TK Chan
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Posts posted by TK Chan
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Remember the cars no longer have front or rear camber adjusters fitted. So the alteration in the camber position is a done deal so to speak.
With Tango's car i was able to catalogue various front/rear toe positions. With this data we established a suitable calibration... So far all is well.
This data i could make available to you for free providing as it stays out of the public gaze. I hope you understand that since the UK IS250 is showing distress from the stock settings then i am no longer prepared to calculate a new calibration and release this for free like wim did for the IS200/300/sc....
Tony, could you please send me the data via personal message and thanks in advance. I understand that these data are strictly for my personal use.
TK
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Very nice... You really have caught the modification bug!!!.... Was this mod only for the front?
Yes, that is only for the front. I may go for the exhaust pipes as my next modification but that is not urgent at all :worried_anim: .
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Last month I have the IS250 front brake unit changed to the bigger one used in the IS350. It fits with no modification and is a direct bolt on job. Very subtle change in appearance unless directly compared. Braking power is much improved but no adrupt jerking and is actually smoother than the original unit. Here are some pictures:
The four port caliper
The original 298mm disc on the left, the new 330mm disc on the right
The new brake unit in place
The original brake unit behind the wheel
The new brake unit behind the wheel
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Nice looking wheels. There will be further settling of the springs but not too much, certainly not as much as the US spec Eibach. My experience of ride quality is plus and minus. Better cornering response and reasonably comfortable on tamac but much more bumpy on uneven surface. Tyre noise is also much increased. I think this is normal with stiffer springs. I am thinking of changing the dampers latter on but this time will need some research to locate the right type. May be eventually a new set of coilover.
I have done the geometry calibration after 1000 km but I don't think the workshop has done a good job because I noticed that they used the data from the IS 200 (which I saw from the computer screen) for reference. They said my car's toe angle was slightly off and has been adjusted. Honestly I don't quite feel any improvement after adjustment, and even feeling a bit nervous for turning left. I will probably go to Lexus and ask if they can do the calibration. I certainly trust that they have the official IS250 data but whether they will perform the calibration on cars fitted with after market components is another matter.
Any advice from Tony?
TK Chan
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Hi, Tony,
Long time no see
I have been to Japan for the Sakura blossoms 
- actually a photographic workshop. I am still busy with the multi gigabytes of images pending to be processed. About the IS250, yes, the drop has been settled, I presumed. I have only run it for a few hundred miles since then but I guess after more than a month since installation, the springs should have found their "weight". From outer appearance, the drop was not as obvious, or as good looking as Tango's, but I am content with the ride quality. Afterall, I am no street racer so the mild drop may just fit my style
. I have been discussing with Tango about changing the front disc brake unit to a bigger size one - 330mm with 4 port caliper, actually the stock IS350 disc unit. I am still undecided. I will have the car's geometry calibrated next week when I take it to either change the brakes or the exhaust pipes.
TK Chan
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I am going to buy some new 18" ASA W21 Rims. The sizes available in staggered are 8J +et35 and 9J +et38. which are the ones recommended as a fit for my car.
The problem is the seller is telling me I need 255/35/18 on the rear, as it wont fit a 255/40/18. (fitting a 225/40/18 on the front).
With a tyre calculator comparing to my current OEM 17" I have worked out that the front will be 0.46% larger circumference which is nominal really, but with the tyre they recommend for the rear will be -2.54% smaller circumference, whereas the 40 profile is 1.36% bigger.
They said I can have the 40 at my own risk as the 40 is 8.5J oem fit only, but why? what is the problem, with the offset and tyre size is there a chance that it will hit the arch? The offset increases the distance from the hub by 18mm on the rear and moves the wheel outwards by 10mm on the front.
I am also lowering the car onto Eibach euro spec (25-30mm drop) springs.
Do you think are they right, or should I be looking elsewhere for my new rims?
I may like to add my comments: The 255x35x18 will give you better acceleration response while the 255x40x18 will cause you acceleration lag. The 255x40x18 however will reward you with a handsome look after Eibach drop but the 255x35x18 will still leave you a noticeable gap after the drop. The call is yours. Why not get the 8.5J to fit the narrower thread of 245 or better still 235. My setup is 225x40x18 et35 for front and 235x40x18 et29 for rear. Acceleration is definitely better than oem. I found this tyre calculator pretty cool.
TK Chan
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i suppose you could do it in photoshop, but that costs enough itself. I only have the 350d so spending 2 x what it cost on a nice L lens for taking photos at the hill climb is pretty expensive, lol. I'll have to stick to my £119 lens for now.The next hill climb is next month. I have a spare seat if you are coming up on the train Tony
.The 350D and the kit lens is a very good combo for a lot of shooting. Actually I use a G7 for casual shooting. You don't need the L lens unless you have the 5D which is a full frame and needs that extra resolution. The weight of those L lenses is a burden for travelling.
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Lenses are too expensive, .
The German glass is quite expensive but the Japanese ones are reasonable. Their 2nd hand value is much better than cars so in the end you don't lose much after a few years use. With the digital camera, you don't really need to get the expensive lenses because nearly everything can be simulated in photoshop.
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How do you keep that car so clean and shiny?
Have to agree with Tango those other photos are stunning
Thanks ER, may be it was due to the high reflective of the dark colour.
I wash it every 3 or 4 days with water. Photography is my other serious hobby.
...and you like your sounds too I understand
, you must have the Mark Levinson System in the car?No
I kind of like to have no distraction while driving. My wife would listen to the radio but I always switch off the sound when driving alone. I like to keep the good sound at home. -
TK,
Just by eye, and probably not very reliable, but it looks as if your car should settle a little more both front and rear. Good idea to take those photographs, makes me wish I had taken similar and we could have had a visual comparison between the Eibach UK and US spec springs. Unfortunately when we fitted the springs I had forgotten to ensure I had a memory stick as well as the camera
and when we thought to record the event with Tony's the job was finished and the car on the lift. Tango,
You are right. The car has settled more after 2 days, especially the front. With more settlement, it seems the ride is not as comfortable as the day before, kind of harder ride on bumpy surface and there is a slight understeer.
I took these pictures today:
TK
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How do you keep that car so clean and shiny?
Have to agree with Tango those other photos are stunning
Thanks ER, may be it was due to the high reflective of the dark colour.
I wash it every 3 or 4 days with water. Photography is my other serious hobby.
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All those photo's are superb. I've not visited China yet but after seeing your photo's I am very, very tempted. What camera(s) do you use?
Tango, let me know if you want to have a photo adventure in China. Tibet is the must go place at least once in a life time. I use the heavy stuff from Canon - 1Ds Mk 2 and mainly 3 zoom lenses. Prior to turning digital I use Leica.
TK
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Tango, thanks for dropping by my gallery but it is far from finish yet. Just got too busy and too lazy at all times.
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Looks stunning Make sure we get all the images in time. The height will definitely drop more over a few hundred miles. Tango's car was an exception probably due to the US rating... whereas normally the UK marketed Eibach has an initial drop but needs to settle to fully comply with the lowering percentage.
With Tango we had the opportunity to immediately recover the Geometry, which i measured before and after the coil installation. I can assure you the fitting violated the Geometry positions.... After 1000 miles i recovered the Geometry again due to the continued settling.. So at the moment your positions must be wrong! I feel once this is set then the handling will improve way beyond expectations.
If you missed it here is a thread where the owner had handling issues on a stock IS250.. the problems were minute amounts of toe front and rear but nevertheless detectable to the owner...... Have a read.
Tony, I have sorted out 34 images, do you want me to post them all here? They are of size 500x375. I think you're spot on regarding the wrong geometry as I experience some slight uneasiness in initial turning, kind of slight understeer. I think that has to do with the negative toe after lowering.
Tango, that is a very nice comparison of your car and mine. I look at my car this morning and it seems to have slightly settled more, or could be my eyes
. Will take more pictures. -
Looking very good :rolleyes_anim:
Surprising how dropping it even 30mm can make all the difference. I've recently dropped mine on Eibach springs, very impressed so far
Yes, that is quite unexpected. I had done a drop on my previous Mit VRM and that caused a lot of complaints from my wife for the 'hard' ride. Eventually I had to switch back to stock springs. I think Eibach must have done it right.
Did you experience any further spring settlement since installation? Any geometry adjustment since then?
TK Chan
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Tony,
Here is the result:
From the pictures, the drop isn't significant. By actual measurement, the drop is about 30mm all round as per Eibach's specification. Before, it was about 4 fingers's width between the fender and the tyre surface and now the width has reduced to 2 fingers. From Tango's experience, the springs will drop further after a few weeks ride. But then his set is US spec and I don't know if my set of UK spec will react the same :rolleyes_anim: .
The diameter of the stock spring coil is about 10mm while the the Eibach coil is 1mm thicker. The stock set has 6 coils in the front and 7 in the rear whereas the Eibach set has one more coil for the front and rear. Here is a picture of the front coil for comparsion:
Now about the ride quality after the drop, I have to say I couldn't be happier. The ride is actually more comfortable than the stock suspension with much easier ride over portholes, drainage covers, bumps, etc. The tyre noise is also reduced. I didn't notice a big difference with cornering but then I haven't push hard yet. I did feel more grip with less side rolling on continuous S bands. What amazed me most is that the car seems to be boosted with more hp which gives a much better response in acceralation. I don't know about the physics of it but definitely I am happy with the overall ride quality.
I couldn't do a good picturial series of the replacement operation because the garage shop is quite narrow and they just raised the car on floor jacks to do the work:
I did take quite a few pictures and I will post some more after sorting them out in order.
There was no geometry adjustment done after the spring replacement. When test driving the car, the technican said there is a slight left turning tendancy. They said the toe adjustment will be done after 2 or 3 weeks when the springs are settled.
TK Chan
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I saw the Toms in the US and preferred the OEM. Also fitting the OEM bodykit to a relatively new car minimises depreciation and can help sell the car, if and whenever I may sell it, whereas people are often wary of non-standard parts that aren't a factory option.
I have seen both the IS-F and the LF-A when they were exhibited at the Houston, Texas Auto Show a few months ago. The IS-F looks, in my opinion, very odd with the bulbous bonnet and side vents that look like a bolt on part from some accessory shop. The quad pipes also look peculiar, and the IS-F logos are sprinkled around the bodywork and interior without too much thought. I don't think I'll be replacing my car for one anyway, although if Lexus brought the IS350 to the UK I wouldn't hesitate...I've driven a couple in the US and the power is more than adequte.
Tango,
Thanks for your advice. You've cleared my troubled mind regarding the body kit.
I agree entirely with your comments on the IS-F styling. Hope Lexus give a better thought to the production model. We don't have official import of the IS350 either. I've heard that parallel import puts it at a price tag of GBP40000+. However, I would anytime choose a new 3 series BMW with that lot of money.
TK
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Here is the owners report back to wim
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Tony - thanks for your help last week.
I promised you an email when I had driven the car for a few days, to
report on any changes noticed.
I think I can safely say that the steering problems have been corrected.
The central vagueness and the tendency to drift gently to the right have
gone.
The steering centres readily and the car holds a straight line "hands
off" in a way that it would not do previously.
It's amazing that such small adjustments should make so much difference.
Best wishes
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I am very pleased for the owner but also worried for owners since the correction was so small yet so detectable to the driver.. To my knowledge the IS250 has EPS and centre weighting on the steering, seemingly this was not central generating the distress.
Tony,
Thanks for your insight. I am quite surprised that such an issue could surface so soon with such a new car. From the picture of your customer's IS 250 it is a stock deluxe package with everything pretty much standard from the factory. I presume there is no modification to its configuration. If this "dead zone" phenomenon is a manufacturing defect, then there should be a lot of owners/drivers experiencing the issue already. I don't know if I have read enough of the forum messages to notice that such issue has ever been discussed. Another scenario could be that your customer's IS250 might just be a bad copy out of the manufacturing batch. BTW, have you driven the car before the problem was corrected and how did it feel? Was the problem easily detectable by the average driver?
As I have changed the stock wheels and going to have the chassis lowered, I will lose factory warranty for those components. That is indeed a concern if any related manufacturing defect is detected subsequently.
TK
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TK,
Not sure whether the air flow theory is correct as the fins are enclosed by the grill surround so the air isn't channeled anywhere. I was thinking of something similar (if not the part) from the IS-F..see below
Tango,
That IS-F grill is cool. If the part fits the IS 250 then it's perfect otherwise you have to manufacture your own
. BTW, what do you think of the Tom's racing body kit I mentioned earlier. We have only the OEM and Tom's racing body kit available and I am 60% towards the OEM. I am not entirely appreciative of the IS-F styling. The raised hood to accommodate that massive engine does not look good to me and takes away the balance of the sleek body styling.
TK
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............ Also looking to change the grill, but haven't found any expanded steel mesh that would suit (so far) :rolleyes_anim:
Tango,
Would like to advise you to have a second thought as to changing the grill. May be you know already, that grill is a closed grill and its function besides carrying its unique styling, is one of aerodynamic related. The fins in the grill are designed (don't know if by coincidence or purposely) to divert the frontal air flow to drift smoothly across the bonnet. If the grill is replaced with wire mesh, that bit of aerodynamic is lost plus it will cause unnecessary air turbulance inside the engine compartment. I come across an aftermarket grill mess though looks good alone yet terribly ugly when installed.
TK Chan
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Tango and other IS 250 owners,
How do you like the body kit by Tom's racing:
http://www.tomsracing.co.jp/e/comp/lexus/is45/photo.html
The lip spoiler seems a bit subtle, I means less "agressive" than the OEM's but the rear bumper spoiler is quite good. They have just released the boot spoiler but I think the OEM one (the one Tango's 250) looks better.
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Well, it means brake dust is an universal issue.
However, strange enough I did not see that much of a problem with the BMW and Benz parked nearby. -
Indeed.. I actually contacted the customer and explained the corrections will be very small shall we continue? He said yes! The reason is that the chassis is so new no real analysis is available weather the correction will correct the complaint. I did pull your file and some interesting similarities were evident, i await the customer feed-back to conclude our calibration analysis.
Thanks Tony for bringing this to our attention. My IS 250 has only logged 1600 km so far as it is for casual ride. Does this mean the problem has not surfaced yet?
To be honest, I do not fully comprehend this problem of "Dead Zone" and how will it behave in action. 
Could you elaborate a bit more. It does not seem to attract any similar report either from the US or the other Lexus IS2 clubs.
Lexus IS220D on UK Eibach springs
in Suspension
Posted
Thanks and surely I will keep the data to myself.