lawman

Completed the suspension change yesterday replacing the stock strut/spring suspension in my 93 SC300 5-speed to the JIC SF-1 coilover system. All I have to say is that Damn Manaray for starting this whole thing - you suck Just kidding of course. All that Manaray said is true and is his assement of the product and results are above my expectations. I need to thank HI98GS, Itsallgood, Manaray, 808State, 808SC300, Supratrd (can you feel the CL love) on this forum for the help - I am sure there are more so thanks.

I wanted a more sporty feel, hug turns better, handle better, firmer ride, less floaty bounce etc. I have this now just with the new JIC.

I was looking at the tokico/eibach set up as many members here have this 808state even gave me a drive to see the feel - I liked it. Manaray, twisted my arm at gun point to go the JIC way,... well okay maybe he just suggested I go the JIC way. I emailed the crap out of Manaray regarding the setup, ride, product and he responded to me quickly and always full of info.

I wanted to get more of a feeling of a sports car, like the porsche ride. Porsche uses the Mcpherson style strut which is what a true coilover is. This is what pushed me to go coilover. Plus have you seen the JIC SF-1's? The color combo is gold, silver, red and purple springs Now if you sell funky, saucy colored coilovers like that you GOTTA be a good company. I got in contact with Steve Ganz (whos the mans) and Angel and they hooked me up and another Hawaii member up with the SF-1's.

Itsallgood and HI98GS hooked up the delivery.


Install:

Took me a "do not really know crap" guy and my uncle very good mechanic a little over 4 hours with one 15 min break to complete the transaction.

Now regarding the removal of the old stuff and the install of the new SF-1s I think the toyota manual goes waaaaay overboard on what you need to remove to do this project. I just think they list all these things so the dealership can charge the consumer more $$. For instance on the fronts the manual says 1. remove wheel, 2. remove disc brake caliper, 3. disconnect ABS speed senso harnes, 4. remove front fender splash, 5. move washer tank, 6. disconnect upper suspension, 7. disconnect stabilzer bar link, 8. remove shock absorber (top three nuts and suspension bolt)

With my install I removed the wheel, the stabilizer bar link - upper nut only, the suspension bolt and the brace that held the lower portion of the strut in place, lower the control arm slightly with crowbar - thats it. No need to remove the caliper, the front fender splash (what the heck are they thinking with this) let alone the water tank.

I mean like after figureing out one side the other is cake - the back rear 2nd time took less then 15 min total to take out and install. Also, once every thing was cleared my strut/spring just fell out. No need to compress or crowbar my old stuff out.

Based on Manaray and 808SC300's install I actually raised the height from what JIC sent the coilovers at. The car is still pretty dang low. Need to get used to this. Barely a finger gap in front and a finger gap in back. May raise this slightly, plus I still need to get it aligned properly.

Ride quality:

This is totally subjective so I will try to explain best I can. As I stated I felt that personally the SC ride was too soft and floaty for me. And by floaty I mean on highway my car is riding more like on an ocean rather then firm. This is not a bad thing as Lex is made for luxury but it was not what I wanted.

The ride is lower. Looks pretty mean actually. I have 18s so it fill up nice and gap is no more. I really like the looks.

straight roads:

Drive - A LOT FIRMER. The float is gone!!! If I were to drive on a flat, straight road I would not be able to tell anything was changed - I am serious. As soon as you hit any marks in the road you don't get that floaty, bouncy feel but you get a firm bounce, not too bouncy like the new Infiniti G35 coupe stock set up, which is too bouncy for me. It is a much fimer bounce - which is what I wanted. I like the feel, I feel my car much better, I feel like I can pull harder on my shifts, no lag, no float - frim, controled ride.

turns:

This is where you can really feel some better improvement. In my stock set up you can corner pretty well. I always remember my body in the seat would move with the turn, you know what I mean, like if I took a hard left, my body would shift to the right. Not with the coilovers. Damn this thing is planted. I feel like I am sittling still in the middle on my seat no body movement and the car is planted and hugs that corner - I have not even installed the strut yet. LIke Manaray said the corners are huge. I really don't have canyons here but I was making some turns and going hard or slow I liked the feel.

Overall:

I have only been driving for a day so I will update this as I go along. But for the last couple days, I am very, very happy. By no means am I saying you should do this. But if you want a more sporty ride, improve your handleing, adjust ride height and have some purple springs you can bet on the JIC.

firmness: on my butt-o-meter with my 10 year old stock set up at 4 (soft) and a hard azzz cut spring honda at 10 (hard) I would say the JIC is 7 in terms of firmness. For comparison of my butt-o-meter I would say the Infiniti G35 coupe is a 9, a 1995 C2 porsche is a 6/7 a 2002 denali is a 5, a 1998 BMW M3 is a 6, Infiniti M45 is a 6, Infiniti Q45 is a 3, green machine (hard plastic wheels to drift) is a 10, these are all at stock specs.

Hope this helps...

Skulinex

Nice write up!!! NOW damn you AND manaray... hehe jk, but yall gave me ideas now, time to save $$$$. grrrrrrrrrr

sc400

Great report! I especially like your usage of reference (g35, m3, m45, etc) at the end because it establishes a point of reference we all can relate to, unlike the personal experience which is different for everybody.
How would you compare the firmness against the eibach/tokico setup?
May I ask how much did you pay for the parts? Thanks,

James

lawman

SC400,

I am going to try to do a comparison with another member here who has a 97 SC400 with the tokico/eibach set up on 18s. I am going to see if he can feel the difference in my car and me in his so I can get better info. My feeling is that the JIC is firmer then the Tokico/eibach set-up off the top of my head but - we shall see.

The JIC's I got from Steve Ganz at Carson Toyota - one of CL's sponsers, his name on this forum is supratrd. He is good and can probably get you the best prices. The coilovers are all put together so you get four pieces (strut/spring together) in a nicely packed JIC box.

Oh by the way another reference is a 96 Range Rover is about a 6, had to drive that around last night to pick up some things.

jdmsoarer

Wyeth,

we should compare the jic's with my swapmeet mix and match suspension.hehehe

Chris4.3

iTrader: (32)

lawman,

Great to hear that you are excited about your purchase. Now the application of the SF-1 coilovers would be for the Supra right?

Toysoarer

Manaray

Lawman, that was a very nice and informational review! I'm glad that I was able to twist your arm hard enough for you to get 'em (guess the guns helped too... ). Like I ALWAYS tell everyone, do it right the first time. No one EVER regrets getting the "good stuff" the first time! Save up and do it right folks...

lawman

Toy,

JIC SF-1 has an application for the SC300/400 - made just for us.

And Manaray, damn, this is all because of you - I agree, about the do it right the first time thing.

On and update I rode in a SC300 auto trans with the JIC SF-1 and the ride was damn sweet, I in fact even think that the auto trans makes it a little softer about at 6.5ish... compared to the ride in my 5-speed. For my ride on the shifts I really feel the torque better. Feels like I just jump forward quicker on shifts with the JIC as opposed to the softer/floaty stock.

jdmsoarer

Aww Wyeth, u dont wanna respond to my post too... hehehehe nah just kidding, i dont care im not sad ..!

legendary

excellent writeup Lawman!
Mike has given me excellent feedback on those and Iforged as well....I look forward to getting mine soon

Hameed

I am starting to like this more and more Manaray! Please tell me what model of JIC coilover you recommend for my 99 GS400. My preference is handling - but not extreme like a 2003 M3 - just way better handling than my current setup - see my sig. (approximate cost too would be nice)

Manaray

For the GS, if you are more concerned about handling, I would go with the FLT-A2's...the US$ retail price is $1950...

If you want a softer ride, check out the SF-1's (US$1500 retail)...now you have to get the US versions of these as the Japanese ones (and I'm going to assume the European ones) are going to have stiffer spring rates...