Hondabuff

iTrader: (1)

Just read through a million different posts about the F sport shocks and spring combos. I have 55k on my 2012 IS350 and really like the look of the drop that the Blue F Sport springs give you. Shopping around the cheapest the F Sport Bilstein shocks are going for $700 which is hard to get by the wife. I plan on keeping my IS for another 4-5 years or so and wondered what everyone's opinion is of just the F Sport Springs and just use newer OEM IS350 shocks instead of KYB or the F Sports. I really like the dampening of the OEM shocks now and afraid the F Sports will just be too bouncy for PA roads. I'm looking at a $1000-1200 budget and include the F Sport sway bars which will eat up $400 of the budget. I have had coilovers before on my IS300 and once I set the height and dampening I never really touched them after the first few days. I'm just concerned will ride like my old Acura Intergra with the All F Sports setup and just skip over bumps like a Go-Cart. Thoughts?

Option 1) F Sport Springs and Sway Bars and existing Shocks. Probably $650 price
Option 2) F Sport Springs and Sway Bars and New OEM Shocks $1000
Option 3) F Sport Springs and Sway Bars and F Sport Shocks $1250-1400

redspencer

iTrader: (1)

If you plan on keeping your IS350 for another 4-5 years, I would personally do everything the first time and go with Option 3 instead of 2 as the price difference is relatively negligible and it looks like you have your mind set on performance handling. The Bilstein shocks are firmly dampened so you'll receive significantly more feedback from the road (good and bad).

If the rough pavements will constantly be an issue for your daily drives, I would likely look into Option 1 as the alternative. Unless your current shocks are leaking, it might be overkill with replacing them with a new set of OEM shocks. You can install the springs now and the current shocks might survive the remainder 4-5 years of your planned ownership.

If budget is tight, you can also look into buying a used IS-F rear sway bar as an alternative to buying the F-Sport front and rear sway bar set as the majority of the sway bar torsion improvement is towards the rear.