To the OP I say try it moderatley first with maybe 1/3rd a coil. And hey if you dont like it then you have this as a learning experience which you can give to someone else to use. It looks like only post came from someone with first hand experience i.e. there car not someone elses. Just do it and post back you results in a updated thread

 

Haha...I posted this a long time ago...Since then I sold the car, got a 1st gen gs on JIC's and that was totaled, and now have a 97 LS400 on Megans and Weds Kranze Cerberus. But I originally asked because I didnt think I was going to keep that car long. Its ok to cut for a mild drop but the coilovers are the way to go to slam it.

 

didnt read that last comment there..............................

 

I have a 1997 LS400, and I want to lower it slightly to improve the appearance, but I want to try to preserve the smooth, supple ride quality I have come to expect from my LS.

I realize that anything i do will detract from the smooth ride, but I want to pick the springs that are the least "high performance" in the stiffness dept.

 

find some old used eibach springs (they stopped making them). H&R would be my second choice.

that's the closest to a 1-1.5" drop, with a reasonably controlled feel (using stock or KYB suspension)

Tanabe's DF210s are actually a somewhat softer spring, but drop the car too much (~2-2.5") to be used with stock/kyb shocks without blowing them.

 

^This

Or get the Bilstein HD struts and use the lower spring perch setting with stock springs. Should get you just close to 3/4".

 

who has just fitted lowering springs on there own and were they eney good.

 

from my experience in all my past cars. if you put lowering springs on and dont change out the shock you have 90% chance your shock will blow within time. even if you lower your car just 1 inch all the way around. to save time and money i would really suggest just buyin a shock/spring combo. there are tons of brands out there some good ones are like tein, h&r. eibach. etc. good luck

 

+1, since you have it apart, the better route is to replace the struts at the same time. Springs from any of the known manufacturers will not be an issue. I'm behind the times with mine as I may be the minority on Bilstein and Eibach. The rest are on Megan, D2...etc.

 

I own a set of Eibachs, I believe it's the ProKit. I tried them with fresh KYB Excel Gs and the ride was pretty reasonable. Reason I took them off and went back to stock springs was height -- I scraped going into driveways and the front bottomed out at times -- it was just too low, even though they lowered the car about an 1" - 1.5".

Stan

 

I have had a set of tanabe df210s and kyb excel Gs for about two months. The ride is very comfortable, however I am going to take them off to go lower.

 

The Tanabe's have a terrible rep, but I'm enjoying mine. I've gone on 6mo w/o blowing any of the OEM shocks.
However, I feel confident that I regularly hit the bump stops. The OEM shocks can handle just the spring, but it is under damped when you hit the bump stops. So on big bumps it's bouncy.

 

I did California Customs lowering springs + KYB GR2 and new strut mounts, if I were to do it all over, there's a good chance I would have went with basic coilovers. Price difference was minor but the trade off between being able to rebuild the coilovers vs replacing the shocks is something to consider.

 

thanks,as i live in the UK you just cant get eney thing off the shelf.it all as to come from the USA,you are all so lucky as the price of importing is as mutch as the springs.i want so mutch stuff for the car but it all comes down to the price of having it shiped over to the UK.

 

there are some parts available in the UK if you know where to look. we've got a couple modified UK/EU members.