amcdonal86

I'm about to replace mine at 112k miles and I'm wondering if I should expect them to be bad yet.

If you replaced yours (or checked yours), at what mileage did they start to fail?

trukn1

Unless you have other suspension problems, causing them to fail prematurely, they should last a good clip. Normally lowering a car will shorten their life a little as well as having worn bushings, worn out suspension components, etc. The LS is know for eating ball joints b/c it is a very heavy car. What is your car doing, suggesting that you need balljoints? Normally with the lowers, especially in the front, you will feel the car kinda jump to one side when making a hard turn or you will notice a bit of vibratioin thru the steering wheel(although there are MANY causes of vibration). Also a visual inspection of the ball joint itself should yield no leakage in that area or splitting of the rubber boot.

amcdonal86

I have this annoying popping from the right front (sometimes the middle front?) that can occur when I get on the brakes, especially at lower speeds and when turning. However, the noise can also occur when I am going straight, provided I am on the brakes.

The car seems to wander on the highway, but I am really not sure whether or not this is just me being crazy or whether it is the car actually wandering. Also, the steering wheel seems to have poor returnability to center after a turn, but again, this might just be my perception. It seems I have to assist the steering wheel back to center heavily after taking a sharp corner at 10-15 mph.

Recently, I have replaced the front swaybar bushings, the front brake pads and shims, the front strut bars, and upper strut mounts. Upon last inspection, upper ball joints were in fine shape. I also recently flushed the powersteering fluid.

Is 112k miles really too early to have lower ball joints go bad?

willhickey

iTrader: (1)

no not at all it depends on the driver and roads..... if it you hit every pothole curb speedbump fast etc. they wont last long at all there is no way to put mileage claims on balljoints and if your boot busts and you get water, dirt, salt in there they definitely arent going to last 112k then not even close

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

i changed mine due to my brake upgrade and i dont notice much difference so i guess my old ones were still good.

Bradster

1990 LS400 with 245K miles..Front end all original and still tight...Lexus/Toyota mechanics very impressed

amcdonal86

So do my symptoms sound like LBJs?

McSwine

Just replaced mine on my 2000 LS @ 142,000 miles. I replaced mine to stop an annoying "clunking" noise when going over speed bumps, which it did not fix, but it did noticeably tighten up my front end when going over smaller, sharper bumps.

Glad I did it, and a relatively easy fix if you have the right tools.

j three

I think this also could be the strut rod bushing going bad. I remember the driver front strut rod bushing was trashed on my 91, and when you hit the brakes the tire would move slightly like you were turning and it would also make a clunk. Also if I was going down hill and hit the brakes to maintain speed that thing would shutter like crazy!

amcdonal86

Well, I replaced them. The passenger's side one looked okay, if not a little bit loose (no play, just not enough resistance). However, the driver's side one was partially seized, with very limited motion of the joint. I believe this was the source of my noise. I only had a chance to do a short test drive, but I don't believe I heard the popping that I had become accustomed to. I will do a longer drive this evening and see whether or not the problem is truly gone.

Certainly the one ball joint was failing and I am glad I replaced it.

amcdonal86

Well, it turns out the noise didn't go away. I don't believe it is brake related, since it can happen even if I'm not on the brakes (and haven't been for a long time).

My main suspect is the lower control arm bolt, which I hear can become less tight than it should be, allowing the lower control arm to shift during driving, causing a loud banging noise. It seems to mostly be an SC issue, though...

Other suspects are the upper control arm bushings. (By the way, is it really necessary to remove the shocks to replace the UCAs? It looks like a pretty simple procedure, otherwise...)

willhickey

iTrader: (1)

I wish you luck bud. Good luck with the fix and when you do figure it out please post it so everybody can learn from your experience.

McSwine

One guy with a '98 (I think) mentioned he fixed his noise by tightening the subframe bolts. I'm about to get new tires and have an alignment done...I'm going to ask the alignment guy to tighten them and see what happens.

amcdonal86

Thanks. I definitely will, there's nothing I hate more than finding threads where the OP has the exact same symptoms as me, but never posts a solution or finding...

amcdonal86

Well, I'm just following up. I tightened my LCA bolts and now the popping is much louder! This is good news, because I think I've isolated the problem!

I've started a new thread about this:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ml#post5209226