agoraphile

I have an '06 IS350 that has been using a litre of oil every couple of fill-ups for over a year, and after some back-and-forth, Lexus is going to put in a new short block on their dime. All four corners of my struts were blown (180k miles), and I was going to just trade in my car until I got the good news. So now that I'm effectively getting a new motor, I'm going to redo the suspension, and I'm looking for the most "bang-for-my-buck" F-Sport upgrades to tweak my IS a bit. I've been thinking about doing the intake, shocks and springs, and I was wondering if this is a good allocation of my resources - I'm doing struts anyways, and the motor is going in later this week. I'd welcome thoughts.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Hands down the sway bars are the best bang for your buck

agoraphile

Front and back both, or just back?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

The rear makes the biggest difference, but if your gonna do that why not complete the set

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, sways, front and rear.


Personally I'd go with the sport suspension (NOT F-sport) springs and shocks but the F-sport parts are probably cheaper.

Intake is fine (Joe Z is same gain for 1/2 the price, but you're in CA so F-sport is the only "legal" intake there)

Exhaust is overpriced in my opinion, 2x the Tanabe for the same gains, but if you prefer loud exhausts it's a quality one.

bob4256

iTrader: (17)

Def go for the rear sway bar!

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

So you've got 180k miles on your '06 and Lexus is just giving you a new motor? Curious on the story behind that!

What is your budget on the new mods?

agoraphile

I've had the car since new, and it's gone in religiously every 5k miles for every factory recommended service. At about 130k I noticed about halfway through to my next service the low oil warning came on. I assumed that they'd underfilled my oil or the light was defective, because there was no external leak, so I went to the dealership and they checked, and sure enough they told me that the motor was burning oil. Apparently mine had not been the first higher mileage 06 IS350 to do that, and when the dealership contacted Lexus, they offered to cover 75% of a block and I'd have to pay labor, so the total was going to come out somewhere north of $6k. I didn't have that money at the time, so I kept driving the car. The usage got steadily worse, until finally a month ago it was going through a litre every other fill-up, which is no bueno. By this time the struts were blown, but my plan was just to dump the car to the next dealer who would give me trade-in, so no point dropping $3k into suspension that I'd never get back. But I decided to give Lexus a call directly, and gave them the litany of Lexus and Toyota vehicles I'd owned, told them my tale of woe, and invited them to call the dealership to check out my story of the service history. After a couple of follow up calls and a bit of back-and-forth, I got a call from my dealership that Lexus had authorized them to tear the motor down and see what was causing the problem. Three days later, the dealership called me and let me know that Lexus was paying the entire bill - block, water pump, all belts, etc. - everything but the head, which they were going to machine and then put everything back together for me. $13k in fix-it from the manufacturer, so I'm happy as a clam.

And since I'm going to get the struts redone (my dime, obviously), and the motor rebuilt courtesy of Lexus, I might as well get some of the F-Sport mods I'd been mulling over. Turns out that the F-Sport struts are less than the factory struts, which was a nice plus, so right now I know I'm doing the struts and springs and intake, which is all running south of $3k, and I'm debating the sway bars. My service advisor tells me that if I do struts, springs, and sway bars, I'm looking at a gnarly harsh ride, so that's why I'm putting it out there for the forum. I guess in addition to what I've already green-lighted, I'm trying to stick to about another $1k in upgrades.

All in all, I have to say I'm ecstatic with Lexus' customer service. I've owned probably a dozen Toyota/Lexus vehicles over the years, and I'm not sure what exactly was the tipping point for them, but I'm certainly not complaining.

MamadIS

i would have put a high end coilover setup instead of shocks and springs for that money. one of my shocks is also blown at only 70k which is very low for a shock to go. thats good that lexus is replacing the whole block. my bimmer used to burn more than a litter every 3k and i was sitting at only 100k .

agoraphile

I'm unclear what the coilovers do? Is it something that the dealership can do, or is it something I'd take elsewhere? I suppose if the benefits are substantial and worth the extra $, I could do that as well; I'm kind of limited right now to what the dealership can do, since my motor is in pieces in their shop.

MamadIS

coilovers basically give you the freedom of adjusting the ride height and stiffness. you can lower your car in summer time and raise it back up for winter for example. you can also make the ride firmer if you like it sporty or you can make it softer if you prefer it. there are tons of threads on coilovers in the forum, just search for them. i don't know how much you are paying for the suspension but for $1000 you can get BC Racing coils that are very popular in the forum or for about $2300 you can get KW V3 coils which are supposed to be the best with lifetime warranty. installation would cost about 350 including alignment in a non-dealer shop . spend some time in the suspension part of the forum and you'll get an idea

Simmsled

OP, how are you liking the F-Sport shocks?

Great to hear, btw, about Lexus service.

Davidcv4

thats a bada** hook-up you got, especially given the mieage already on the motor