94GS300

For those UL owners on the fence about ditching the air suspension for regular springs, DO IT!!! I just finished the conversion on my 2005 UL today and boy is it amazing. As soon as I started driving down the street I could feel a difference. It feels planted and controlled, but it is still very smooth. No cross-axis bounce and no more feeling like a boat when hitting bumps and dips. The car is totally different to drive, but didn't lose any of its ability to soak up the bumps.

I was probably like a lot of others where I was hesitant to do this because I didn't want to lose the smooth ride. I didn't want the ride to be any rougher as I don't really care about performance handling on this car. I want the car to have the smoothest, quietest ride as possible. However, I can say for sure that even with the springs the ride is Lexus smooth and I didn't give up any NVH qualities.

Another benefit is the car's stance is significantly improved. No more UL lean... The car sits lower than when it was on air and ALL four corners of the car sit level.

I chose to go with OEM shocks and springs (non-sport) and I am so happy with it. I will probably post a thread about tips and tricks that I learned along the way for the conversion. The conversion isn't too bad. The worst part is just getting to the rear shock mounts because you have to tear apart the rear seats and you don't want to damage any of the nice UL amenities back there!

I will probably be putting my used air suspension up for sale soon, so if you are interested be on the lookout for it in the for sale section.

Bon

Congrats! I too did the deed a couple of years ago; standard OEM all the way. The rear shocks aren't much fun are they? Getting the angle between the top and bottom eyelets was what I remember as a pain. I agree with you as there's little to no deterioration in ride comfort, period.

chris81964

Can you post a step by step. That is my next project. I was going to do coilovers.

jayclapp

Do you guys realize that by giving up the air suspension, you give up the ability of the car to lower the height automatically by an inch at cruise speed? This reduces drag and increases cruise stability.

Sense that!

94GS300

My car sits at least an inch lower now with springs than it did with air. Couple that with the fact that the compressor no longer has to run and I bet I will get better fuel economy with springs.