Have you lowered your GS450h (or GS300h) 2012-on (Gen 4) ?

[lexusbeef]

Has anyone lowered a GS450h 2012-on ?

The GS350 is commonly lowered in USA, the top most common springs used are:

1. Swift Sport
2. Tanabe NF210
3. RSR Down Sus

2 and 3 state they are suitable for the 450h. The stated spring spec's are exactly the same as the spec for the 350. 

My concern is, does the additional weight of the hyrbid Battery at the rear of the 450h have a detrimental effect, and make it noticeably lower at the rear compared to the front?

Main interest: Have you lowered your 450h, or 300h, and if so, what springs did you use? Happy with the results?

My aim is to reduce body roll and to improve handling whilst largely maintaining ride comfort.  The most straightforward and cost efficient route is via suitable lowering springs.  Happy to hear about other suitable and proven methods that you may have used on your 450h/300h, but am keen not to stray off topic.

Thanks in advance

Julian

[aviator888]

No i haven't and i wouldn't. 

Tanabe is very good make and if you want to go for it then i would recommend using NF210. Have used them on my previous cars, but my 450h handles good enough and no problems with body roll. Maybe you have suspension problems? 

[lexusbeef]

Thanks. 
No, there aren’t any suspension problems.  And I guess it all depends what you are used to. My preference however is to have less body roll whilst maintaining comfort. The GS is not renowned for being particularly sharp in terms of handling, or for feeling particularly connected to the road. However, it does tick many other important boxes! 

[i-s]

The GS350 is a slightly different beast in terms of weight and weight distribution. 

Have you driven a GS450h premier or F-sport? The premier has adaptive dampers and Sport+ mode that the Luxury lacks, and the F-sport combines the adaptive dampers with a slightly lower ride-height, larger wheels and rear-steer. Putting our Premier into Sport+ does tighten it up quite a bit. It does become more bouncy and jittery in terms of secondary ride, but the primary ride settles down, loses the constant floatyness that normal mode has and gains significantly increased rebound damping. 

Just throwing some springs on, without attention to the full system (dampers, anti-roll bars) is unlikely to achieve what you want. 

[lexusbeef]

Yes, indeed. There are a couple of lowering springs that are either compatible with, or have been developed for, the 450h eg RSR Down Sus

http://www.rs-r.com/product/lexus-gs-450h-rwd-down-sus-springs-2013/

I haven't driven a 4th gen 450h with the adaptive dampers.

If the F-sport 450h has slightly lower springs, I'd expect it to handle a little better in normal mode, in comparison to normal mode in the Luxury version. And if it does, then that would suggest that lowering springs would help someway. However, I understand there are other factors in the mix, including different anti roll bars and bigger wheels (dampers in normal mode). I'd expect the rear steer to effect handling more than body roll. 

However, this is new territory for me and I appreciate the thought provoking input. I'll have to buy an F-sport 😛