There's a post on here from a year or so ago where someone described a bunch of wheel and tire combos from other years and models that did and didn't fit. He did all of the work for you, happy searching!

 

I do remember that post actually! I've definitely decided to try to stay away from spacers or an offset higher than 35 after seeing that and trying on these Lexus rims (45mm would definitely require spacers from what I've seen). Going with the 18x8 2016+ RX350 base model rims will keep that offset at 30 and allow me to not screw with the scrub radius too much. My biggest concern as of now is making sure none of the rims are close to the brake calipers, as those are gonna get even bigger soon when I put on 2nd gen ones.

the wheels does make the car looks like the lexus GX430 for a second lol!

Now that you mention it, it very well looks like a mini GX - especially with the roof rack delete! I'm not normally a fan of darker rims either, but they simply just work fantastic on this car in my opinion!

 

the wheels does make the car looks like the lexus GX430 for a second lol!

 

Has anyone had any luck fitting some larger and wider wheels on our Highlanders recently?

I've got the MCU28R 3.3l AWD from 2006 year.

I recently tried a set of 17" Highlander wheels from 2012 with an offset of +35 and wearing 245/65/17 all terrain tyres. While they fit on the front they just touch the bottom of the spring perch on the rear so I didn't have them fitted. The wheels originally had 265/65/17 tyres and these also fit on the front but were very close to the plastics on a full lock.

I've purchased some new rear struts which are taller and will allow the tyres to clear the spring perch. Just need to find the time to mount them and confirm everything fits.

Depending on results I may swap to lighter wheels with a +30 offset. Here in Australia wheel spacers are illegal so can't go down that route.

 

Thank you for the information! Did not know spacers are illegal in Australia! Would love to know what struts you've purchased as mine are quite close to the rear as well (KYB Excel-G).

 

Thank you for the information! Would love to know what struts you've purchased as mine are quite close to the rear as well (KYB Excel-G).

For the rears I got KYB 339234 / 339235 with the equivalent in Monroe being 72489 / 72490. These are the same struts used on GSU45R Highlanders but apparently are only compatible with the 2004 to 2007 MCU28R model Highlanders. Incidentally, I often found inconsistencies in the information provided by different resellers and so contacted the respective technical departments of each brand to get precise physical measurements. Monroe were open but KYB would only give limited information (but sufficient for my purposes).

A couple of things...

• I've confirmed from the diagrams and visually lining up with the existing struts on my car that these will fit (as well as providing the required space between the tyre and spring perch being an extra 25mm) but I'm yet to mount them. I'll post back to confirm in case there are some issues.
• Aside from a slightly longer body, the new struts have slightly longer compressed and extended lengths. I don't know if this could be considered an advantage or disadvantage. I'll first use the OEM springs but do intend to get lower firmer springs for less bodyroll and to bring the car back to original height or a little lower if possible. I'll put in bump stops as a precaution.

Finally there's a manufacturer here in Australia which sells Highlander struts in standard, one inch raised, or one inch lowered. I contacted both their retail outlet and headoffice several times to ask what made the struts raised or lowered but never got a response. It's a shame as the struts can come with the equivalent (known brand) springs saving some hassle and I would have given those a go.

Yup spacers are illegal here. Same with adjustable coil springs unless they come as standard on the car apparently. Takes some of the fun out of personalising a car.

 

I am looking forward to hearing how your project goes! I am running H&R lowering springs for an 1999-2003 AWD Lexus RX300 on my car (PN: 29357-1) as it has roughly the same curb weight as my 2002 V6 AWD Highlander. Firmed up the handling quite nicely and gave the car a 1.3” drop up front and a 1.5” drop in the rear which helped level it out. This was a huge improvement in drivability, which was further improved with an Addco 2109 22.2mm rear sway bar and a 26mm 2nd gen front sway bar (GSU45R) all at the cost of hardly any comfort and a LOT less understeer! You could use the same front sway bar as me, but you couldn’t run a 2001-2003 rear sway bar as the geometry as well as the whole suspension changed in 2004+ to accomedate the rear spare tire. You could however, continue to use your spare tire if you use an aftermarket Toyota Harrier rear sway bar, as the 2004-2009 RX/Harrier and 2004-2007 Highlander have identical setups. Whereas my 2001-2003 has the 2004-2009 RX suspension up front, but beefed up RX300 suspension in the rear - very strange!

I’d love to see someone try 2nd gen struts as they have the same spacing for the strut mounts, and use the same mounting points for the sway bar end links as well. Someone has tried 2nd gen springs and has been able to get some ground clearance that way as well. 2nd gen Highlanders also have an option here for Bilstein B6 struts. which would be perfect for my lowering springs. My KYB 334264 and 334263 replacement struts are nice and firm compared to stock, but they’re not a monotube performance damper like the Bilsteins - which are also designed to easily accommodate lowering springs. Thanks for the detailed information and I wish you the best of luck on your suspension journey!

 

I am running H&R lowering springs for an 1999-2003 AWD Lexus RX300 on my car (PN: 29357-1) as it has roughly the same curb weight as my 2002 V6 AWD Highlander. Firmed up the handling quite nicely and gave the car a 1.3” drop up front and a 1.5” drop in the rear which helped level it out. This was a huge improvement in drivability, which was further improved with an Addco 2109 22.2mm rear sway bar and a 26mm 2nd gen front sway bar (GSU45R) all at the cost of hardly any comfort and a LOT less understeer! You could use the same front sway bar as me, but you couldn’t run a 2001-2003 rear sway bar as the geometry as well as the whole suspension changed in 2004+ to accomedate the rear spare tire. You could however, continue to use your spare tire if you use an aftermarket Toyota Harrier rear sway bar, as the 2004-2009 RX/Harrier and 2004-2007 Highlander have identical setups.

I was looking at getting the same (or almost the same) H&R springs ref. 29357-2 for a RX300/330 with an advertised F/R drop of 40mm. The H&R came up after a search on the forum revealing one of your posts mentionning 29357-1 so thank you! However I haven't worked out the difference between the 1 and the 2 at the end of the reference numbers but perhaps this is why your rear springs allow a deeper drop on the rear?

H&R springs ref. 52486 for a RX330/350 with a F/R drop of 1.3" and 1.2" also came up as a possibility. My preferred choice were King Springs KTFL111 and KTRL112 (confirmed to fit both Gen1 Highlander and RX330/350) with a F/R drop of 30mm but the rears are out of stock until June at least.

For various reasons including price and availablility it's likely I'll go for the Eibach Pro Kit Part-No: E10-82-004-02-22. These are for the RX330 and advertised as a F/R drop of 30mm.

Re. sway bars, I also found your post and may upgrade the front and rear sway bars on mine. It's also a bit of a toss up whether I should do that first before doing the springs? I'm after less body roll and even if the intention originally was to lower my car perhaps I'll stay with it being slightly lifted by 25mm with the new rear struts (and spacers on the front to level out accordingly)...to many possible variations and decisions lol

NB: outcome is speculation until parts actually fitted, wheels aligned, and car driven!

 

Subbed for the great info here. Wish it would have started a couple of months ago. I tried searching but didn't run across the aforementioned thread. Nice work fellows.


Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

Good stuff! Good question about the H&R models, I believe 29357-1 is for the 1st gen 1999-2003 RX and 29357-2 is for the 2004-2009 2nd gen RX. Both will fit on, but I bet the "2" model is stiffer due to the increased weight of the 2nd gen RX from the 1st. 52486 seems to be either a replacement or updated part number for 29357-2, it seems to be the only one that shows up on H&R's website oddly enough. Speaking of Eibach springs, I have seen one Highlander owner here and some RX owners on ClubLexus try the Eibach springs with success.

The H&R apparently provide a slightly harsher ride, a bigger drop and stiffer handling, compared to the Eibach's more forgiving approach from what I've heard. I'm sure either kit would be a fantastic choice on our cars as anything would be an upgrade from our squishy stock springs that are especially soft in the rear, leading to some annoying understeer as we all know of! H&R did a fine job at balancing it out without giving an overly harsh ride! Have had the springs for over 2 years, and have been riding on my current setup for around 4 months now. It performs great in all seasons and handles the highway with loads of confidence as well.

Even though I love the way the springs changed the handling, the best overall change was definitely from the sway bars. Springs helped with the braking, floaty feel (completely absent now) and whatnot. However, the heavy hitters were definitely the larger rear sway bar, followed by the front. I think you might be able to skip the front if your rear bar isn't too big. When I went from my stock 16mm bar to the 22.2mm Addco on the rear, my front was 23mm and the rear really was robbing traction and had a mind of its own, especially after the H&R springs. It would want to lift a rear wheel up in sharp, sweeping corners and that would actually cause me some squealling and understeer which was very annoying.

The 26mm up front really helped balance out the suspension and got rid of the squishy and loose feeling at the front. It surprisingly didn't induce more understeer which was nice! The whole car corners flatter and could hold its own a lot more confidently. I still have it set up to have a larger rear bias than stock too, so it doesn't want to plow through corners like stock (23/16 F & R vs 26/22.2 F & R). I bet you'll be able to pass on the front if you get a 19mm rear, as you'll have around the same difference between F&R that I would have which is around 4mm.

 

Hey, here is my 03. Got the tires and wheels from Tire Rack. Cost right at $1000 for both delivered to my door mounted and balanced. Wheels are 18x8 with 35 mm offset. tires size is P 235 55 R-18. Had been told you can go larger but the Rack would not warrantee larger sizes. Tread measures about 1.5 wider than stock according to my measuring. Well worth it to me. Also replaced the struts and sway bar hardware at same time so it is difficult to separate the different modifications. Have around 15K on these and they are great. Unfair comparison but they do everything better than the previous set.

 

View attachment 324215
Hey, here is my 03. Got the tires and wheels from Tire Rack. Cost right at $1000 for both delivered to my door mounted and balanced. Wheels are 18x8 with 35 mm offset. tires size is P 235 55 R-18. Had been told you can go larger but the Rack would not warrantee larger sizes. Tread measures about 1.5 wider than stock according to my measuring. Well worth it to me. Also replaced the struts and sway bar hardware at same time so it is difficult to separate the different modifications. Have around 15K on these and they are great. Unfair comparison but they do everything better than the previous set.

Im curious, id like to run the same setup with mine, have you had any mpg loss since the swap?

 

Nice! 18x8 is a great choice for our cars compared to the measly 6.5” wide stock rims. I’m sure that much wider rim and wider tires really helps with sidewall deflection while driving. Good to know 8” wheels with 35mm offset still clears no prob.

 

Here we have one of my buddy’s Highlanders on 18x7” wheels and 235/55R18 tires. Rims are stock 18s from a 2004-2009 Lexus RX.

As a comparison, an old picture of my Highlander on 17x6.5” rims from a 2004 Lexus RX330. Tire size is 225/65R17.

 

Did your buddy have to do any suspension mods?

 

Done! On 245/65/17 wheels now. See pix, some details, and then observations below...

Before 225/70/16 and after 245/65/17...

New rear strut on the left and original on the right. The spring seat is 25mm higher on the new strut and strut body 39mm longer. Stroke similar.

New rear strut gives 20mm clearance on 245/65/17 wheels. Before those wheels were touching the base of the spring seat.

Front strut didn't need to be changed as the spring seat already had the necessary clearance for the new wheel and tyre combo.

Basic before and after measurements. Somehow with just the 25mm higher spring seat on the rear struts (and reusing the stock springs) with the +15mm radius of the new wheel and tyre combo (OD +30mm) I got a 60mm lift at the back and 50mm on the front. Note I did not do anything to the front suspension!

Initially I hought I would need 20/25mm strut spacers (or 20/25mm thick spring seat isolator) on the front to match the 25mm higher spring seat on the back. I really had expected the rear of the car noticeably sitting higher...but this didn't eventuate. Despite what the measurements suggest the car (at least visually) didn't look lower in the rear before the change either.

I still haven't gotten my head around these height gains so perhaps someone with more knowledge (or maths and physics) could explain?

Notes and observations (as a non-professional and first time doing this)...

• The new wheels are 2nd gen Highlander rims 17 x 7.5" with the same offset as the wheels I replaced being -35.
• It was actually very easy to replace the struts and swap the springs. The most time consuming was getting the strut bracket over the knuckle as the new assembly was longer than the original (less space to manoeuvre everything under the wheel arch). Also I only have basic tools.
• There's room to go to 245/70/17 or 255/65/17 (possibly 265/65/17 but the tyre may touch the plastics on full lock). A wider tyre will also stick out from the guard whih is a no-no here.
• I had 3 different brands of tyres (of similar style) on the original rims and weighed them for interest. Despite being the exact same size there was up to 2kg difference between brands which seems significant especially when mounted on the one car.
• As you can see the new wheel and tyre combo adds up to 3kg per wheel (subject to above weights which have been averaged).
• I wanted to go to 17" rims in the hope it would help provide more precision and response in the cotton wool steering (therefore less sidewall flex in the tyres ). There certainly has been an improvement but this could also be due to the much better tyres mounted... (The added weight doesn't seem to have affected the steering but I'm yet to press the car).
• Conversely I didn't want rims which were to big (like 19" or 20") as I wanted to maintain some road comfort especially for dirt roads. Bigger rims and wider also add weight.
• Might go to black rims if I can find some decent 2nd hand ones ...

 

Woooow! Fantastic and detailed post! Thank you very much for the follow up - the results speak for themselves!

Edit: Are those rear struts from a 2nd generation 2008+ model? Their appearance is very similar.

 

Maybe your front got a lift as well from the larger overall diameter of your new setup?

 

2004-2007

2008+

 

I'm not sure which brand you are referencing above but the rear struts I used are KYB 339234 & 339235 for the 2nd Gen - GSU45R. However these struts only fit the 2004 to 2007 model MCU28R Highlander (standard fit are the KYB 334394 and 334395) as I understand earlier model Highlanders used slightly different struts.

I found that relying on photos wasn't precise enough and in this regard almost went for the GSU40R rear struts which are not compatible. In the end I contacted Monroe and KYB to obtain the important measurements and crossed referenced with the remaining specs available online. I can post these later for reference?

Front lift - that's correct I got about a 15mm lift on the front just with the taller wheels. But what I can't get my head around is where the additional 25 to 35mm comes from as the total increase on the front is 50mm...

 

Those pictures above were just used for reference to compare the two struts, I definitely would not install those on my car over KYBs. You are correct, earlier model 2001-2003 models use rear struts that are shared with the 1999-2003 Lexus RX300. These 2001-2003 struts have been (to my surprise) proven to be interchangeable by an RX300 owner, but you would have to use different sway bar end links due to the brackets being higher up on these earlier model struts.

My end goal is using 2nd gen Bilstein B6 rear struts on the back of my 2002, as well as 3rd gen Bilstein B6 struts up front. Unfortunately, it does seem like these struts provide an extra lift, so I am trying to find a solution for that.

 

Those pictures above were just used for reference to compare the two struts, I definitely would not install those on my car over KYBs. You are correct, earlier model 2001-2003 models use rear struts that are shared with the 1999-2003 Lexus RX300. These 2001-2003 struts have been (to my surprise) proven to be interchangeable by an RX300 owner, but you would have to use different sway bar end links due to the brackets being higher up on these earlier model struts.

Got it!
I'm very much leaning (pardon the pun) to upgrading the rear sway bar like you have done. I may also replace the front struts with those from the GSU45R for more firmness and because of the bigger wheels. The spring seat is 17mm higher also than the MCU28R strut so a bit of lift there as well.

 

One thing I wanted to mention is that my aftermarket 18 tires and wheels were lighter than the stock 16's. Also on the Tire Rack site they have 20 that they list to fit but I thought that was perhaps to far.

 

One thing I wanted to mention is that my aftermarket 18 tires and wheels were lighter than the stock 16's.

They say lighter wheels is always better. For me it's a bit of a cost issue though so I'm looking at 2nd hand. I'm in Australia and everything is more expensive here.

 

Good to know! My 16s are almost as heavy as steelies it seems.

Yes! I’d say the sway bars were definitely the best modification I have done to the suspension BAR none! (Pun definitely intended). Thank you for the measurements of the different struts! The stock rear bar for our cars is 16mm. There’s an 18mm made by Cusco and a 19mm made by Ultra Racing. Both for an AWD 2004-2009 Toyota Harrier or Lexus RX330/350.

 

My brothers JUST wanna thank anyone in this forum that led me to fit these 245/55/19 venza wheels on my 06 AWD highlander

i went and bought the 08+Highlander AWD struts (rear)
Because my wheels were practically touching the base of the spring perch on the struts with the stock struts
(NOT TO MENTION) just changed these to KYB struts cause my OEM ones were shot to shit (200$ to waste)
But anywho went with TRW 08+ Struts part #jgm4587sr + #jgm4587sl
Rear right and left^

install was flawless although for a sec the spring seemed to short but went in perfect all lined up with a bit of force to install the crash bolts
ANYWHO
For anyone looking to run BIG wheels on there highlander THIS IS IT CHIEF
BOONY I OWE U A CASE OF BEERS CHEERS MAN

 

So 08 + highlanders front and rear stock struts fits 04 awd highlander direct bolt on and lifts car? Seems like a win win?
Thanks

 

ALSO FORGOT TO MENTION the crash bolts on the 08+ Highlanders seem to be a bit bigger crash bolts so theres play for negative and positive camber!!****
WHEN YOU TIGHTEN THE CRASH BOLTS
MAKE SURE TO MAKE DOWN WARDS FORCE on the knuckle to tilt the knuckle and struts TOWARDS the chassis
OR ELSE
u will have WAY To much positive camber ****
THIS IS A MUST to protect your nice tires
AGAIN THANK YOU ALL❤

 

Thanks mate, but credit also goes to Lowlander for leaving some clues and referring to the Lexus forum for more clues. I'm close to ordering a rear sway bar courtesy of his suggestion.

Did you have any trouble getting the struts into position? I found the extra length made it difficult to get them into place and align the bolts but then I just have basic tools.

Post some pix!

 

Nice work! Is your Highlander a FWD or an AWD? Someone with a FWD had some trouble trying to install some FWD 2nd gen struts onto his FWD 1st gen, the strut ended up being too long and nothing worked, including lowering the subframe.