Well anyways, i'm looking for suspension upgrades. it seems like everyone is running Fig's, Serial Nine, Megans, or Battle Versions.
Well anyways, Is there any inner tie rod that would be beefier than the stock one so i can replace mine than going get them over seas. My IS300 build going to be for occasional road racing while my track car is going through a engine overhaul. I'm looking at different options along the way so i can suit my needs for road race.
Also, I've seen Japanese suspension upgrades where the heim or ball joints are protected with rubber boots even if they are self lube. Is there a preference in the US?
Is there anyone using Japanese brands of suspension who can give a good feedback how their IS300 responds when cornering or for road race? include corner balancing details of how suspension responds.
Typically you go FIGS if you care about quality, Megan or others if you want to go cheap.
Coilovers are tough on this car, since so few people are tracking them seriously. The motion ratio of the IS is totally wacky, which means you need very very stiff springs to get the car to have any kind of roll stiffness. 14k front is the absolute lowest I'd use on track, and that would be with crappy all-season tires. For a 200TW or better, I'd go no softer than 18k, preferably even stiffer. There is basically nothing on the market off the shelf that goes that stiff, so your options are to find some old Japanese race-spec coilovers that were close to that range (Tein had some about a decade ago), get some custom made from someone like Fortune Auto or Feals, OOOOR, wait about a month and go for the set of Gears Racing coilovers that I'm helping to develop for track and race use
I'm actually been here since 2013 just that i troll more than say anything. I've already got Coilovers and some FIG parts but i'm thinking of leaning towards Ikeya Formula, ZSS, Kazama, or KTS parts other suspension parts as cost is almost the same or slightly less.
What about those brands makes you want to use them over what's available here? I've never heard of any of them, but then I'm pretty new to Lexuseseses. Are they shocks, or other components?
Back in the day, the shop I worked at ran their One-Lap of america Supra and One-Lap IS300 with just HKS coils... they are super light, half the weight of stock, come pre-adjusted, and were great on the street as well... but I bought the latest generation ones for my IS and IMO the newer stuff has gone too luxury as far as the IS concerned. And on top of that, the newer part number is basically for the RHD, meaning the preset adjustments are backwards for LHD (weight of driver on wrong side).
There is a lot effort to convince people of 'magic and unicorns' behind certain brands, but the best setup will be picking any reasonable brand of coilover and then just customizing spring rates according the compromises that suit your goals. i.e. a set up comes with stiffer springs, will likely have improved turn-in and reduce roll angle of the car compared to a brand with super soft spring rates. Also, if you are going to have crap tons of power, personally I think the standard spring rate offerings don't make any sense. If the car is going to be similar power to stock, there are a ton to choose from.
As for the joints, I've read several posts over the years that I've been on this forum regarding quality parts on here that have joint failures on the exposed heim joints. if the joint is protected/self-lube, yadaad, personally I would be more interested.
It's a fairly common MR for cars with A-Arms. Civic and Accord front suspensions from the 90's are very similar. Other than the fact the IS is heavier, I'd be looking at what the honda challenge guys do for setup because of the similar front suspension.
Also have to consider the location of the center of gravity and the roll center.
FWIW, the IS has a motion ratio of approximately 0.5. The NA and NB Miata (also twin A arm) are at about 0.7. That's a huge difference.
**Actually I just did some googling. Looks like the S2000 is right at 0.7, and the EK Civic is about 0.75. That seems to be the most common MR for a dual arm setup. This 0.5 business that Toyota gave us is a bit of a hassle.
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