cbright

My 99 GS4 has 80k miles and is ready for some new shocks. I would like to improve handling/maintain ride without going as far as L-tuned. The choices seem to be Bilstein (HD, Sport, Regular) or KYB GR2. Anyone have experience in difference in the shocks, and which is better?

thx, cb (newbie)

oldguy

If by not going as far as L-tuned, you mean softer, rule out the Bilstein Sport. I have them, with stock springs, and they are wonderful at highway speeds on smooth roads. Over potholes, or speed bumps, they clunk and are harsh.

RON430

When you say you don't want to go as far as the L tuned, have you actually ridden in a GS with them? I was pretty much of the opinion that the L tuned were about as mild a stiffening as you could get. Just putting new OEM shocks on is going to stiffen the ride up, OEM shocks with 80K are a lot more soft than you would think. I have bilstein sports on my gs4 and bilstein hds on the gs3 and like them both but if l tuned is too stiff, I would probably stay away from both.

cbright

I'm the original owner of the GS4. I don't have a point of reference on the stiffness of the L-tuned suspension. Not sure I want to mod the car. Looking for shock which would be better than original or current Lexus offering. Do you know who makes the Lexus brand shock?

RON430

Hopefully someone better informed will help you out. Don't know who makes the OEM shock although I think it might have been posted that the belief is that KYB makes the l tuned shock. There is nothing wrong with not wanting to mod the car, most people get very far away from what attracted them to the car in the first place. Next time you are in at the dealer, why not cajole one of the salesman into taking you for a test drive in a new GS430. If you are OK with the ride/handling, just get the OEMs. After that, things get a little riskier than might be warranted.

Gwiz400

I replaced my stock with TRD at about 80K- tremendous improvement. I have read a lot about Bilsteins being too stiff, I'd say these are just right. You really notice the stability over bumps at high speed. It is rock solid autobahn material without being stiff.

"Presto" and I have had the same mods done, and triple digit speeds on the remote highways of the Southwest are awesome. Another note; the Eibach springs post TRD shock and sways added a tremendous amount of cornering ability and improved the look without changing the Lexus ride quality. You can take major curves on 6% grades 100+ no problem- it is amazing but true! (Not that I'm encouraging that.)

Consider doing both TRD shocks and Eibach springs simultaneously to save yourself the extra install. We both waited until after the shocks, and basically paid for the same labor twice.

Overall, same Lexus ride until pushed. Makes you wonder why TRD isn't stock to begin with.

3dog

iTrader: (1)

get coilovers. shocks and springs are obsolete.

oldguy

I've said this before. If the OEM shocks wore out, and on my 98 GS4 they did in 40,000 miles or less, why spend the install labor for the same thing? Get some that won't wear out. Bilstein. At least that was my thinking.
So, on my 01, I changed them way early.

cbright

Thanks. I'm thinking about Bilstein HD with stock springs. Also would like to install sways and STB. How do you like your TRD stuff and Bilstein Sports?

oldguy

The TRD sways are great, the TRD LCB and STB add to the stiffness of the car and front end a noticeable amount, and I don't hate my Bilstein sports, but would do the HD if I were to do it again. I'm happy to have the stock springs.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

If you wanted to stay away from L-Tuned, you will not like the additional harshness of the sways and STB. Depending on what sways you pick to work with the rest of the suspension, you may be able to minimize the degradation. There will be some. Maybe you'll be OK with it and will like the handling increase. I am only putting up a red flag because of your "L-Tuned" comment since L-Tuned is one of the softer springs and shock setup.

Good luck.

oldguy

Neo
Sorry to disagree, but I do not believe the LCB or the STB add to harshness at all. Or the sways either, for that matter. I am making a distinction between stiffer and harshness. My Bilstein sport shocks are harsh under some conditions.
The sways help the car corner much flatter, the braces gives the front end a more solid feel. I like them a lot.
I drove a M-B C-43 once. Too much. Too stiff and some harshness. My car is not like that.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

What wheels are you running? I remember Ron430 ran the TRD sways with stock 16s and the ride was still pretty good. I ran 18s with the TRD sways and L-Tuned S/S and I was tossed around whenever I went over bumpy uneven roads. When I added the LCBs and STBs, the car felt more solid but I did detect a slight change in harshness. Those are somewhat negligible compared to the initial change of stock 16s/S/S to 18s/L-Tuned/Sways. I am running the same 18s with Tein CS and Daizen sways and the ride quality is much better than my previous setup.

I don't doubt your assessment of your car but to say those braces add no harshness is contradictory to my experience. Going over smooth roads, you will feel really no discernable harshness. It is just the uneven roads that cause amplified responses in the car. If you are still running 16s also, there may be enough rubber to help counteract the effects of the sways.

In any case, as with any ride quality discussions, the individual "butt-o-meter" always come into play and mine may just find these changes disagreeable while yours find the changes acceptable.

3dog

iTrader: (1)

i still think coilovers are the only way to go.

i had bilstein sport shocks once. $409.00 and a couple of hundred to install.
ride was very stiff, which is okay with me, but it had this weird little hop off of bumps, like when you come off a bridge or some rough spots in road. plus it didn't do a thing to improve the notorious looseness of the rear end. then i bought springs eiback $259, and more money to install, which seemed better than stock but lowered it more than i wanted and seemed to make the hop even more pronounced. so i'm guessing i must be at around a $1000 out of pocket by now on springs and shocks. oh and i believe the bilstein HD are even more money for the softer ride.


well i wasn't happy with the hop or the loose rear end and quickly added daizen sways which kept it flater on corners and curves but the hop and loose rear were still there. i might add the ride did get a little stiffer but was still what i call lexus cushy. my wife still has the lexus stock springs and shocks and the daizen sways so i know first hand what that feels like. we both have 1999 gs400's with 17" chrome lexus wheels and michelin pilot sport a/s 245/45/17's


next i added every single one of the toms braces to both cars except for the trunk brace on wifes car. this really tightened up the cars and increased the handling leaps and bounds. wifes car still has the lexus cushy ride. but my car still had that stupid hop which to me if i'll going fast and it hops i find a bit scary as it really is a loss of control of the car. and of course the rear is still loose at higher speeds on big curves, but better than before as the toms braces really tighten up the rear end alot.




next came the coilovers. now this is where you end up feeling like you, wasted a bunch of money on springs and shocks as you have to have them removed to install the coilovers and then you have to sell them and you are lucky if you can get half of what you paid for them.

i ended uo with JIC MAGIC FLT 2-A's. oh my god what an improvement in handling and the hop is gone, so is that loose rear end. my coilovers are very stiff and my wife doesn't like how harse the ride is and i agree you feel every bump and crack and the road but these are very stiff coilovers. personally i want handling more than i want the cushy ride so i'm willing to accept the harse ride.

i would like to put something like the tein CS on her car as i've heard the stiffness is very close to stock. the tein CS i've heard also give much improved handling, i have to say it drives me crazy to go over a bump in her car and do this bouncing up and down crap i don't think that is driving under control either.

now i'm not positive but i think the tein CS are something like $1200 and this is what i would recommend for you.


you may not have heard but the people who make springs do not work in harmony with the people who make the shocks and every different combo you come up with is a real crap shoot as to the results.

now people who make coilovers are in control of the whole product and know what the desired end result they want is.



or you may just want to replace your original equipment shocks which will automatically be stiffer than your old shocks and will work well with your factory springs. this would be the cheapest way for you to go.



goodluck ivan

oldguy

Neo
Yes, I am still with 16's. My summer tires are michelin pilots a/s in a 50 aspect. Am back on the dunlop wintersports for the winter.