DickH

Sometime this spring, once the weather is nice id like to put my car up on jack stands and go through the suspension. Some of this is to just inspect everything and make sure everything is fine but really I am wanting to upgrade my suspension. I would like to have everything together and do it all at once so I would like to get an idea of what I should collect, what deals to watch for, etc... I am thinking of budgeting ~1200-1500 for suspension and am looking for input on what I should get that gets me the best overall improvements within that. I wan't to exclude any chassis bracing as I am thinking about making my own sometime this summer. I also want to exclude sway bars as I want to do them last, after trying out whatever spring rates I end up with and determining what I want to do. Obviously coilovers are happening, I don't mind paying a little extra for quality, what are the recommendations? I have had my is350 for ~1.5 years and am still new to the chassis so I am looking for input from those of you who have a good feel for how the car responds to mods and what it needs most. The car is currently my DD, however I am wanting to improve its handling as much as reasonably possible without sacrificing the DD feel. I don't mind a little stiffer ride from a higher spring rate, however I am not looking to add noticeable nvh with solid bushings or anything like that. I have wanted to get into autocross and this car seems like it could be fun if I take it that way.

Viktimize

If I was going to autoX again, I'd be way more likely to just buy a 95 Civic and go full retard on the suspension of that before doing anything to the Lexus. That's just me though.

Your post kind of leans two separate directions. You say you want to do coilovers and some suspension work. But you also mention a very small budget and watching for deals. On one hand I would guess you want the best bang for the buck out of your money. But then you say you want to leave sway bars for last??

It takes very little reading on the forum to see that sway bars(rear in particular) will be the best bang for the buck mod you can do suspension wise. Followed by some aftermarket LCA bushings. Springs and shocks are probably the last thing to do from a budget perspective and getting the most for your money.

No idea how many miles on your car? My 2006 is at about 150,000mi. I'll be doing the F-sport springs and shocks personally just because it's easy and gives a nice drop, without all the harshness that generally comes from true aftermarket stuff. But first, I am getting the car to where it should be before any of these mods. Sitting on Wheel bearings, and lower balljoints to be installed. Just waiting on the RRracing USRS to get shipped. Those alone should clean up the handling immensely, and give a good platform to start doing the sway bars, braces, and then springs and shocks.

DickH

I didn't think up to 1500 was an unreasonable budget if it was excluding sway bars and bracing. A quick google has coilovers ranging from $500-$1000, if I go with some $900 offering I have 600 to spare. So then the 200 from figs bushings, now 400 left for what? From previous vehicles, sway bars were always the last thing to do to the suspension based on how the car behaved. It doesn't look like there are a lot of options for these cars but it is still my preference to see how the car is with different springs before spending money on the sway bars. I know they the are a big improvement and people recommend them first, but they are thrown out as a cheap way to correct for the OEM springs. I accept that I will probably go with sway bars anyway, im just excluding them for now.

Viktimize

Yeah you can get a basement bargain set of coils if that's what suits your fancy. Whatever order you choose to do things in is totally your call, I was just adding a different perspective to think about.

Sportskid1

iTrader: (1)

If you want better performance I would omit just about every coilover under 1K. BC coilovers seem to be the most popular are run about 1K. You can get better for more $ though. Rear sway bar is by far the best band for the buck you can get. For an IS350 that is all you need as the front sway bar is already beefier than the 250. From there you might look into adjustable camber up front and back so you can do a more performance alignment which makes a huge difference. The biggest helper will be tires though. They make a world of different. You can do everything to the suspension but if you put crappy all seasons on the car it will handle like crap.