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Mods: F sport front swaybar, IS-F rear swaybar, stock "sport" suspension.
First off, the drop is perfect. It can pass as a stock car, but it just looks really nice and level.
Ride: it takes out some of the stock floatiness, bounciness and wandering and trades with it a little more harshness over bigger suspension movements. Overall I like it more because although you feel more road, it's not unecessary movement like before and more real and usable feedback from the road. I did notice that it causes the interior to creak and crackle a little more than usual.
Handling: it's a bit better than stock! Not a night and day change but I definitely feel less useless slack and a tighter rein on all 3500 pounds of the car. Brake dive is reduced which is always nice, and i for sure have a better idea of when I break the last limits if the tire.
Verdict: I like it, I just should have done new dampers too because the stock ones are valved a bit oddly in my opinion
Update, I did LOTS of back to back driving with this car and a 2008 Honda Fit that also has Swift springs on it and damn... The Lexus rides rough!
It doesn't soak up bumps at all, whatever that is on the road gets thrown right onto your backside and the car is not ashamed to do so! It's fine for a 20 minute drive, but I got a little tired after more than that. It definitely improves handling and the car looks nice sitting lower, but yikes it gets choppy in the cockpit!
I haven't really accelerated hard much until today and I do notice that the rear does not squat as much as before during acceleration, this makes the car feel less powerful - but more composed. The handling is definitely improved, it's really responsive and a joy to toss around. It's much easier to read the car when the rear end swings out and handling feels much more planted as well, possibly because lowering the front added a little bit of camber so the tires have more contact to the road during turns. Overall, I would say the car feels like a really aggressive OEM car like a BMW M or IS-F because although it's rough, it's not super lumpy like a pair of cheap coilovers. It feels like a really aggressive factory suspension retaining still a tiny little bit of refinement - but definitely falls under a sporting ride quality.
It really brings out how crappy it is to have 300hp and no limited slip differential
I think all lowering springs on our 2IS on stock shocks has that loose squishy feeling, by putting on some aftermarket performance shocks there would be a night and day difference in the performance and comfort of the car. I have Bilstein F-sport paired on my Swifts and I think these are also a perfect pair for the stiffness of the springs and the valving of the shock absorbers
I agree, the car has the sport package shocks now, but originally came with the standard suspension. The stock ride was horrible, it was very bouncy - not sporty nor comfortable.
The sport suspension was a little bit better, but still bouncy - bothersome enough to give me headaches if I drove for more than 30 minutes.
After some time for the Swift springs to settle in, it's great. Very comfortable ride quality with a generous dash of sportiness too. It feels like what a sport sedan SHOULD feel like. Comfortable but still engaging. I still think some better shocks would help it a lot in terms of comfort. Performance is great though, but I'm sure there is room for improvement still!
Here is a video of some Autocross type driving, my first time feeling it out since the Swift install. It was great! Super easy to control and very communicative!
It sounded like it was coming from the dash and moonroof when they springs were first installed, but the ride settled down a bit and I don't notice it anymore
10-31-15, 11:43 AM
2007 IS350 Swift springs review
