need help with my es300
09-29-10, 07:09 AM
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need help with my es300
just got me a es300 and i want to drop it. i dont know much about cars so i was just wondering what kind of coilovers should i use and how low? And any recommendation on how what kind of rims look good with it?
09-29-10, 09:07 AM
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You have a couple options for lowering. Coilovers like you said or just a set of lowering springs on stock shocks. Some say that will kill your stock shocks, and it probably will over a period of time. I personally say only drop it reasonably like 1.5"!! Anything more and you start to make the car look hood not to mention the ride will deteriorate significantly. Not only that but its a ES300, not a Caprice Classic ;-) With that said I do think a little drop would look very nice with a good set of wheels. I personally like keeping it OEM so maybe find yourself a set of OEM 17" Lexus wheels from a newer model. The bolt patterns are usually all the same. Slight drop, nice set of wheels, 35 to 20% tint all around and it will really bring the car out.
Hope this helps.
James
Hope this helps.
James
09-29-10, 11:20 AM
#3
As far as rims go, that's a personal decision and what look you want on your ES300, rims size becomes a factor from 18" or bigger on the 3rd Gen ES. It may also effect how low you want to go. I personally have 18" rims, but I had to shave my rear fenders so it wouldnt rub on the tires. I basically have no fender gap all away around, but like I said, I had to shave the rear fenders. First you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your car and what look you want. Good luck bro. Click on my link below my signature banner, it will take you to a posting of my car and how I've changed it over the past year.
09-29-10, 01:01 PM
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IMO, if your going to lower it, go with coilovers, allows you to adjust the height of the car whenever you want. With lowered springs you dont have the option to adjust ride height. You may want to lower an inch now, but later realize you want to go lower, or you may want the front end lower than the rear, coilovers allow you to do that, springs dont, your stuck with the height you get and that varies from the company that made the spring. I personally have K-Sport, because of cost. If I had the money, I would of went with JIC Magic and soon, Megan Racing will have coilovers for the 3rd Gen ES.
As far as rims go, that's a personal decision and what look you want on your ES300, rims size becomes a factor from 18" or bigger on the 3rd Gen ES. It may also effect how low you want to go. I personally have 18" rims, but I had to shave my rear fenders so it wouldnt rub on the tires. I basically have no fender gap all away around, but like I said, I had to shave the rear fenders. First you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your car and what look you want. Good luck bro. Click on my link below my signature banner, it will take you to a posting of my car and how I've changed it over the past year.
As far as rims go, that's a personal decision and what look you want on your ES300, rims size becomes a factor from 18" or bigger on the 3rd Gen ES. It may also effect how low you want to go. I personally have 18" rims, but I had to shave my rear fenders so it wouldnt rub on the tires. I basically have no fender gap all away around, but like I said, I had to shave the rear fenders. First you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your car and what look you want. Good luck bro. Click on my link below my signature banner, it will take you to a posting of my car and how I've changed it over the past year.
09-29-10, 05:08 PM
#5
I dont have a date, but my friend here on CL and on Solaraguy.com drives a 2001 Gen 1.5 Solara (same suspension as the 3rd Gen ES300) and is currently driving Protype Megan Coilovers. He recently went back to Megan, the coilovers he was testing didnt have the hook up for the front sway bar, so Megan had to design a mounting connection for the sway bar link. He told me they should be available soon after the his driving tests are done. If I had to guess, I would say before the end of the year.
09-29-10, 06:22 PM
#6
IMO, if your going to lower it, go with coilovers, allows you to adjust the height of the car whenever you want. With lowered springs you dont have the option to adjust ride height. You may want to lower an inch now, but later realize you want to go lower, or you may want the front end lower than the rear, coilovers allow you to do that, springs dont, your stuck with the height you get and that varies from the company that made the spring. I personally have K-Sport, because of cost. If I had the money, I would of went with JIC Magic and soon, Megan Racing will have coilovers for the 3rd Gen ES.
As far as rims go, that's a personal decision and what look you want on your ES300, rims size becomes a factor from 18" or bigger on the 3rd Gen ES. It may also effect how low you want to go. I personally have 18" rims, but I had to shave my rear fenders so it wouldnt rub on the tires. I basically have no fender gap all away around, but like I said, I had to shave the rear fenders. First you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your car and what look you want. Good luck bro. Click on my link below my signature banner, it will take you to a posting of my car and how I've changed it over the past year.
As far as rims go, that's a personal decision and what look you want on your ES300, rims size becomes a factor from 18" or bigger on the 3rd Gen ES. It may also effect how low you want to go. I personally have 18" rims, but I had to shave my rear fenders so it wouldnt rub on the tires. I basically have no fender gap all away around, but like I said, I had to shave the rear fenders. First you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your car and what look you want. Good luck bro. Click on my link below my signature banner, it will take you to a posting of my car and how I've changed it over the past year.
I've been through many sets of coilovers/spring and shock combos for the 3rd gen ES - 2 sets of JIC, Ksport, BCR, tanabe/kyb, tein/tokico.
As far as coils go, I have yet to try the Tein SS which I will in the future as another member said they ride like stock. The JIC coils are stiff - I had the FLT-FAS for a month and they were absolutely stiff - way too stiff for daily driving. The Ksports were just about the same and even worse in some aspects. I also had the old set of JIC FLT-A1 coilovers which are discontinued (replaced with the FAS series) and they were by far the best coilovers I had. They were stiff yet still compliant. I'm now on BCR coilovers and they are much more forgiving than the JIC but they feel a bit unstable so to speak. If you don't like or can't handle a stiff ride, then I would advise against coilovers.
Now for the shock/spring combo, I wouldn't recommend a drop of more than an inch maybe inch and a half max. The stock shocks can't handle it for long and neither can the gr2's/tokicos. I had the tanabe DF210 and the tein S-tech springs and my shocks lasted all but a year, so keep that in mind. As far as ride comfort goes, you definitely get a firm feeling and you feel more of the road but it was nothing crazy that you wouldn't be able to daily drive every day.
Hope this post helps. Let us know what you decide to do.
10-01-10, 04:11 AM
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I've been through many sets of coilovers/spring and shock combos for the 3rd gen ES - 2 sets of JIC, Ksport, BCR, tanabe/kyb, tein/tokico.
As far as coils go, I have yet to try the Tein SS which I will in the future as another member said they ride like stock. The JIC coils are stiff - I had the FLT-FAS for a month and they were absolutely stiff - way too stiff for daily driving. The Ksports were just about the same and even worse in some aspects. I also had the old set of JIC FLT-A1 coilovers which are discontinued (replaced with the FAS series) and they were by far the best coilovers I had. They were stiff yet still compliant. I'm now on BCR coilovers and they are much more forgiving than the JIC but they feel a bit unstable so to speak. If you don't like or can't handle a stiff ride, then I would advise against coilovers.
Now for the shock/spring combo, I wouldn't recommend a drop of more than an inch maybe inch and a half max. The stock shocks can't handle it for long and neither can the gr2's/tokicos. I had the tanabe DF210 and the tein S-tech springs and my shocks lasted all but a year, so keep that in mind. As far as ride comfort goes, you definitely get a firm feeling and you feel more of the road but it was nothing crazy that you wouldn't be able to daily drive every day.
Hope this post helps. Let us know what you decide to do.
As far as coils go, I have yet to try the Tein SS which I will in the future as another member said they ride like stock. The JIC coils are stiff - I had the FLT-FAS for a month and they were absolutely stiff - way too stiff for daily driving. The Ksports were just about the same and even worse in some aspects. I also had the old set of JIC FLT-A1 coilovers which are discontinued (replaced with the FAS series) and they were by far the best coilovers I had. They were stiff yet still compliant. I'm now on BCR coilovers and they are much more forgiving than the JIC but they feel a bit unstable so to speak. If you don't like or can't handle a stiff ride, then I would advise against coilovers.
Now for the shock/spring combo, I wouldn't recommend a drop of more than an inch maybe inch and a half max. The stock shocks can't handle it for long and neither can the gr2's/tokicos. I had the tanabe DF210 and the tein S-tech springs and my shocks lasted all but a year, so keep that in mind. As far as ride comfort goes, you definitely get a firm feeling and you feel more of the road but it was nothing crazy that you wouldn't be able to daily drive every day.
Hope this post helps. Let us know what you decide to do.
thanks man i'll let you know when i do and i'll throw some pics on too later.
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10-01-10, 04:13 AM
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You have a couple options for lowering. Coilovers like you said or just a set of lowering springs on stock shocks. Some say that will kill your stock shocks, and it probably will over a period of time. I personally say only drop it reasonably like 1.5"!! Anything more and you start to make the car look hood not to mention the ride will deteriorate significantly. Not only that but its a ES300, not a Caprice Classic ;-) With that said I do think a little drop would look very nice with a good set of wheels. I personally like keeping it OEM so maybe find yourself a set of OEM 17" Lexus wheels from a newer model. The bolt patterns are usually all the same. Slight drop, nice set of wheels, 35 to 20% tint all around and it will really bring the car out.
Hope this helps.
James
Hope this helps.
James
10-01-10, 04:16 AM
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IMO, if your going to lower it, go with coilovers, allows you to adjust the height of the car whenever you want. With lowered springs you dont have the option to adjust ride height. You may want to lower an inch now, but later realize you want to go lower, or you may want the front end lower than the rear, coilovers allow you to do that, springs dont, your stuck with the height you get and that varies from the company that made the spring. I personally have K-Sport, because of cost. If I had the money, I would of went with JIC Magic and soon, Megan Racing will have coilovers for the 3rd Gen ES.
As far as rims go, that's a personal decision and what look you want on your ES300, rims size becomes a factor from 18" or bigger on the 3rd Gen ES. It may also effect how low you want to go. I personally have 18" rims, but I had to shave my rear fenders so it wouldnt rub on the tires. I basically have no fender gap all away around, but like I said, I had to shave the rear fenders. First you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your car and what look you want. Good luck bro. Click on my link below my signature banner, it will take you to a posting of my car and how I've changed it over the past year.
As far as rims go, that's a personal decision and what look you want on your ES300, rims size becomes a factor from 18" or bigger on the 3rd Gen ES. It may also effect how low you want to go. I personally have 18" rims, but I had to shave my rear fenders so it wouldnt rub on the tires. I basically have no fender gap all away around, but like I said, I had to shave the rear fenders. First you need to decide how much money you want to spend on your car and what look you want. Good luck bro. Click on my link below my signature banner, it will take you to a posting of my car and how I've changed it over the past year.
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