dc893

It was $100 even and with shipping from sewell it ended up being $60 cheaper. Either way it works fine.

LScowboyLS

I'm sure that any new bushing is a big improvement over your previously worn out bushings!

But members here have reported in the past that there is also a big difference between aftermarket and the real Toyota part, from folks who have experimented with both, on this as well as other "cushioning" type parts, the liquid filled motor mounts, for example.

dveneman

I'm not sure what made the biggest improvement, Michelins, strut cushions or alignment.
But what a difference. It really transformed the ride.
These parts with 124k look like they would still have some support left. But I think the cracks indicate lots of movement and loss of control. Things were knocking up front.


These units from Sewell went on my '98 LS400


So $$$$ later, I have new Michelin Primacy MXV4 (H rated) tires and a nice riding front end again. Not cheap, but it was all done for me and I drove away with it. These tires were rated tops by CR recently by the way. They are pretty quiet.

Edr

Purchased a beautiful '98 LS400 a few months ago. I have had the front end clunks, waywardness on the highway, tramlining, and vibrations over 70 mph. Based on the forum conversations, I had the strut bushings replaced hoping it would address most of the issues but really have had no improvement. Worked the low mileage tires to try to smooth the ride but no improvement. I blamed the tires and bought new Michelins. Same vibration. Rebalanced tires , rotated, road force balanced-replaced one tire of four - still the same. Nothing obviously loose underneath the car. It steers and drives great up until 70+. Any suggestions for next steps? Thanks, Ed

dveneman

Hey, you taught me a new term. Tramlining. And my car even has this tramlining problem. But my problem is due to rack ends, tie rod ends and possibly LBJs.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=47

But your vibration is probably something else. The cushions fixed my wobble at high speed.
Not sure what may be causing your issue. Are your wheels round?

Edr

I've worked through two sets of new tires with no change to the vibration. Rotation, road force balance, etc. My thought is to use a 5th tire and wheel and replace each tire one at a time.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

How many miles on car? There are other suspension bushings that also wear and can be causing this. Ball joints in the upper control arm, lower ball joints and rack-tie rod ends. Rear has a similar amount of parts too.

The older and more miles, the more likely the bushings are worn-cracked and in need of being replaced. Not all of them will be obvious to spot. Once out it is more obvious but the hunt can be $. If you have a fresh accurate alignment, inspecting for odd tire wear will show up pretty quickly. If the tech was good, he'd notice the settings change as it is torqued up and would tell you there are worn suspension parts that inhibit him for getting a good setting dialed in.

Edr

The car has 64K miles. I'm sure you're right that some other suspension component(s) are bad. Two mechanics that looked at it - one that replaced the strut rod bushings and the other that aligned it didn't see anything amiss.

Shmee

iTrader: (3)

you cannot "SEE" the issues most of the time. so if they just did a visual inspection, aside from being completely blown out, they are not likely to ever see anything. Need to get out a big pry bar and manually check the condition of the bushings.

same thing for the other parts. the UCA can cause a clunk with little to no play showing in the shake test, you need to clamp-test the joints to see the problem.

aomdedude1

I first noticed this a while ago when I was fiddling with the radio and looked up and saw everyone was braking. I hit the brakes fast and hard. I would not classify it as a panic stop, just a hard fast application of the brakes. I should have been paying attention!

When I brake fast like this I can hear and feel a thunk or clunk from the front end. I am thinking it is my strut rods. I also get a thunk when I put the trans from park to drive. It was worse before but turne out to just be low trans fluid.

I think the braking clunk is my strut rods and the Park to Drive clunk is my trans mount.

I also get a "clunkity clunk" noise over bumps. Almost sounds like a bad shock type clunk but not nearly as bad.

Can anyone suggest a way for me to determine if my strut rod is actually bad? How do you test that?

Also worth mentioning: my steering very touchy on the highway. I constantly have to adjust the steering and it is incredibly annoying The cor does not feel unstable, it just wanders around too much.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Why not just jack up the car and have a look at the strut rod bushings? While you at it take a look at the ball joints.

dc893

Find an empty parking lot with a buddy. One of you drive the car and hit the brakes hard. Whoever is watching should be able to see the wheel move back when the brakes are applied. I am guessing it is a strut rod though.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

i third the strut rods being bad. they are very common and clunking is a sign of it.

as for the car needing corrections at high speed, this is normal as the power steering is very light on these cars. of course a worn strut rod is making things worse. also your tires themselves and tire pressures contribute to this drive feeling.

aomdedude1

Just for closure, you guys were right. Strut rod bushings fixed that nasty clunk, and the steering wander was eradicated by new LBJ's. I went with the Beck Arnley LBJ's. Yeah, they are not OEM, but I'm not sweating it too much as this is one of the FEW non OEM pats I've put on this car and the Beck's seem pretty decent! I would recommend them.

I defiantly went with OEM strut rod bushings. Believe it or not, these are (apparently) liquid filled bushings. Therefore, I wen with the originals.

Original with huge cracks:


New OEM along with Daizen sway-bar bushings! :


This clunk is hard to diagnose because when the strut rod busing is actually on the car, it is hard to pry with enough force to actually see the bushing flex. Probably the best way to try and tell is to have someone do hard braking at slow speeds (both forward and back) while you stand outside and watch. It was pretty obvious for me when I did that.

9000revs

Seems similar to what I notice in my car. My recently purchase LS400 was mentioned to have worn out both front strut rod bushings. At low speeds going over speed bumps or hitting a depression in the road, I feel a very slight pop primarily from the driver side. From what you say here, the strut rod bushings seem to be the culprit.