I have an old pair of Tein HA coilovers on my 2gen and they were pretty good at the time, but ever since they started producing the Tein parts in the US, I fell the quality has diminished. For what you're looking for, I think you're best suited to find a coilover with a softer spring rate and an adjustable damper.

 

not looking to slam my car, probably just a mild drop so I'm not sure if coilovers is the way to go

 

mild drop = Tanabe NF210's

i just so happen to have a brand new set for sale pm me if you're interested

 

Mild drop or not you'll eventually end up wanting coilovers in the future. Just got my JIC's installed today and have it dropped almost to the floor and LOVE the ride sooooo smooth can't even hardly tell im dropped that low... Im running the FLT TAR's 15 way and have them set at 7 i can only imagine what the setting would be like at 1 probably to soft for me!

 

TO LOWER! Tein CST's please!

 

You will start with a mild drop... and the modding bug will bite and you'll probably regret you didn't get coilovers.

At least for me, the ride seems almost to stock after installing my coils. I swap out my rims and put my factory wheels on this weekend and its a smooth ride (the drop with stock wheels look pretty good too).

If you want the look but don't care too much about the ride quality or know that you won't keep the car for long than get the springs b/c of the price. But if you want the look, and the feel of a luxury ride I would recommend getting coils. GL in the decision

 

if your not looking at dumping the car..then get the tanabe. remember its your car. GL

 

true, that's the beauty of coilovers. you have all the flexibility on the heights, and also the dampening to compensate for the ride / height. not to mention the performance is far superior to springs

of all my cars with coilovers, my cars just keep on getting lower and lower

 

sounds like NF210's are the way to go

 

with a mild drop on NF210's, in order to avoid any rubbing, 18's or 19's??

 

The downfall to coilovers is you need to have them rebuilt after a certain time. Some manufacturers don't recommend going over 30k. Some recommend them as early as 15k. I've had coilovers on my 2 previous Lexus....my 07 GS350 and 04 IS300. For my 09 IS F, I doubt i'll go that direction. On the IS i've only adjusted the dampening a few times just to see the difference between stiff and soft. On my GS, I left it at full stiff the whole time. Both were Tein CS.

If you guys are planning to run dumped or max low the whole time, be prepared to rebuild your coils more often. The lower you go, the more work you put on the shocks, even if you have adjustable upper and lower perches, your shocks will be working harder absorbing bumps and keeping your wheels planted to the ground.

 

wheel offset, wheel width, and tire size all play a role in whether you will rub or not. you can still rub on NF210 if your offset is too aggressive, wrong tire size, etc. when going over bumps. just selecting NF210s doesn't guarantee you won't rub if you have the wrong wheel package.

 

lets consider 19x8.5 front +22, and 19x9.5 rear+44??

 

try this wheel calculator:

http://www.wheelsmaster.com/rt_specs.jsp

just looking at your front offset, i can tell you it's too aggressive.

 

^^^ Fronts are no good! This is how your car will look (approximately)

I almost made the same mistake, but my fronts were +24.