95 Ls400 Rear Camber & Toe After Lowering?

[gmacrae]

Hi guys. My LS400 is sitting quite low on Tein springs and new kyb shocks. My alignment guy says the front's ok but he's run out of adjustment on the rear and cant adjust the camber or toe to where it should be. There is too much negative camber and toe out. Both the camber arm and toe arm are adjusted as far as the cams will go.

We have an idea to effectively shorten the length of the camber arm (safely), but the more you bring the bottom of the wheel in, the more the toe arm pushes the front of the wheel out. So we've come to the conclusion that the best solution is a slightly shorter or adjustable toe arm.

Has anyone dealt with this problem before? I'm betting there is a replacement toyota toe arm that has 5mm(ish) less length. This, plus the minor mods i'll do to the camber arm will solve the problem completely. The car likely has similar suspension design to a bunch of late model toyota/lexus cars (im thinking IS/altezza, supra, GS/aristo etc).

I know there are plenty of lowered LS400's out there these days, more so the mk1 shape but still, has anyone come up with a solution?

Cheers for any input

Gene

[Mr.Phreak]

I know there are plenty of lowered LS400's out there these days, more so the mk1 shape but still, has anyone come up with a solution?

Only "solution" I've seen is buy more tyres

Could try looking on Club Lexus, as there are quite a few that are scraping on the ground over there

[gmacrae]

hehe yea, most people seem pretty happy to put up with it, but its making the car drive a bit shit, the rear toe out seems to make it track and twitch with the road pretty bad. I might measure the toe arm and go hunting around some wreckers to check for compatible ones.

Does anyone know a way of checking for a compatible (shorter) part among toyota's stock? Is there a place in the country that might have someone cabable of checking/measuring a few different parts from different cars?

Cheers lads

[Mr Revhead]

have you double checked they are the right springs?
TEIN are pretty good with their products working.... any special notes in the instructions?
it would be very unusual for the TEIN springs to need anything like you are talking about

[Mr.Phreak]

How are your LCA and UCA bushes btw??

[gmacrae]

have you double checked they are the right springs?
TEIN are pretty good with their products working.... any special notes in the instructions?
it would be very unusual for the TEIN springs to need anything like you are talking about

...oh yea tein are great, but with an extra coil cut off and the shocks shortened 30mm we are pushing it a little bit

With that said, its not ridiculously low at all. The tyre tread is about 5mm above the guard lip. The tein springs sat the front at a nice height, but the rear didnt drop much at all, i guess partly because of the lack of adjustability in the arms, partly because they want them to stay captive. But it did look a bit silly with a 60mm drop in the front, and a 20mm drop in the rear. Plus the rear springrate was too cushy compared to the front, lopping another coil (and a bit) off has made it just right.

I've been told by a guy with a LS430 that toyota make different length camber arms, and the camber/toe issue seems to be a pretty common problem, even on cars that havent been lowered. The factory alignment calls for quite a bit of toe out and negative camber aparently - weird.

Ill have a yak to somone at toyota today and see if they can get me shorter arms, otherwise ill have to hunt down some offset bushes... any idea where?

[gmacrae]

How are your LCA and UCA bushes btw??

To be honest, not too sure, the car's just ticked over 190kms so i guess they could be a bit sloppy. Are there kits available for ls400s?

[Mr.Phreak]

I would imagine so, just know of guys who were having problems with their alignment not having enough adjustment that was actually shagged bushes in Soarers

I may be barking up the wrong tree anyway

[Mr Revhead]

ah i see!

yeah there are some cars that TEIN do that with, as they have decided that you cant go any lower without issues.

as i suspected we dont list any rear camber kits or anything with adjustment

[gmacrae]

Now im trying to find a comprehensive urethane bush kit for the car... what a frikkin mission! There are a couple of bushes listed here and there, but i cant find any for the rear UCA's, which im hoping is part of the problem, and the ones i can find are DAMN pricey (www.l-tunedparts.com).

Nobody know of a good nz/aus lexus bush supplier?

[Mr.Phreak]

Only ones I know of are Andrew's, but they're original spec not urethane, as most people don't want the added NVH associated with them.

And again, they're pricey

Daizen were working on a kit, but god knows if they're complete yet, and dunno if there are any local stockists

[gmacrae]

Only ones I know of are Andrew's, but they're original spec not urethane, as most people don't want the added NVH associated with them.

And again, they're pricey

Daizen were working on a kit, but god knows if they're complete yet, and dunno if there are any local stockists

Andrews? hmmmm to be honest, i'd prefer rubber bushes if they're available - i googled andrews, couldnt find them, the in NZ?

[Mr.Phreak]

Nah, he's an Aussie, Andrew Vlamos. Operates under VFT Bushes, supplied a lot of the Soarer/Celsior bushes before Toyota decided to stock them

Can't remember if he does both UCF1x and UCF2x, but I'm sure he'll soon tell you.

[gmacrae]

ah yea funny, i just emailed him, there was a mention of him at lextreme, we'll see what he says.

Cheers

Gene

[gmacrae]

well, i ordered new upper control arms from toyota, Rory at rutherford and bond, seems to have given a sharp deal (warwick must have taught him well ) - about $900 for all 4 arms, next ill get lower arm bushes from Andrew/VFT, another few hundred bucks. Ahh well, aparently it'll make a massive difference and i plan to keep the car for a while. So sick of it tramlining and chewing the shit outta tyres

[Mr Revhead]

he prob desperate for sales to reach this months target