Lexus GS350 tagged posts

In this section, we will examine the rear wheel braking system.

Similar to the front wheel, one factor that affects the location of the brake caliper is the geometry design of the car’s rear suspension.

For some cars, there are control arm that connects to the rear part of the wheel hub, which takes up places that can fit the brake, therefore the brake caliper must be located in front of the rear wheel axle. For example the Lexus GS350 with rear wheel steering option, the control arm is located behind the wheel hub, therefore the brake must be placed on the other side.

For some other cars, the rear suspension control arms are in front of the wheel axle, therefore the bra...

In this section, let’s take a look at one factor that determines the location of your car’s brake calipers.

First, we look at the front wheels. You may find many front-wheel-drive cars have their front brake calipers in front of the axle, that is because for FWD layout, the engine is usually transversely placed in front of the axle. With such layout, the steering arm can not be placed in front of the axle because the transversely placed engine acts like a wall to block the passage of the steering shaft. Therefore, the steering arm can only be located after the axle, which means there is no place left for the brake system at the same location...

Last week I have discussed the GM 8AT and the ZF 9AT, today let’s take a look at the Aisin AA80E, which is used in the Lexus IS350, GS350, LS460, IS-F and the upcoming RC-F.

Unlike other longitude mounted 8AT such as the ZF 8HP and GM 8L90, the Aisin transmission uses compound planetary gear sets. A compound planetary gear set is a planetary gear set that has multiple sun gears or multiple ring gears. There are different types of them, the one we are interested in is called the Ravingeaux gear set, which has two sun gears, two planet carriers and they share one common ring gear.

One Ravingeaux gear set can provide 4 forward gear ratios and also the neutral and reverse.

T...