First of all I would like to introduce myself. My name I james and I recently purchased a 2002 Toyota Camry LE due to my wife giving birth to our first child. I needed a third car that had to be a family sedan but also had to be great on gas and reliable. I got a great deal on the Camry as a certified pre owned vehicle and I am loving every bit of it. Now comes the next evolution. modding the car to fit my needs as a family man. The Camry is by no means a Lexus. the ride is comfortable but I think it can be improved. I have noticed that the 2002 Lexus is nearly identical to the Camry in almost all aspects except better more higher end parts. My question is is the suspension portion of the same year lexus interchanable on the same year camry? I know that an 2002 Lexus is a mor smoother quiter rider than the 2002 Camry so my thinking is if I can slap on the suspension form the lexus ot the camry I should have a nice quite ride for the long road trips to help keep my family comfortable. I also noticed some road noise and I plan on placing in some dynamat or brown bread to help dampen the sound. Will my ideas work? Any other thoughts or ideas on how to improve ride comfort and reduce noise?

Reagrds,

James

 

I'm pretty sure the parts are very similar however not all camry le's came with rear disc brakes and i think all the es 300's did

 

I have an '02 Camry SE and the ride is probably a bit harser than your LE, but still not that bad for a sedan riding on 225/60R16's. You could improve your ride by going to aftermarket adjustable struts or the Lexus struts if you were sure the parts were identical and interchangeable. I don't think it would be worth it to get the Lexus parts even if they fit, as the cost to benifit ratio would be minimal and Toyota typically engineers the whole suspension to ride at certain comfort level.

Road noise is caused by many factors- tire tread, road conditions, sound dampening and window seals, even driver's hearing. I have Michelin X's on the car, and when the windows are up my car road noise is very minimal. Of course, the Lexus is probably even more quiet due to triple window seals, thicker glass, more sound dampening and insulation. If that is of greater importance to you, then you may looking to upgrade to a pre-owned Lexus soon.

Geno