Romanova

Ready to do the lower control arms on my ES330. Curious to what others have used. I see OEM LCA but they don't come with a ball joint. Moog and others come with the ball joints but looking at some of the reviews on Amazon, it seems like people have issues with doing an alignment afterwards, trouble with the ball joint which sometimes is smaller than OEM, or longevity issues.

OEM is about $160ish a piece but you still have to do the ball joints which are about $60 each for OEM. For Moog and others, they are about $60 a piece, ball joint included. With what is involved, I'd like to do it right the first time though it's my son's car, so it's only getting about 2,000 miles a year or less of just easy city driving.

To those who have done this job, please share your parts experience. I searched and really didn't see anything with details.

Thanks.

LeX2K

I gave up on aftermarket ball joints they are at best suspect at worst they can kill you. Get OEM or Sankei 555 if you can find them, but beware these are being faked.

Romanova

Yeah, it looks like just spending $400 on OEM parts is probably going to be the best way to go in the long run.

Oro

No it's not.

I posted earlier and it was deleted. There are much more affordable and equally apparent quality available.

There is nothing "magic" about OE parts. They are available elsewhere w/o Lexus part #s for less. There are also very high quality AM companies.

I did this job with Moog Problem Solver parts. It was great - for all observable details (I have 40 years of experience at this), they were no different - quality casting, quality looking rubber, solid looking ball joints. The car did not (crudely measured at the time, albeit) need a re-alignment. Many miles later the tire wear bore that out - perfect dimensional replacement. $120/$130 total both sides I think.

Very happy to use Moog "Problem Solver" line and have had no issues with them in my own vehicles or client vehicles (I have an auto repair business).

FromFL

50 or 60 dollars each from eBay with built in ball joints. As far as I can tell, they are indistinguishable from OEM. Been a few months, still OK. No alignment done. I'll wait for that because I want to burn off the awful tires on it (cheap dealer tires, Firestone and Falkens).

Romanova

The Amazon reviews for the Moog units are good for the most part but some are troubling. One person noted a difference in size for the ball joints when compared to the old OEM unit.


Thanks for the input so far, still haven't made up my mind yet.

LeX2K

Why did you use the word apparent? Doesn't sound reassuring. So what parts are just as good link to them.

Richardsr

Here’s a good link on Lexus OEM vs Moog...

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...-joints-3.html

Romanova

Some good info, though from what I've seen so far in doing research is that the rubber piece is or can be prone to premature failure on the Moog lower control arms for our cars and even other vehicles also. Could just be a few bad experiences so that is what makes this a hard decision. At this point and considering what is involved with doing the work, I'm probably going to adopt the 'buy once, cry once' mentality and just go OEM. Even spending $400ish on OEM parts, I'll still come out ahead in doing the labor myself since I have all the tools necessary already. This should help ensure that the ES stays on the road for many years to come. I'd hate to go with another brand and have a failure after a year or two and have to do the repair all over again.

Waiting for a few quotes on the parts. There are some odds and ends floating around on eBay and Amazon and I want to make sure that I'm getting actual OEM parts and not knock-offs with OEM stickers...

ahgoo

I recommend moog too

Romanova

In general or have you actually used Moog LCA for the ES330? I've used Moog products for other applications without issue but never one of their LCA.

ahgoo

in general its a trusted quality brand. Bearings will be timken.

Oro

I use the word "apparent" because I am precise and careful, and it's the right way to convey what I was able to judge.

I didn't have a full laboratory to do things like judge the Rockwell hardness of the steel, microscopically examine welds, etc. So I state what is within my ability to judge as a mechanic and the machinist training I have received. So the apparent quality was satisfactory...

"Moog Problem Solver" as I stated. I'm sure that can be Googled up without me having to do ALL the work...

LeX2K

YOU made a claim now you want me to prove it for you? Back up your claim or don't make it.

Romanova

It's a real roll of the dice because the negative reviews of the Moog LCAs show a bushing failure after two years or so. Now, you never know what the driving conditions are like, the climate where that particular vehicle is, how it was installed, etc. Shoot, it could be a defect from the factory or it could be old stock which sat for a few years before it was purchased and installed.

I'll post up what Bell Lexus comes back with as far as the quote and then make the decision.

Thanks to everyone who has posted so far.