lexus4me2

98 ES300 with 180k miles.
Dealer said front end bushings are shot and need new bushings and control arms for 1370 with alignment. Is it possible to just change the bushings or do I need to do whole thing?

Any recommendations on Indy mechanic in North Dallas Area?

Thanks!

2GSKaizen

iTrader: (1)

Fist off, sounds a little pricey. I would check rockauto.com. You might be able to buy just the bushings, or worst case scenario, you should be able to get both arms with bushings for under $500.00. Lexus only lists the entire arm in their parts list. A few aftermarket companies have started making the bushings by themselves, which would be the only thing you need to replace. The arms themselves never actually go bad. Hope this helps.

tomf

I replaced the control arms on my 95 Camry V6. Very similar to your ES300. You can get the front control arms with ball joint for about $75 each from RockAuto. I bought the Beck/Arnley's. The job wasn't too hard. One of the replacement's control arm sway bar link attachment point was bolted on upside down. (make of that what you will for Beck/Arnley's quality control). The other problem I had was getting the bolt holes lined up when I installed one of the control arms. It seemed to me that bushings were not completely pressed in. Anyway, to make a long story short, I eventually got the control arms on and they work fine. I'm just assuming I got one control arm built after a long weekend.

Don't buy the bushings alone. I hear they are a pain to remove and then install.

kainislupi

I just replaced both control arms and ball joints on my '99 ES300. Here is my advice:

1. Buy quality parts. I got one control arm from Napa and the other from Carson Toyota. There was an obvious difference in the physical stature between the two. The Toyota product was physically meatier- more metal. However, more importantly I imagine that there is a difference in the rubber bushing quality which is the whole point of replacing the control arms in the first place.
2. No matter what you decide regarding #1, buy your ball joints from Toyota/Lexus. Don't skimp here for the same reasons noted above.
3. Don't even attempt to buy just the bushings. I did that first and also bought a bushing puller (pneumatic wrench powered). There is no way those bushings are coming out and going back in unless you have access to some serious industrial press machines. Or you could burn them out, but thats messy and I'm still not sure how you would get the new ones in. Save your self the trouble.
4. All in all it was a straightforward job when I got down to replacing the control arms and ball joints. You'll have to take the axle nut off and push the CV in so you can get the ball joint nut off.

Hope this helps!