airchomper

Hi CL forum,

I got some snow tires for my 2001 LS430. After getting the tires mounted, I did some... a lot of doughnuts and when I went to park my car, I noticed the front driver's side was sagging a half inch or so lower than the rest of the car.

It feels like I blew a suspension bushing somewhere. The car isn't tracking straight very well.


It's too cold for me to do the work under a shade tree (it's below 10 degrees ) and I'm taking it to my Lexus guy on Thursday hopefully.


Was just curious if anyone heard of such a thing happening on a car with relatively low miles (83k)?

I'll update this thread with the results and probably some links to the good deals I find along the way.

Thanks!

ceedub53

I cringed when I read this because I baby my car and would never do this to it. Hope everything is ok, just minor repair work hopefully. Good luck.

chunkyda

OK, I'll bite... what did you break?

airchomper

Thanks for your concern!

My mechanic was really bad about calling me back, but my car is going under the knife tomorrow (Tuesday 25 Nov 2014).

I really think it's a strut issue. I jacked the car up and the bushings look... fine. Well, fine enough for a 15 year old car thats made it through 14 salty minnesota winters.

I popped a squat on the front and noticed the good side deflected a lot more than the bad, sagging side.

Amazon has a pretty competitive price on the equipment and mounting components. However, KYB has a website with a great kit.

Here's a link to the kit

I"ll report back as quick as I can!

Lavrishevo

iTrader: (1)

RockAuto and use oem / KYB only when it comes to new shocks.

airchomper

At the risk of advertising an ignorant opinion, KYB is the o.e.m. But the KYB 341392 and KYB 341393 are slightly different from the shocks you'd get from the Lexus dealer.

It seems like the seals have different materials.

Rock Auto is probably good. But if you want to restore the car to way it left Tahara, hit up sewell lexus.

Honestly though, Rock auto has a very similar price to Amazon and if you have Amazon prime it's really hard to beat the 2 day shipping.

Coulter

+1

KYB is an OEM supplier for some Lexus models, but that doesn't mean everything that comes in a KYB box is the exact same as what the Lexus factory puts on their cars.

In fact, I can almost guarantee you a KYB strut from a parts store came from a completely different factory than the one Lexus puts on their cars in Japan.

KYB used to almost be exclusively made in Japan, now it's anyone's guess. There have been a lot of complaints lately about their slipping quality.

Manufacturers have OEM contracts and they also make parts for the aftermarket. Sometimes there are the same exact part, but sometimes they're completely different.

AC Delco makes the parts for GM as an OEM supplier, but they also have a line that's basically Chinese junk in an AC Delco box for AutoZone type outlets.

airchomper

Well, I got a new and awesome LS430 story for you guys.

The car was definitely bad when I dropped it off at the Mechanic's (who's an awesome dude, he drives an Acura and was a certified Lexus tech for 15 years and was one of the first in America to get the Hybrid Synergy Drive Training) he was like, "I've never seen this one before".

It took him a few days to work on the car, but he put it on a lift for for an hour and checked out everything! He said the mounting brackets seemed fine, the spring was perfect, and the struts appeared fine. When he lowered the car, it was symmetrical again!

His best guess is that something got twisted?

Any how, I'm back in business. I'm going to treat this as an airchomper-problem rather than a Lexus problem. And if anyone who isn't a lexus fan asks, I'm telling them the only problem I've had with the car in teh last year is a burnt out light.

Thanks for your support in these trying times! rock and roll and love your car! These LS430s are probably the best cars we'll ever get to drive.

One love and Jah bless these cars!