Yes however there are Poly bushings available now. Normally I would be against most poly options but the ones I seen on EBay are researched from a reputable company and should last longer then the rubber.

 

That's a good point.

After this round of control arms replacement, I will have eight spare control arms with broken bushings.

Then I should have enough time to push out the bad bushings and insert the poly bushings on the spare control arms, and get ready for the next round of control arm replacement .

 

All this talk about the inevitability of replacing control arms/bushings had me concerned. Just had my 2007 LS 460 w/ 76K miles in to the dealer to have oil changed, tires rotated, air filters changed and full inspection of all that stuff. Everything looked good under there...and I have an early production model from 2006. I wonder how many other silent LS owners have not had this control arm problem yet?

 

I'm willing to bet a lot more then those that had the problem. Don't play the lottery if you make it past 100k without issue.

 

Maybe I am lucky but with 110000 miles my controls have not gone bad....Knock on Wood....And Thanks Roadfrog among others for all that they do for this website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If it were me, I would keep the old control arms and make a new set with those inexpensive poly bushings on your own time. You can do it with simple hand tools, no press required. I would then sell them and recover the some of the cost of your new control arms.
It would be a win win for everyone involved except the dealership.

 

Went through this back in Feb, I'm sure/hoping you've seen my post on this and the cost to replace the control arms (vs just the bushings) was negligible enough I just decided to do the actual control arms. Not saying the bushing way is bad, I just don't want to risk a control arm with 100k miles on it, albeit with new bushings, when I can get "new" ones for pretty much around the same price.

Call around shops in Houston area (there was a CL member who ran a Lexus indie shop in Houston, can't remember his name so search around) but replacing control arms ranges from 7-11 hours of labor, depending on who you ask. Assuming ~$60-$90/hour of labor, you should have a decent estimate of what it costs (those prices are indicative of the Dallas area where I'm at). Certainly don't go to Lexus, and not many shops like you to bring your own parts.

You should be able to get this repaired, labor inclusive, for just a tad over $1k hopefully and have another 50k miles of worry free ownership!

 

Lucky you...
but again, when I was driving this LS460 the car was in good shape with no problems.
Then I gave the car to my wife to drive since her commute to work is longer. I don't know what happened during that one year of driving, then the front end started making some noise and it was the broken control arm bushing. I do noticed some scratch/broken pieces of the skid pad under the car. maybe the car hit something on the highway...

 

yes that's what i'm planning to do, to have another set of control arms ready, either for sale or for later use

 

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience on this, and your post is very nice with lots of information.
I've received a message from a nice member here recommending a local shop to me. will check it out.
Now it seems this control arm replacement topic has been thoroughly studied, discussed and solutions figured out, providing confidence of ownership to current and future LS460 owners
would be great if someone could summarize a tech note on each of the common problems and list the reports in a DIY or FAQ board

 

So what is the real culprit here? Is it just the bushings? Or is it a combination of bushings and control arms.

 

not sure,
it could be the control arm design: someone mentioned that the control arms were revised in 2011 or so.
or it could be just the bushing material..

 

It's most likely the bushing hardness. This is one area that is very hard to get right for both vehicle comfort, handling and durability, other vehicle brands suffer from control arm bushing issues as well. My previous BMW was notorious for front control arm bushing failures even more so than the LS 460. I thought I would experience the problem eventually but after 95,000 miles before the car was sold I never experienced a problem.
Driving on bad roads in general wears out bushings quicker but on the whole it's more progressive than an actual failure.

 

For the upper control arms, they changed the bushing fill/shape completely; I posted some pics a while back - it's significantly/obviously different. I had Benson's in Clear Lake change mine out and I have no complaints. I think it ended up being around $400 labor. Since I only changed out 6 of the 8 arms, you could expect to pay a little more.

Pic's & part number info:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ol-arms-2.html

 

I've had good luck with Southwest Wheel Alignment on richmond, and sometimes they allow you to bring your own parts....