I am a fairly new owner (couple of months now) of a 2006 IS350, Tungsten Pearl with the light grey/black combo interior. The mods I'm considering are:

1) Tint all around but will tint the driver/pgr sides less than the rears. I live in So Cal where most any tint on the driver/pgr sides is illegal. Has anyone had an issue with this? My BMW 540i was tinted and I never had a problem with it.

2) I really like the look of the slightly lowered profile with the wheel wells filled out. So, I'm considering the Eibach or similar modest drop kit to do that. My concerns include rubbing and abnormal tire wear. Another related concern is the ease of getting in and out of the car. How much does the lowering affect head clearance during enter/exit? For you older drivers (I'm 56), how has this affected you?

3) Wheel spacers. Again, I like the look of the stock wheels and I have seen examples here of the wheels moved out a bit to fill the wheel wells. Are there any negatives to using these?

Thanks in advance for your valued feedback.

 

56... no we have a 70+ member here so your not the most ancient BUT everyones health is different...

2. I just put on a Eibach Prokit, 1in front/.8in back, I am 40 with no physical problems... yet... nor am i a prime example of the male specimen... and i have no problems getting in n out.

 

Thanks alot. I'll try not to be offended by that.

Perhaps a better way to ask about the ease of ingress/egress would be whether you notice any difference pre and post lowering? Oh, and that would be AFTER I stow away my walker in the trunk.

 

Ok lemme go a little more into detail, with Eibachs, no you wont notice a difference getting in or out due to the minimal drop, looks wise it will be a world of difference... BUT since your car has the normal suspension, moving to the Eibach Prokit will give you the ride of the sport suspension *firmer ride* thus losing that nice Lexus *softer* ride. Other member have not liked the ride change going from norm to sport, members with sport already *like me* have noticed a slightly better ride when pushing the car in corners. There are other springs out there but i have no exp with them.

The question you should ask yourself is, how do you like suspension the way it is now and goto a lexus dealership and ask if you can test ride a car with the sport suspension (pretend your interesting in buying one )

 

If I were you I wouldn't go the springs route. If you can afford it just get coilovers. You can raise and lower your car as well as adjust the ride. Some models even let you adjust your ride from inside the car. I don't see why people who have money to spend on a Lexus cheap out and go the civic route with just springs... sigh.

 

Coilovers - don't know much about them. Would lowering the car in this fashion affect the ride the way llamaboiz describes? How would the costs compare to going the Eibach route (including labor)? I also drive a Dodge 3500 4x4, so a rough ride is not foreign to me. When I get into the Lexus, I'd like it to be a little more forgiving . . . although I think the ES350 carries it a little too far.

 

Labor shouldn't be too much more than springs but the parts themselves would cost more because it's a spring/shock combo. Just getting springs you're using the stock shocks designed for a certain legth of spring. Using just springs shortens the lifespan of the shocks and also you're stuck with 1 ride comfort level. If you install eibachs for example and go.. damn this is horrible.. too bumpy. There's nothing you can do except swap them back out wasting your time and money. With a coil over set you can not only adjust height but ride quality too. There's a adjustment for the spring and adjustment for the shock. So you can lower it or raise it, stiffen it up or soften the ride up. There are even some models where you can adjust the ride from inside the cabin. Instead of paying a few hundered for springs though you'll spend 1000+ on coilover sets, but to me their worth it for this class of car. If you had a civic however I'd say go ahead and get eibach's but that's just me. Just head over to the suspension section of the forum for ideas for coilovers.