mike430

Hello I've lurked around here in the past, but never as a owner until now. I just picked a 2005 LS430 Black cherry w/18" wheels Luxury package car with 66.8K miles. It's so nice to me. My previous car is a 97 Volvo 850R which I have done a bunch of mods to, very fast handles like on rails, but not so great everyday. Mostly the ride finally got to me, and the creaks and the rattles and the suspension crashes over bumps ect. I still have it because old Volvos are worth almost nothing and my performance parts cost me more than I could sell the car for. Now I can take it to the next level too.(even bigger turbo than the big one on there now)
This seems like a very helpful community and I hope that I can bring some experience and knowledge to the table when the opportunity presents itself. I must say I plan to leave this car pretty much bone stock, but will be very aggressive in the maintenance and worn/degraded parts replacement-repair. I already eye balled my rear sway bar end links because the boots are not all one piece. I'll put a pry bar on them this weekend and check for play.

airchomper

Welcome to club lexus!

Sounds like you got a great car. If you've kept a Volvo alive for this long, I'm sure you're familiar with fluid replacement - great starting point for tuning up an LS430.

This car will be a total joy to own. I've had mine for a year and a half and I haven't had any failures - just a lot of preemptive maintenance.

Some say the 18 inch rims cause the suspension to wear faster, which might be true. I personally run 16s myself, for the ride and because I don't give hoot about speed. The only 16s that clear are the 2001-2003 LS430's rims and the 1998-2000 LS400 rims - and perhaps some steelies clear, but I bet you're not interested in steelies.

If you get bit by the mod bug, some people have reported that the Sport Package rear sway bar makes the car drive better without upsetting the ride too much.

Tell us more about your Volvo - you putting in some sick nasty T4 with a e85 fuel system and an 11:1 compression pre-boost and you don't care if it takes a country mile to spool up because it'll be pushing 800 horsepower at 10,000 rpm?

I just put new KYB struts up front, they seem slightly stiffer than the stock ones, but they're still incredible at dampening. Some people say the KYB struts and Tein lowering springs make the car handle much better, look much better, and don't make it ride much worse. And they might be right.

mike430

Thanks for the response airchomper, I'll tell you about my Volvo but I know this is a Lexus fourm so I'll just hit the main points. 1997 850R sedan, new type R manifold, upgraded mitsu TD04 to 19T compressor w/3" angle flange outlet. 3"DP w/3" exhaust all the way, ARD 4.4 ECU with 21psi target, Snabb intercooler upgrade and fresh air intake tube, reverse intercooler tubing and intake manifold spacer. some ignition upgrades to help things out at 21lbs. Lowered with a cup kit from Germany and also performance end links and swaybars. There's actually more but you get the idea it a really cool car and I have a lot of fun with it.


Now my Lexus I'm going to really enjoy just how it is. I'm not going to try and re-think what those engineers did. I may change my mind slightly after some time goes by, but it's such a nice package now I'd hate to mess up it's dynamics.