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I have an 02 Sc420 and the ride is terrible. What I want is a luxurious, cushy ride yet great handling. All is original except runflats. Any ideas are most welcome! Injen works awesome!
Are you saying you still have run flats? If so, you can do anything you want to the suspension and you will still have a bad ride. Get rid of the run flats if you still have them.
After get rid of the run flat tires like @ iolmaster suggests above, then you can:
1. check shocks, if leak, replace with OEMs or coilovers.
2. upgrade front & rear sway bars.
Injen works awesome!
It sounds awesome, but it sucks a lot of hot air from that V8.
If you decide to go with coilovers, these are fantastic. Lowered mine a lot right out of the box but after bringing them back up, looks great. Corners like it is on rails.
32-stage damping adjustments (Compression and Rebound Combined) - you can really choose firm vs soft ride.
MeisterR ZetaCRD Coilovers for Lexus SC430 (UZZ40)
+1 on the MeisterR coilovers, it rides like a cloud now. There's a thread around where I posted the recommended damper settings from the manufacturer for "comfort."
As mentioned above, tires can make a huge difference. Some people go +1 on tire size for a little extra cushion.
gbdad, define what you mean by a terrible ride. It will help us know what you are trying to change. What some people really like, others will hate. So knowing what you don't like and would like to have will help us know how to guide you.
I got my 02 sc with a little under 100k miles and the struts were definitely causing most of the squishy ride problem as it didn't come with run flats. Besides checking the struts for leaks I would also take a look at all the bushing in the front and rear to see if they have wear on them such as cracking. Once you are satisfied with your bushings and possible conversion to coilovers I would start replacing the oem control arms to adjustable if you got coilovers. I recommend spc upper control arms and godspeed toe and arms for the rear for a nice stance. If you got some money skip godspeed and jump ahead to Figs engineering... On there website you will find a lot of suspension modification options including a master bushing kit for an upgrade to polyurethane bushings..
Side note-If you keep the oem wheels you can push them out with wheel adapters.
If you decide to go with coilovers, these are fantastic. Lowered mine a lot right out of the box but after bringing them back up, looks great. Corners like it is on rails.
32-stage damping adjustments (Compression and Rebound Combined) - you can really choose firm vs soft ride.
MeisterR ZetaCRD Coilovers for Lexus SC430 (UZZ40)
Do you know if you're able to retain OEM ride height, and if not how much room between the tire and fender with the coilover on max height?
So I didn't measure before I had them installed. When I went to pick her up, I could not believe how far it dropped the car. I told my shop, while it looked really cool, it is my daily driver and that was not going to work. They told me I would need to return in a few days to let them raise it up some. Probably dropped it at least 2 inches out of the box. I was barely able to get out of their parking lot, as it scraped my MagnaFlow mufflers. I could not wait so I raised it one corner at a time in my garage. Utilized some digital calipers. 10th of an inch raised it up a lot. Took a couple try's but now it is more like an inch lower than stock. When I get new wheels I will probably raise it just a bit more. The handling is phenomenal though. I can hit corners much faster than I should and she does not sway at all. Really, really fun in the "twisties". Sorry to not be of any help but looks to me like you could raise it way up, at least to the OEM height (if not higher) based off how little it took to go up one inch. I was under the impression they were set from the factory to be at stock height so I was very, very surprised at how low it sat when I went to pick it up. I told the shop to NOT adjust them as they were set for the car from the factory. I think it was well worth the $1,000 and is my best upgrade to date on the sc430. Would recommend them to anyone.
Pretty sure you can call or email MeisterR and they will answer any questions you have. Good luck.
So I didn't measure before I had them installed. When I went to pick her up, I could not believe how far it dropped the car. I told my shop, while it looked really cool, it is my daily driver and that was not going to work. They told me I would need to return in a few days to let them raise it up some. Probably dropped it at least 2 inches out of the box. I was barely able to get out of their parking lot, as it scraped my MagnaFlow mufflers. I could not wait so I raised it one corner at a time in my garage. Utilized some digital calipers. 10th of an inch raised it up a lot. Took a couple try's but now it is more like an inch lower than stock. When I get new wheels I will probably raise it just a bit more. The handling is phenomenal though. I can hit corners much faster than I should and she does not sway at all. Really, really fun in the "twisties". Sorry to not be of any help but looks to me like you could raise it way up, at least to the OEM height (if not higher) based off how little it took to go up one inch. I was under the impression they were set from the factory to be at stock height so I was very, very surprised at how low it sat when I went to pick it up. I told the shop to NOT adjust them as they were set for the car from the factory. I think it was well worth the $1,000 and is my best upgrade to date on the sc430. Would recommend them to anyone.
Pretty sure you can call or email MeisterR and they will answer any questions you have. Good luck.
suspension shocks and smooth ride
