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Hey guys, so recently I've been making a lot of progress on the aesthetic build of my Is350. I feel like everything is finally starting to really piece itself together and am very proud of how far it has come. However I've been getting 2nd thoughts on what I really wanna do with my car...
You see, ever since the tune came out for our cars I've been really wanting to get it done to my car. As well as sway bars, steering ECU, USRS from rr racing etc... In order to improve the overall fun to drive and performance factor of my car. However with the way things are going with my build currently I don't see the point in doing performance since most of what I do is Form>Function. In other words I'm running stretched tires, slammed all around, to the point of where normal turns are almost impossible to not rub on lol.
Now here's the thing. I feel like I'm in between two very different things that I want.. I really love how my car looks and want to Continue to make it look nicer and nicer. But at the same time I really feel like I just wanna stop with the whole low life thing and focus on performance and handling feel and be able to not only drive my car normally again but even harder than before (where possible lol) It's a really hard decision guys and I've been thinking it over a lot.
What do you guys think Club Lexus? I know it's ultimately up to me in the end but I could really use a push to either side. Help me help myself!
I'm still new to the mod game but you can do both can't you(given enough funds)? Get a new set of wheels and tires, un-slam the car, then add the performance mods. When you're tired of that you can slam the car again but you'll still have the underlying of a more performance oriented IS even if it's not evident to the regular person.
I feel that looks are more "temporary" in nature and that even if you go back for aesthetics, you'll still be able to feel the advantages of less roll with the sway bars, better feel from the steering ECU, and better tire wear and braking performance from the RR racing bushings.
I'm still new to the mod game but you can do both can't you(given enough funds)? Get a new set of wheels and tires, un-slam the car, then add the performance mods. When you're tired of that you can slam the car again but you'll still have the underlying of a more performance oriented IS even if it's not evident to the regular person.
I feel that looks are more "temporary" in nature and that even if you go back for aesthetics, you'll still be able to feel the advantages of less roll with the sway bars, better feel from the steering ECU, and better tire wear and braking performance from the RR racing bushings.
Yeah that's what I've been thinking too. I can always just come back to being slammed/stanced or whatever once I get bored of performance. To be honest, the reason why I've been contemplating this is because I honestly just kind of miss being able to drive my car around without worrying about ramps and small dips and what not. But damn it just looks soooo good lol.
I do know what side you stand on lol. Your one of the main reasons for why I want to tune my car The way you describe the tune makes it seem really worthwhile and along with all your track improvements it makes me really wanna give it a shot for a while. The only negative is I can't keep my low height... If you don't mind me asking, how low are you redspencer? And what are your wheel and tire specs? I'm on 19x8.5 and 19x9.5 +28 +25 on a stretched 225/35/19 and 235/35/19 setup. I'm trying to figure out how low I can keep my car..
The car is lowered 25mm at the front and 19mm at the rear. The wheels are 18x8.5+35 with 245/35/18 for the fronts and 18x9+35 with 265/35/18 for the rears.
Here's a quick preview of how the stance would look like (higher resolution pics are on my build thread):
The car is lowered 25mm at the front and 19mm at the rear. The wheels are 18x8.5+35 with 245/35/18 for the fronts and 18x9+35 with 265/35/18 for the rears.
Here's a quick preview of how the stance would look like (higher resolution pics are on my build thread):
Thank you, also good to see your a fellow Tungsten Pearl owner It looks like my specs are just a tad bit more harder to work with compared to yours but do you think I could possibly still keep the car low and have a more focused build on speed and handling? If I go through with this I'll probably buy different wider tires so there's no stretch and I'm trying to figure out how low I can still be while optimizing for performance. Thanks redspencer!
Being too low (aka slammed) will very likely have a negative impact to your suspension's roll center and roll axis. The majority of lowering kits focus more on visual aesthetics instead of mechanical performance. From the data I gathered on the IS-F sub-forums, the consensus from the track gurus is having their car lowered no more than 0.5-1.0 inch to optimize cornering capabilities and maintaining proper OEM suspension geometry (Note that IS-Fs are approx. 0.5 inch lower than the base ISX50 so a height reduction of 1.0-1.5 inch lower should be optimal for our vehicles).
Your wheel widths are a good size and you can look at getting wider tires for both the fronts and rears though I'm not sure if your offsets will cause any issues with fender clearance...
Being too low (aka slammed) will very likely have a negative impact to your suspension's roll center and roll axis. The majority of lowering kits focus more on visual aesthetics instead of mechanical performance. From the data I gathered on the IS-F sub-forums, the consensus from the track gurus is having their car lowered no more than 0.5-1.0 inch to optimize cornering capabilities and maintaining proper OEM suspension geometry (Note that IS-Fs are approx. 0.5 inch lower than the base ISX50 so a height reduction of 1.0-1.5 inch lower should be optimal for our vehicles).
Your wheel widths are a good size and you can look at getting wider tires for both the fronts and rears though I'm not sure if your offsets will cause any issues with fender clearance...
Yeah being at my height I have issue turning the wheel all the way sometimes.. Not very fun lol. I'd imagine if I raised for performance benefits Id be close to the no gap look but not tucking tire either. Currently I'm tucking both front and rear.
07-06-16, 08:48 AM
What should I do?.. Opinions please!
The way you describe the tune makes it seem really worthwhile and along with all your track improvements it makes me really wanna give it a shot for a while. The only negative is I can't keep my low height... If you don't mind me asking, how low are you redspencer? And what are your wheel and tire specs? I'm on 19x8.5 and 19x9.5 +28 +25 on a stretched 225/35/19 and 235/35/19 setup. I'm trying to figure out how low I can keep my car..
It looks like my specs are just a tad bit more harder to work with compared to yours but do you think I could possibly still keep the car low and have a more focused build on speed and handling? If I go through with this I'll probably buy different wider tires so there's no stretch and I'm trying to figure out how low I can still be while optimizing for performance. Thanks redspencer!
