MerlotISF

Hello everyone, I will soon be getting a 2010 Merlot IS-F! Just wondering if there is anything I can do to increase the performance. This is not my first Lexus as my first car was a 1998 ES300 with the AVS. Pretty fun car to say the least. My girlfriend had a 2007 IS250 rwd until she sold that to get a 2013 Fusion, traded that to get a 2013 ATS, now she wants a GS F-sport. My dad works for Toyota so we get discounts on Toyota and Lexus products, I currently drive a 2013 Camry SE 4 cylinder FULLY loaded. The main purpose of the IS-F will be a weekend car for the dragstrips!
Looking forward to getting this car! Only three months before I can go pick it up!

Boma

iTrader: (4)

3 months is a long time to wait! At least it is something to look forward to. If you have about 3 grand laying around you can pretty much get the intake/headers/exhaust setup. There isn't much else to do unless you want to juice it up. Of course you can also get lighter wheels and wider tires. Others can chime in on their favorite mods. Welcome to the F clan!

MerlotISF

It's in Arizona and right now I don't have time to pick it up right now since I have to work. I have been working a lot of overtime, usually 14-16 instead of 8 hours. I put a $1000 deposit for the dealer to hold it. So by late April, It will be in my nice climate controlled garage! Lol

LexusNN

iTrader: (5)

Welcome and congrats. That's a long time to wait. It will be we'll worth it though

Petshark

iTrader: (1)

^ what he said makes a big difference, eliminate the cats, mufflers too if you don't mind a little noise haha. Juice is a lot of fun, lots of r8's around here so I have fun making them wonder when a sedan blows them away lols and these cars can handle it so no worries if you decide to go that route. Other than that just enjoy it and keep it fun.

MerlotISF

Lol... yeah when I was in high school I had my 98 ES and it was pretty quick, people would always want to race, I wouldn't always win but they were surprised my "POS grandma car" would keep up! Lmao! My girlfriend got her 2007 IS250 as a grad. gift right before she graduated, I would pull donuts all the time in our parking lot and people would look and would always ask to drive! haha I ended up wrecking the ES 3 months before graduation and my parents ended up getting me a 2007 Camry SE v6. man, people were embarrassed when I would smoke them! The only one I couldn't beat was a 2000 Camaro z28. Lmao cant wait until I get this IS-F! This couldn't go by any slower.

ERDoc74

where in MO are you located? The rear F-sport rear sway (or sikky) bar will be mentioned I'm sure by members more than just myself to reduce understeer....

MerlotISF

Des Peres... if you know where that is... Its around St. Louis. Next summer we plan to move to Jacksonville Beach, FL, since we want to be able to drive a sports car year round and not have to drive a fwd year round. Even though I love my Camry, It just isn't a very fun car to play around with.

M3EATR

I just got mine 3 weeks ago, LOVE IT!!! I have heard headers intake exhaust could get you very close to 400whp which would run 12s all day long effortlessly

So far I got intake and exhaust on mine and grip is my only issue, I will be definetely upgrading tires. I am thinking 275/30/r19 from really soft compound would give me that traction im looking for.

MerlotISF

I will most likely do that and yeah I have thought about juice, I will probably do an intake, exhaust and headers for now! Do the earlier models really ride as bad as they say? My dad has a 2011 and it rides good, but I read all over that they retuned the suspension for later models. I talked to the dealer and they said they will throw in 6 months of XM and a year of Enform for free, even though I would buy it anyways! What is the Enform like compared to the Entune that's in my Camry? Thanks for any info!!

Petshark

iTrader: (1)

I have an 08 and it's not that bad. It's a sport car, should expect a little rougher than some but not terrible. I changed out stock suspension for BC coilovers. What a huge improvement that made. Handling is a lot better and the ride quality seems like a high end sports car. On top of that you can adjust them to your preferred comfort setting.

M3EATR

I actually bought a car lowered on TEIN springs already so I never got a chance to experience stock ride, but the owner of the car who I bought it from, swore to the grave that TEINs made a huge improvement over stock, I love the way it handles now, like someone said, like a high end sports car, so its all good in my book.

Maybe in a year or so I would look into replacing stock shocks cuz im putting a lot more stress on them with a 1 inch drop

MerlotISF

I plan to change all suspension components, a whole bunch of reviews say the earlier models were too harsh, especially the back seat! I will lower it too, should I do anything else to help performance? I know I'm going to go with max performance summer tires.

ISF4life

iTrader: (30)

U can get full exhaust and intake and header that about another 80 to 100 hp gain and that all u can do with the F right now

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

How did you measure the handling improvement? Seat of the pants or actual measured performance on a closed course?