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Shocking roads spoil the Lexus experience


Pete99
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I bought my first Lexus in 2014 having previously owned a Saab 95 for over 10 years. I am very pleased with the car with one exception - the ride quality is a lot firmer and the majority of roads do not offer a smooth driving surface. Does anyone else share my frustration and have any ideas to improve the comfort level. I have considered changing from 17" to16" wheels with Michelin Cross Climate tyres but am not sure what effect this would have on performance or what would be the best wheels to change to. Any thoughts would be welcome as I was planning on keeping the car for a number of years.

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Hi Pete and welcome to the lexus owners club 😀 

I'm rather surprised you find your lexus to be a firm ride on 17" wheels. My previous is220d had 17" fitted and I found it to extremely comfortable and soaked up the bumps really well despite the poor state of our roads today.

I have the 18" wheels fitted as standard to my current f-sport and despite it being noticeably firmer I still find it really comfy.

Fitting 16" wheels should improve things but in my opinion look to small for the car. I also believe smaller wheels give slightly better acceleration too.

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A little Ironic that I should post a topic relating to my Advance 450h about 2 hours ago in that the coil spring in the drivers side rear suspension has broken (probably on a speed hump) and I was asking members if they knew of a replacement shock absorber as I find the ride in this vehicle is far to firm so goodness knows what the F Sport 450h model is like

To be fair tho' .. this car has given 2 years service and been utterly and boringly reliable .. !!

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4 hours ago, Pete99 said:

I bought my first Lexus in 2014 having previously owned a Saab 95 for over 10 years. I am very pleased with the car with one exception - the ride quality is a lot firmer and the majority of roads do not offer a smooth driving surface.

I've had 2 Saab 9-5s, the second one was an Aero which I put 100,000 miles on, I must say that I find the ride in the Lexus only marginally firmer than the Saab, its not as quite as quiet, but handles much better.  Now I did have a Honda CRV for 8 years, so its a while since my last Saab, but I see my Lexus as the perfect substitute for a Saab.

The only thing I would like is maybe for quieter tyres, I know I had various tyres on my Aero and there was a vast difference in road noise.  Maybe the road noise is more noticeable here because the hybrid engine is so quiet except when driven enthusiastically.

I've only had my IS for 2 months, but must say I'm loving it.

 

Vince

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5 hours ago, Pete99 said:

I bought my first Lexus in 2014 having previously owned a Saab 95 for over 10 years. I am very pleased with the car with one exception - the ride quality is a lot firmer and the majority of roads do not offer a smooth driving surface. Does anyone else share my frustration and have any ideas to improve the comfort level. I have considered changing from 17" to16" wheels with Michelin Cross Climate tyres but am not sure what effect this would have on performance or what would be the best wheels to change to. Any thoughts would be welcome as I was planning on keeping the car for a number of years.

I dont think the 17" to 16" size difference would make much difference at all.

I find the IS relatively smooth compared to other offerings on the market

I just bought my son a 2008 VW Golf which has a similiar ride to the IS despite running on 16" wheels and 55 profile tyres. 

If you want a smoother ride, there's only 2 options as far as I am concerned - 

1) upgrade to a GS/LS

2) Buy something older as they usually tend to compromise more on handling for a smoother ride. Bar from cars with air suspension, new vehicles are more tuned towards handling, stability and safety rather than outright ride quality.

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