The shop I took my SC300 to said everything was in great condition, except there was some noise from the front end (suspension) that he thought might be the struts needing replaced. Of course, I want to replace the suspension eventually anyways, so would replacing the dampers fix the problem with the struts, or are they two seperate things? Any help would be extremly appreciated.

 

Did you take your SC in to the shop because of a noise you have heard? OEM struts don't make noise, Lower Control Arms do and that is an expensive fix. Use Search feature on "lower control arm" or "LCA"

Also, for gods sake, you can use less expensive and equally good Toyota MKIV Supra TT suspension components across the board, they all bolt up to the same mounts, SC and MKIV Supra separated at birth, remember that when it comes to many engine/drivetrain/suspension parts.

 

Yeah its probably your LCA's and not your struts, those dont seem to usually make noise on the SC. LCA's do though.

How new is your car? How many miles?

 

Please search and read carefully. The front MkIV Supra suspension parts fit, not the rear. Many parts are interchangeable, but search and read all the different exceptions.

 

I took the car to the shop just because I wanted everything checked out. Not because of the noise. It's not THAT noticeable. However, the other '92 SC I drove felt and sounded about the same, so perhaps either it was coincidently a bad part on both cars, or they both had the same problem.

The car I purchased was a '92. And it has 160k miles on it.

 

That's a much better way of putting it. Yeah, the rears are not the same, but the shocks, springs and sway bars (need subframe mts)come over.

 

By the time the SC reaches 100k miles or about 6-8 years old, I think the general consensus is that the LCAs are going out. I actually have the LCAs sitting in my home. Recently I began noticing that clicking when turning that seems to be indiciative of worn ball joints. My car has 102k miles and is 13 years oold now.

 

Also, remember that the LCAs can rarely be diagnosed correctly when everything is on the car. Usually the only way the bushings can be see clearly enough to be identified as the problem is once they are off the car. Take our word, I think there is enough evidence on the forums that at the age and mileage of your car, they should be replaced.

 

That being said..

Would it be more benificial to upgrade the LCA's (if there is such a way), or just go OEM?