Nawk Nad

Greatings from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

I've been reading this forum for about 9 month now and have learned a great deal, thanks.
I purchased a Black on Black 2001 GS430 last fall (Sept.) and my first mod was snow tires, yes very boring but as everyone on the east coast knows worth every penny, Ottawa had a ton of snow this year. Damn it, suppose to get another 3" tomorrow I took off my snows three days ago and put on two coats of NXT wax

Anyways I just returned from LA this week and picked up my first summer Mod, a set of Bilstein PSS Coilovers. Ottawa doesn't have many tuner shops so I went to one with the best reputation, Robson Racing for a quote on installation....$1000.00 with alinment and ride height adjustments !

My second choice is an asian guy who is a Class A Mechanic who has worked for Honda for the last 8 years and now owns his own shop. He doesn't work on too many Lexus cars but he did install eibach springs on my friends GS400 last year for $200.00 cash

Questions:

1) Should I use the second guy. He is a qualified Mechanic at a great price.
2) Is the installation of just springs vs coilovers different? I figure it's almost the same steps.
3) I want roughly 1 finger gap, what does that translate to in terms of # of threads on the shocks?
4) Can Lexus do the alinment or do I have to bring my car to a specialty shop.

I know several people on the forum have PSS Coilovers, I'd like to see some pics of lowest ride height vs someone with about 1-2 finger gap.

Thanks

Dan

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Welcome Dan, I'd personally go with option 2 if he's trustworthy and has done good work in the past AND he's done coilovers before. The Bilsteins need some assembly. Remember youi're also going to need an alignment after you're done.

Pics coming in a minute

Read this thread if you haven't already, has pics before/after coilovers (vs lowering springs / shocks)
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...t=bilstein+pss

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Unfortunately, I don't have any with the same wheels showing difference in drop.

On the post linked above, about 75% of the way down on the PSS

On the pic below, almost all the way at the bottom (1 thread). The pics of my car are a bit deceiving on the gap (its lower than it looks), I can't get a finger in there - i push right onto the tire.



Rear pic below is before I added my larger trunk stereo setup. It now tucks a little.

Nawk Nad

Thanks Dave, the visuals helps I'll probably go 85% down.

I don't think he has done a coilover intallation before. I'm going to bring the parts down to him tomorrow and see what he says.

What can he do to screw up my car?

TLW

hey welcome to CL

i wonder if Hameed can help you

he seems to trust his mechanic

and from the pics he does great work

GS400kid

Dave, do u have helper springs on your front? I also have PSS, seems like my car is taller...even i am all the way down. I know it might be the angle, i am just curious

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Nope, no helper springs. I didn't even know such a thing existed

GS400kid

oh....no wonder yours look lower even u r not all the way down, my front cant go anywhere lower than 1.5 finger gap.

lexforlife

iTrader: (7)

dave

on the pics you sent me last year , when you crawled underneath at 11p for the shpts , those pics did show the helper springs on there.. they are the silverish color springs that go between the perch and the bottom of the main spring


i have been maeing to call bilstein to ask them if i will exp anything diff handling or ride wise if i removed the helper springs for i know if i remove mine i could drop the front another 1/2 min for my rears have another 3/4 to go


dave when you get a chance , could you take a peek and see if the silver smaller spring is there

rex_racer

Helper springs are typically used to keep the main spring seated and to prevent the main spring from rattling or losing its engagement points on spring perch or the spring hat when the suspension is unloaded, ie when you raise the car off the ground on a lift or a jack, or if you catch air... . Helper springs are typically fully compressed when the car is sitting on the ground and do not do anything other than stay compressed and look pretty. They should not affect the overall spring rate of the vehicle when the vehicle is in motion.

With that being said one could theoretically remove their helper springs to allow the car to go lower, but that would also allow the springs to become unsettle and may cause seating issues when the car is brought back down. The other thing to worry about is the additional drop may cause the car to bottom out even more and ride on the bumptops, which could be detrimental to the strut towers.

corkycal

iTrader: (8)

you should go to a person who has experience with suspension installations. You don't want a rookie guessing at what to do. The instuctions are easy to follow.
you will need to use your stock top hats.

as for the helper springs, you can cut them in half if you want. again, it's there in case you get air or when the car is lifted up on a hoist where all four wheels are off the ground.

if you're lifting one wheel up at a time, you will not need the helper spring.

if you want to take them off completely, just be careful when you're lifting your car up and down.

lexforlife has helped me on the install and removal of these coilovers. He's the man with all the info.

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Lol, then I probably do have them... but I still don't know what they are .

Let me put it this way.... if they were the springs that came in the box with the PSS, they got put on. I didn't think they were 'optional'. I had a specialty shop in Charlotte who installs and sets up a lot of race suspensions (including coilovers) put them on and set up the car.

corkycal

iTrader: (8)

check out the picture of the rear suspension. above the top adjuster ring is the the grey helper spring. it's compressed all of the time when your suspension is down.
most likely they installed the helper springs on your GS.



hope the picture helps.

Nawk Nad

Just got my car back today with the PSS installed, Drives great, not that stiff. I thought it would be much harsher (no other suspension mods) maybe I can add some sways.

I have a few questions, I told the mech to set it at the lowest allowable height and based on the diagram max, min height range, he measured it up and told me it should be about 10 threads from the bottom. Does that sound rigtht? Dave has his at one thread. What are your thread counts Corkycal and Lexforlife?

Also the front looks like its higher than the back. I'll have to check the threads on all four shocks to make sure they are the same. Has anyone had this on their initial setup? any other possible reasons? Also the mechanic did not install the new beige rubber stops and kept the OE ones.

I'll take some pictures tonight. Thanks.

lexforlife

iTrader: (7)

congrats on the installas far as ride not to stiff , it wont get stiff but over the next week or so it will get firmer much firmer once the shocks establish their operating range


i have my front down to 1 thread as well with about 1.5 finger gap up front and in the rear about 6-10 threads (i think) from bottom which gives me a more forward rake in stance and a equal 1.5 finger gap in rear although this weekend i am going to crank the rears down alittle more