alaskaty

For the past couple of days my car has had an annoying clunking sound coming from the rear end. It sounds like it's coming from the left rear (but I could be wrong) and isn't really associated with any particular event. I was thinking strut mount even though i just replaced it a year ago and it's only got like 15k miles on it.
The clunking does NOT get worse when i drive over bumps. It actually gets worse when i turn from side to side or when the body flexes (like turning into a parking lot that is at an incline).
I have no idea what kind of sound you get when the sway bar end links are toast, but I read some people get some weird noises.
I got under my car and tugged, tapped, wiggled, everything I could find and nothing was loose or broken that I could tell
Do the ES masters have any ideas?

The crazy thing about this is this is the first vehicle I've owned that didn't have a rear diff and the first time I've had clunking from my rear end

ASG14

iTrader: (1)

Check your sway bar bushings.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

Hey! This thread had a few responses about clunking

Furthermore:

&
Hope that helps ya out!

-Mike

alaskaty

does anyone know the part number, or can i just go to a Lexus dealership and ask for sway bar bushings? Thanks for all the help

side note: I'm going to a Texas Rangers game tonight and they offer free valet to Lexus owners! (too the clunking is gonna be kind of embarrasing considering they're probably valeting new LS's and whatnot)

Soasnavas

I spent thousands on this clunking issue and after replacing the entire front end and rear suspension parts it turned out to be the trailing arm bushings. Even if they look good replace them. 40 a pair on ebay. 20 min job. Clunk free!!!!!! Feels like a 2013.

solr

Have had similar problems over the last two years.
Have 115K miles, runs great.

Made the mistake of using front strut assemblies from Moog, Monroe and FCS, that's right, bought all of them on Amazon, and returned two sets. Now using the FCS strut assembly ($150/pair).

But- All of them started to rattle after two weeks.

This is a critical part, and the after market mounts have a spacer washer between the bearing and the mount and that's what I believe starts to rattle as the upper mount and washer have to take about 1000lbs of impact over every bump. Even on smooth blacktop, the after market mounts rattled on slight ripples in the blacktop. Even after re-torqueing the top nut, the struts rattled! The Lexus parts have no spacer.

Ended up replacing the front upper strut mounts and bearing with Lexus parts. Now rides like new. Tight and rubbery. My mechanic told me this is the way they fix front struts, to use an after market strut, but Lexus mounts and bearings. I should have believed him. Being an engineer, I could not believe that brand name manufacturers could sell such junk, so I kept changing the strut assemblies, believing it could not be the mounts. I was wrong!!!

2 years go I replaced everything on the rear suspension, including the Knuckles from Lexus, because I could not find bushings. The others parts were after market parts, and still have rattling noises, which get worse as the temp drops from the 40s into the 20s. Its a fast rattle over manholes, and sounds like its from the upper mounts on the struts.

I used trailing arms from Dorman, and alignment arms and links from Mevotec and Beck-Arnley.

All the after market parts have rubber boots that are now cracked, and therefore will cause the joints to rust. I had my mechanic grease up all the joints to keep moisture out.

I will never again use after market parts for anything that requires precision, such as Ball joints, links that have swivel bushings, etc.

Do not use any front Ball joint except from Lexus. The studs will not line up properly in the 3 holes in the Lower Arm casting. Only use Lexus nuts for the front Ball joint, they have large sleeves that fit into the Arm holes.

Sway bar links are not critical, and I have used Delco and Moog.

I have had good success with AC Delco front lower arms, the Lexus Ball joint fits then perfectly, Front Rotors and Ceramic Pads, and Centric Rear Rotors, and Akebono Ceramic Pads.

I live in Bergen County New Jersey, but order my Lexus parts from Lexus of South Atlanta, that has a great parts web site. But it takes them a week to turn around orders. But the prices are substantially less than the local Lexus dealers.

Fortunately, I have a local mechanic, who will allow me to get the parts, and I pay them only for labor. Would appreciate your feedback on these issues.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

I rarely get anything OEM since it's far too much money, and once Toyota wasn't allowed [in my area] to get Lexus parts, it made no sense.

I agree with the struts, mine started creaking the winter after putting them on.

My ball joints are Moog, and they have a zerg fitting so it is serviceable which makes it better than oem as I can grease them at any time... a lot of other member swear by Moog, especially the 2GS guys.

Furthermore i have Beck Arnley BJ's on an RX - no issues whatsoever, bolted right up. Something is not right when the BJ's cannot bolt up - they have to be physically different that the OEM design [wrong vehicle model order]. Quite a bit of exaggeration there I'm afraid....

My ES has a gangbang of A/M parts on it, Dorman front control arms, 'ebay special' rear arms [2yrs so far, no issues, and Rockauto did not have brand names at the time]. Mevotech endlinks, Moog bushings, Monroe quick struts, etc.

banjodave

Hello all. Noob to this forum, I replaced the rear struts on my 97 ES with aftermarket complete assemblies and have the clunk also. So today I pulled rear seat and rode in back while my wife drove about and feel play in the upper mount of new strut . The strut nut is tight and strut to tower nuts are also tight, After searches found this thread and appears I can put new lexus mounts on the struts. Is that the best plan or is there a way to remodel these?

banjodave

Club lexus huh!!!!!!!!!!!!

Power6

I don't think all the aftermarket parts are bad per se, but we happen to know the strut mounts are one place where there is a problem, we have multiple folks reporting that they solved a clunk by using OEM strut mounts in place of aftermarket, myself included.

OEM parts cost more partly because they are higher quality, partly because OEMs build lots of profit into the price, and parts operations/dealers have to keep parts on the shelf for a long time. Do you want to pay the price to get those higher quality parts? Well that is up to you. Dealers like Sewell make it a little easier cutting out some of the big markup and giving a deal to CL members.

The aftermarket stuff costs less because quite frankly the end user, local mechanic or DIYer doesn't care, they shop by price. Do you want control arm bushings that last 150k? Probably don't need that, so buying the OEM part over the Dorman arm might not make sense unless you are going to go 300k and beyond.

Now sorry to burst your bubble but a Zerk fitting is not the mark of a quality part, that means you bought a ball joint that is not sealed well enough to not need greasing. Have fun going back to the 60s having to lube your chassis! I'm still on the original sealed BJs at 108k now, how long did yours last? Now maybe the aftermarket sealed BJs aren't high quality (likely!) enough to stay sealed so the zerk fitting stuff makes sense. The OEM ball joints probably outlast any aftermarket part though, but again how long do you need them to last...

Banjodave, yes get the OEM strut mounts...