Lowered LC 1958

[thehardway]

I know some people will love to hate a lowered LC but for my use case lowering the LC made sense. I drive it 90% on road with some gravel & mild off-road when camping etc. plus have a few other fun vehicles so the LC is the daily driver.

I live in NH and mostly drive small twistie paved roads so wanted to improve the on-road handling a bit while still managing snow, ice and back roads with easy.

I'm running 17x8 +20 Bradley V wheels with 285/70 Yokohama Geolandar tires (1" bigger diameter than stock on the 1958 so raised the vehicle .5"). With the Tanabe lowering springs it now sits about 1" lower in the front and 1.5" lower in the rear than it was stock so a pretty mild drop.

The wider stance from the lower offset wheels and wider tires made handling a lot nicer already and now with the lower center of gravity and slightly stiffer spring rate it feels like a whole different vehicle. There's hardly any body roll now when cornering compared to stock and noticeably less dive and squat under hard braking and acceleration.

Overall I couldn't be happier, the vehicle feels so much more planted and stable now through corners and the ride is still pretty plush, just a tad firmer than stock which is perfect for me.

 

[Doggman1525]

No hate here, cool!

 

[Area 51]

View attachment 24545

I know some people will love to hate a lowered LC but for my use case lowering the LC made sense. I drive it 90% on road with some gravel & mild off-road when camping etc. plus have a few other fun vehicles so the LC is the daily driver.

I live in NH and mostly drive small twistie paved roads so wanted to improve the on-road handling a bit while still managing snow, ice and back roads with easy.

I'm running 17x8 +20 Bradley V wheels with 285/70 Yokohama Geolandar tires (1" bigger diameter than stock on the 1958 s raised the vehicle .5"). With the Tanabe lowering springs it now sits about 1" lower in the front and 1.5" lower in the rear than it was stock so a pretty mild drop.

The wider stance from the lower offset wheels and wider tires made handling a lot nicer already and now with the lower center of gravity and slightly stiffer spring rate it feels like a whole different vehicle. There's hardly any body roll now when cornering compared to stock and noticeably less dive and squat under hard braking and acceleration.

Overall I couldn't be happier, the vehicle feels so much more planted and stable now through corners and the ride is still pretty plush, just a tad firmer than stock which is perfect for me.

Bitchin posting

 

[BluesCruise421]

I would be very curious to know the driving characteristics of changing out those 17's for 20's and removing the roof rack.

Also nice to see a different approach to a LC build.

 

[thehardway]

I would be very curious to know the driving characteristics of changing out those 17's for 20's and removing the roof rack.

Also nice to see a different approach to a LC build.

Thanks! Yeah removing the roof rack weight way up high will always help handling as will lower profile tires (to a certain point of course). 20's would reduce sidewall flex during cornering but would make for a rougher less compliant ride and would likely be heavier with more rotational mass and unsprung weight so pros and cons to each. With this build I wanted to retain as much gravel/offroad capability as possible while making it better on pavement. The taller tire soak up the smaller bumps nicely and keep the ride smooth even with the stiffer springs and it's only lost about 1.25" of clearance at the lowest point (front cross member).

I didn't want to go too crazy with the LC as it's our daily and I have a few other purely street vehicles that are lowered on coilovers and on bags. The guys at 326 Power certainly went all the way on their stanced LC 250 build if you haven't seen it yet

 

[Area 51]

We don't want to go too, getto.

 

[D-mac]

For some more out of the box thinking, I found 65-series tires maintain pretty good handling, with a little more ride compliance than the "Premium" 265/60-20 on the LC trim. Plus, there are few C load range LT275/65-18 options.
Some LC250s (Japan?) come stock with 265/65-18.
Will be interesting to see if Tanabe or Tein come out with up/down coilover kits for the LC250.

 

[thehardway]

For some more out of the box thinking, I found 65-series tires maintain pretty good handling, with a little more ride compliance than the "Premium" 265/60-20 on the LC trim. Plus, there are few C load range LT275/65-18 options.
Some LC250s (Japan?) come stock with 265/65-18.
Will be interesting to see if Tanabe or Tein come out with up/down coilover kits for the LC250.

Yes the LC250 VX trim (both gas and diesel options) in Japan comes stock with 265/65-18 tires.

 

[DeepDive]

View attachment 24545

I know some people will love to hate a lowered LC but for my use case lowering the LC made sense. I drive it 90% on road with some gravel & mild off-road when camping etc. plus have a few other fun vehicles so the LC is the daily driver.

I live in NH and mostly drive small twistie paved roads so wanted to improve the on-road handling a bit while still managing snow, ice and back roads with easy.

I'm running 17x8 +20 Bradley V wheels with 285/70 Yokohama Geolandar tires (1" bigger diameter than stock on the 1958 so raised the vehicle .5"). With the Tanabe lowering springs it now sits about 1" lower in the front and 1.5" lower in the rear than it was stock so a pretty mild drop.

The wider stance from the lower offset wheels and wider tires made handling a lot nicer already and now with the lower center of gravity and slightly stiffer spring rate it feels like a whole different vehicle. There's hardly any body roll now when cornering compared to stock and noticeably less dive and squat under hard braking and acceleration.

Overall I couldn't be happier, the vehicle feels so much more planted and stable now through corners and the ride is still pretty plush, just a tad firmer than stock which is perfect for me

View attachment 24545

I know some people will love to hate a lowered LC but for my use case lowering the LC made sense. I drive it 90% on road with some gravel & mild off-road when camping etc. plus have a few other fun vehicles so the LC is the daily driver.

I live in NH and mostly drive small twistie paved roads so wanted to improve the on-road handling a bit while still managing snow, ice and back roads with easy.

I'm running 17x8 +20 Bradley V wheels with 285/70 Yokohama Geolandar tires (1" bigger diameter than stock on the 1958 so raised the vehicle .5"). With the Tanabe lowering springs it now sits about 1" lower in the front and 1.5" lower in the rear than it was stock so a pretty mild drop.

The wider stance from the lower offset wheels and wider tires made handling a lot nicer already and now with the lower center of gravity and slightly stiffer spring rate it feels like a whole different vehicle. There's hardly any body roll now when cornering compared to stock and noticeably less dive and squat under hard braking and acceleration.

Overall I couldn't be happier, the vehicle feels so much more planted and stable now through corners and the ride is still pretty plush, just a tad firmer than stock which is perfect for me.

Looks pretty cool to me. You go with what works for how you're using it. I wouldn't lower mine, but if I raised it, I wouldn't get into a quarter of the parking lots that I need to use!

 

[DeepDive]

Thanks! Yeah removing the roof rack weight way up high will always help handling as will lower profile tires (to a certain point of course). 20's would reduce sidewall flex during cornering but would make for a rougher less compliant ride and would likely be heavier with more rotational mass and unsprung weight so pros and cons to each. With this build I wanted to retain as much gravel/offroad capability as possible while making it better on pavement. The taller tire soak up the smaller bumps nicely and keep the ride smooth even with the stiffer springs and it's only lost about 1.25" of clearance at the lowest point (front cross member).

I didn't want to go too crazy with the LC as it's our daily and I have a few other purely street vehicles that are lowered on coilovers and on bags. The guys at 326 Power certainly went all the way on their stanced LC 250 build if you haven't seen it yet

View attachment 24971

I gotta draw the line somewhere. This would be it

 

[sothea]

I respect the build! It’s definitely not for everyone but as a long time fan of JDM culture, I can appreciate it! Honestly it’s kinda refreshing to see something different.

Also if you don’t mind me asking - Where were you able to source Bradley wheels in the US? Information on them have been pretty limited regarding an American distributor . I’ve been looking at the Takumis ever since I’ve herd about them last year:

 

[thehardway]

Also if you don’t mind me asking - Where were you able to source Bradley wheels in the US? Information on them have been pretty limited regarding an American distributor . I’ve been looking at the Takumis ever since I’ve herd about them last year:

I'm a big JDM fan as well. I've been to Japan twice and brought back a full set of 18x11.5 Work Meisters as checked baggage with all my clothes stuffed inside the boxes when I first went many years ago I have a few JDM vehicles and "Gentsuki" style 80's Honda Tact scooters and wanted to go with a bit of JDM style on the LC too.

I actually ordered my Bradley Vs through Nengun in Japan as it was much cheaper than buying them from a shop state side and they only took a week to arrive. They have the Forged Takumis you're looking at as well... 4x4Engineering - Bradley Forged Takumi

There are specific sizes of the Takumi that fit the LC250 (lug hole size is bigger for the 14mm diameter studs on the LC250 as most other bradley wheels are for 12mm studs so won't fit). The Takumi sizes for the LC250 are the 18×8.5 +40, 18×8.5 +52 and 20×9 +52.
See here for reference (scroll down to specs): ãã©ã¼ãã¤ãã©ã¼ã¨ã³ã¸ãã¢ãªã³ã°ãµã¼ãã¹ : 4x4 Engineering Service

I specifically wanted smaller 17" wheels on the LC so got the Bradley Vs and bored out the lug holes to 14mm myself.

A few of my other rides...

 

[Siblue]

This was the norm when 3rd gen 4Runners when they were released.
Looks good

 

[D-mac]

Also if you don’t mind me asking - Where were you able to source Bradley wheels in the US? Information on them have been pretty limited regarding an American distributor . I’ve been looking at the Takumis ever since I’ve herd about them last year:

Showstoppers USA is now a Bradley distributor/retailer. They've worked with 4x4 Engineering Japan to develop specs to US preferences (i.e. +40 offset on both Bradley V and Forged Takumi to allow for aftermarket UCAs). When I was in their shop 2 weeks ago, they had a set of 18" black LC250 Takumis in stock and ready to ship . They also had Bradley center caps and lugs in stock.