fj40ih8mud

Story starts back 2 years ago. When I bought my 2002 SC430 the rear tires were showing steel on the inside of the rear tires - clearly out of alignment.

I bought four new tires and took it to my alignment shop (Goodyear), they got it back to straight.

I know that I checked out wear at about 2k miles on the tires, and it looked fine.

Well, at 11k miles 18 months later, and the inside of the rear tires have worn to bald.

Took it in to alignment shop and the adjuster bolt (rear cam) is locked in place on both sides. It clearly has moved since original alignment. It is in the middle of the adjustment, so there is clearly movement that could be made if I get it moving again.

I am thinking that this adjustment (toe in) is bad and needs to be replaced. Is there an aftermarket piece that does this? Maybe a threaded piece instead of the rolling cam? Update: I was looking at the wrong parts…. Cam Adjustment no 2 48198-30080 $10.60 and cam adjustment #3 48190-30060 $12.38, the link subassembly is 48705-30070. $155 each.


Second thing we noticed was that the right rear strut was blown. What should I replace this with. There has to be something better than the stock? lexus part 48530 24230

Third thing is that the shop thinks that my car is lowered. I really don't know. Since I have aftermarket rims and tires, I don't know what stock is. I have 245/40/18 tires on my ride. Anyone have measurements off a flat surface to the top of the wheel well or some other measurement, so I can see if I have a lowered car and need other suspension parts?

Caseoane

Can you post a pic? With 40/17" tires I would expect a very large gap between the tire and the fender. If you don't have a large gap, I'd guess the car has been lowered quite a bit.
For reference, my wheels were downsized from 18" to 17" and in order to keep the same total size, they had to use an aspect ratio of 55....

Sorry, can't help with the alignment questions, although I will eagerly read what others post!

good luck.

fj40ih8mud

fat fingered that. 18" tires. Will post up some pictures.

kjcole

If the insides are wearing I'm wondering about too much negative rear camber. Clearly out of the ordinary. Are your rear camber readings more negative than 1.75?

I haven't found any shocks for the rear other than OEM, without going to full coil-over kits.

fj40ih8mud

I just updated the paragraph above, as I was looking at the wrong part. In the front lower side of each rear wheel there is a part that goes diagonally back to the frame that has a cam bolt on it. This is the adjustment. Parts listed above now.

Anyway, this is the adjustment that is out of whack on mine.

fj40ih8mud

What does a set of coil over kits cost you and the positive/negatives of this swap?

fj40ih8mud

Also, any upper control arm upgrades I should think about while I am in there?

fj40ih8mud

Well, think I found one option for the arm.

Megan Racing adjustable arms.

fj40ih8mud

Another version.


I would suggest Battle Version arms for your car:

http://battleversion.com/store/sc430-01-10/

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Also found one that I only found in Australia.

texsexlex

iTrader: (3)

...there was an earlier thread a few years back about different options for rear shocks, I went with Bilstein Sports. Basically, the GS rear shocks from 1998-2005 are the same & fit our SC...that is if your SC is 2002-2005.I purchased mine from Parts Geek ( part # W0133-1911223) in Jan 2013 & haven' t had an issue.My car is also lowered with Teins Sports Springs & all the work was done at the same time. I initially had very bad inside tire wear on the rear, but no issues up front After a few alignments, I was finally able to almost eliminate it or at least back to normal wear.I haven't upgraded any of the stock suspension (other than springs/shocks), but plan to start some of the upgrades of the front & rear that other members are doing now.



...this pic is before body mods, but has the drop with springs & bilstein on rear





...just a side view with body kit & drop





...one recent pic

bb430

iTrader: (1)

Texsexlex, regarding the rear bilstien shocks, any mod to the shocks themselves at all? or just a straight bolt on? Because I remember some modifications were needed to make hem fit right.

fj40ih8mud

Thanks for the options Texsexlex

texsexlex

iTrader: (3)

...mine were straight bolt on, in & out in a couple of hours with proper tools & lift.I do recall someone having an issue, but don't remember if they had a 2006+ .I'll try to find the thread/issue a little later tonight, it seemed to be an issue of the fitment of the spring or something of that nature. I do know that Bacardi did the same also, but he had his Bilsteins cut & the valve rate changed.I just took mine out of the boxes & installed....I looked at my invoice today also, to make sure that was the proper part # I posted earlier

bb430

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for your help. What about your front struts?

texsexlex

iTrader: (3)

.....I went with KYB on the front. When I started to shop for shocks/strut, they were available on almost all the sites & alot cheaper than going oem. At the time, I didn't know the rears were going to be a pain to find. Everyone seemed to be looking for the rears at the same time & someone found out that the rear of the SC & GS were set up the same.