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This forum is a bit slow... I'm gonna show off my new toys
Birthday, Graduation, and Christmas presents.
FIGS Mega Arms, Figs toe control arms, Fortune Auto 500 coils, and an IS F Steering ECU:
Also note, new OEM hardware from Lexus for pretty much everything. I'm only fighting with the 11 year old nuts 'n' bolts for long enough to get them off!
I'm a bit excited, but it will likely be June before this all goes in (I'm pretty much full time soccer dad until then). The coilovers have standard 12kg/8kg springs, I figured I'd try them out and see how they feel. I'm way too old to be a super frush, slammed flat billing hipster, I want the car to handle, but I also prefer my spine in one piece, and my fillings securely in my teeth where they belong. If I make it to the track once a year, its a good summer. If necessary I'll upgrade to 13kg/9kg Swift springs next summer.
Looks like you’re off to a good start. Pair that with some sway bars and you’ll really be handling like a boss. And kudos to you for buying quality parts.
Speaking of spine and fillings - those heim-joints won't offer much damping so I wish you luck there.
In your quest to make it drive better you might want to grab the LCA while you're at it. RC-350 are firmer than IS-F which is firmer than our ISx50 or go for urethane FIGS option.
Anyone have input on how long those exposed heim-joints last and/or have a supplier for replacement?
Nice presents to yourself! The IS350 will feel transformed with those key upgrades. You'll really enjoy the IS-F steering ECU revision on a day to day basis.
Looks like you’re off to a good start. Pair that with some sway bars and you’ll really be handling like a boss. And kudos to you for buying quality parts.
F Sport sway bars have been in place for a couple of years, with the damping turned up a bit on these shocks the digressive valving should take out even more roll. In the rear end the FIGS arms are replacing some Megan stuff that I wasn't happy with... you live, you learn, and you are absolutely right about quality parts. The Megan stuff was fine for what it is and what it cost, but you get what you pay for and I'm looking forward to moving on. Hopefully the next suspension upgrade will be a set of FIGS front upper control arms and/or more of their SuperPro bushings.
Originally Posted by 2013FSport
Speaking of spine and fillings - those heim-joints won't offer much damping so I wish you luck there.
In your quest to make it drive better you might want to grab the LCA while you're at it. RC-350 are firmer than IS-F which is firmer than our ISx50 or go for urethane FIGS option.
Anyone have input on how long those exposed heim-joints last and/or have a supplier for replacement?
I'm not terribly concerned about the heim joints. The sub-frame bushings on these cars are pretty soft, which isolates any harshness in the actual suspension arms. I've had cheap arms (Megan) with heim joints in the car for several years, and they didn't make a noticeable difference in harshness. I think I've had the FIGS front lower control arm bushings in the car for almost four years now, they were worth every penny and didn't add any harshness.
Here is what FIGS says about the rod-ends:
Originally Posted by FIGS
2-piece Motorsports: FIGS FXM MOTOrsports rod ends for daily driven applications. These rod ends provide the high shock load resistance for the daily riggors of unmaintained roads, potholes etc. Injection molded Teflon composite race and Chromoly construction.
Again, I'm not terribly concerned about them. FIGS has been around for quite a while, and has sold MANY similar suspension arms for quite a few platforms, I can't think of one complaint I've read on these boards. If and when the rod-ends wear out the replacement possibilities are nearly endless, but given the caliber of FIGS support I'll quite happily go back to them for replacements.
Originally Posted by redspencer
Nice presents to yourself! The IS350 will feel transformed with those key upgrades. You'll really enjoy the IS-F steering ECU revision on a day to day basis.
You know, I'm just trying to be more like you red!
If only I could justify a OS-Giken.
Hey , just checking in on your progress. I’m looking to buy coils this month and I was set on BC but I don’t know how I feel about the minimum 2” drop. I feel that’s a little too low for me. I hear the Fortune is a minimum 1” drop from a friend who used to work there which leaves me plenty of room to fine tune the set up to suit my needs. How do you like your setup?
Hey , just checking in on your progress. I’m looking to buy coils this month and I was set on BC but I don’t know how I feel about the minimum 2” drop. I feel that’s a little too low for me. I hear the Fortune is a minimum 1” drop from a friend who used to work there which leaves me plenty of room to fine tune the set up to suit my needs. How do you like your setup?
I had BC coils on my is350 and I could set them as high as stock height, maybe higher I never tried, I had them at about -1.5 inch front and -1 inch rear...
I am interested to hear about the Fortunes with the digressive valving and how that feels, I heard it provides more road feedback which may be better for
the track, but I'm worried that would be a harsher ride on the street.
I'm not terribly concerned about the heim joints. The sub-frame bushings on these cars are pretty soft, which isolates any harshness in the actual suspension arms. I've had cheap arms (Megan) with heim joints in the car for several years, and they didn't make a noticeable difference in harshness. I think I've had the FIGS front lower control arm bushings in the car for almost four years now, they were worth every penny and didn't add any harshness.
Good to know, was looking for experiences with stiffer rear control arm hardware for along time. Roads here are absolute $#!7. I've got poly bushings (80a) for the rear end, except for the subframe & diff, where I can get the OEM rubber without the rest of the hardware (well, TRD bushings from the altezza ). Well, to be honest, haven't purchased the diff bushings yet, but there's a knocking pillow ball somewhere in the rear (guessing sway bar connector) + 11 year old rubber, so...
Originally Posted by WylieKylie
If only I could justify a OS-Giken.
We can always dream... you know what'll happen eventually, though
EDIT: it's a gs450h, but the platforms are pretty much the same.
I had BC coils on my is350 and I could set them as high as stock height, maybe higher I never tried, I had them at about -1.5 inch front and -1 inch rear... I am interested
to hear about the Fortunes with the digressive valving and how that feels, I heard it provides more road feedback which may be better for the track, but I'm worried that
would be a harsher ride on the street
Thanks for your feedback. It helps a bunch actually. Maybe the 2” drop is for the extreme low , which is something I’m not interested in.
Hey , just checking in on your progress. I’m looking to buy coils this month and I was set on BC but I don’t know how I feel about the minimum 2” drop. I feel that’s a little too low for me. I hear the Fortune is a minimum 1” drop from a friend who used to work there which leaves me plenty of room to fine tune the set up to suit my needs. How do you like your setup?
Life, family, work... nothing is installed yet. It's all going on the last weekend of this month, and I'll get an alignment on the 1st of July.
I had BC coils on my is350 and I could set them as high as stock height, maybe higher I never tried, I had them at about -1.5 inch front and -1 inch rear...
I am interested to hear about the Fortunes with the digressive valving and how that feels, I heard it provides more road feedback which may be better for
the track, but I'm worried that would be a harsher ride on the street.
Check out the damping curve on Fortune's website: https://fortune-auto.com/coilovers/500series/ With the dampers on full soft the rebound curve isn't digressive at all, and with the shocks only being digressive at shaft speeds less than 1"/s ANY bump it going to push the shock beyond the digressive speed. I'll for sure let everyone know my impressions... my guess now is compared to the worn out shocks on the car now it will probably be more comfortable. We'll see, I've been wrong before.
Thanks for the link, it provided some good info. I will be in the market for a set of coilovers for my isf soon, so I will be interested
in any feedback you will have. It will be interesting to see if they provide the ''supple compliant'' ride as well as increased
''mechanical grip'' they tout with the flow digressive technology.
I got all of the suspension components installed over the weekend and got the car aligned.
The install was an adventure, bolts that were installed in the factory 11 years ago can be a bit difficult to remove sometimes. Not pictured in the original post, I also have FIGS front and rear swaybar end-links which I attempted to install. The front went just fine, the rear not so much. The old end-links simply refused to give up their place, so for now I just removed the rear swaybar. I'll probably get it back in this weekend, after I go medieval on the old end-links.
With everything else in place I lowered the car 1.25" on all 4 corners. Conservative lowering, I know, but my ultimate goal is 1.5" lower, if these "settle" as I hear some coilovers are prone to do, I didn't want it to end up closer to 2" lower.
I chose a shop that is ~20 miles from my home for the alignment, they build racecars and sell exotics. I'm tired of taking the car to local shops and getting when I tell them what I want. I'm running basically the same alignment I've used for the last ~5 years on this car. 2* camber, 1.5mm toe-out on the front, 1* camber and 0 toe on the rear.
The drive to the shop was predictably nerve-racking. Having just loosened and torqued every bolt under the car, installed a bunch of new hardware, and then not having enough time for even a rudimentary alignment, it was white knuckle driving at its best. I eventually made it, and the shop was quite a bit of fun. I told the tech my specs, they didn't bat an eye and threw the car on their rack next to an Audi R8. Here is part of their showroom:
The Huracan on the left has been their flagship (I think... there has also been a glorious sounding LFA, but that may not belong to the shop) track/race car. Its absolutely nuts. All carbon wide body that has been used and abused, and is proud of the frayed edges and battle damage.
But I digress.. Alignment went fine, all the specs turned out exactly as I wanted. I don't have pics of the car, but seriously, its an old tree-fiddy with a ~1" drop. Its not going to set the internets on fire.
Look, all two of y'all thought I forgot ride impressions!
Really I don't have much yet. On the first drive to get an alignment I left both front and rear dampers at full soft. Between that and the rear toe settings being WAAY off I didn't like it. It was too soft, and too soft with horrible toe settings mean the car wants to change lanes when you hit a bump and the rear suspension travels more than an inch.
After the alignment I put 6 clicks in the front and 4 in the rear (shocks have 24 total clicks) and it drove MUCH better. Subjectively it feels just a hair stiffer than stock, but subjectively it seems to corner a bit more flat, and remember this is without a rear swaybar!
Over the next few weeks I'll play around with the clickies a lot more and get the swaybar back in, then I'll see how I really feel about it. So far I'm pretty happy. It still rides nice so my wife won't be upset, and I think it has to potential to handle quite a bit better when I want it to.
04-17-19, 07:32 PM
This forum is a bit slow... I'm gonna show off my new toys
If I make it to the track once a year, its a good summer. If necessary I'll upgrade to 13kg/9kg Swift springs next summer.
Not pictured in the original post, I also have FIGS front and rear swaybar end-links which I attempted to install. The front went just fine, the rear not so much. The old end-links simply refused to give up their place, so for now I just removed the rear swaybar. I'll probably get it back in this weekend, after I go medieval on the old end-links.
when I tell them what I want. I'm running basically the same alignment I've used for the last ~5 years on this car. 2* camber, 1.5mm toe-out on the front, 1* camber and 0 toe on the rear.
