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Recently I replaced my rear struts and springs. I used new OE Sport springs from Bell Lexus, new insulators from Bell, and KYB struts.
The ride is now excellent to my taste, but I notice that my rear end is still sitting at the same slightly lowered position relative to the front. I was hoping the new springs would bring the ride up a bit.
I see/read from other owners this rear drop is largely normal. Can anyone confirm this?
Outside of a personal preference to not have the rear appear lower than the front, my last alignment also showed roughly 2° of negative camber - I need to either iron out, or be told that's normal for these cars.
My two options here that I see are to either use FIGS strut spacers, which would recover .375" of lift (where did it go in the first place?) and/or combine with the FIGS adjustable rear lower camber arms. I'm hesitant to use spacers but not sure what is causing this droop now -less overall concerned with aesthetics right now than I am with the possible camber issue.
Can anyone offer their opinions here, or have similar experiences? Thank you all!
Looks quite normal to me. Check out photos of other LS430s online.
Mine and all the others I see online are the same.
The rear wheel is slightly forward in the wheel-arch from the factory.
The wheel-arches are different shapes front to back, so there is no point measuring those.
Instead measure underneath from the ground to the jacking point front and rear.
If those are the same then she is level.
Looks quite normal to me. Check out photos of other LS430s online.
Mine and all the others I see online are the same.
The rear wheel is slightly forward in the wheel-arch from the factory.
The wheel-arches are different shapes front to back, so there is no point measuring those.
Instead measure underneath from the ground to the jacking point front and rear.
If those are the same then she is level.
Good information, thank you. I suspect then that the alignment shop will tell me I still need adjustable camber arms.. do you happen to know if the 2° negative camber is stock/spec for the Sport trim? Or should all trims be dialed in as close to 0° as possible?
If I'm supposed to be at/near 0°, what bushings/components are worn other than struts/shocks/insulators need to be replaced prior to alignment if anything?
Good find, thanks. I notice that #4 post has data but for me is blank both on my phone and on a PC.
Is this what you see as well? I see the guy with the UL specs but I assume would be different as he has air ride. (Unless I'm mistaken).
100% air ride alignment specs are different than shock/struts. I had a shop accidentally use those specs and I had crazy bad toe and camber wear within 100ish miles
Last edited by 05ls430518; Oct 27, 2025 at 06:10 PM.
Normal on ride height and rear camber, just make sure toe specs are in check. -1.8 is the limit for rear camber but not worth changing arms for .2 degree. Do a search and you'll find most of these are this way.
Good find, thanks. I notice that #4 post has data but for me is blank both on my phone and on a PC.
Is this what you see as well? I see the guy with the UL specs but I assume would be different as he has air ride. (Unless I'm mistaken).
Yes, that entry presumably had some photos that are no longer available so it leaves blank spaces.
I didn't know that UL had different specs to olde-worlde suspension.
Thank you all for your helpful input! I found some more data I wanted to post for other users regarding this for future reference.
Here's three pics - two different sources of alignment data, one from ProDemand and another from Charm.li, along with a picture of my current alignment specs. Apologies for those UL owners, I crossed out the air-suspension specs so I would ignore those, as I have coils.
Prodemand gives a slightly wider spec range than charm (I suspect charm is pulling diagrams directly from old Toyota FSI manuals). I agree with pmesfun that it's probably not worth it to get that 0.2 degrees of negative camber ironed out with the use of camber arms at this time.
However next time I get the vehicle in the air I am going to measure the length of my camber arms to see which version of the three part numbers I have. If I am not already running the shortest option, I may consider going down one size in length eventually.
For those users reading that don't know, Lexus sells three different sizes for the rear camber arms shown in any parts catalog which at the time of posting this are still available for purchase new.
I am still curious as to why the rear was intentionally designed to sit slightly lower than the front.
You crossed out the wrong one. :-)
From the bottom half of the 1st pic, the rear camber for coil suspension is -1.25° +/-0.75° or in the range -0.5° to -2.0°.
For air suspension that will be 1.58° +/-0.75° or in the range -0.83 to -2.33°.
The OEM camber arm lengths are available in 5mm steps (441.5, 446.5, and 451.5), or you could just fit these if it bothers you that much. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151670396075
The rear was not designed to sit lower than the front. If you measure from the ground to the jacking points you will see that she is parallel to the ground.
The rear wheel arch design is the problem. It's lower than the front (common because the front needs more space due to the wheels turning) and is off-centre on the wheel.
Both of these were probably caused by the push to get the ultra-low Cd of 0.25 to make her more efficient.
Help with explaining/correcting rear wheel gap.
