i just got this car a week ago and loving it soo far, i previously had an IS350 for about 8-9 months and sold it due to few rattles. Anyways i am trying to lower the car and stiffen the suspension a little bit and now i do understand its not going to ride like the IS. What's available for our cars and what do you guys recommend?

 

what kind of coilover system most people running on their LS430's???

 

as far as I can remember how to spell the name of the brand, this is what I know, Tein CS, HKS, Wald, JIC, Bilstein BSS, AiStar, Buddy Club, Insurance, RSR , Aragosta, Algernon, Insurance, Junction Produce, and many other Japanese VIP companies out there. Tein, HKS, Wald, JIC, and Junction Produce you can order it from their US distributor, but others you might have to either order it or have a shop order it for you from Japan (correct me if I am wrong), for example, Bilstein's BSS kit will only come up in the Bilstein Japan website. Go on Yahoo Auction Japan, and type in UCF30, there should be like 70+ pages for you to scroll through. But that's all I know, if anyone else knows more details please chime in.

I personally don't have any experience with lowering the LS430 with springs, I had the Tein CS, and even on the lowest height and stiffest dampering setting, the car was really comfortable, it's not stiff at all, it honestly felt like stock ride comfort with better handling. But I sold my Tein and looking to get some other coilover that can lower the car more, the only down side of running spring is you will have to use stock shock, I can't find any company that offers aftermarket shock/strut for LS430, but I might be wrong too, but a close friend of mine told me his friend tried cutting the stock springs and the ride was still great, I know it's not really a good idea to cut springs but I am just passing along whatever I know about this matter.

 

lowering your car will magnify any rattles that might exist.....

 

I thinks its better you just drop your car on springs because to me the col overs give the car too much of a stiff ride....

 

There are some other issue to think about when lowering a car(or at least there is with my current car). Specifically the cars cv shafts. The cars cv's have been broken in at a certain angle by driving the car. Lowering the car is going to put these into a new position/angle as well as lengthen the axel itself slightly. This will likely cause premature failure at some point.

With my current car, putting lower springs on "gives the strut room to move around inside it's housing". Really its the opposite and the car moves around on the struts. There was as much "pressure" holding it in place from the spring. You see, the bottom of the spring presses on the strut while the top of the spring presses against the upper strut mount. The shortened spring reduced the outward pressure holding it in place. This caused the car to slightly bounce around on the strut. So in addition to the bumpier ride, there was also a bouncier ride. Has anyone experienced this with the LS?

I'm not even familiar with the type of suspention they use. Probably less of an issue since these are RWD but there might be some similar issues...

 

I have TEIN CS and love it.

 

How is the overall ride with TEIN CS compared to stock?

 

It has settings ranging from 0-15. At the softest level, it's equivalent to stock, I think. I have it set somewhere in the middle now.

 

It has settings ranging from 0-15. At the softest level, it's equivalent to stock, I think. I have it set somewhere in the middle now.

 

for the record this applies mainly to those who run lowering springs on stock shocks

 

Tein cs stock settings is halfway. so anything past 7 or 8 is softer

 

agree. my friend has these on his 08 gs350
and ride quality is very good.

 

I'm on JIC's and they are great. I have no complaints at all. Slammed low and yet smooth enough for long trips.