jzqj55

Noticed this "worst" rating for the most recent reliability evaluations.
My 09 LS air suspension had the rear air shocks fail. Wondering if it's just the air suspension cars or does base suspension have problems too?

Not used to seeing this poor a rating for Lexus reliability.

roadfrog

They're likely also referring to the issues with control arms/bushings.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

The anti CR brigade will chime in shortly.

Devh

I don't particularly like CR and I have been vocal about in the past but in this case it's just.
It's not major mechanical or electrical, it's a serviceable part with a new improved part and there are cars of this vintage that have been rectified. This is not anywhere near the problem the rest of the industry as a whole is having right now.
Those sun tan lotion CR people who only see black dots will not understand the depth of what a good buy is and what to look out for. They will most likely buy what CR tells them only to be disappointed when CR reevaluates and finds fault. Same set of people that whine on Amazon reviews with their first world problems. At least that segment of people have been warned but I highly doubt they will buy a glaring five star LS430 because it doesn't have the latest technology hook up for their iphones.
I don't think there is anything wrong with looking at a CR evaluation but it's not the end all of what makes the car as a whole a good buy.

dal20402

This has got to be the front control arm issue, with an assist from air shocks. I'm not surprised. After seeing the condition of my OE bushings with just 45,000 miles, on a car that was always garaged and always kept in a mild climate, I suspect every '07-'10 LS will have some level of bushing failure at a premature time.

I think anyone buying a pre-'11 LS should budget replacement of all 8 front arms into the price unless the service has already been done and is documented.

roadfrog

Yes. That's what I would do. FWIW, my 08 with over 90k miles, has no issues. I'm in a wet Pacific Northwest climate and my car is kept outdoors all the time. Mind you, I may have worn bushings and not know it. No symptoms and inspections so far seem to indicate everything is ok.

Devh

It is not written in stone that all cars will have premature bushing failures. Not even half of them.
It is a point of concern and a high probably that if anything were to go wrong this might be one of the probable points of failure. All cars have an Achilles heal. We are taking about this car like as if it's brand new. The LS460 is an older car now with a proven track history. No real surprises.

SW17LS

I think they are likely referring to the control arm issues.

I think its deserved on this item.

greg3852

Guess no one told my 2007 that it's bushings should have worn out by now. The car came from Maine and now lives in Mass and has 73K miles on it. Nothing wrong with my control arms at all. Weird.

(of course you know now that I said this I'll be replacing them soon.lol)

dal20402

Very small sample size, but now I'm wondering if maybe lack of humidity has something to do with the quick and total breakdown of my bushings. We have a couple of posters here who have lots of miles on their humid-climate cars with no apparent problems. My car has been garaged and babied its whole life but also spent that life in dry (LA) and even drier (Sacramento) climates. By 45,000 miles, when I got it and moved it to humid WA, most of the bushings were trashed.

If this hypothesis has any merit, I was in trouble no matter what, as the other cars I was considering were also California and Arizona cars.

The strangest part is that all of the other rubber on the car, from door seals to belts to wiper blades, is immaculate.

redlight30

I saw this as well and as I have mentioned in a post on here my 10' had about $20k in suspension warranty repairs in 75k miles so I would have given my 10' a black dot indeed.

RayLS

Wear and tear items. Some CA bushings go bad sooner and others don't even break at all.
It could be a bad design on Toyota/Lexus' part.
Part of owning your dream car.
FWIW, the dealer uses the revised bushings.

Bob04

So this isn't an issue for 2011+ cars?

Devh

The control arms were address supposedly on late build 2010 onward.
Actually just about every issue has been addressed like any vehicle model run and now it's deafening silence especially on the very latest builds.

7milesout

If the LS 460 gets black dots for the suspension, does the BMW 750 get black dots for everything?


7milesout