John U

When I replaced mine the car had around 150,000 miles on it. At the time I was lead to believe that KYB was the OEM for Toyota/Lexus. I used GR2's and had no complaints about the ride quality. (I use GR2's on my Corvette and have the most comfortable ride I've ever had) When I bounced mine it did not feel like a pogo stick but I knew when I drove it on bad roads the suspension was not keeping up especially the back struts. If memory is correct there might have been a squeak on one side.

Struts/shocks decline so gradual it is not noticed until you replace them.

speedkar9

I was able to narrow the noise and some vibration down to a bad tire. I swapped it for the spare and it drives better, but still some vibration.

I am looking into getting 2 new tires and a set of rear struts for my ES330.

I think I will go OEM and not take my chances ruining my ride with KYB GR2's. They are ~$200 per side from Sewell:

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/oem-cat...S330-2005.html

Its interesting that its the same strut from the Gen 5 Camry, I thought the Lexus suspension would be different.

However, do you think I will need to replace the strut mounts as well?

If so, can I go aftermarket? The originals are $100 per side, and Monroe/ KYB's are $45 per side.

Has anyone else replaced rear struts on a 4ES? Whats involved in getting to the top strut bolts? (removing the seat back, rear deck, etc)

Thanks,

John U

Sewell shows the oem at $270 each. Rockauto.com shows a KYB Gr2 for $97.

You'll need to remove the rear shelf to gain excess to the top nuts on the mount. I ended up doing new mounts because of the stories of noise/banging from worn out mounts. I only wanted to to this once. (my mounts looked fine that I took off)