stevobentz

Hey Everyone,

Glad to be back on the forums. Long story short I traded in my 2008 E550 for a 2008 LS460 with 58000 miles. Fell in love with the look and the idea of not having to modify. On the carfax it has a rear end collision in 2008 while still at the dealership before it was sold. No airbags deployed etc. Got a decent price on it. few problems I seem to have. First and foremost, the rear bumper has seemed to lose almost all of its clear coat. Night and day difference between the side of the car and the bumper when it comes to shine. This indicates the rear bumper has been resprayed and I assume it was from the reported accident. All fine.

One huge thing I noticed is the brakes. Im not having the typical clunking or crazy noises, instead, here is my problem:

I like to ride the brakes and have them depressed at about 60% from first braking to stop and slowly let off right before I stop. I have a clunk or choppiness in the pedal i can feel at 5mph and below while depressing the brake only. Same thing happens as when im stopped 100% brake depressed then i ease off to 50 i feel the brakes slip. Is this just loose brake pads? They are brand new but im positive they are aftermarket pads and im sure generic. It drives me crazy when im going 5mph then have the keep the brake depressed and have a hard stop so the brakes dont slip. Also, while sitting in the quiet car, hitting the brake while in park i can hear the calipers engage the rotors. I can feel once i hit the brake they grab. I can feel the metal clink while stopped. There is no vibration if i apply the right amount of pressure, just intermediate pressure. Is this something i have to get used to in the ls460 or should i maybe check out the pads if they are slipping? Maybe the actuator? Although there really is no "sound" or symptoms of that.

Next thing, i have my control arms in front worn all the way down and mechanic reccomended all 8 be replaced. Im on a tight budget and have 0 symptoms of bad control arm bushings. It handles great, is aligned, no uneven tire wear, no sound while braking, no clunk etc, only thing i notice is when going 85 on the fwy in CA I have excessive body float. While hitting bumps it seems the car kind of floats down from the bump as opposed to being firm. I know its an ls460 but it was noticeble for me therefore i think its a problem. Low speeds the car is snappy over bumps the way it should be. Seems the faster i go the more noticeable the "float" is and thats the best way i can describe it.

Anyways can someone reccomend me to a mechanic in Los Angeles that can do the control arm bushing job so i can avoid the dealer?

Lastly, i notice when i turn the car off on the drivers side right in front of the drives door under the car it leaks. To me it looks like condensation and normal but there was yellow/red in it earlier today that scared me. Car is throwing no errors and not overheating. The mechanic said my water pump is slightly leaking today as well. Related? I just got the car so am super pissed about all this but buyer beware.

Last thing, I have the bass in the mark Levinson turned all the way down 2 from the lowest and it is still overpowering while playing my iphone 6 through aux. Anyone else have this? AND yes i have searched for HOURS on the forums and couldnt find the answers to these questions. Thanks guys and proud to be back!

Steve

Doublebase

If your water pump is leaking can't you take it back and have the place you bought it do it? Because yeah if it's leaking it could have easily leaked on the bottom covers and dripped out where you described. Other than that the evap leak tube is right there also.

The noise upon braking could be from aftermarket pads, or perhaps whoever did it left out a clip...or maybe a caliper needs to be tightened a little bit.

The slipping when holding the brake pedal at 50% pressure when stopped is normal, and if you're not paying attention you'll rear end whoever is in front of you. Trust me it's almost happened to me 10 times until I conditioned myself to hold it down 100% or use the brake hold feature. You'll love the brakes in the car though, they are pretty damn good - saved me a few times.

The float on the highway doesn't really sound like control arms to me, but if they're worn you could certainly start there. But that sounds like a classic case of a worn strut. You can probably expect to spend $1,200-$1,500 to have them all replaced by an independent mechanic.

Congrats though, nice looking LS!

lsappsoc

Air suspension vehicle ?

enoch861

The LS has a lot of low-end torque (the thing can creep up inclines without touching the throttle), so that's why it's slipping. You'll end up getting used to it and not worry about it. And like Doublebase mentioned, brake hold eliminates the issue completely.

The floatiness you're experiencing might just be worn shocks. On the flip side the LS does have some float.