darkfire

Hi CL! My name is Chris. I'm from Colorado and the happy owner of a new 2018 IS350 F-Sport.

I'm a car enthusiast and a Superbike rider and racer. I love to upgrade vehicles and this IS350 will be no exception!

I'm wondering what "go-to" performance upgrades you folks recommend? Specifically, since this is a brand new vehicle and still under warranty, I'm curious about options that improve performance (acceleration and/or handling) without voiding the warranty, though, of course, long-term all options are on the table.

Also, I came across trdparts[.]jp - any feedback on this site? Is it legitimate?

Best,

Chris

Meraki Autoworks

iTrader: (8)

We can do an exhaust, intake, suspension, wheels for starters..

Feel free to text me at 213 394 2886 and we'll get you setup.

-Josh

darkfire

Thanks Josh. I browsed your web site last night but ran into a problem. Whenever I filter to my vehicle, I only see 2 items: a mid-pipe and some springs. Is this a known problem? Am I doing something incorrectly?

Chris

itsx

For handling, I've read on upgrading swaybars. You'd be limited to a few options, i think SARD, TRD or T-Demand has offerings. There's obviously coilovers, with many options out there (kw, bcracing and some others..
There's LCA bushings offered by RR-Racing, Figs, GSF/RCF/ISF oe replacements.
Intake options you have your F-Sport Drop in filter, K&N drop in filter, intake tube replacements, RR Racing, JoeZ and others. There's also short ram intake with the cone filters offered by takeda injen and some others. I personally run the F-Sport Drop in filter.
I don't know if there is a tune for your specific model, but I do know RR-Racing has a tune for this generation IS, I think OVTune had something, but there isn't much info on their site about it.
There's a bunch of exhaust options out there, but I think PPE is the only one that offers headers. There's a bunch of exhaust options out there as well. The popular midpipes were tsudo and invidia, with Ark having a full catback system. Borla, invidia, joez, magnaflow and other make axleback systems.

I'm not 100% sure that everything is current, but this is what I recall from memory.

RRRacing

iTrader: (1)

Glad you're jumping right into the performance aspect of your car!

Let me shed some enlightenment before you purchase as to not just sell you something.
Swaybars aren't a necessity with a good set of coilovers. And if you've been around the aftermarket world you know you get what you pay for. We carry a Road & Track set with custom spring rates to accommodate to your needs.

USRS Bushings are a must and dramatically change the feel and steering aspect of the vehicle to be more responsive.

Exhaust, you have tons of options but we found, especially power wise for gains and tone, RR Racing Tuned headers (made specifically for us by PPE) and an ARK Exhaust.

Intakes, for Lexus cars and you can ask anyone who has been around them for a while, an intake BY ITSELF, will give no gains and more than likely hinder power.

We are the leading company in aftermarket for these cars and are deadly accurate with our tunes as well. A tune + FBO you'll see gains of 30-40whp.

Let me add that Lexus swapped to a different ECU for 2018, with that being said our handhelds at the moment will not work for the tuning aspect, for right now.

Next and lastly on the list is our Superchargers, FBO + Supercharger kit you'll see 410WHP out of your car.

With all that being said, we give true and honest numbers and push all of our cars to the limit daily. If you're interested call us or email us and we will give you the best deal for all of your needs.

-Sean

darkfire

This is great - thanks for the overview! This will get me started!

One question off the top of my head: how's the F-Sport Drop-in filter compare to the K&N? Does the F-Sport drop-in come with my car, or is that an upgrade? I've used K&N almost exclusively in the past.

RRRacing

iTrader: (1)

If you are sticking with NA power, as we tell all of our customers, the stock air box is perfectly fine with either the F Sport or K&N filter. K&N will be perfectly fine for your application, plus I understand the ease of grabbing one of those vs OEM.

-Sean

Former5SFE

What does FBO mean?

Meraki Autoworks

iTrader: (8)

We're working on our website but yes we can take care of all your car needs.

We are a proud vendor of RR-Racing products as well.

-Josh

itsx

I think they're referring to full bolt ons.
Exhaust, headers, intake etc etc.
Go fast parts

irkthejerk

Can you pair the f sport drop in filter with the RR Racing intake tube? I was under the impression the tube used the same housing but hadn't heard of anyone doing this combo.

itsx

You can do it. The rr racing intake tube from what I've seen uses the stock airbox

Manawhat

What's the F sport drop in filter? Did that not come with my f sport lmao I'm so lost

itsx

F Sport drop-in Intake Filter PTR03-53141-AA

Stock we get the regular toyota engine air filter. The f sport drop in filter is the toyota high flow engine air filter.
You can buy the entire intake kit which is about $300, or get just the intake filter which is about $70-90. I got mine when ebay was doing a 25% off everything sale.

Manawhat

Whattt I had no idea. How's the sound? Does it improve performance at all?

Damn, I don't think it fits my 2018 IS300 AWD