is350wh

I started with the non-sport stock IS350. Handling was terrible. At high speeds, it didn't feel stable or well controlled. I also drove an IS250 (loaner). Same thing. Yes, it's a comfortable car. However, while it was soaking up road irregularities underneath the car, it seemed to wobble around. That made it very hard to tell exactly what the car was doing. In other words, the soft suspension is very disconnected from the rest of the car - and, more importantly, from the driver. That's a really bad thing for a sports car.

I installed F-Sports Springs and kept the stock shocks. It was okay at first. It got worse over time. After running on them for well over a year, they were terrible. Too much float while driving, no suspension when hitting significant bumps in the road, started feeling like a piece of junk, suspension made a lot of clunking noises. The car "definitely" got lower over time, believe it or not. It may be that the stock shocks weren't stable enough to help the springs do their job and, therefore, the springs weakened and (basically) started losing their strength or rigidity.

I installed the updated F-Sport Springs (x90's, instead of x80's) and the F-Sport Shocks (Bilsteins). WOW. What a huge difference. The car actually feels like a sports car - for the first time. Even though I can feel a little more of the small bumps in the road (e.g., more vibrations than before), the large bumps are easily absorbed by the suspension. The same large bumps that were Punishing with the springs alone seem to be non-issues for the spring + shock combination. Also, the car is Noticeably higher now, both in the back and in the front. Supposedly, with the x90's, the front springs are the same as the rears. Only the rear springs were actually modified (to help eliminate the infamous clunk noise). Well, the mechanic set the old and new springs side by side during the installation. He said the new springs were actually "shorter" than the old ones. I really think the old springs just got worn out.

Recommendation: If comfort and sporty handling are important to you, and if you plan to keep the car for longer than a year, install the F-Sport Springs with better shocks than the stock non-sport shocks. Those shocks just aren't made for the lower progressive F-Sport Springs. Based on the feedback of several others on this board, the stock "sport" shocks seem to do fine with the F Springs, and it sounds like there are some other good brands of shocks that will work, too.

Anyway, I hope this help someone else avoid the very costly trial and error process I went through to learn this lesson.

quang

iTrader: (8)

Now you know/prove what we have been telling you Glad that you are a happy camper like we are now.

unccballa

Thanks for sharing...I'm still undecided on what to do. I want my car lowered without sacrificing ride comfort and $$$. I was thinking about lowerings springs on stock shocks but now prob not a good idea. Were you able to get a good deal on the springs/shocks?

is350wh

Yep, quang. You guys were correct. Thanks for helping to guide me in that direction.

unccballa: It wasn't the best deal, on parts or labor. I got $200 off Sewell's list price during their most recent summer F-Sport sale. Labor was nearly $550. I know the shocks are a lot of extra money, which makes it hard to go that direction. However, it is even more expensive to do it twice. Good luck on your decision. For me, it was okay for a while, but the suspension quickly degraded and became a complete mess after a year or so.

After today's drive, I'm still blown away by how "right" the new combination feels, in comparison with the springs-only setup.

unccballa

How about the appearance aspect compared to stock springs... I saw you mentioned the car sits higher now, so can you noticeably tell the difference of height between stock springs vs fsport springs/shocks?... your write-up has really got me leaning towards the same setup. It's funny bc when I first purchased the car I had in mind to keep the car all stock. But now, I see myself slowly wanting to modify. Hopefully, if I get this done, it will be the end of it, lol.

Micaiah

For real.

scubamike

I bought a 2011 IS 350 and had them change out the stock shocks and springs to the F-sport version and also the sway bars. I think the ride was to stiff. I guess i wanted to retain a bit more of the luxury ride that the stock set-up provided. Anyway I now have a set of F-sport shock and springs with less than 100 miles on them for sale if anybody wants them.

is350wh

unccballa: The height looks great. It looked a little better lower, but that lower ride came at the expense of almost all ride comfort. The current height provides enough travel to easily abosord bumps. This new F-Sport height is MUCH better looking than the stock look.

The car's suspension still feels great. I'm more impressed each time I drive it.

However, I think the installation was not done correctly again. I can hear it clanking around on multiple corners. Compression is fine. Extension (e.g., pothols) sounds terrible on the rebound. It sure is tempting to dump this Lexus with its terrible dealer installation problems and get a bimmer. But I've put too much money into this stinkin' car.