar rste spring but shorter.
that tends to make the spring more progressively stiffer as it goes through it travel in my off road experience.
with a better shock curve the combo should be a big improvement.
just had to post my experience in driving our xc hard on a somewhat bad road.
Anyone else seen this or want to test theirs?
03-26-18, 06:03 PM
#2
Moving from a BMW Z4, 3.0, the handling and suspension is so different on my SC, 2003 with 18K miles. I would like to change the ride to make the Lexus less bouncy. Did the Michelin PS3+ make the ride more firm?
Thanks!
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Thanks!
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