Stay with air or go coilovers

[DJT]

Hi have quite a big issue with my air suspension. Did a scan with techstream. Need a new compressor and part which splits air to front and rear.  Used items are not going to be under £200+ shipping. If I fit new or parts still don't know if that will fix air system. I could be going down a rabbit warren and find I still need more parts. On techstream my ride height sensors are giving huge difference in measurement. Cannot not adjust height via techstream. No air in system might be why I cannot adjust them.  I can get a set of BC coilovers for £1000. Very tempted to go down this route, then again I like the air suspension. What views do members have on trying to keep air suspension or go coilovers. 

[DJT]

PS when I replaced relay and removed compressor, I ran techstream and only fault was exhaust solenoid. 

[Malc1]

David hi  …….. are you on about 300k miles if my memory serves me 🤔

Reading various posts about negligible comfort differences ( if any ) twixt air / coilovers  and if it was me, and your cars still brilliant, well, I’d seriously consider the coilover solution 

Good luck 

Malc 

[DJT]

Car is undrivable at present until suspension sorted. Front bumper hits the ground if I take it off jack stands. 

[Malc1]

2 hours ago, DJT said:

Car is undrivable at present until suspension sorted. Front bumper hits the ground if I take it off jack stands. 

Coil overs it might be then ……. and onwards to 500,000 miles 😄

Malc 

[DJT]

Malc your right with mileage on 330k. Love to see 500k on my LS430. Have some more expensive parts to fit at same time. Adjustable top control arms all round and uprated drop links. All from Hardrace. Have two 2nd front seats to replace original seats. Leather is splitting on perforated holes. Can't complain about seats, strangely passenger seat is the worst. Probably upset those that like oem parts fitted. Knew I was going to be spending money on LS430. Probably saved it from being a parts car 🤔. 

[Malc1]

You're living in unknown territory and at 330k miles it's simply amazing ............. 

Good luck

Malc

[Tomtit]

I converted from air to factory spec conventional springs and shock absorbers. Replacing just one air strut would have cost more than the value of the car. There was also the possibility of other air components failing in the future. I used a mix of Toyota and KYB parts so that my insurers did not view it as a modification.

I am happy with the ride; it is much more comfortable than my SC430 and my wife's RX300. The new parts will probably last the life of the car.

[MaximusPrime]

I can vouch for BC Racing - a quality, really well made kit. Ordered mine from ID Workz website and it arrived the next day. They offer Klarna too - that's if you don't fancy forking out £949 in one go, and splitting the bill may help you with putting the car on the road quicker:

https://id-workz.co.uk/products/bc-racing-br-series-coilovers-for-lexus-ls430-ucf30-01-06

I've watched a number of videos on these suspension swaps beforehand, and knew what needs to come out and how it's all accessed. Once the air lines are disconnected, the fronts are a straight swap, and the rears are slightly harder to access, in that the top mounts are hidden behind the rear seats and the parcel shelf. Ideally, you'd need to undo the rear seats (or get the garage to do it for a little extra), and drop the backs a bit - they can be temporarily held in place by seatbelts if needed. Then lift the rear parcel shelf slightly and voila - you'll see the mounts. This is what I did before taking the car to the shop, but if don't fancy messing around - ask them to do it. There's a video that covers the lot, including the rear seats here (rear seat removal starts at 10:50): 

In addition to that, I printed off the suspension diagrams from Club Lexus forum (attached), and brought with me a photo of a car that had its struts replaced - to give my mechanic an idea of where things are, and to show my desired ride height, as I wanted the car lowered whilst they are at it. My final request was to leave everything in place as much as possible, i.e. not a full demolition job, and keep the air compressor and other related bits in place.

I've also asked them to ignore any lights that may come up on the dashboard as I will deal with these myself - there was only a single fuse that needed removing to stop the compressor from pumping air and if memory serves me right, it was located either in the engine bay or one of the footwell fuse boxes - easily accessible and I can check which one and where it was tomorrow for you if you like. Since that was done - no warning lights whatsoever!

They charged me just over £400, and left the old air struts in the boot, so I could resell them later if I wanted to. He said it was all quite straightforward, and they only struggled with undoing one bolt on the rear strut, but considering the age of the car that was to be expected. The air lines were disconnected from original air struts and everything else has remained in situ, so I could technically have it back on air in future.

These BC coilovers are fully adjustable, so you will have options to play around with for both the ride height and ride quality. I may be wrong, but pretty sure there were two settings on the top mounts - for Sport and Comfort, a little dial you can twist - I haven't looked since I've had them installed, so memory is a little foggy now 🙂 But the ride height is definitely something worth thinking about if you are having the suspension swapped anyway. The garage will be able to set it whichever way you like - and it can be adjusted to go lower or higher at a later date, the kit comes with all the tools if you are mechanically minded.

Positives: 

1. Car is now much more planted in corners, handling feels superb, and the body doesn't roll
2. As mentioned above - the kit is fully adjustable, the world is your lobster oyster
3. Quality - these struts feel like they will outlast the car, they are that well made

The one negative:

Ride quality doesn't compare to air suspension, it will be firmer. I think the only way to counter this would be to have the ride height set higher to allow the struts to work their magic with greater suspension travel. But seeing that I expected this before the swap, I am honestly not regretting it one bit, and in my opinion it's probably the best upgrade you can do to prolong the life expectancy of your LS 🙂

If there's anything that I've not covered - let me know, happy to help!

Edited April 1 by MaximusPrime
Updated the website I got the kit from :)

[MaximusPrime]

Oh and here she is - sitting low and pretty after the swap:

[DJT]

Tomtit am going to change insurance companies for other mods that are going to be carried out. My current insurer won't even let me go over to all season tyres 🤔. Living where I'm in Scotland every tyre retail place recommend all season tyres. 

[DJT]

Maximus Prime tried to get my local independent garage to fit adjustable top control arms front and rear, got a refusal as far too complicated 🤔🙄. They carry out 4 wheel aliment this is 2nd time they've refused to work on my LS430. They will happily fix beemers, Merc's and Audi's. They are far more difficult and complicated to work on. They think Lexus and go no not touching it. Shame as they do fantastic work. 

Do I need a tool to disconnect air lines

Thanks 

[MaximusPrime]

46 minutes ago, DJT said:

Maximus Prime tried to get my local independent garage to fit adjustable top control arms front and rear, got a refusal as far too complicated 🤔🙄. They carry out 4 wheel aliment this is 2nd time they've refused to work on my LS430. They will happily fix beemers, Merc's and Audi's. They are far more difficult and complicated to work on. They think Lexus and go no not touching it. Shame as they do fantastic work. 

Do I need a tool to disconnect air lines

Thanks 

My local garage were also adamant that the job is far too complicated and mentioned that they were stung by their only other air suspension swap on a Mercedes Benz van of some sort, where the entire dash lit up full of warning lights after the job and they couldn't fix it 😅 

So I asked around and found another local garage (a VW / Audi / Seat specialist of all people!) who also happens to do lots of these suspension jobs and he accepted right away! Are there any tuning garages local to you? May be worth checking with them, as I almost guarantee they would have done some suspension work previously and these kinds of places are far more likely to take on the job. 

As for the air lines - they are simply disconnected or snipped from air struts themselves, there's nothing more to it if you are keeping the rest of the air suspension parts in place, here's a screenshot from a video LS430 VIP made:

[Malc1]

It’s incredible that an otherwise competent garage workshop hasn’t the nouse, or simply can’t be bothered, to do a relatively simple job ……. that the Lexus Main Dealer workshop guys would maybe do, albeit at perhaps 3 or 4 times the cost of a local garage here in a more populated area of the UK 

Caithness garages holding the population to ransom maybe …….  it’s not good 😰 

Good luck David getting this sensibly sorted by a local competent willing garage 

Malc 

[DJT]

Maximus Prime air lines are they just push and turn? As for getting another garage to do the work I have issue mentioned before, if I remove jack stands from front of car bottom of front bumper is on the deck. Be lucky to get an ant to squeeze through the gap. Recovery for lowered cars is jack them up and but wedges in the coil spring. No coil springs is going to make even more difficult. Can take bumper off to help. Nearest garage that I could find that would do cambelt, water pump etc etc was 8 hours driving from me. So went to dealer. If you look at map of UK find Orkney im right up in that corner of Scotland, part of Highlands and islands. Swapping suspension should not cause to many issues if I do it myself. Have done spring swaps on MacPherson struts that is a very dangerous game. No air in struts being removed. Coilovers already have springs fitted. Got adjustable top control arms to fit on all 4 corners as well at same time. Off with  the old on with the new. Will be keeping everything for air suspension refitting. Also bought some super lightweight road rims that look stock to go on. Lightweight rims might take some harshness out of ride by reducing unsprung weight. Next job after fitting this lot is to sort exhaust out. Previous owner fitted a straight through 3" exhaust with 2 straight through silencers. Need to get a resonater fitted to get rid of drone. 

[DJT]

Malc 1 most garages up here will only fit parts supplied by themselves. My local garage is one of the few where you can buy parts for them to fit. All local garages are busy fitting springs, shocks, drop links and replacing bent rims due to state of roads. Check out Facebook Caithness roads recovery to what state our roads are in. Probably raise suspension and keep it soft to deal with crater's. Even lorries are going through springs at an alarming rate. Local council will not pay out for vehicle damage 🤬🤬🤬🤬. 

[Malc1]

Can the car be lifted by a sling …… similar to a skip effect or maybe a builders 1tonne bag style lift …… just trying to think outside the box ! 

Malc 

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

8 hours ago, DJT said:

Tomtit am going to change insurance companies for other mods that are going to be carried out. My current insurer won't even let me go over to all season tyres 🤔. Living where I'm in Scotland every tyre retail place recommend all season tyres. 

Hi.

If you have any issues with insurance for modifications at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

Regards,

Dan.

[MaximusPrime]

22 hours ago, DJT said:

Maximus Prime air lines are they just push and turn? 

Hi David, not entirely sure as the mechanic did it and I wasn't there, but here's someone else who did a similar job (linked from this very forum):

 

[DJT]

Finally got all the parts for fitting coilovers, top control arms and rear drop links. Plus insurance is due. Current insurer will not insure me with mods. Been looking around for an insurer to cover mods. Got what I think is reasonable quotes considering changes from OEM spec. Costing me about £400 more than last year, bearing in mind insurance has rocketed in price. 

[Malc1]

1 hour ago, DJT said:

Finally got all the parts for fitting coilovers, top control arms and rear drop links. Plus insurance is due. Current insurer will not insure me with mods. Been looking around for an insurer to cover mods. Got what I think is reasonable quotes considering changes from OEM spec. Costing me about £400 more than last year, bearing in mind insurance has rocketed in price. 

I hate to say this  ........  biting my tongue hard .........  BUT have you looked at the Adrian Flux Group ........  Sterling / Stirling Insce specifically if they cover young cars like yours !

Malc

[Malc1]

And Chris Knott Brokers too 

M 

[DJT]

Hi Malc1 I am in discussions with several insurance companies. Problem is not the mods, it's the car 🤔. Lexus seems to be so misunderstood as brand. Far more than a jumped Toyota. Billions spent on refining every part for optimal weight reduction and strength is on scale that's never been repeated. LS430 is not a difficult car to work on. Design and quality of parts and ease of routine maintenance is phenomenal. 

[steve2006]

My 2004 Toyota Celsior (LS430) had fortunately been swopped out onto springs/struts before I purchased it from a fellow LOC member who used a Strutmasters kit from the USA.

With regular wheel arch jet washing they still look as new and provide a comfortable but firm footed ride.

I am so happy with this car given the price I paid and the money spent on it prior to purchase which also included the cam belt change I basically got the car for nothing!

[DJT]

Malc 1 just got a stunning deal from greenlight insurance. All mods declared can add more if I feel like it. Can have track day cover for £45 per day if I feel the need to track day her 😱😬.