Eds98LS

I noticed this on my BMW before I bought the LS but now notice it here too.

If I'm coming to a stop or slowing down on rougher roads it sounds like I'm driving over railroad tracks.

Is there anything in general to look for or is this older car syndrome?

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

check your rear end/differential bushings. they tend to crack and have too much play as they get old. this also means your other bushings are probably toast as well.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Could be multiple things but I would bet it is the strut mounts. What your hearing is the strut itself moving within the mount. How are your struts? Can you rock the suspension by using your body weight to press down on each side of the car? Does she bounce on dips in the road at highway speeds? It's coming from the front end right?

Another possibility could be sway bar bushings.

midwest2

I'd bet on the caster rod bushings, then upper control arms followed by lower control arm bushings and sway bar end links. How many miles are on your car? If you plan to keep it awile I'd hit all the areas I mentioned at the same time. If you are handy at all everythng is pretty straight forward to do, and then you just have one alignment to pay for.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

You may be right midwest. I think it depends on the symptoms. There is one that sounds over rough roads and another when coming to a quick stop and you hear a clunk or pop sound. The first I believe is the control arms and the second is the strut mounts.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

This is one of our long discussions on our aging cars and "clunks" "thumps" sounds:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...er-thread.html

The caster bar bushings are commonly replaced since their longevity varies with road conditions. Additional noises come to the control arms followed by vibrations of the engine and tranny mounts. On the higher miles cars the rear carrier bushings and lower control arms. Figure on these aging cars, much of the rubber parts are deteriorating.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

Hey Mike,

I think you are right. After reading that other thread lexTek, who I think is no longer on the forum, nailed the problem on the head. His terminology was to replace the front strut bar assembly. Can you buy the bushings for this part or do not need the whole assembly? Are there other names for this part?

fixmiester

Classic symptoms of bad Strut Rod Bushings. They are available separately. Search the forum; there is a huge amount of info available.

RA010623

iTrader: (1)

i've had similar problem and it ended up to be the rear diff bushing.
Check those.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

And as someone else linked in another thread, this company sells the bushings so you don't have to buy the whole part saving you over 50%. When I called them today to get pricing they offered me an additional 10% off for first time customers. They list it as strut rod not bar on their website. Same difference.

http://www.armstrongdistributors.com/lexus.html

RA40

iTrader: (6)

The bushings were not available separately when I replaced mine. The whole bar assembly was installed. The offset in cost vs. time it takes to remove then press in the new bushings...IMO, I think is a wash. Took the tech about 10 minutes to do one side but I paid like $130 per bar and $55 for the install.

The following month I did the tie rod ends and lower ball joints. (There was a waste of one $75 alignment.) So anybody going in to refresh the front, I think might as well be efficient and replace other parts if they are suspect. On low mile samples probably not necessary but for those in the 200K mile range, I would consider it.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

they suckkkkkk.

died in 30k on my LS...


OEM rubber bushings cost ~$35-45/each. even with a high bushing in/out rate you end up better than buying the whole bar i you're doing the swap yourself.

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

This is good to know. I will go with OEM then. I'm just browsing through Sewell's parts right now and noticed this.

4813150110
FRONT COIL SPRING (RH - RIGHT / PASSENGER SIDE) , ROUGH ROAD PACKAGE - for $105

vs

4813150100
SPRING, FRONT COIL, (RH - RIGHT / PASSENGER SIDE) - for $97.03

Did not know Lexus made a different spring for rough roads. Interesting.