As my ES hits over 200k miles, I recently went over a pothole that was enough to cause noise from the cabin, hard to describe the exact noise but its more like a binding noise on turns only. My front right shock took a beating. I will post pictures below but I'm wondering what should I get in terms of a replacement part, since I bought this car used I'm not sure if the components are OEM but based on the ride quality and smoothness I'd imagine so. So should I-
1. Buy an entire OEM set of front shock related parts and do a mini suspension restoration (most expensive)
2. Buy an aftermarket replacement (we have an Olympus auto parts by my area) they typically cater towards asia-pacific vehicles and are cheaper than OEM. I personally do not by from autozone, or advance autoparts. This may be an entire assembly part, DIY friendly.
3. Based on the photos I send its not the shock it could be something else.

Since I have less than 500 miles left until my DIY oil change, I'm going to jack things up and look from there, since this website is dead, I had to use this website as a alternative and based what I know that is broken is "hat" (48520) and other bent components could be the sway bar end link (48810) or even the bushing for the sway bar (48815). Due to this being suspension I WILL buy in pairs to make the repair right. I will post pictures below. Thanks:

Based from the suspension state, let me know if you can see the visual "lean" that the car has because of the shock not holding up correctly or the bent components in place.


broken hat

fine on the driver side

visible lean #1

visible lean #2

 

That one strut mount has rusted and broken apart you shouldn't drive the car. Must buy OEM mounts everything else will disappoint you. Either buy OEM or KYB for the struts or possibly Sachs I've seen several people praise them have not installed them myself. Rubber components I would go aftermarket originals are too expensive. Luckily Sachs make an upper rubber kit
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...t=7592&jsn=386

Hope japan-parts.eu comes back.

 

Hello,

That was one SOLID pothole there, it's been a good while since I've seen something like that.. There is a good chance that it is the strut causing a Lean, such blow would not only rupture the valves inside the strut, it may have snapped the spring as well. It's very hard to say anything without visually inspecting the entire suspension however, hold off ordering any parts until you have a chance to look over the whole thing, especially if you are not in any rush to get it running.

Actually ... well there was a time when I would've said the same without a shadow of a doubt, it was until I replaced basically the entire strut assembly with all OEM components. Below is a video of my Strut Mount with some rather unexpected movements from a New OEM Mount.


The car feels as if I am riding on a water mattress, quite literally, every steering input comes with a delay, even though the suspension works quite nicely, no squeaks or rattles to be noticed. I don't know, this kind of play may be normal for those cars, but it is a very strange norm to strive for when even my old shredded mounts didn't "walk" as much, that was a pretty low blow for the time and effort spent on this repair, there is a good chance I will be buying KYB mounts to at least compare them to OEM.

Did I also mention that even my Transmission Drain Plug Gasket straight from the dealership leaked ... TWICE IN A ROW? I even got a new OEM plug.. Ended up going to Parker and getting 18mm Bonded Seal instead, no leaks so far, even though it was half the dealership price. What is it about me eating every one of my advises on OEM parts lately..?

I was actually this close to installing Sachs struts, the only reason I chose not to do so is because I somehow ended up with Sachs for one side, and TRW for the other. At least from looking at them, I didn't see any immediate flaws, they appear to be very well made, with that, while realistically both Sachs and TRW should be about the same thing, I decided not to risk it and sent both back, getting OEM ones instead. While they are considerably more expensive, the struts on my 2000 ES300 were still original, and surprisingly still functional, so I figured it would be a good investment to never have to revisit it again, even if I am starting to doubt it a little bit.

Yeah, that was an even lower blow..

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

Is there any reason why I shouldn't drive the car? I'm not doubting your comment at all, luckily I have another car to drive for the next 2 weeks including this one but by the end of June I'll be getting this car fixed. I may have to drive on it for a week or so since this is normally my daily driver. Looking at DIY videos I don't have a strut compressor so as of now but I was thinking about (this may change) buying all the components for an OEM strut mount then taking it to a shop so they can buy an entire assembly then swap the OEM mount to the aftermarket piece, then that would give me some piece of mind.

What is interesting is that is very similar to how my ES sounds at this very moment while taking some turns in that youtube video, stationary its still quiet somehow but I can tell there is something wrong there LOL. Still, you're right I will be holding off on buying anything but for the most part I may just take it to a shop since I'm not buying coilovers for this car, I like the OEM feel on this car so I still want to keep the OEM strut assy if its not broken.

So at this point this weekend I'll jack my ES up and see if anything looks out of the ordinary and go from there, but im sure a shop can transfer over the mounts if they do it for me. Time will tell but thanks for the advice

 

Well, the part that snapped out is the only part that holds the Strut to the frame, and since you have McPherson Setup, the Strut partly acts as your Upper Control Arm, without the Upper Mount there is nothing holding the rest of the Suspension.

In short, if that cap breaks off completely, wheels are about to fold, quite literally. You should not drive the car until it's fixed, at most getting it from one neighborhood to the other with extreme care.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

I just replaced all my shocks on my 98 ES300 (380K+). Picked up all 4 shocks from amazon
If my memory serves me right, they were last replaced at about 19 years ago.

I put them in myself. With the right tools installation was about 6 out of 10.

Not too sure what to expect, they perform well with potholes and the bouncy feel is no longer there . They ride a bit higher (space between the tire and wheel well. Went from 2 fingers to comfortably 4).

 

Due to my schedule I'll be getting them done at a shop with an alignment, That amazon link is handy and I never heard of the AutoShack brand, so I'll see what they have to offer, the part link you sent me doesn't bolt on correctly to my car since I have the ES330 body style with the same motor as you. But its good that you got yours fixed. I do see that you have drilled rotors on your ES, do you notice anything different? Any cracks??

 

Agreed

Here is an alternative
https://www.amayama.com/en/catalogs/...xv30-2001-3875

 

The rotors were put in 2020, no issues. the pads are due for replacement now and there is a little vibration when slowing down.

I typically replace the rotors and pads anyway, but this is my first time using drilled rotors and seems to be ok.