Is My Car Lowered or Is My Suspension Toast?
10-24-12, 04:40 PM
#1
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Is My Car Lowered or Is My Suspension Toast?
Last Saturday Asha'man and I took our cars to the track but I ended up having to take my cousins SC300 5 speed because I blew a tire two weeks ago. And because my cousin just had new snow tires put on the rear, I put two of my good wheels and tires on the rear of his car. As soon as I bolted them on and lowered his car off the jacks I immediately noticed that there is a much bigger gap between the tire and the wheel well on his car than there is on mine. Thinking that it might just be that the suspension just needed to settle into place, I looked at it again after I have driven the car around a bit and it was still the same.
So now I'm starting to wonder if either A: the SC300s suspension sits a bit higher than the SC400 (I highly doubt because of would have heard of this by now) B: someone lowered my car before I bought it with either lowering springs or the Supra setup and I've just never noticed it C: my rear suspension has been toast since before I bought my car.
Its raining really hard outside right now so I couldn't get any pics of the suspension but I'll try to tomorrow if it stops.
My tire size is a 245 40 18 which is only .02" bigger in diameter than the stock 225 55 16 so I know that's not the problem. And my wheels are a 30 offset but like I said, I put them on my cousin's SC300 and the gap between the tire and the well was almost an inch bigger on his than on mine.
So now I'm starting to wonder if either A: the SC300s suspension sits a bit higher than the SC400 (I highly doubt because of would have heard of this by now) B: someone lowered my car before I bought it with either lowering springs or the Supra setup and I've just never noticed it C: my rear suspension has been toast since before I bought my car.
Its raining really hard outside right now so I couldn't get any pics of the suspension but I'll try to tomorrow if it stops.
My tire size is a 245 40 18 which is only .02" bigger in diameter than the stock 225 55 16 so I know that's not the problem. And my wheels are a 30 offset but like I said, I put them on my cousin's SC300 and the gap between the tire and the well was almost an inch bigger on his than on mine.
Last edited by MattStarr; 10-25-12 at 09:37 AM.
10-24-12, 09:03 PM
#3
Just throwing out ideas. Would the fact that SC400s are a little heavier (mostly in the front) have anything to do with it? Did Lexus change spring ratings over the years? Are the two cars different years? You could put your cousin's tires on your car and see what happens.
10-24-12, 11:33 PM
#5
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
10-25-12, 05:25 AM
#7
the sc300 weighs more cuz its an iron block but i dont think it would effect it that much in the rear. If the springs or shocks look aftermarket then they prob are, if its not then depending on how long you've had the car you probably need new struts anyway.
Trending Topics
10-25-12, 09:36 AM
#9
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Just throwing out ideas. Would the fact that SC400s are a little heavier (mostly in the front) have anything to do with it? Did Lexus change spring ratings over the years? Are the two cars different years? You could put your cousin's tires on your car and see what happens.
There's about 160lbs worth of JL Audio W6's in custom boxes in my trunk. I can't believe I haven't thought of that till now.
10-25-12, 09:57 AM
#11
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
10-25-12, 10:15 AM
#14
Ride Height Discrepancies
Hey Matt,
I'd have to agree, 160lbs in the trunk is likely the single biggest factor, but to add to all the conspiracies, Lexus website indicates that the ride height was raised by 0.2" (ground clearance went from 4.9" to 5.1") in 1995. I don't believe this was due to the front spoiler delete, as that was not likely the lowest point. The '95 Dealer brochure also references some 'minor' suspension revisions. Just to muddy the water a little further, the '92 - '94 SC 300s had a smaller overall tire diameter with the 215/60-15 setup than the 225/55-16 SC 400s, but all the data I've seen represents those early models as having the same overall height (~52.6"), so there is a chance that there were some other suspension differences between the two. All the road tests from the day note the SC 300 as being slightly firmer, more responsive and more sporting than the SC 400, some of which may be due to the differences in curb weight. Data shows that year for year and feature for feature the SC 400 weighs more (minimum of ~60lbs) than the SC 300 (regardless of the iron block). Both have similar weight distribution, again with the SC 300 having the tiniest of an advantage.
On another note, hope the tails helped for a while, looks like you've done a little painting / powdercoating on your Nissan wheels. Post up some full pics
Would love to see both of your SC 400's together, battle of the Reds! I've added a '95 SC 400 to the fleet since you were there (now '95 RJP SC 300, '95 RJP SC 400, and the silver '93 GS 300).
Hope you guys had fun at the track (HPR?), I went out to the Drift Event at CNS, great fun, the Triple Crown Drift SC 300's battled in the top 4. Catch up to you and Asha'man soon. - Brent
I'd have to agree, 160lbs in the trunk is likely the single biggest factor, but to add to all the conspiracies, Lexus website indicates that the ride height was raised by 0.2" (ground clearance went from 4.9" to 5.1") in 1995. I don't believe this was due to the front spoiler delete, as that was not likely the lowest point. The '95 Dealer brochure also references some 'minor' suspension revisions. Just to muddy the water a little further, the '92 - '94 SC 300s had a smaller overall tire diameter with the 215/60-15 setup than the 225/55-16 SC 400s, but all the data I've seen represents those early models as having the same overall height (~52.6"), so there is a chance that there were some other suspension differences between the two. All the road tests from the day note the SC 300 as being slightly firmer, more responsive and more sporting than the SC 400, some of which may be due to the differences in curb weight. Data shows that year for year and feature for feature the SC 400 weighs more (minimum of ~60lbs) than the SC 300 (regardless of the iron block). Both have similar weight distribution, again with the SC 300 having the tiniest of an advantage.
On another note, hope the tails helped for a while, looks like you've done a little painting / powdercoating on your Nissan wheels. Post up some full pics
Would love to see both of your SC 400's together, battle of the Reds! I've added a '95 SC 400 to the fleet since you were there (now '95 RJP SC 300, '95 RJP SC 400, and the silver '93 GS 300).Hope you guys had fun at the track (HPR?), I went out to the Drift Event at CNS, great fun, the Triple Crown Drift SC 300's battled in the top 4. Catch up to you and Asha'man soon. - Brent
10-25-12, 03:24 PM
#15
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
It just snowed.
I've been under my car several times and know for a fact that my struts are OEM. My only question is whether they're OEM sc400 or OEM supra.
Hey Brent, havent heard from you in a while. Glad to see you finally joined club Lexus.
Asha'man and I actually went to Pueblo motorsports park but we're planning on doing some track days at HPR this winter some time if you'd like to join us.
Thanks again for those tail lights, I had them on my car until back in April when I finally got my hands on a set of 97+ tail lights.
I'll definitely have to look into this some more. My cousin did upgrade his wheel and tire size a little bit but his car has always looked like it sits up higher than mine, and my car has always handle much better than his but that mostly because I have wider tires, a wider stance and various other things I've done to increase the handling on my car.
I did read something recently though that the sc300 understeers a lot more than the sc400 because the length of the 2jz makes it stick out a lot further ahead of the front wheels, added together with the fact that the 2jz is a lot heavier than the 1uz, there's a lot more weight hanging over the front wheels.
I can actually attest to this personally. At the track, my cousins sc300 was understeering like a SOB and in my car I've never had an issue with understeer but quite a lot with oversteer.
I've been under my car several times and know for a fact that my struts are OEM. My only question is whether they're OEM sc400 or OEM supra.
Hey Matt,
I'd have to agree, 160lbs in the trunk is likely the single biggest factor, but to add to all the conspiracies, Lexus website indicates that the ride height was raised by 0.2" (ground clearance went from 4.9" to 5.1") in 1995. I don't believe this was due to the front spoiler delete, as that was not likely the lowest point. The '95 Dealer brochure also references some 'minor' suspension revisions. Just to muddy the water a little further, the '92 - '94 SC 300s had a smaller overall tire diameter with the 215/60-15 setup than the 225/55-16 SC 400s, but all the data I've seen represents those early models as having the same overall height (~52.6"), so there is a chance that there were some other suspension differences between the two. All the road tests from the day note the SC 300 as being slightly firmer, more responsive and more sporting than the SC 400, some of which may be due to the differences in curb weight. Data shows that year for year and feature for feature the SC 400 weighs more (minimum of ~60lbs) than the SC 300 (regardless of the iron block). Both have similar weight distribution, again with the SC 300 having the tiniest of an advantage.
On another note, hope the tails helped for a while, looks like you've done a little painting / powdercoating on your Nissan wheels. Post up some full pics Would love to see both of your SC 400's together, battle of the Reds! I've added a '95 SC 400 to the fleet since you were there (now '95 RJP SC 300, '95 RJP SC 400, and the silver '93 GS 300).
Hope you guys had fun at the track (HPR?), I went out to the Drift Event at CNS, great fun, the Triple Crown Drift SC 300's battled in the top 4. Catch up to you and Asha'man soon. - Brent
I'd have to agree, 160lbs in the trunk is likely the single biggest factor, but to add to all the conspiracies, Lexus website indicates that the ride height was raised by 0.2" (ground clearance went from 4.9" to 5.1") in 1995. I don't believe this was due to the front spoiler delete, as that was not likely the lowest point. The '95 Dealer brochure also references some 'minor' suspension revisions. Just to muddy the water a little further, the '92 - '94 SC 300s had a smaller overall tire diameter with the 215/60-15 setup than the 225/55-16 SC 400s, but all the data I've seen represents those early models as having the same overall height (~52.6"), so there is a chance that there were some other suspension differences between the two. All the road tests from the day note the SC 300 as being slightly firmer, more responsive and more sporting than the SC 400, some of which may be due to the differences in curb weight. Data shows that year for year and feature for feature the SC 400 weighs more (minimum of ~60lbs) than the SC 300 (regardless of the iron block). Both have similar weight distribution, again with the SC 300 having the tiniest of an advantage.
On another note, hope the tails helped for a while, looks like you've done a little painting / powdercoating on your Nissan wheels. Post up some full pics
Would love to see both of your SC 400's together, battle of the Reds! I've added a '95 SC 400 to the fleet since you were there (now '95 RJP SC 300, '95 RJP SC 400, and the silver '93 GS 300).Hope you guys had fun at the track (HPR?), I went out to the Drift Event at CNS, great fun, the Triple Crown Drift SC 300's battled in the top 4. Catch up to you and Asha'man soon. - Brent
Asha'man and I actually went to Pueblo motorsports park but we're planning on doing some track days at HPR this winter some time if you'd like to join us.
Thanks again for those tail lights, I had them on my car until back in April when I finally got my hands on a set of 97+ tail lights.
I'll definitely have to look into this some more. My cousin did upgrade his wheel and tire size a little bit but his car has always looked like it sits up higher than mine, and my car has always handle much better than his but that mostly because I have wider tires, a wider stance and various other things I've done to increase the handling on my car.
I did read something recently though that the sc300 understeers a lot more than the sc400 because the length of the 2jz makes it stick out a lot further ahead of the front wheels, added together with the fact that the 2jz is a lot heavier than the 1uz, there's a lot more weight hanging over the front wheels.
I can actually attest to this personally. At the track, my cousins sc300 was understeering like a SOB and in my car I've never had an issue with understeer but quite a lot with oversteer.
Last edited by MattStarr; 10-25-12 at 03:36 PM.