I just picked up a used 2009 LS 460 AWD last week with 45K miles. I have put about 1000 miles on it so far myself. Need some advice.

When I hit any small depression in the road at 10-45 mph I hear a thump in the rear. The bigger the depression and the more weight in the backseat, the louder the thump noise and even an occasional bottoming out feeling occurs. It hasn't happened at highway speeds so far.

The bottoming out feel occurs only with a medium to large depression. I am not talking about a pot hole, just pavement depressions where two sections are not of equal height or you are transitioning from a primary road to a side street and the is a depression to allow for water run off, etc.

If I have someone sitting in the passenger seat and the backseat and accelerate quickly from a dead stop, I get a similar rear thump and even a bottoming out feel. This occasionally occurs even without a without a depression in the road. With no one in the back seat it does not do it unless there is a big depression in the road.

Finally, when cornering on a 270 degree off ramp at 40 to 50 MPH the rear end will start to hop and bounce. If I slow down to 15-20 mph it goes away. Still, it is irritating and embarrassing. I have tried all comfort settings and get the same results.

I read several other posts on the Forum so I know there are known issues like this with the LS's. I couldn't tell if it was fixable by reading the posts. Is it just the AWD or any air suspension LS's.

What is the real issue? The strut mounts, the air controller or the air struts themselves? I am going to the dealer next week. What should I tell them to check and what should I expect them to do? Its still under factory warranty.

 

sounds like loose strut bolt or bad strut, did you buy it as is??? or did you get a warranty? dealership will cost to look at and if need replace it will cost..

 

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i HAVE EXACT SAME CAR, EVEN COLOR................bought earlier this year..............same exact symptom......had air shock replaced under original warranty

 

Thanks. 178165-mike171333, what was the mileage when you had yours replaced? Did they replace both or just one of the rears? Mine is at 45K and is still under factory warranty, time and mileage wise. I am pretty sure it is the rear drivers side that is bad. But I have read that they should be replaced in pairs.

 

I'm having the same problem with my 2009. I'm in worse shape as I have 65k and out of factory warranty.

 

Mine is cpo...but I had the repair at 49000 under orig warranty. I insisted that they check all shocks and suspension parts...they did and annotated the records...but stated they could only replace the one that was clearly leaking and defective to get credit from Lexus. They have been great to work with...Mungenast, in saint Louis.car seems fine now. I have never had air suspension before...seems to react differently to sudden impacts...minor or major
Mike

 

Car is at the Lexus dealer today. I should know more later, but I did learn that the passenger side rear strut was replaced by the previous owner under warranty at 41,000 miles. It has 46,500 now. I am also getting a chatter in the front drivers side strut at slow speed over any road surface. Reported that as well. They didnt seem suprised by the issues at all. Said they would make it right. Sounds like the issue is fairly common.

 

Well, as I suspected, two of the air struts were bad. The dealer is replacing the driver’s side struts – front and rear. That means three of the four struts have now been replaced before 47K miles. Disappointing. Glad it is covered under warranty, glad they are fixing it, but that is just a joke quality wise. Had this happened outside of the warranty the cost would have been, I dunno, $3K, perhaps?

I asked why they wouldn’t just do the final fourth one and they said “Lexus will not us reimburse us unless it is showing signs of failure.” OK, but the other three failed in the last 5K miles so we all know that the final one is going to fail soon too. Why not fix it now instead of having to realign the front end, make me come back, use one of your loaners, make me mad, etc? They said, “Yes, it will likely fail soon, but until it happens we will not replace it.” Also, they hope replacing the struts will fix the vibration issue. We’ll soon see. I am guessing it won’t.
They ordered the parts. Should be done in the next day or so.

 

Well after three days in the shop, I got the car back. They replaced the front and rear air struts on the left side. The car rides and drives much, much better. No noise from the rear at all. They even balanced the tires to eliminate any vibration. That helped a ton too. I saw the bill, $3100 dollars. Glad it was under warranty.

 

I'm glad you were able to get your suspension problems resolved. It looks like I'm going to have to pay out of pocket to get mine fixed as I don't think my 3rd party Warranty from Fidelity will cover the air struts. Or maybe I should just trade the car in? hmmm

 

So I read my 3rd Party Warranty and for the rear suspension it says it covers the following:

Upper and lower control arms, shafts and bushing; upper and lower ball joints; struts, housing and cartridge; wheel bearings; spindle/steering knuckle and spindle support; coil and leaf springs, seats and bushings, leaf springs shackles; track bars, links and bushings; electronic level control components including pump, accumulator, lines, bags; stabilizer bar, links and bushings.

Can any one confirm if my rear air struts will be covered? It says struts, but not sure if that implies air struts.

 

I am not a warranty expert by any means, but I did look at the extended warranties of several companies in the last few days since I plan on buying one. In every case they covered suspension parts including air struts. Since you only have air suspension struts on your LS460 I would expect them to be covered under your warranty. But a call to confirm would be in order. I asked the Lexus dealer about the Lexus platinum warranty and their dealer platinum warranty (Hendrick Auto Group) and they are covered in both cases.

That being said, if i was out of warranty and air strut replacement was not covered by the extended warranty, for just over the cost one air strut repair you can convert an LS460 to springs. I would go that route because all four will fail. Bank on it. They may fail twice before $100K. Who knows? Why pay $6K for a problem when you can fix it permanently for around $2K?
http://www.suncoreindustries.com/Lex...ersion-kit.php

For me, the air suspension rides rough in the AWD compared to the traditional springs in the RWD.