That is good advice. While I don't have air suspension, I do use 303 on anything rubber or vinyl on my car. The UV resistance of 303 is great and keeps things pliable. Truly one of the best products out there.

 

That's the stuff. There are others, but this is top-notch.. A BIG PLUS is that it doesn't draw dirt, due to any residue leftover (There is none!).

Not a cheap product, but the cost of the problems it prevents are well worth the expense IMHO; so an ounce of prevention = pound of cure!

Caveat- one thing to consider, Aerospace 303 is water-based, so it will wash off with soap & water, unlike some other silicone-based products. I personally prefer to avoid the silicone-based products altogether, as they seem to create their own problems. YMMV.

 

I'm curious what is the ratio of hydraulic failures to air system failures?

The struts is essentially a 'normal' shock absorber (hydraulic) that is fitted with an air bag that provides suspension.

Most of the failures I have read about, and experienced, are hydraulic in nature. No amount of air bag treatment will address that sort of issue.

 

My failures were on the "hydraulic" side of things. The air part still worked fine, height could be adjusted, no lean, etc. I'd bet you'd have more data from screaming customers if the non-air cars had shocks as expensive as the air ones. I'd bet they fail about as often, though as noted previously failing perhaps not as noticeably over time, but are much less costly so not quite as annoying.

 

FYI
it looks like arnott is selling a new non-refurbished air shock for the front only. Its nice to see more options but its only 15% cheaper than online OEM prices and about the same as direct from japan ebay sets.

 

When I bought my CPO LS600hL, I checked the Lexus service history and found that one of the rear Struts had been replaced at 41K miles, the second rear strut was replaced at 47K miles, and both the front struts and actuators (along with all 4 Upper Control Arms) were replaced at 58K miles (right before I bought the car).

I bought the extended CPO warranty to cover everything up to 125K miles, so I figure there's a great chance I'll end up getting all 4 of the Air Struts replaced once again before my warranty expires (if the 50K mile rule-of-thumb applies). I agree this is an expensive car to own out of warranty! Happy to be covered through 2020 and up to 125K miles!

 

Had my fronts replaced with actuators and the bill was $3800 covered by warranty of course. But the difference was amazing. .never realized I was riding on bad struts until I heard the noises. Probably was bad before I bought it

 

I had a couple of LS400's with coil over suspension and I found the suspension was too light. If you had 4 people in the car and went over a sharp dip at open road speed the suspension would bottom out especially if you also had luggage in the boot. One of these cars bottomed out in the front suspension as well on sharp dips with only two of us in it so I would hesitate before I converted air suspension to coil over. I currently have an LS460 with air suspension which I leave on high ride height just in case and set to "comfort" (soft and mushy). I only change to "Sport" on the open road when I know there is a twisty bit of road coming up.You can certainly feel the difference; it corners quite well on sport setting even though it is set to high whereas cornering in comfort mode is a bit rolly polly but still OK.
I see your complaints about the cost of replacement airbags in the States; over here, Toyota NZ charges $5,000 per corner or $20,000.00 to do the lot. Their greed knows no end!
The NZ dollar is worth a bit over 80 cents US.
At least in the US your large population leaves room for more competition in pricing; in NZ the polulation is so small there is very little competition and so we often get fleeced by suppliers on many things including car parts.

 

I've been hearing a "thud" noise on the left rear when going over speed bumps, and minor road imperfections at around 37,000 miles.

Took it into Lexus for scheduled service, and they confirmed the left rear shock was leaking, and would be replaced under warranty.

I'm just shy of 44,000 miles to date.

My CPO ends on Nov. of this year, & i'll most likely get extended warranty specifically for suspension failure.

Does anyone know of aftermarket air suspension solutions for '13+ F Sport models?

 

The shock of my life, after reading all your messages of how sickening it is that Lexus has dumped on us a hot potato in their air suspension. I bought a 2013 LS460 AWD in Sept 2018 with very low mileage 65+K km. There was no choice for me to get a non-air LS. Lexus Canada does not carry a non-air LS, period. It was and still is in pristine conditions. Except at about six months ago, I started noticing the back end started sinking if I hadn't driven it for about a week, as I have an LS400 that my wife uses to do grocery shopping and I much rather drive hers in winter. So, now I realize the pain of having to replace the struts starts to aggravate me. The car now only has 67+K (42K mi) for crying out loud. The cost for each corner from Lexus is US$1,300 to $1,400 and I am looking at roughly 6 to 7-hour of labour. Besides, there is no Coilover substitute available in the market. Arnott doesn't even have the air-suspension to replace it. I am stuck with close to a $10K expense just for the air ride. Any suggestion other than shooting the horse would be greatly appreciated.

 

Somebody somewhere must have the ability to rebuild these units. Unfortunately, I've never seen any such information on this site!

 

im tired of saying this ... when vehicle is out of warranty you are wasting money buying stuff from the dealer or having them fix stuff. You are not going to make that money back from resale value. Shocks original from the UAE or some place original not refurb cost about 500+ usd. Also swapping out air struts is very straight forward. Other than removing rear seats part of it. I went to total oem parts non air recently. And the labour was. Less than 6 Hours for all 4 sides. So try to find a good Indy shop someone who handles luxury cars and will quote you fairly not book time.

 

Sorry to hear. Very frustrating if there is no aftermarket solutions. I had a air suspension on my suv and it was a PITA to figure it all out. I would definitely try a independent garage. Tough part for your situation is that 2013 is not a very old.

Can you not find none air parts from a 2008-2012 pre refresh model?

 

my LS600HL has 131.000 miles never replaced air struts. My fathers LC200 with AHC has 320.000 miles on the struts/ compressor

 

It's comforting to see someone managed to keep their pride and joy to such level of legevity. I wonder if there is any secret to it. What model years are they?
Maybe, just maybe, Lexus of late has been getting bump air suspension supplier similar to their disastrous period between 07 and 10 for having sticky dash and door panels.