just got off the phone with SPC.

here are the torque specs for those installing spc rear camber arms
14mm bolt 60lb/ft
16mm bolt 80lb/ft

 

Finally got Lexi set on the Tanabes with 20mm spacers. Thanks again to Chris, Aqua and DN for the feedback during the process. It was just the right height for my driveway.

 

looks good!

 

I tackled this yesterday evening and was unsuccessful. I've done suspension mods on my G35 and am a decent handy man, but I struggled with this to the point I decided to stop working on it and try again later this week. This was the most troublesome mod I've done and I'm not sure why. The rear looks much easier to do - can someone confirm this???

My pain points w/ the Front:

• Lower front shock bolt: This was a pain to break free! I had a breaker bar and it took some serious effort. 133 lb/ft of torque is no joke.
• Ball joint/Upper Arm: I got the separator tool, but since I've never used one before, I was not comfortable continuing to try at the risk of damaging the rubber cover. I went with the Upper Arm removal. It wasn't too bad, but getting into that area does require some dexterity!
• Shock/Spring: This drove me nuts. I used the compressor tool and had to redo the set-up of the tool 3x! I've never had this much trouble with using it and it really took its toll on me (I'm doing it all by hand, no power tools).
• Replacing the Shock: This was the last straw. The top hat was off by 1/2" rotation! I thought I set it right based on it fitting well, but I was wrong. I was slightly turned. ARGH. BY now it was 12AM and after a day of working on the front yard (digging landscape trenches), I was done.

My body and mind are shot from the above. Car is now sitting on jack stand with me contemplating on finishing the rest once I get the front shock back in. I may try again tonight with renewed vigor, but the $300 for install doesn't seem that bad now!

 

Question - should you see warning lights on the dashboard once you reconnect everything (I've only finished one corner!)? I have the traction control, ABS and PCS warning lights showing up. Maybe I need to reset by disconnecting the - battery terminal? Thanks.

 

I literally just finished all four corners with Swift springs on a 14 is350 F sport. After reconnecting everything and turning the car on, I had zero errors on the dash. I would get back under there and double check all your electrical connections. Even redo the rear speed sensor seating.

Also wanted to add thanks for this DIY. I actually found removal of the 17mm bolt on the tie rod was unnecessary. The biggest headache was getting the 19mm bolt for the hub back in. It required loading the rear suspension to the max, so that the sway bar was practically touching the rear axle arm. After figuring that out, the second rear was a piece of cake. Also, I opted to use a ratcheting 14mm wrench and take out the A-arms up front. That was pretty simple.

 

Thanks to this write up and harbor freight for cheap tools! Finished the car this morning. Broke a wheel stud with my super power strength. But it's ok it gave me a reason to buy a torque wrench 😁. Used the wheel hub remover to push the wheel lug off too. That tool paid for itself already.

Went with h tech and If I were to do it again I think would've gone with stech instead. But we'll see hopefully it goes down a bit more. Also I should've done 245 at least on the rear, kinda not into the stretch look, but oh well I'm cheap I'll leave it for now. Lol

Again, thanks for the awesome write up!😀

Isf reps 19x9 235/35 all four wheels...

 

Thanks to this awesome guide, I'm becoming a master at spring installation - partially due to my mistakes or dumb luck. Now that I've got through the initial problems - that lower front shock bolt really did me in, but I did get it off and replaced it with a brand new OEM one due to the head getting stripped, had a rattle in one corner resulting me in redoing it - I feel great about doing this myself.

Big thanks to CLUM!

 

I'm going to attempt this this weekend. Bought H-Techs. I've concluded the stock springs are a little on the soft/bouncy side. The car handles great but too soft for my tastes. When I go over speed bumps it dips a bit like a cadillac. Not like my modded 3-series... Anyway Did this job on a CT200h. Also have done several BMWs. Hopefully it'll go smooth.

A technique that's worked well for me in the past for dealing with coil over shock/strut setups is simply loosen the top shock/strut nut (the center one) with the full weight of the car on it. Then as you lift the car, it'll just gently lift off. You're basically using your car as the spring compressor. This method seems a lot easier and safer than using those "Death sticks." However I have never tried it on a Lexus. Don't see it why it should be different. If anyone has a specific reason to not go with that method, I'm all ears. Reinstall is reverse. Thread the nut to get it started then let the car compress it. Then torque it down

 

For the reinstallation, I'm not sure you can have it loose and have the car compress it for you. When i did it incorrectly by not compressing it enough when tightening the center nut, and later tried to torque the center nut from the top to fix it, it didn't work - the torque is only 20lbs, so it clicks right away. You won't know when to stop turning if you force it. Plus the AVS mount would turn with it, misaligning it from the factory location. Also, I don't think the standing car weight is heavy to compress it fully for the nut to go all the way down.

FYI - the rear is super easy. It only took me 2 hrs start to finish (including installing wheels, lowering car and putting away all my tools) for the rears. Hardest part was lining up one of the bolts during reinstall - but even that only took a few minutes. The front was a pain primarily due to me stupidly stripping the lower shock bolt, but since I did one side about 2x (removing) it naturally became easier and easier and I could definitely do it again w/o problems. Good luck!

 

My experience

The fronts were MUCH easier than the rear, in my opinion. However I did strip the front shock shaft thread at the top where the 17mm nut is. There was some surface rust and other debris in the threads and the nut stuck and spun the shaft. Long story short I ended up tearing up the threads on the shock and I had to order a replacement from my local dealer for $263 out the door. Effing rip off as the same shock is $163 shipped at any online Lexus dealer. but I needed the car quickly. So if anyone does this, be very careful with threading the front shock 17mm nut at top. Make sure the threads are clean.

The rear was a major pain. The bolts were incredibly hard to line up to get back in. Nothing back there wants to cooperate.

Thanks for the DIY though. It helped a lot, especially the torque figures.

Oh as for the electronic lines in the front (speed sensors) I found I only had to disconnect from the shock itself. Nowhere else. More than enough slack. But do whatever makes you comfortable!

 

Tip for the lining up the holes when doing the rear: buy a set of punches (or use strong screwdrivers) and pry bars. You can use the punches to slot in the opposite side you're trying to put the bolt through. Use the punch to help line up the holes on one side, while you push the bolt in through the other side. Pry bars are sometimes useful for wedging into areas in order to get the arms lines up as well.

 

Thanks for the tip. Yeah I used a similar method with screwdrivers. I lined up one side but the other side was off by a millimieter. So I pried and pried and pried, kicked, cursed, etc. Lol finally got in and torqued those suckers down. Anything with a bushing in it, I made sure to level the rear suspension to relieve any preload when the car is at rest.

 

a general tip for installing suspensions, the final torque values for the main suspension parts should be torqued while the suspension is loaded, not in the air. This is called clocking the bushings. If you torque them down while the car is off the ground, the bushings will be tensioned when the car is back on the ground, you want it to be neutral, hence torquing while the suspension is loaded. This can lead to additional wear on bushings, inconsistent ride height, and noises

 

Yep, this is noted in the DIY