Jon Dee

No argument with that. I actually looked into airlift conversions a while back, but they are a bit spendy, and introduce another potential maintenance item. I could have bought a nice LS460 on bags for less than I paid for my ISF, but that style of car is not what I was after. Guys who fit Bilsteins to their ISF's are outnumbered 100:1 by those who fit BC or similar coilovers and big wheels to their cars. But the guys with the Bilsteins and otherwise stock suspension are usually very happy with the improvement in their ride, while the lads with the BC's are swapping springs, wheels and tyres to try and fix tyre wear, harsh ride and handling problems I'm happy with a "sporty" ride, and I once had a car with cut springs that cornered on the bump stops and I thought that was cool But I have moved on since then... Cheers...

For some reason this forum does not allow me to edit my own posts from yesterday ??? I've been on a lot of different forums and never struck this before... how bizarre, how bizarre Anyway, Brembo goodness is now under the bench. Install will have to wait until I do the shocks and that has to wait until the backordered rubber bits arrive Cheers...

Having compressed the factory shocks while off the car, I have to say the damping is definitely on the FIRM side !! On the other hand, the factory spring rates are very close to the popular SWIFT lowering springs. This indicates to me that with proper damping the factory springs should be able to deliver an acceptable ride. Bilstein tuned their B6 ISF dampers to work with stock springs and ride height. The coilovers in the car are the HKS Hipermax MAX IV GT with 16F and 10R kg/mm springs that are a lot firmer than the factory rate. For track work on smooth surfaces firm springs are seldom a problem providing they have quality damping. Aftermarket coilovers are designed to improve performance for track/racing applications. In general, they have the opposite effect when used on the road where the surface is less than perfect. I don't intend to track my car, so ultimate grip on a racetrack is not important to me, but ride quality on our substandard roads, is important. Cheers...

Yes, but I'm in New Zealand so the cost of shipping to the UK may be prohibitive. Cheers...

"Firmness" is a entirely subjective... a bit like Goldilocks and the bears beds :) What one person call "hard and crashy" another may call "firm and sporty". I've never had the opportunity to drive a low miles ISF with stock wheels, tyres and suspension, so I can't comment on that. But coming off a E92 msport that did have an acceptable firm and sporty ride, I just know what is currently on my ISF is not acceptable. So I am going to the opposite extreme to make the ride quieter, more compliant and better able to handle imperfections in the road surface. Cheers...

Placeholder for tyres Tyres are presently a bit of a problem. The sizes I need that will increase the sidewall height are not readily available, so further work required. The tyres will be selected to achieve the same diameter as the factory 19" tyre and wheel combination. Cheers...

Placeholder for wheels My intention is to replace the existing 19" wheels with custom 18" wheels with offsets that will bring the scrub radius back to where the factory intended it to be. I hope that they will be RS3 replicas as per this pic. Cheers...

Placeholder Rear discs are below minimum and front discs are getting close to minimum, so I have ordered a full set of new OEM Brembo discs and pads.

First lot of parts have arrived... Bilstein's build quality is superb. I shall be assembling them with the factory springs as I am quite happy for the car to ride at the factory ISF height. All new rubber bits have been ordered for the installation of the new shocks. Cheers...

Recently I became the proud owner of a 2008 ISF with nearly 200,000km on the clock. Previous owners had "upgraded" the car with HKS coilover suspension, wider WORK wheels with lower ET, and 35-series tyres in front and 30-series in back. As a result of these improvements the car rides like a dray with a full complement of thumps, rattles and bangs. Now, I am reliably informed that all early ISF's have a stiff "track orientated" ride and I should either harden up or go buy a LS or GS if I want a car with a decent ride. Convincing as these well considered and logical answers may be, they have not deterred me from embarking on a program of changes. By correcting some of the improvements that have been inflicted on this poor old workhorse, I hope that I can achieve a firm yet compliant ride worthy of the Lexus name. Bear in mind that I am not going to track this car, drag race, hill climb, tow a horse float, use it for an Uber or try and beat much newer high powered cars away from the lights. What I do want is a car that is a pleasure to drive, quiet, comfortable and responsive when required. Too much to ask ?? I intend to find out Cheers...

I never got to the discover the root cause of the noise, but I have a theory that it was possibly due to the tyre being under-inflated or slightly out of round. Road noise generated by tyres is partially caused by air being squeezed out of the tread when moving... similar to the way that water is expelled from the contact patch on a wet road. If you wanted to experiment you could try temporarily putting an extra 5psi in the front tyres to change the shape of the contact patch. Then drive over a piece of road where you usually notice the sound, and see if there is any change. Cheers...

May be irrelevant, but I did have a strange wah... wah... wah... wah... noise in my BM when I first got it. Was most noticeable when slowing under light braking when approaching an intersection, and could not really be heard at higher road speeds. I picked it as a bad wheel bearing and an experienced euro car mechanic that I took for a ride in the car tended to agree, although he did mention that it could be something to do with the tyres. While I was waiting for a set of (damn expensive) wheel bearing/hubs to arrive, I bought a second set of wheels for the car. And because they had better looking tyres on them, I swapped them onto the car. You guessed it... not only did the noise disappear, but the ride improved as well !!!! Cheap and nasty tyres were the problem. I still have those wheel bearings sitting in the garage to remind me to investigate properly before pulling the trigger on parts Cheers...

Not a plan. Doing a bit more checking and measuring, I can see that the combination of 9.5 rear wheel width, 38 offset and ride height meant that the PO could not fit anything wider than 265/30-19 tyres without rubbing. Coilovers are already set to maximum height and I'm not going to roll the guards. So I'll be looking for a new set of wheels with higher offset to move the wheels inwards a little. Cheers...

Big thanks to you sir :) Lexus isf stock ride height is : front 26.750(679.45mm) and rear 26.000(660.40mm) measuring from the ground up through the center of the wheel to the fender I had followed a link that took me to the complicated (but technically correct) method of checking ride height, but did not scroll backwards from that post, so missed the above gem. I'm 96.748% certain that I will go Bilsteins and 18" wheels to improve the ride quality. Also considering if I need the Swift lowering springs (similar rate to OEM) for looks. Cheers...

Wondering if anyone has tried these door rattle stoppers ? I have rattles that I can't pinpoint when encountering any kind of short sharp jolt. But I suspect that they may be caused by the door latch rattling on the catch. So I have ordered some of these and will see if they make any difference, but I won't have them for a couple of weeks. If you tried them... did they work ? Cheers...

I'm currently researching wheel/tyre/suspension combinations for my ISF but need a reference point. My car is on coilovers and aftermarket 19" wheels so I don't know how much lower it is from the factory wheels/tyres/suspension height . If there is someone who is still running the full factory setup, I would be most grateful if you could measure the ride height with the car parked on a level surface. If I could get a measurement from the ground to the top of the fender arch and a measurement from the ground to the hub centre for each wheel, that would be perfect :) Here are the measurements from my (lowered) car for comparison with a totally stock setup: FR 655/313, FL 660/313, RR 656/305, LR 650/305. Thanks in advance Cheers...

Been looking at wheels and doing a bit more research. Read that the ISF is prone to wearing the inside edge of tires when slammed. Mine is lowered (not exactly sure how much) and runs a little over 2deg of negative camber on the front, whereas I would normally be happy at about 1.5deg. The existing 19" wheels are sitting quite nice, so I'm thinking if I decide to go with 18's I would stick with the same widths and offsets, raise the car a little and step up to my currently preferred setup of 235 or 245/40 in front and 265 or 275/35 in back. One set of WORK replicas I quite like are shown in the pics attached. I believe they have exactly the same widths and offsets as the exiting 19's. With this setup the wheels would be a bit further away (down) from the guards, stand up a little straighter, and the sidewalls would be a fraction taller. Does this sound like a plan, or am I missing something ?? Cheers...

Reading what RR have to say on their website it seems that a fair chunk of the gains come from the tune. And the headers, intake, de-cat, exhaust etc each contribute a smaller amount to the total. Be a worthwhile investment for someone who actually pushes their car to the limit, but over the top for someone like me who has entered cruise mode Cheers...

Joined the discussion a bit late but interested There are two sets of headers pictured above, and they appear to be different. Is it just the way they are photographed ? And fitting these headers will eliminate the primary cats, hence a reference to needing the RR tune to suppress the resulting check engine light. There is also a reference to needing a high flow exhaust system to get the best out of the setup. The XFORCE catback exhaust system is available here for a reasonable price. It has twin 2.5" diameter pipes which I guess puts it in the right zone. Is anyone on this forum actually running the full RR package ? Would be nice to have a reference. Cheers...

Couldn't see any way to edit my last post, so this is just an after thought... looking back through the PO's notes I see this listed among the maintenance work that had been carried out "GSF/RCF Front LCA Bushings". Is it safe to assume that this will be adequate for normal road use ? Cheers...

Yes... my car has close to 200,00km and 15 years on rubber bushings and all moving parts, so I will be looking to see what needs refreshing in the suspension linkages. I'll also be looking at the HKS coilovers to see if they have a problem. The PO mistakenly ran them set at full hard from the time of installation, and that may have caused some damage. I have the OEM shocks assemblies, but given the criticism levelled at them back in 2008, I intend to install Bilsteins instead of reusing the OEM units. ubersonic I had to look up VDIM to see what that was Seems that keeping wheel speeds front and rear close to the same is likely the most important input. That is something I will keep in mind when I make a decision on tires. The combination that you suggested above would be OK by me... a bit more sidewall is good for comfort Cheers...

I sold my E92 335i before picking up the ISF. The cars are quite similar in size and weight, except the ISF has more weight up front. The E92 ran 225/40-18 and 255/35-18 and that worked quite well for "spirited" driving. I used that car for a few car club events, sealed hillclimbs and street sprints. But I don't plan using the ISF for any events, so maximum grip and handling is not a priority. My favoured tire is the Bridgestone RE003 and unfortunately they do not offer it any wider than 255 in 18" size. If they did I would go with 235 in front and 265 in back. When I get to the point of buying wheels and tires I will have a look at available offsets, rim widths and tire brands and choose whatever combination I hope will give acceptable handling and a quiet ride. I don't mind the stiffer suspension... that is something that goes with sportscar type handling. I just want to get rid of the clunks, bangs and rattles !!!!! Next move is to get the car up on ramps so that I can see if there is anything worn/loose/broken underneath that could be generating noise. Cheers...

Thanks for the pics... your car looks good on 18's. If you don't mind me asking, what size tires are you running, and what is your suspension setup ? Also, I haven't been able to find any fender arch to ground measurements for an ISF on OEM suspension. I'd like to be able to compare the height of my car with the factory stock height so that I can see where I might end up with Swift springs and 18" wheels. If you have any measurements that would be most helpful On 18's I would likely be running 225/40 on 8" rims in front and 255/35 on 9" rims in back. I suspect that the factory engineers knew what they were doing when they decided what wheels and tires they wanted on the car, so apart from a 1" downsize in diameter I would stay with the factory widths and aspect ratios. Cheers...

Thanks again Rich... I'm glad you got me thinking about this as I was getting locked in to some of the BS in outdated us forum threads. Got the car out and took a look at the clearance with the 19's and it looks to me that if the 18's have the same basic design, they should clear the Brembo's. If that's the case, as I should be able to pick up some 18's locally and 18" tires are way cheaper than 19's so I should be able to put some decent rubber on the car Here are a couple of pictures of the car and the Kiwami wheels (front one closeup).... Cheers...

That's the impression I gained from reading a few US based forums and looking at wheel manufacturers web sites. The issue that was quoted related to the "drop centre" type conventional 18's not having enough clearance for the Brembo calipers. To get clearance they recommend race type wheels with a plain straight barrel. HOWEVER <<<=== that's a big however I have limited faith in some of the information posted on US forums, so I am in the process of generating some hard facts for myself. I have bought a set of used 18" IS350 wheels so that I can check the clearance required myself. These are not supposed to fit over the Brembo's. Once that is done I will be visiting a local tire shop to see how the current crop of 18" mag wheels are designed, and do some measuring. If I can get off the shelf mags that fit then forget the requirement for forged racing wheels... I don't need the expense !!! Cheers...