is 250 bumpy ride

[JAP MAN]

Bought my  2009  is 250 in July for £5.000  Full s  h  only done 69.000  miles  , Drives like a DREAM   10 stars on Everything     Apart from the Bumpy ride  ...... Why Build a Fantastic Car and not sort that out ............. Heard people say      its a sport coupe     thats what it should be like      YER but its a Lexus , not a Ford Escort    Before i bought my Lexus i had a Toyota Avensis 1.8 2004   Never felt a bump in the Road     ...... but i love the Lexus so ill put up with it   , Anyone else think the same , 

[H3XME]

9 hours ago, JAP MAN said:

Bought my  2009  is 250 in July for £5.000  Full s  h  only done 69.000  miles  , Drives like a DREAM   10 stars on Everything     Apart from the Bumpy ride  ...... Why Build a Fantastic Car and not sort that out ............. Heard people say      its a sport coupe     thats what it should be like      YER but its a Lexus , not a Ford Escort    Before i bought my Lexus i had a Toyota Avensis 1.8 2004   Never felt a bump in the Road     ...... but i love the Lexus so ill put up with it   , Anyone else think the same , 

Define bumpy ride? You think the suspension isn't soft enough? I would say that for a "sporty" saloon, IS250 takes the road imperfections really well. Some say the car is a little stiff, so you know when you go over bumps and dips in the road but I think that's a positive. It's not a GS or LS, you want to feel the road for more precision. aka sporty saloon. 

Maybe have a look at the suspension, it could be on lowering springs, 15mm springs will obviously be a little stiffer therefore bumpier, but if it''s on standard shocks & springs, there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[Linas.P]

Assuming suspension is in good shape and there are no mechanical issues with the car...

IS mk2 is kind of known to crash over certain types of road imperfections. I found it particularly hates lines going perpendicular to road, like joins on the bride-spans and similar - anything that hits wheels on both sides at the same. So obviously speedbumps are not your friend either. For this reason I sometimes choose to go over speedbumps at angle if possible. This is just compromise on conventional suspension with anti-roll bar.

The next big thing on the list will be wheels and tyres, especially tyres and finally tyre pressures. I preferred stiffer car and therefore I was running it at slightly higher pressure and made a switch to 18" wheels. The difference isn't big but it is noticeable. So if you prefer comfort over control and response then consider getting 17" wheels and softer tyres. 

Apart of that car is generally absorbs bumps very well for what it is. Basically entry-level exec... I think it would be on par with MB C-Class in terms of comfort and is certainly better than BMW 3-Series and Audi A4. Any cars that are more comfortable are either newer model or class above (like GS or MB E-Class). I would say Lexus IS was class leading from comfort, so ride in IS250 isn't bumpy for it's class, quite opposite actually.

[LenT]

On 11/14/2022 at 12:14 AM, JAP MAN said:

  Apart from the Bumpy ride  

I think Linus has identified an important point….wheel size.

I think these older IS250 may have been available on 16”, 17” and even 18” wheels.  The bigger the wheel, the lower the tyre profile - which leads to a firmer ride.

My IS250 came with 18” wheels although my preference would have been for 17”.  The ride is certainly slightly less forgiving on our country lanes than other cars I’ve had.  (A Citroen DS probably set an unbeatable standard,)  But it’s not something that MrsT - my resident passenger - has ever complained about.  And she would!

Apart from which, check that the tyres are not overinflated.

 

 

[Mr Vlad]

Hi Clinton. You need to get back to us and let us know what wheel size and tyre sizes are on your car. My 07 plate runs on 17" wheels with a cheap tyre on the front ( they're actually really good) and Bridgestone on the rear. The ride is oh so compliant and rides over speed bumps like they're not there.

All above posts are correct and a cone back from you is needed so actual help can be given. 

[AFlex]

Also confirm whether your model is the an IS250 Sport or one of the non-sport models (SE, SEL)

The Sport has particularly unforgiving suspension (comes stock with harder springs and a lower ride) and it also has 18 inch wheels (I have one so I can sympathise)

[McShmoopy]

As everyone has said it's mainly about your suspension, wheel size and wheel choice. I got an F Sport 2010 and the ride was unbelievably harsh, I managed to mitigate this mostly by getting Continental Eco Contact 6's which are good for ride quality as well as efficiency. The ride is more or less acceptable but if I get a chance I may try swapping out the stock F Sport suspension to something a little comfier haha 

[Steven9233]

My 2012 advance has 18” wheels and the ride over bumpy roads is appalling for a luxury car due to the low profile tyres I’m sure , I’ve been in older version with 16”s I believe different beast all together . However the handling is superb and on decent roads (if you can find any ) it’s a dream . The 18s look so nice I’m prepared to put up with it and they are stock wheels.  I have Pirelli P-zeros All round . I just chose what I thought were great tyres unless anyone can recommend better for ride on our Lexus vehicles ?  And tyre pressures ?  It seems everywhere I look there is a different answer to the right pressure , I went with what the manual states which does seem very high , something like 38-40 rear from memory and 36 front is it ? To be fair previous few cars were Honda legend 3.5 Vtec latest shape so very compliant but 16mpg local and & £600 tax which was a bit annoying but what an engine let me tell you , and a Volvo 2011 XC-70 which I’m sure would ride nice across pretty much any terrain . So perhaps I’m being a little harsh on the ride question being that last few cars were very large buses ,   Overall I’d still choose the IS dynamics of drive and handling over a GS which would be very similar to my legend and a little bit grandad I’ll admit .  But I’ll stand by my original opinion , over rough nasty roads the ride is horrid especially at low speeds . It must be down to wheel size , my wife’s Vauxhall zafira with 16” wheels and massive tyre walls rides bloomin lovely !  Over the rough and it’s a Vauxhall !  It’s the only thing I’m not so happy with. the the rest of it is magic beautifully built with a silky engine makes up for it .  Would appreciate tyre brand advice if there is indeed a brand that is suited for ride / noise . 

[Steven9233]

One more thing !  Before having an additional child and two dogs my wife had a civic type R the later bubble shape one . Only as she loved the look don’t believe it ever went above 60 mph , the ride was absolutely horrific !  I know it was a hot hatch but it literally was so bad and so hard and so brutal when it hit a pot hole -horrible , I’m not exaggerating it put me off driving it ,just borrow one of those for a week then climb back into your Lexus - 18” or not will feel like a rolls royce compared to a civic .pointless advice but a reminder that there are plenty cars out there a lot harsher on the road 

[H3XME]

1 hour ago, Steven9233 said:

My 2012 advance has 18” wheels and the ride over bumpy roads is appalling for a luxury car due to the low profile tyres I’m sure , I’ve been in older version with 16”s I believe different beast all together . However the handling is superb and on decent roads (if you can find any ) it’s a dream . The 18s look so nice I’m prepared to put up with it and they are stock wheels.  I have Pirelli P-zeros All round . I just chose what I thought were great tyres unless anyone can recommend better for ride on our Lexus vehicles ?  And tyre pressures ?  It seems everywhere I look there is a different answer to the right pressure , I went with what the manual states which does seem very high , something like 38-40 rear from memory and 36 front is it ? To be fair previous few cars were Honda legend 3.5 Vtec latest shape so very compliant but 16mpg local and & £600 tax which was a bit annoying but what an engine let me tell you , and a Volvo 2011 XC-70 which I’m sure would ride nice across pretty much any terrain . So perhaps I’m being a little harsh on the ride question being that last few cars were very large buses ,   Overall I’d still choose the IS dynamics of drive and handling over a GS which would be very similar to my legend and a little bit grandad I’ll admit .  But I’ll stand by my original opinion , over rough nasty roads the ride is horrid especially at low speeds . It must be down to wheel size , my wife’s Vauxhall zafira with 16” wheels and massive tyre walls rides bloomin lovely !  Over the rough and it’s a Vauxhall !  It’s the only thing I’m not so happy with. the the rest of it is magic beautifully built with a silky engine makes up for it .  Would appreciate tyre brand advice if there is indeed a brand that is suited for ride / noise . 

Your P Zeros.. Do they happen to be run flats? Because those are incredibly hard tyres. 37 all round is okay. Though I use 225/40 tyres all round. I don't see the point of 255s in the back on this car. Overkill. Just creates more noise, drag and lowers mpgs 

[Steven9233]

That’s interesting ! I have no idea I’ll look into that . I’ll try 37 all round see if that is any better . Thanks 

[H3XME]

7 minutes ago, Steven9233 said:

That’s interesting ! I have no idea I’ll look into that . I’ll try 37 all round see if that is any better . Thanks 

I'm only asking because I bought wheels off an Advance model and funnily enough they had P Zeros too.. (Run flats) which now makes me think that they were putting them on the later cars as standard. Unless this is a big coincidence 

[Steven9233]

Gonna check I can’t even remember if I have a spare wheel 

[Steven9233]

1 minute ago, Steven9233 said:

Gonna check I can’t even remember if I have a spare wheel 

Pirelli say that if it’s run flat will have RSC or run flat printed on side wall , I have neither thankfully . But thank you for the heads up - one to watch for future , it makes sense that run flats would be very hard on side wall . And I do have a space saver wheel , I remember now the dealer offered me a spare full size alloy the previous owner had as he didn’t like having only a space saver but I declined think it was off a RX . 

[scudney]

As far as I am aware the IS250 advance nor  the f sport were ever fitted with run flats from factory 

[H3XME]

9 minutes ago, scudney said:

As far as I am aware the IS250 advance nor  the f sport were ever fitted with run flats from factory 

Good. They must've just fitted the wrong P Zeros to the wheels I bought. The first thing I did was changing the tyres - absolute rubbish. Glad they didn't follow bmw in that sense.. Ride is unnecessarily harsh and they don't really work anyway if you get a flat. 

[scudney]

You should have a space saver in the wheel well in the boot