lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Ride height isn't measured from fenders. It's measured from suspension points to ground on a level surface.



Measuring from the fenders is a mistake - it has little to nothing to do with actual ride height. Fenders can be off quite a bit and the car will still drive and handle quite normally.

sincityIS

Alright guys come on lets face it. Nobody bought this car to be some perfect handling marvel. If the corner weights were off a smidge, nobody who drives these cars would notice, it is not like we are professional autocrossers. Especially in this type of car. For daily driving I had my teins making the car sit dead level and i could barely tell the driver front corner was a smidge firmer than the passenger side, but I figured a little extra preload on the driver coil was good because it was good at countering my weight

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

I did more then once??????????????? haha...

i will measure from the ground again as I did in the past to see what that gives.

Giggity

Thanks Lobux for posting that...
I have been struggling to find a good point on the chassis to accurately measure the ride height, this just took all the guess work out.

Maybe this will finally put an end to all the "my car leans" threads...

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

someone go measure and post your info please. I really would like to know.

So this whole time there just maybe a variance on the left rear quarter panel.

FiveOhNine

Sure, but from a performance aspect as already noted, corner weighting may be more valuable info.

sincityIS

Well my car is almost dead level in the rear. It would be dead level if the front passenger side sat a 1/4 inch lower to make the front level, then the rear would be level as well.
I have measured the frame and suspension and the wheel well gap. They all indicate that the front passenger side is 1/4 inch higher. Not to mention, it actually feels like the front passenger side rides a smidge firmer because there is less weight on it. Maybe it is in my head and maybe it is because I make the front driver side feel softer, but in any event I believe this to be true. I feel if I were to some how lower the passenger side 1/4 inch with a spring that was identical to the one I have as far as being progressive and having the same spring rate just being 1/4 inch shorter. I would have a car that sat dead level and felt more neutral.
I bet if some company made made a new set of front coils for this car that were right and left specific to make a perfectly even drop. Maybe droppin the car 5/8 on the passenger side and 3/8 inch on the driver side. These would sell I think. It would make the car sit level from front to back and left to right with the stock tire sizes. I would be a taker. They should sell them for $125-$140. HINT HINT to all you spring manufacturers.

sincityIS

Damn Mike I remember a few months ago when you had less posts than me. You have been contributing to cause, Thanks.

Giggity

That's a given, I guess I should have elaborated...
its not the suspension that's uneven, it's the sheet metal. And before somebody starts back in with Toyota should fix this, I have had 3 other cars, 2 Japanese and 1 German that suffered from the same cosmetic irregularity, and that was after having them corner balanced.

There is no way on earth that a spring manufacturer is going risk the liability to make a set of springs that create a potentially unsafe driving condition to correct a cosmetic anomolly (perceived "uneven" drop ?!?!).

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

haha...Thanks Adam! I enjoy this kind of stuff and its a nice break from work With the career move I tell you I should open up a shop and do performance mods and stuff I cant say I like what I do now. I enjoy helping people out but its not as interesting to me as they previous career. Oh well...lets hope things bounce back for the better.

How is the market down in your area?

okay back OT:

I will measure mine tomorrow all possible ways I can. I am curious like there is no tomorrow now to see what I come up with compared to the chart that Lance posted for us.

sincityIS

Well I doubt my car is corner balanced evenly with the OEM suspension. And even if it were, it is kinda crappy that they would make the car so crooked. I mean this is an expensive car, it should have some tighter tolerances than what it is.

ISF_GG

iTrader: (2)

I agree sincityIS!

I've looked at my car from front and back many times, and so have my car nut friends. We all agree that the entire car leans towards the driver's side. It is not just the side fenders, it's the whole car. Nice

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Doubt is a wonderful thing. Without doing the rest of the homework, we're back to stickers adding HP.

OK, so you don't like the way it looks. Have you done what is necessary to get it corrected? Corner weigh the car. Measure the ride height according to the manual. If these are wrong, then the car doesn't meet factory specs, and Lexus should fix it. If these are not wrong, Lexus hung the sheet metal poorly and it should be fixed. Either way, you should be able to create a reasonable argument requiring they address your complaint.

If they refuse to fix the issue, then you have a genuine complaint to be addressed by Lexus Corporate.

FWIW, it is possible the spring perches or shock towers are not consistent around the car - this would cause leaning. It's also possible the car does not meet suspension specs for a number of reasons. Has anyone complaining about the lean swapped the shocks from left to right to see if the lean went the other way?

ISF_GG

iTrader: (2)

First of all, I'd like to say how glad I am that this topic is being discussed (I know it's been brought up before, but this particular thread seems to be getting deeper into the heart of the issue, thanks lobuxracer!). Thanks sincityIS for starting this thread .

OK, I've got some questions and comments.........questions first......

1.) Where would I go, and how much do you think it would cost to get my car corner weighted?
2.) Where exactly are the corner weights, and how do I get to them?
3.) When you say measure the ride height per the manual, is the graph
you posted from our manual (or a general reference for us to use)?
4.) I'm wondering what the factory specs for our leaning cars are?

................and for comments............

I have looked my car over many times while washing and waxing it, and not one fender panel, door, hood, trunk (or where they align with the body) has any abnormal gaps indicating that there are poorly hung fenders creating this lean. All the aforementioned gaps are minimal and even. So that isn't what is causing the "lean", at least not on my car.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

1. It's not weighted, it is weighed. Put all four wheels on individual scales and measure the weight on each wheel.

2. There are none. See #1.

3. The specs on the sheet are for the ISx50. They are directly from the service manual.

4. There are no "specs" for leaning. The ride heights have no +/- limits, they are single numbers, so if it does not meet these numbers, it does not meet specifications.

Comments -

It is very possible to have tight gaps and still have all the sheet metal hanging skewed. From an appearance perspective, every piece of sheet metal on the car can be moved except the roof and the rear quarter panels. There are tolerances on all the body measurements that could stack in one direction and cause the car to appear to be leaning when in fact, the chassis is exactly where it should be, but all the sheet metal is not.