abstruse1

Having had my RC-F about 5 days now, I'm still learning. But one thing I have noticed is that the car has a harsh ride, esp. over small bumps and pitchy streets. It bugs me.

Three possible causes/cures come to mind:

1. Go to 18" wheels -- this is something I often do, for better ride quality, lower tire noise, and better wheel protection. But the challenge with this car is that there's abt. 1/4" clearance between the front calipers and the factory wheel, so it may be difficult or impossible to find an 18" wheel that will clear the unmodified calipers. Still, I'm going to look.

2. Shocks -- as far as I can tell, the shocks aren't adjustable. Without removing a shock and having it dyno'd, I don't know if they are causing a significant part of the ride harshness. I'll put the car on my lift next week to confirm this, but new shocks, even good, adjustable ones aren't too expensive.

3. Springs -- I assume they are coilovers in front. I can't tell about the rears until I get it on the lift. Fitting lower rate springs with a bit more preload to maintain ride height shouldn't be expensive.

BTW, I have a full machine shop with lift, so I can make changes pretty well.

So, does anyone have any experience or thoughts about this? Please don't tell me to just get used to it. Thanx, guys!

waynesreef

I kind agree with you. The ride is a bit harsh, specially I am in Michigan which is famous for worst roads in the country. My daily ride is a Bimmer. The ride is even harsher than the RC F. I am not plan on to spend extra money to make it rides like a LS sedan. But if you can not bear it then go ahead make the change. At end, it is your car and you want to enjoy it the way you like it to be.

Carnevino

Check your air pressure. Most manufacturers over inflate for transport reasons. Mine were inflated to 43. Should be 36. Run flat tires also run harsher.

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

RCF doesnt have run flats, it has no spare tire and a flat repair kit

abstruse1

I checked tire pressure first off. It's 36 psi, as spec'd. I thought about running 25 psi just for a few minutes to see if that makes a difference. If it does, that suggests the 19" wheels/tires are the culprits.

Gojirra99

If the RC F rides better than the BMW 335xi, then it shouldn't be that harsh ......

RNM GS3

Harsh relative to what though?
What car did you have before?

This is not an ES/LS type Lexus. lol

SW17LS

I think it would be a ridiculous shame to spend the premium for an RC-F and then put a set of 18" wheels on it or softer springs/struts. You paid a $15,000 premium over an RC350 and basically what you'd be doing is turning your RC-F back into an RC350 with a V8 engine.

That harder ride is a side effect of the excellent handling that comes with an RC-F.

Not to mention i doubt 18s would even fit over the RC-F's brakes.

abstruse1

SWIG13 wrote:

I think it would be a ridiculous shame to spend the premium for an RC-F and then put a set of 18" wheels on it or softer springs/struts. You paid a $15,000 premium over an RC350 and basically what you'd be doing is turning your RC-F back into an RC350 with a V8 engine.

That harder ride is a side effect of the excellent handling that comes with an RC-F.

Not to mention i doubt 18s would even fit over the RC-F's brakes.

Perhaps the best interpretation of this reply (which I appreciate) is that it would be a shame for SWIG13 to do so. But different folks...

So maybe "...an RC350 with a V8 engine." is just what I need. But beyond that, I doubt this is a correct way of understanding at what I want to do. Hard/harsh suspension isn't required to make a car handle well -- to me -- on the street. My '11 M3 (supercharged) rides quite comfortably and handles just fine.

The best of both worlds, where shocks are concerned, are the electronically controlled shocks like on Vettes, CTV-Ss, etc.

But this assumes the hard ride is the result of overdamping. It may not be -- couldn't it be too high spring rates? Or hard (19") tires?

The question of whether 18" wheels will fit over the existing caliper/disk setup is open. May not fit, but then different wheels are dimensioned differently and some options may fit. Stay tuned on this point.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

IS F spares are 17", will clear stock BBK.

Oddly enough F-Sport brakes (6/4 pot) do not clear however a spacer will do the trick

RNM GS3

Sounds like you got the wrong car.

Never got the point of getting a performance car and then changing out susp/wheels etc. especially if you spent 70-75k.

I believe Lexus engineers set the car up in an optimal way - any changes you make will most likely ruin the desired performance of the RCF in the first place.

SW17LS

Absolutely, OP bought the wrong car. Its like buying an automatic watch, being annoyed by having to wind it up and putting a quartz movement in it. Makes no sense and is a total waste of money, and a waste of a superior watch, but like the OP says its his money.

I'm going to buy a Ferrari and do a 4 cyl engine swap because I'm not happy with the fuel economy LOL

MrJeager

+1 I absolutely agree with you on this. I got mine because of the harsher ride and the near-road-feel .

right?

natnut

I think you should do it especially if you don't track the car. Softer springs/shocks do not equal to worse handling. In fact, by allowing the tyres to be in contact with the road surface for a longer period of time instead of bumping uselessly over road surfaces, it may well improve grip and handling.

Real life example : when the Lexus ISF first came out, the main criticism was that the suspension was too harsh. Over the years, Lexus improved on the ISF by SOFTENING the suspension. And ironically, the newer ISFs with softer suspensions put in BETTER track times--and this is documented objectively in some online car publications.

gengar

Not sure this will help much - I had 18" wheels on my 2008 IS-F for my winter set and the ride wasn't any less annoying. That said, the problem on the 2008 IS-F was the initial "jarring" feel from going over even miniscule road imperfections, and this was largely resolved in later suspension updates, so I'm not sure if the RC-F has the same problem. (I've never driven the RC-F.)

I feel bad that you don't like the RC-F, but based on your post, I'm really not sure it's the right car for you. The reason to buy a car like this is because it rides harsh and corners well; if the positives don't outweigh the negatives, I'd think the best course would be to find something that does. Spending money and time installing aftermarket springs just to make the car do what it's not supposed to do seems like, well, you know what they say about lipstick and pigs and all that.

What other performance cars have you driven, anyway? That might help us get better insight into your situation...


This is way too simplistic - not to mention incorrect. It is true that the 2011 IS-F posted much better lap times, and as an owner of both a 2008 and 2011, I have no doubt that the 2011 is also a vastly superior driver's car. However, the softening of spring rates was only a tiny part of the suspension revision. First off, only the front spring rates were softened - the rear spring rate was unchanged. The other changes included completely different dampers (both front and rear), significant camber changes to the rear, steering ECU modification, and the addition of a mechanical LSD. The front spring rate reduction may have been the biggest contributor to ride comfort improvement (by reducing the initial jarring of bumps that was ever-present on the 2008), but was only one of a huge number of improvements as far as suspension quality.

The reason your statement is incorrect is that the 2013 suspension revision, while again lowering front spring rate, actually significantly increased rear spring rate. So on aggregate, from 2008 to 2013, the spring rate in front was lowered while the spring rate in rear was increased.