michaelmcclay123456

Hey, I'm sure there's a thread around that has similar information, but that's a lot of digging for quick off hand knowledge.
Anyway as the title says I have autox questions. I went to my first autox last weekend and I got blown out of the water by a 2001 Lexus is350 with a lowering kit. I have I/E/flywheel/tower strut and manual btw. As it would seem suspension is a good idea for what I want to do. So my question is springs or coilovers? I'm torn. I feel like the lowering springs would only lower the car, but would help body roll as much where pas I feel that coilovers are stiffer and would be more beneficial, however they are significantly more.
Any help please

ashtc2

Get coilovers for the adjustability of dampening. You'll try different setups until you find a setting that works for you.

probedya

You would benefit more from a rear sway upgrade and ingalls trunk brace. IS350 didn't come along till like 05 or 06. 300 hp. Seat time helps a great deal also.

Taintstick

its all about personal preference and how much $ your willing to spend...a good understanding of suspension geometry would be very beneficial as well...ill start with lowering, with the way our cars are setup you could make handling worse if you lower beyond 1.5in...lower than 1.5in throws off the geometry and as far as i know at this point nobody makes RCA's (roll center adjusters) for our cars to bring the geometry back into spec...depending on how much you know coilovers may not be the best choice, i dont understand all the different adjustments that comes with good coilovers, if your like me maybe just a set of trd struts and springs would be better they are not adjustable all you do is bolt and drive...you will lower about 1.25in on trd struts and springs i think they are around 700 to 800$...with all that being said there are still IMO better mods to do first as well as being cheaper...sway bars front and rear 300-500, ignalls rear trunk brace which are still on sale for 90$ on the ignalls site (good buy), TB performace make underbody chassis strengtheners which have good reviews $200, myself and colonelsanders think they make a good point and they would be beneficial neither one of us bought them yet...

michaelmcclay123456

It's an is300 my bad.
I want to keep the back seats of my car useful though, so I would like to not have a bar running across the back.
How easy is it to adjust dampening force on coilovers? Also I feel like I need more knowledge about how to corolate dampening and rebound forces.
What if I just got lowering springs and not the dampers? There was another tc there who had supposedly only done I/E and suspension (coilovers) and his car was slammed. His best was 67.something and I was at 74.5-75.
I'm planning on weighing the gains for the price, I'm not just going to buy coilovers bc they're the best. I know I have a slow car, so I'm not going to drop huge amounts of money just bc.
I mean I can save up if coilovers are just sooooo much better. But I was hoping I could get some qualitative data on how just springs perform. On the same note does just lowering springs affect the dampening/rebound rate of the dampers?
Sorry if I'm asking to many questions or getting to technical, but I want to spend smart money

atomsk

you better decide what class you want to be in before you start making all of these improvements.

ashtc2

Street Touring FWD is where a tc is most competitive. Its what I race. Usually uncontested though

michaelmcclay123456

That's what I'm in currently. At the autox I was at the other tc was STX. He was competitive in his class.
Any suspension mods will put me in STX now, and I'm not going to class out with coilovers.
I mean yes I like to be competitive, but for me it's really just about beating my friends reguardless of class.

ashtc2

STF allows any suspension mods including coilovers. I run the Tein Super Street coilovers.

michaelmcclay123456

Yeah, I just read all the rules. So many clauses!!!!

pinoyFMtC

I ran STF for 3 years in mine. Its a decently competitive car in STF. Tires are the most important thing. In STF they have to be street tires Dunlop Z2, Bridgestone RE-11A, Hankook RS3, BFG Rival, etc. they don't make great street tires, dont last very long, can't drive them in the snow AT ALL but they make a HUGE difference. Front camber helps along with camber bolts (I ran -2 degrees and zero toe. A rear sway bar makes a big difference too. The car under steers a lot without it, as many FWD cars do. I ran aftermarket shocks and lowering springs, it'll be better than slammed coil overs with improper damping, many of the cheaper ones have poor damping. Springs will be better paired with a good shock. If you go coils, make sure they have decent damping and don't go too low. Teins like stated above are a decent value. Like stated above, lowering more than 1.5 below stock and suspension geometry issues arise. I don't think strut bars/braces have a lot of benefit in my experience.

Are you new to auto-x? The thing that made me much faster was seat time. You gain the most time from learning and developing driving skill. I was really slow when I first started, embarrassingly slow lol. I did lots of events and improved. You'll be much faster improving driving first, then mod the car when you can drive it to its potential. That's what I've learned in my 4 years of auto-x. Also, you start to learn which mods will fit your driving style best. I think your mods are legal in STF, but I have no idea about the flywheel. Good luck man! Stick with it, it's a great sport.