Rear Shocks

[kev dood]

Hi,

I need to change my rear shocks at some point.

After speaking to a very nice man at Lexus Poole, he informed me that for my car (Jan 2001 X-reg) the correct part was 48530-59375 but this has now been superceeded by 48530-80156.

My question is, I know there are various other versions of the shock (eg 48530-80163) etc which I think are for 2001? onwards cars, therefore whats the difference and what have other people done?

Plus, if I buy KYB shocks from online, are there any subtle differences in whats available to match the above differences or doesn't it matter? BuyPartsBy show code 341262/262 for the IS200 only - these are gas shocks - is this what the standard ones are?

Plus, after changing (rears), will it knock the wheel alignment out at all?

[dazz32]

The KYB shocks that are on "Buypartsonline" are either standard ones ( oil filled ) Excel-G (gas and oil filled )( i have these fitted ) and also they do adjustable shocks...the standard lexus shocks are OIL filled only.....hope that helps you. :)

[Steviewevie]

The standard OEM Lexus shocks are gas-filled, not just oil-filled. At least, that's what the original spec says and I don't have any reason to disbelieve that.

[kev dood]

So which are the KYB replacements then? Seeing as they made the orig.

[Steviewevie]

edeath reported that when WIM changed his OEM shocks for KYB Excel-G shocks, they said that the new ones (KYB) were identical to the old OEM ones that they were taking off.

[kev dood]

Do you know what model year his car is?

I have been digging through the IS manual and it seems that pre 2001.7 the shocks were oil filled and post this, they were oil and gas.

This would explain why there are a few different part numbers around for the shocks.

I wonder if you can fit later ones to the earlier cars and what affect it would have? I am sure they would fit, but what else in the suspension system/geometry was changed because of the different characteristics?

[Steviewevie]

Do you know what model year his car is?

X reg I think.

I have been digging through the IS manual and it seems that pre 2001.7 the shocks were oil filled and post this, they were oil and gas.

Do you have a reference for that ? According to section 7 of this they were gas-filled from the start.

[kev dood]

Ah, could be same section. Was looking through the New Car Features bit for the first models and the 2001.7. But think I skipped over the bit where it says about the Shock type (sect.7 of front suspension).

I sort of assumed that the front shocks might have been this, but the rears were different, as the 2001.7 new features section showed a different shock.

But looking at it closer, it seems they have just added a linear control valve to the shocks to improve performance.

So I guess that either can be used on any car maybe? In which case, the Exel-G shocks are possibly a like for like replacement?

[kev dood]

which actually matches the info on the KYB website as they show parts 341262/3 (Excel-G) shocks for the IS200.

[Steviewevie]

Yeah, I think they just added that control valve, as you say. And that change appears to have only been on the IS300 (including IS300 SportCross), not IS200.

Whilst I don't know for sure, I would guess that any part number changes weren't changing the spec as such but just very minor things to do with maybe reliability etc ?

I would be amazed if the KYB Excel-G shocks aren't absolutely fine.

[kev dood]

Man, I really should read things a bit closer!! Of course, it says IS300!! Must be going mad.

Yeah they look fine, should be as they made the originals!

I guess then that the ancillary parts such as bump stops etc are all interchangeable then and I would just need the shock?

[Steviewevie]

I don't remember edeath saying anything else was changed, I'm pretty sure he just got the new shocks and that was it.

[kev dood]

cool, cheers guys for all the help. If and when I get round to it, will let ya know how I got on!

[TonyGoose]

I had a couple of sets of standard IS200 suspension sitting in my shed for ages ...

The brand name on the shocks wasn't KYB it was TOKICO.

Part numbers stamped on them were 48510-53040 (fronts) and 48530-53030 (rears).

Gave it all away to another LOC'er to make some space in the end.

Just found a bit of paper I scribbled this info down on so thought add to this topic for confusion :)

TG

[Steviewevie]

I'm only guessing here, so could be wrong. But maybe the manufacturer of the shocks changed part-way through the life of the car, hence the part number change for the OEM shocks ? They may well have been identically-specified though, the parts diagrams don't make it look like there's a specific part for earlier cars, which usually means the part is essentially the "same" just with a different part number.

Let me see how well my deduction is working here, are those shocks from an early IS200 Tony ?

[kev dood]

Umm, I think you are right, usually there would be a few OE manufacturers throughout the lifespan.

I think its from a mid model year car - say 2003? ;-)

[Steviewevie]

I think its from a mid model year car - say 2003? ;-)

Can't wait to see who's right ! :P

[kev dood]

when will we know then??

[TonyGoose]

Let me see how well my deduction is working here, are those shocks from an early IS200 Tony ?

My car is mid 2001 SE model but not entirely sure if that's the answer to your question.

I'd put shox + springs off a sport model on to get slight height reduction but can't recall the year of the car they came off.

And it's those ones that I got the part numbers from so afraid I can't be sure of a reliable answer - sorry about that.

Subsequently TTE fitted some of their coilovers (and rollbars) for me which is what's on there now.

I sent original shocks to a LOC member in the Netherlands and gave other set + springs etc to a club member local to me.

TG

[kev dood]

I can't be sure, but I would presume that the shocks would be the same, but the springs were lower (for the sport model) - Mat would probably know for sure, or Chris S?

Ho hum, guess we will never know for sure unless we can get someone from Lexus on here who knows - or maybe Ormi would be able to find out?

[edeath]

Ed to the rescue lol. My car is a 2001 X reg sport. I changed them the KYB Excel-Gs and they were a straight swap and little Tony @ WIM said they were a like for like swap. I asked at the time as my suspension was standard and I didnt want anything other than OEM spec parts going on.

[Steviewevie]

My car is mid 2001 SE model but not entirely sure if that's the answer to your question.

I'd put shox + springs off a sport model on to get slight height reduction but can't recall the year of the car they came off.

And it's those ones that I got the part numbers from so afraid I can't be sure of a reliable answer - sorry about that.

Thanks. Where I was coming from are that those part numbers that you quoted (which actually aren't the "real" part numbers, but are referenced in the part description) are early part numbers, in that they're listed before the others and they have lower numbers in sequence (usually indicating they are earlier parts).

So my logic is/was that those parts are from an early car, and if they were Tokico shocks that probably means the early ones are Tokico and then they changed to KYB around 2001 since Ed's ones appear to have been KYB ones.

Unfortunately it looks like we won't know in this case, since we don't know the age of the car that those shocks came off. However I don't think it matters that much really, since as I said it's not like the parts diagrams indicate different parts being specific to later cars, so I suspect the spec was identical anyway and it was just the manufacturer that changed or other details which didn't affect ride/performance.