Lifted Rx300 With Big Tires

[JMW256]

Sure thing, Northwoodsperformance.com. The  spacers are the same as  the 01 to 07 Toyota highlander. Ask for Nathan the owner and he can give details. Much better quality than the Russian spacers. They have a kit that includes  4 spacers, front end links, and hardware. 

I am also going to lift my 2013 Toyota Highlander with their Gen 2 Highlander spacers. It has nearly the same suspension as the  04-09 Lexus RX series.

 

 

[Jonah]

Great Looking Lexus JMW256. Just got a roof rack for my 2013 RX350 F sport today. Will post pictures once its installed. Still considered lifting, but currently haven't needed any extra clearance. Mostly used for camping, sand dunes, and snow trips. Will post pictures tonight! I'm grateful to have found a place where others are doing amazing things with their RX's They are amazing Rigs and can take you a lot of places with the right gear. 

[JMW256]

Thank you Jonah. I am really surprised how well the RX330 handles with the lift. There has been talk on other forums about how a mild lift will screw up the suspension geometry and handling. That is not true.  If you ever decide to lift your RX350 F sport that would be really cool. I also use my RX for outdoor adventures. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the roof rack. 

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[Jonah]

 Couple pictures of the new roof rack. Went pretty smooth. Large then I expected but lots of space for the extras! 

[Jonah]

Couple pictures from one of our snow trips as well. I was very impressed with the capabilities of my lexus in the snow. Some decent snow tires always helps. 

[T Money]

I'm debating on putting a 12" subwoofer in the back my 07 rx 350 and I was wondering if any of you have any experience with replacing the audio in your cars. If I do it, I am going to make a custom box that fits in that little indent/ pocket area in the trunk. This is kind of what I am going off of: 

 I've done the math because I also want to lift it and get some all terrains and with the set ups I want, the lift wheels and tires comes out to around $1800 before tax or shipping and the audio, including a new stereo unit, sub, amp, box, and installation comes to around $1500 before tax or shipping. Also tho I probably wouldn't have to get some the items shipped for both projects. Not to mention I am a broke college student in ME/AE and i'm not working while in school so it would have to wait till winter when I get a job for one of these projects. What are your guys thoughts on which project I should do first.

[T Money]

On 11/12/2018 at 2:10 PM, Brickwall said:

Nice! Thought maybe I should share some more recent pics of my RX, the bumper and skid plates are still a work in progress.

Also Brick if you see this I was wondering how you went about fabricating your bumper. I have a buddy who's really good at welding and said he would help me with it but I don't know where to start. How did you figure out the fitment, where did you mount, did you start from scratch or manipulate a bumper from another vehicle? Also about how much were the materials for it? If you started from scratch what metal did you use?

[JMW256]

I have tried to message Brick a couple times and did not get a response. He may have moved on.

[Brickwall]

hey, sorry, I was just checking my junk mail and saw a notification from this forum. I did everything from scratch, I bought a sheet of 3/16" plate steel and a sheet of 1/4" plate and used my plasma cutter to cut out the pieces. I originally had a Sawzall I used but that took forever. I started with the winch plate made with the 1/4" steel going from 1 side of the frame horn to the other then welded on some pieces of 3/16" plate while they were bolted in place where the aluminum crash bar once was. Once I was happy with the winch plate and fitment I built everything around it, just kind of eye balling it and making it to how I wanted. 

[T Money]

31 minutes ago, Brickwall said:

hey, sorry, I was just checking my junk mail and saw a notification from this forum. I did everything from scratch, I bought a sheet of 3/16" plate steel and a sheet of 1/4" plate and used my plasma cutter to cut out the pieces. I originally had a Sawzall I used but that took forever. I started with the winch plate made with the 1/4" steel going from 1 side of the frame horn to the other then welded on some pieces of 3/16" plate while they were bolted in place where the aluminum crash bar once was. Once I was happy with the winch plate and fitment I built everything around it, just kind of eye balling it and making it to how I wanted. 

Awesome thank you!! Also tho, do you think a steel bumper is too heavy for the stock suspension? 

[Brickwall]

Yes, it is, I had some heavy duty springs i had shipped from Australia.  I mean, you could try to build it as light as possible but the stock springs are only made for stock weight and an extra 100 lbs or more in front of the tires is heavier on the front springs than it is put behind where all 4 springs carry the weight.

[JMW256]

Brickwall Welcome back!!! Can you please give some details on your rear strut mod upgrading to the 08-13 Toyota Highlander struts. l looked into the mod and found some differences.  For example the lower strut mount bolts on the Lexus are 15mm and on the Toyota Highlander they are 17mm. Also the Highlander lower strut mounts seem a little more offset. Did you use some bushings for the bolt size difference? Lastly did you have to use camber bolts in the rear? 

Thanks!

[Brickwall]

Hey! Yep, They are different but because the rx used smaller bolts i was able to get them together regardless. I also used some cam alignment bolts to get the camber in spec. They are even smaller and may have facilitated getting the knuckle attached to the strut. Bushings aren't need, the bolts and nuts just kinda squeeze everything together..

[Brickwall]

I think my RX ended up with at least 3" inches of lift so it needed the camber correction bolts

[JMW256]

Jason, Thanks for clarifying that. For those of you who are not aware. Brickwall made a huge discovery for our Vehicles. He discovered that by running 08-13 Toyota Highlander rear struts there would be a 1.25 inch lift and the ability to run larger diameter tires due to a higher spring perch. I believe a 265/70/17 is possible (31 inch tire) with proper offset. On my Light blue RX330 posted above I used Northwoods 1.5 inch steel strut spacers and was able to run a 29.5 inch diameter tire 245/65/17. It is VERY close but does not rub.

[03rx30]

Love this thread. Had to join the forum. 

I inherited a 2003 RX300. I want to put some AT 235/70/16 and was researching if it will rub on stock. Of course that led me here and now I am debating the 40mm Russian lift. 

 

@Eddy23 truck looks perfect to me. But to have that look I have to get new 16x8 wheels with 0 offset as he has. 

 

@Nssbnz truck also looks fantastic. He also has new wheels. Also he said on his post you need to buy 4 new shocks for the 40mm lift. 

 

 

[hewitttech]

If I was doing it again I would go with the 40mm shock spacer instead of how I made my own spring lift. You will for sure need the camber bolts in the front if not two pair for even more adjustment. I think my single set of bolts was completely maxed.

I went 245 but would also go down to the 235. Not sure how those fit as I was running a 2" spacer on stock wheels..

Can't wait to see it when you get it figured out!

I thought I saw mine out in the wild the other day... couldn't confirm but it looks like all they did was swap out the wheels as it was still a little high... man that thing was tuned up and would scream.. I do miss it..lol

 

[03rx30]

17 minutes ago, hewitttech said:

If I was doing it again I would go with the 40mm shock spacer instead of how I made my own spring lift. You will for sure need the camber bolts in the front if not two pair for even more adjustment. I think my single set of bolts was completely maxed.

I went 245 but would also go down to the 235. Not sure how those fit as I was running a 2" spacer on stock wheels..

Can't wait to see it when you get it figured out!

I thought I saw mine out in the wild the other day... couldn't confirm but it looks like all they did was swap out the wheels as it was still a little high... man that thing was tuned up and would scream.. I do miss it..lol

 

Thank you for the help! Yours looked awesome. your GX is nice too. We have a TT FJC for hard core offroad. For me, the RX did to traverse some farm road, and some ice/skiing in the winter. Otherwise just school duty. 

 

The 40MM shock spacer needs 4 new shocks right? I saw your shocks blew, do you have other shock recomendation?

I will stay with the 235s. 

 

Mine was bought new in Johnson Lexus in Raleigh, and serviced there last 17 years by my parents.

[JCVelez]

Hey y’all! Just picked up an 08 RX350. Needs new struts. Picked up some preassembled FCS struts, anyone have any experience with these? I’m also putting on some Toyo Open Country AT2s (235 65r17) which fit stock. Might wanna do a 1” wheel spacer to give them some more room if needed and widen up the stance a bit. Any recommendations on spacers? 

[JMW256]

JC welcome to the forum.  It is my understanding that the FCS struts are middle of the road. Cost effective but not the quality of others. I think most would agree that OEM are the highest quality followed by KYB then Monroe and Gabriel. You wont need a wheel spacer with the tire size you selected. My snow tires are 235/65/17 and they run on stock wheels with no clearance problems. If you decide to run spacers less is more. I run H@R TRAK wheel spacers 15 mm on my summer wheels. They are high quality but not cheap. I chose the spacers since they are hubcentric and are not bolt on. I did need to replace all the wheel studs with longer ones. Not a big deal. I feel this is a safer route rather than the adapters that are bolted to the hub then the wheel is bolted to the adaptors.

[Broc Luno]

OK, I just posted an update on the Torsen Posi swap for my RX in that thread:  Posi (Limited Slip Diff) for your RX
 

Some decent info if you need one.

[hewitttech]

On 9/11/2020 at 11:57 AM, 03rx30 said:

Thank you for the help! Yours looked awesome. your GX is nice too. We have a TT FJC for hard core offroad. For me, the RX did to traverse some farm road, and some ice/skiing in the winter. Otherwise just school duty. 

 

The 40MM shock spacer needs 4 new shocks right? I saw your shocks blew, do you have other shock recomendation?

I will stay with the 235s. 

 

Mine was bought new in Johnson Lexus in Raleigh, and serviced there last 17 years by my parents.

I was using stock style shocks... I blew them out because I was bottoming them on hard hits and didn't extend the bump stops to prevent this. You may also need to add a limiting strap to prevent over extension of the stock shocks or have the same result. Compress a front and rear until it bottoms and measure the distance from the stop then add bump stops or spacers to the stops to stop wheel travel before shock bottom. Then jack it up to get fool droop and measure the distance where the shock tops out and do the same to make a limit strap to do the same. I would get about a year out of stock spec shocks and they were cheap enough it wasn't that big of a deal but it did get old having to replace them when it was preventable from the start.  You would have to do the same with coil overs but long travels like that can do the same thing and they cost more than my whole vehicle so I didn't bother.  Then again, I was also getting all 4 wheels off the ground occasionally. I blew out stock, kyb and monroe...kyb lasted longer than the monroe and the stock had 200+k miles on them.

 

[Magneto]

Looks like this site has been dormant for a while. I am getting ready to do this to a 300. Did you guys use 2" spacers front and rear?

Mag

[JMW256]

I lifted my RX330 with Northwoods Performance 1.5 inch spacers  and that worked very well. The nice thing about these spacers is that they are bolt on and don't require disassembly of the strut,  also the camber is built in. You will need shorter front anti sway bar links. 

[kevindboldt]

After several years of wanting to convert my RX300 into the Lexi-Quad, I finally got to do it. I used 40mm spacers on top of my struts and 2" wheel spacers. Then I replaced the 225/70R16's with a set of Falken Wildpeaks AT tires in 255/70R16. I love the way it looks. I'm having trouble finding any shop that is willing to do a wheel alignment. They say as soon as it's lifted the factory specs are out the window (which I get), but they aren't even willing to simply align the wheels so my tires don't wear out. They want me to tell them how many degrees of camber etc I want. I have no idea... I'm a plumber not a mechanic. What did the rest of you do about wheel alignment? Also, when lifted, did you have to put in shorter sway bar links? My sway bar now hits the frame where it's bent to go around the exhaust system and it's making an awful racket.