CF01

I'd like to do something about the suspension on the car I just got. It's an 03 ES with 164,000 miles. Previous owner did a lot of highway miles between Minneapolis and somewhere in North Dakota.

Suspension is all original to the car from what I can tell. As would be expected, I'm feeling a lot more of the road than I would like. I'm used to Avalons and like the quiet smooth comfortable ride they give. I'm assuming an ES should deliver something similar when the suspension is not all worn out. After inspection, my regular shop thought I could probably get by with just new struts. In their experience, they usually just see the struts go bad on these cars and not so much the mounts or springs.

Just thought I would grab another opinion here, as it is not a cheap job and I have other things to fix up on this car with a limited budget. Anyone have guesses as to how long mounts and springs typically last on these cars? I didn't really get a good sense of this after combing through the forums. I'd hate to find after doing the struts that either the springs or mounts need to get replaced, but I also don't want to pay several hundred more for those items if I likely don't need them. I'm planning to keep the car for between 2 and 4 years and probably wouldn't put more than 50,000 miles on it at the very most.

lostape45

Check out this thread: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...-confused.html

As long as your strut mounts aren't clunking, you don't need to replace them. As far as springs and struts, you can get away with just replacing struts and leaving the stock springs; that is what I did on my ES with 150k. Usually the rear of the car will sit lower than the front (rear sagging) and that would indicate you need new springs. Mine was sagging and I just replaced struts and left the springs and I didn't have any issues until I sold it. If you're on a tight budget just do the struts with OEM and leave everything else as long as the mounts are intact.

BDSL

Before you replace the struts, check:
- tire pressure are within spec
- check if your struts are working (are they leaking?)

Oro

The thread he linked above has a lot of collective experience and Ideas in it, so check that. Good that he linked that.

I 2nd the rear springs - if they aren't sagging, you are good with struts only. If it is sagging a bit, you really only have OE and Moog cc273 replacment for Camry/Avalon, and presumably OE camry/Avalon. They are not cross-referenced, but they do work.

Ours has had mostly highway miles and was so-so on rear springs at 150k, but then badly needing them at 200k/210k. If you are going to drive solo/rarely anything in the trunk, maybe no need. But, there's no additional labor required, just spring cost ($80/pair for the moogs).

If you are thinking of selling it around 200k, you will be bummed if it's sagging noticeably and it wasn't dealt with before - just a thought.

Hayk

iTrader: (1)

All great information has been provided, I just wanted to add my two cents regarding the rear end sag. A lot of people believe that the rear suspension sags dues to worn out springs. This makes sense, but it's not always the culprit.

I personally had the same issue and what I discovered is that these cars have very soft spring rates and soft struts in the rear of the car. A lot of the leveling of the ride height is done by the strut, so when it fails to rebound, your ride height suffers as a result - the spring is still fine at that point. Now having said that, it all depends on the severity of the sagging, as mine was fairly modest.

p.s.: I went through a setup with all new struts and springs (Tokico and Tanabe) for 16 months and then with all new Lexus struts and original springs (200k+ miles) for almost two years now. I'm at 232,000 miles on original springs, everything else is new.

CF01

Yeah, this was sort of the reason I started the thread. I didn't want to find the springs bad at around 200,000 in case I really enjoyed driving the car and wanted to keep it longer than planned or wanted to pass it along to one of my nieces or nephews. I'm not too concerned about a future sale price, as I don't think the difference it would make in value at that point would equal the cost.

I guess I'll first take care of some engine stuff that should be done as well as the tires and if I can squeeze the springs into the budget, I'll maybe do those. Mounts, I guess I'll skip.

Thanks for the input everyone.