I owned a LS400 from new for twelve years and found it an excellent car in all respects.
I recently acquired a 2002 LS430 from a main dealer with 27000 miles on the clock.
I find the ride very hard and noisy. The car has nearly new 225/55/17 tyres as originally fitted.
Switching from normal to high suspension doesn't appear to make any difference at all.

Can anyone help please ??
John L

Hi and Welcome to LOC John

Great Cars the LS range!!

What tyre pressures are you running on the car? That could be some of the problem,also the older LS range used a higher profile tyre up against the newer LS range that could be why the ride feels more harsh.From what ive read the early LS range also had softer suspension.

Sounds like your car has the air suspension,if youve not had the car that long why not take it back to the dealers and let them have a quick look/ride and check it over for peace of mind.

Hope all goes well and let us know how you get on.

Cheers chips..

Hi John,
A very simple quick cure, I'll swop you for my '98 400!
I expect not to hear.
Best regards, hope you get it sorted.
Chris Vince

Hey! You beat me to it, Mr V!!! Was just thinking the same thing! Hope he fancies a nice metallic maroon one; just turned the 75 K mile corner!

You will find the 430 a lot harder than the 400 - I had 3 400s and they were all great. I have had a 430 from new for 4.5 years and done 100K in it and it has been awesome. You will find the performance pack suspension hard - it is the way of modern cars. The compensation is awesome cornering performance. The car may feel a bit hard and noisey but get in a regular crap box that other people drive and you will love your 430. Don't be tempted to drop the tyre presseures to soften the ride you will wreck your rubber (I did by mistake).

Thanks.

The dealer has changed the suspension sensors but this hasn't helped the ride much.
I am considering fitting 16in wheels with 225/60R16 tyres for a softer ride. I am not much into fast cornering nowdays!.
Anyone experience of fitting 16 in wheels (as was standard in USA ) and if so where can they be bought. I gather the large brake calipers are a prob;em in fitting non OEM wheels.

John L

This sounds a bit off the wall, but I've just bought a device called a CG Lock which could be of interest to you.

Basically it allows you to tighten the lap belt and lock it in place to keep you firmly in the seat (bringing similar benefits to a harness). It's touted as mainly a performance accessory, but I've found that it has drastically improved my perception of the ride of my car, a LS400 with the Dynamic Handling Pack (17's and lowered springs).

I was annoyed as I found the ride a bit harsh, been using this for a couple of days and I'm very pleased - I feel really planted in the seat and much more settled and I am feeling a lot more comfortable.

It's under £50 and has a full money back garantee, so could be worth a try. The link is here if you are interested:

http://www.cg-lock.co.uk/

The site says it's not suitable for our type of seat buckle, but after I enquired I found that it will fit and work fine, just has to be reversed when fitted so the logo points towards the seat.

Very many thanks to all who replied to my original query about the suspension on my 2002 LS430.
After a great deal of investigation I discovered that the sensors were faulty and these were replaced under warranty, The ride was better but still noisy and very firm compared with my LS400.
I then eventually found that I could buy some OEM 16in rims from the USA. An excellent company called "LA wheels and tires". The service etc from them was first class.
I had Dunlop Sport 01 225.60R16W tyres fitted on these rims and it has made a tremendous improvement to the comfort.
Lexus GB gave me some ***** and bull story about these wheels not being suitable for UK roads bacause the are different to roads in the USA. I am told that the real reason is that they designed the brake calipers too big and normal 16 in alloys will not fit. They had to have the 16in wheels specially made and decided not to bother on cars coming to the UK because of the expense.
I think there is now a good chance that my wife will let me get rid of our super LS400!!!

Thanks
Jacko99

Drip, drip......that's the sound of the two Chris's, Vince and Skelton, not having swapped our Ser 4s for your 430!
Good to hear you found your own way around the straight-line thinking of Lex UK.