Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Pics will be shared soon.

I installed brand new Tokico blue shocks on existing Espiler springs yesterday. The Springs were six years old on my blown stock shocks. After the install, the lean is quite dramatic. The driver side is nice and low like before. Maybe a finger gap or less on the front and back driver side.

But the passenger side...oh man. It's horrid. Just awful. It's almost a fist gap in the rear passenger side. The front passenger side is probably 2", or almost stock height. It's embarrassing to the modified car community. I run a staggered set of 18" x 9.5" up front, and 18" x 10.5" out back with a decent offset (+12 F, +15 rear). I parked the car back in my garage in disgust and won't let it see the daylight until it settles.

How long should I wait until the Springs are considered "settled"? I can't drive around like this. First the car leans like someone is 500lbs in the driver seat with no one in the car. I did have to unbolt the UCA's for clearance, but that wouldn't push the geometry up. I didn't touch the sway link bars, and they are pointed upward as mentioned in previous threads about uneven height.

Could it be that the old Espiler springs were compressed on blown shocks for an extended period of time, and they took permanent memory of uneveness? When I get home tonight I'll take pictures from the garage. Be prepared to be shocked (like two girls one cup shocked! Like Paranormal Activity shocked! Like the Seahawks superbowl pass at the one yard line shocked!)

Notes about the install. Brand new Tokico blues with six year old Espiler springs. I installed new plastic shock covers to protect them front dirt. New bump stops and bolts were provided with the shocks. I used the existing top hats and the springs rest on the perches correctly. We worked on one corner at a time so the springs were definitely not mismatched. We swapped the front UCA's with brand new ones with poly bushings. The biggest problem with the rear passenger side. It's monster truck, OEM height.

Help Tabaka out man

Dougspeed

iTrader: (2)

Springs only need to settle when they're brand new, yours are already broken in after six years. The ride height should immediately settle once the car is lowered on to the ground. Have you tried disconnecting the sway bars? Easy to install the endlinks the wrong way and cause problems with the height.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

did you torque the bolts on these while the car was up in the air? you may have overtorqued the driver or passenger control arm (or both) so what happens is when you sit the car back down it does not want to move to the regular position. if that is the case (which I think it is), then if you drive around enough the weight of the car will turn the bushings for you while possibly ripping them up some till they work back to the lowered position it should be in (they are supposed to have the final tightening in "resting position" aka on the ground otherwise they aren't really working as fully intended).

so before the car does the work for you and mess up your new poly bushings, I would say you may want to loosen the nut on the long upper control arm pin/bolt , let the vehicle settle (bounce it up and down some open the hood and push on the frame where things wont bend or scratch), and retorque them when they are on the ground.

also make sure there is a sleeve in the poly bushings and they are set up right.
I had this problem with the stock bushings when I first did my springs, I really torqued those arms while they were up in the air, one side was good, one side seemed like it was impossibly tall.
It applies to all bushings its supposed to be torqued down at ride height for that exact reason, its in the manual.

sometimes you can just take it to the alignment shop and have them crack them loose and torque them while its on the rack since you are probably going in for an alignment I am guessing anyways, but the damage to the bushings would be harder to avoid that way on the ride over there and most shops will not take on the liability when they see your car like that.

I just drove mine around enough that night and it settled, well cause I didnt know it was a serious problem and though it was normalish spring settling, then I read about it online and once I figured out what the problem was I loosened em up and retightented them while on the ground (just barely loosen the nut don't try and remove the pin that would be dangerous if even possible). its like wheels you torque them slightly in the air, and do the final on the ground. I think my stock upper bsushing are ok still but I am not sure how much abuse the poly will take but a quick visual will tell you. if you catch it early probably wont hurt anything.

the upper pin holds the upper arm in place, but the tension from torqueing it holds the bushings in ride position so it wont let it go down or up too fast. whats happening now is that it thinks thats your normal ride position where you torqued it so its trying its best to not move from there, and all that extra load is on the new bushings. hope that all made sense!!

good luck and nice to see you working on the SC again!

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

If anyone is part of the Lexus sc300/400 mods page, I just posted some pics for reference. FB no longer allows you to img tag photos from their server :/

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Uploaded to my old school photobucket below.

Front driver side after installing new shocks. This is how this corner looked before I swapped the new shocks.


This is the rear driver side. I like how this fitment is. As you can see, my car is a tight squeeze in my garage.


And now, for the bad. OH MAN, LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU JUST ATE DINNER!

Front passenger side.


And for the worst part, the passenger rear.
I think this is taller than stock!

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Your theory makes a lot of sense for the front. But there's no way we torqued down the rear UCA and lower arm enough to make it stick 3" above the rear tire. We didn't replace the rear UCA's or remove them at all. We just unhooked the knuckle for clearance on the rears. I think the spring was possibly damaged over time.

MMCtuner

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...p-problem.html
Did you read this? Maybe you can find a solution here.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Thank you for the link. However, this isn't a few mm or less than 1/2". My passenger side is 2"+ inches higher.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

Tabaka, these cars are so stiff that when the front one is up the rear gets affected.
Also, on the rear there is another thing like the front that alot discover by accident.

when you remove the shocks on the rear, its easy for the sway bar end links to sit in the wrong position and upon reinstallation they can actually be at the wrong spot and everything still go back on, except the car sits up on that side. its possible you have more than one issue here. I have actually seen the rear sway bar endlink in the wrong position also doing that.

so take a look at the rear sway bar and the end links will both be facing the same direction if its right, if you have one facing up and the other facing down, then that could be the problem.

Not saying it has to be those things, but I know those are both very common when installing shocks.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

I'll pull this slab out of the garage on Saturday, take the passenger wheels off, and inspect the sway bar links again. I'll post pictures with the wheels off for you guys to inspect. I really don't want to spend $600-1000 on a new suspension system. I could buy A LOT of groceries or personal items for my family with that money.

Ali SC3

iTrader: (10)

you can see the rear sway bar end links from the rear of the car, no need to remove anything.
they should look like this where the sway bar is above and the end link goes straight down to the arm.


if they are put back when the sway bar is hanging more down, the endlinks will be more sideways and can cause the car to sit up on that side.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

All sway links are pointed upward. I'm waiting for my whiteline LCA bushings to arrive this week, then it will go on a lift for installation. Hopefully we can adjust everything and perform an alignment with favorable results.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

She sits even now. The car was up on a lift today and new LCA bushings and a front crossmember were replaced. She also got a good alignment so everything is straightened out. The passenger side is maybe a 1/4" higher than the driver side, but it's a HUGE improvement!