.Hey guys/gals, I need some help. I need your help. I have a 2015 IS350 RWD with F-Sport lowering springs. I absolutely love they way it drives however I am trying to remove the front rake (front sits higher than rear). I want the car to sit even. Reason why, I'm saving up for some 18' or 19' CCW LM20 style wheels. I don't want the wheels tucked like RSR Super downs. I want something in between my F-Sport Eibach and the Super Downs. I currently have some 20mm wheel spacers front and rear and I love the look, I just wish the front was even with the rear.

So my question is, aside from going coilovers, what brand and model lowering springs is a cross between the F-Sport OEM lowering springs that I have installed and the RSR downs?

One more quick question, I love how the OEM wheels with 20MM wheel spacers look on my car as of now. When I upgrade to 19' wheels what offset/ back spacing/ tire size would be ideal for the same amount of wheel flush? IDEALLY I want 19x9 in front and 19x9.5 rear. What setup would get the same look as my car is now with 19's.

I hope this made sense. I've searched this forum and learned a lot. But I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything,

Thank you guys in advance.

Here is a pic of my current setup.

 

For the rear you could do a 19x9.5 +38 with a 255/30/19 or 265/30/19.
For the front you may want to check what you wrote, I'm going to assume 19x0 was meant to be 19x9...in which case you can use a +35 with a 235/35/19 or 255/30/19.

If you currently have the blue F Sport springs installed, are you looking to level the vehicle by dropping the front more, or drop and level the front and drop the rear?

 

Ha ha yes I meant 19x9 and 19x9.5

 

I'd like to remove the reverse rake, so def drop the front. So far the rear is 2 fingers gap and front is 2.8 fingers.

 

What about only installing RSR Downs on the front?
Some have done RSR Downs on the front and Half Downs on the rear to level the vehicle.
Since the Half Downs and F Sport springs are close in drop, the result should be the same.

 

not a bad idea, it would probably work fine but I would just buy coilovers at that price.

 

If you purchased a complete set of RSR Downs and only had the front installed, the cost should be significantly less than buying coilovers.
The cost would likely be a quarter of the coilover purchase/install cost.

 

Would the Downs be lower than f-sport? I heard they were about equal. If they are lower at that point I would just install the Downs kit.

 

The RSR Half Downs are equivalent to the blue F Sport springs.
The RSR Downs would be the next step in lowering, then the Super Downs are the lowest.
Keeping in mind that RSR quotes slightly different lowering specs depending if the vehicle is RWD vs AWD...the RWD tend to be lower than the AWD, with the same RSR springs installed.
The difference is lowering height is for the Super Downs.

 

Sounds like I should order RSR Downs (Im RWD)

 

Worth noting, the stock suspension does not have a reverse rake - the car sits nearly level/parallel from a chassis-to-ground standpoint, with only a very mild forward rake.
What you are seeing & describing is the fact that the front wheel arch has a higher center point than the rear. The reason for this is to accommodate the position of the front wheel and tire under full lock at full compression, where the rear will simply "tuck in" under full compression as it obviously doesn't turn. By lowering the front to get the same wheel arch fitment/gap, you are actually going to wind up with a forward rake if you look at the vehicle in profile on a level surface.

Semantics out of the way, I agree that putting in RSR downs in the front with either Fsport blues or half downs in the rear should achieve your desired look.

 

Thanks for the info! Makes lot's of sense. RSR Downs it is !

 

There's someone who did RSR down (AWD) in the front only also, no springs in back which had a really good look. I should've done that because my back looks way too low compared to front.. I think with time it levels out

Only thing I wonder is how a car will handle and ride with 2 different spring rates.. sounds odd to me. I know they already have different spring rates but I would imagine that springs are made to compliment each other so putting 2 completely different brand of springs on would change the dynamic

 

As would I; it depends on intended use however - I think in this case with softer, taller Fsport springs in the rear and stiffer, shorter RSR downs in the front (or a combination of 1/2downs R and and downs F) would result in more understeer at the limit as there will be less compliance in the front than in the rear from a relative stiffness perspective as compared to "matching" sets. I do not think this will affect daily driving at all however, as at least in my case, I never get close to the limits on this car on the street.
The situation I mention can be remedied by installing a larger sway bar in the rear to counteract the relative softness of the rear springs to bring it more in line with that of the front.
The chassis in this car is so stiff, that simple lowering springs aren't going to make it perform any better in daily duty anyways, and may actually hinder it's handling, depending on how broken the road surfaces are you typically drive on. Track driving is something completely different as the course surface is usually pristinely smooth and a grippier makeup than what DOTs put on the highway.
I still believe the best handling mod you can do to a street car is tires. In the case of the 3IS, front LCA rear-mounts are the second step after stickier tires (and an LSD for a RWD non-LSD car).

If Driftophoer were worried more about handling characteristics than appearance (aka a track rat) stance/wheel gap would likely never cross his mind, as on the track it's "what works best" not "what looks best". I have buddies that are track rats, and the things they've done to their cars in search of fractions of a second on a lap would give you pause (example: taking a sawzall to the fenders and quarters of a very rare 93 mustang cobra to get a square 315mm setup to fit).