Awesome, thanks for following up on this with your experiences. Always good to have a thread like this that'll be useful for future folks...the three of them that will actually lower this body style..lol

Lol, not too many dropped or modded 4th gen es300s. I have only seen one non stock 4th Gen es300 in person, and it it my own. I considered lowering mine to get less wheel gap until I found out about my spine disc problem, now I want all the softness there is. I guess airbags would be a good solution but I can't justify the cost.

The fronts are fine, not planning to change the shocks anytime soon. Lol I'm not done with this car yet, still have a rear diffuser, front lip, and side skirts to go.

Is it a custom diffuser? I was not aware there were any for these cars.

Camry front lip
ES side skirts
Rx7/350z rear diffuser

Cool. Got any pics of the diffuser? I'll be interested to see how it turns out. Best of luck.

Pretty interesting video shot under the the vehicle which shows all the movement a suspension has to contorl with a damper replacement comparison.

So are Kyb recommended over OEM for every ES?

Hey dbtbee,

I saw that you installed the KYB shocks on your ES300. Did you change your springs and mounts also and are you still happy with the KYB struts?

Springs & mounts are from my previous shocks. I am very satisfied with the quality and performance with the KYB struts!

Great looking car right there,...

How about Sachs shocks? They've got a good reputation in Europe.... Or is it best to stay with Japanese parts like KYB or Tokico?

I don't know on these vehicles, but this is what I weighed when I re-did struts 2 years ago:

a) On my Audi/in that community, the Sachs available were viewed as OE-equivalent and no upgrade. So i went with Boge turbo gas and was happy.
b) On the only Sachs application for the ES, they are OE-type twin tube.
c) Everyone is generally so happy and very satisfied with the KYB Excel/GR2 on these cars (I am).
d) the Sachs are 30/40% more than the KYB on average.

So why bother? That was my analysis at least.

I just put some KYB shocks (gas-a-just) on my SUV last week and am very pleased. I'd go KYB unless someone gave me a very compelling reason to pay more for the Sachs, and I don't see that happening. So not a perfect answer for you but some food for thought.

Cool, I'm just doing a bit of research, I've gone from running a '97 BMW M3 in the UK to a '00 ES300 out here in Saudi Arabia. Parts availability out here seems to be a bit of a lottery so it's good to know there are a few good options.