e-man

Hey mods -- could you please leave this up here for a day so I can have the benefit of hearing from the CL members that don't regularly frequent the suspension forum?

As many of our cars are getting higher miles, it seems that a lot of you are "freshening" up your front suspension components by replacing several wear items, including (but maybe not limited to) the lower ball joints, outer tie rods, control arms, castor arms, etc. To be honest, I have absolutely no idea what any of these terms mean, much less what the parts actually look like. For those of us that have no intentions of going with Daizan "bushings" (again, I wouldn't know a bushing if someone threw one at me), I thought it might be beneficial to hear from those of you who have replaced stock suspension parts, which ones you replaced, what mileage they were replaced at, how much it cost, and how it improved the ride (if at all). Lexforlife comes to mind immediately as does 3dog (I believe he bought the parts, but I don't recall seeing a thread on his thoughts post-installation), but I have to believe there are many others out there who haven't reported in yet.

So, let's hear from you guys. Thanks.

e

LEXUS_KID

iTrader: (4)

E-Man how much do you want to spend $$$$

e-man

Hey LK. I'd like to spend $0. Seriously, though, I'm not looking to go aftermarket or anything like that. I want to keep her bone stock. I just want to know who has replaced these components basically with new stock replacement components, how many miles, how much they spent, and whether it made a difference.

b1gredek

funny how u start this thread cause my rear arms,, not exactly sure which one but might be a trailing arm just fell apart.. now my car needs to get towed,,, the arm is rubbing off my inside lip of my wheels... any ideas what went wrong,, ,, thought the car usually has problems with the front arms,,, dont recall any for the rear yet

LEXSOOS

I have done it recently, let me put it this way:

2x upper control arms $360.00 each
2x lower ball joints $61.00 each
2x caster arms $116.00 each
Shipping $20.00

All parts are brand new (OEM), i have ordered them from Carsons Toyota

Labor cost me nothing since i've done it myself, if you have any questions PM me so i can help you out, also i could inspect your suspention

Let me know what you think

e-man

Hey Lexsoos. Maybe you could elaborate a bit for everyone. How many miles are on your car? What symptoms were you experiencing that led you to replace those parts? How does the car handle now?

This is exactly the kind of first-hand experience I was looking for. I'm hoping this will benefit a lot of people.

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

e- man I'll start out since I replaced my lower ball joints ( one the straightest part connecting outward to the hub, unlike the control arms that are wish bone shaped) this past weekend. I don't have any pictures for reference but it was shown to me and probably the cheapest of the 3-4 suspension parts listed to replace.

Car: 99GS300 with 128k miles
Symptoms: A clunking noise when going over dips, bumps....
Fix: Replaced front left and right lower ball joints assembly
Cost: 2x $61 per side.
Labor: Couldn't say because other services were done. Roughly a close 1 hour job.
Feel: Steering is slightly tighter, less jiggly in the steering wheel and no clunking noise
going over dips, bumps, driveways.

Next: Upper control arm bushings are starting to crack, but front bilstein is leaking

rominl

iTrader: (4)

e, you actually forgot about me? read my super long thread in the suspension forums on the daizen bushings i put in, that's all i can say

e-man

Hey Henry. Of course I didn't forget about you. Who could? But, like I said, some of us "stockers" probably wouldn't go the Daizan bushing route. I was just looking for some first-hand experience from guys who went the OEM route.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well, the bushings are stock replacement. i personally don't see any reason why it's only for people with afermarket suspension not like these will harshen up your ride bad

e-man

Good point. I guess I was focusing more on people that had simply replaced the entire part (i.e., the control arm and not just the bushing).

gserep1

LEXOOS,
Since you are from Illinois, did you replace your parts due to the rust and corrosion from snow and salt ? I live in California and bought my car in Arizona. I have absolutely no rust on my car anywhere, and all the parts you mention look great on my car. My alignmenti s checked every 3 months, and so far, no problems.

I have 102,000 miles on my 99 GS4, and don't think that I'll change anything unless I have a reason to do so.

Thanks again!

DetMich1

e-man, when I took my GS400 for alignment we found that the ball joints we pretty worn at about 125,000 miles. Had to replace those before going on to do alignment. Spent $80/ball joint (alignment shop sent courier to the dealer to get them) and 2 hours shop time for replacement. Then proceeded with four wheel alignment so its hard to say what the isolated effect of the ball joint replacement was. On my SC I replaced all the lower control arm bushing using the ones fabricated by Andrew Vlamos from Australia. They are rubber like stock not polyurethane like the Daizens. They press into the original control arms replacing the worn out OEM bushings. Lexus does not offer the bushing as a separate part (at least at the time they didn't) even though the control arm itself experiences no wear and does not need replacement per se as long as a new bushing can be installed. The ride and handling of the SC was restored to new car quality.

e-man

Well now I'm completely confused. Was it difficult to replace the bushings (like Rom described in his thread on the Daizans)? I was leaning towards a new set of shocks, but now I'm back to thinking about bushings.

DetMich1

Its not a DIY job, definitely need the proper facilities, including a press. I don't know what the availability is on bushings either from Lexus or other sources on the GS. In general, the rubber bushings made by Lexus wear out after 90,000 miles or so. If you have clunking noises when backing up especially with the wheel turned (ie. out of a parking space) going over bumps, tramlining, loose steering response and the car is over 6 years old, its likely that worn control arm bushings are responsible. All told, front and rear, there are 16 bushings total. The 4 front lower control arms are the ones that wear the worst and have the greatest effect on steering/handling issues.
Even if you go with new Lexus control arms and the associated bushings, here is the website for the Vlamos replacement bushings. There is a lot of good info on there about the suspension and how it all works. I'm not even sure if he makes bushings for the GS. I can tell you he was very easy to work with when I ordered bushings for the SC and had them shipped to the US.
VFT Bushings website