Falbz

Just curious but what were some symptoms you guys had? Vibration in the steering wheel when moving, popping noise when turning, etc? Bad tire wear ?

skaelmore

I had the same experience on my RX400h at 82,000 miles. The water pump was failing too. I bought the car, an '07, in 2000 as Certified and it had about 20,000 miles on it. Very soon after, I was feeling a slight vibration in the steering wheel which the dealer couldn't track down although they did see the water pump dripping. When they finally said the lower control arms were shot, they suggested the water pump change and said that the front seals should be replaced at the same time along with the front brakes. For some reason, the front seals weren't covered by the extended warrantee. All agreed that the seals should have been covered so I'll have to call Lexus Custormer Satisfaction to see what they say.

wchain

Ironically while having an alignment done today, the tech at my Indy shop told me the lower control arm bushings are shot. I went and looked, and sure enough, the rubber is all wallered out and rotted.

Lets see how good this extended warranty is.

Falbz

Keep us posted

wchain

Dropped car off today, got a CT loaner (ugh). Better than walking I suppose. Will keep you posted.

DCexige

I had to do my front struts at shocks at 22K miles! Under warranty but not what I was expecting with an LS!

wchain

Front lower control arms replaced the "rear" front arms. As well as the blower motor, and I paid them to flush the brake fluid. Car should be ready today.

Falbz

Were the control arms covered under warranty or did you pay out of pocket for them?

wchain

Covered under an extended warranty I purchased from my credit union.

Loaner car was free (courtesy of the dealer).

$100 dollar deductible, and the cost to flush the brake fluid.

ahxks1

My '07 LS460 is a CPO. I took it to the dealer over the weekend because there was the sound of a rock rolling around the engine compartment on tight turns or brisk acceleration. Dealer said control arms need to be replaced as part of a 'service bulletin'. CPO covered all costs. I asked what it would have cost out of pocket outside the warranty. He said $3300.

vasy

Does anyone know whether the bushings used in the control arms are liquid-filled or just plain rubber? My guess is liquid type.

CJITTY

This would be good to know also..

skaelmore

My RX400h had just a slight vibration that the techs couldn't reproduce (in a previous post I said that it was a 2007 that I bought in 2000--that would have required a time machine--I bought it in 2010). Now, my new 2012 LS460 is making front end noise! Even my wife, who is not sensitive to such things, is hearing it. The noise is intermittent and seems to be different each time. Again (thus far), the techs haven't reproduced the noise or found a fault.

caha14

Mine were all replaced over a year ago as part of a long process to try to resolve a series of steering wheel and body vibrations, which I have posted about in other threads. Besides the vibrations, there were other intermittent noises coming from the suspension when driving on bumpy roads, and there were numerous culprits.

In the first round of repairs, all but one set of lower control arms were replaced (i.e., both sets of upper and one set of lower), and all four air struts were replaced, among other things (it really is a long list - I am a Lexus customer for life to the extent I am able to afford it in the future). The steering vibration got better but was not gone. Ditto on the noises.

In the second round, the steering rack was identified as a source of noise and was replaced. This also turned out to be the final fix for the steering wheel shimmy that was driving me insane (thank God!).

At this point, I could still hear a slight rattle when driving over certain bumps, and I was able to replicate that in a road test with the shop foreman and the diagnostic specialist.

As part of this test, we pulled into a parking lot and drove over some speed bumps. At one point, I had the car at an angle with the steering wheel turned all the way to the left, and the right front wheel was over a speed bump (speed bump going from left rear to right front). As I backed up and the tire made contact with the speed bump, a clunk was heard (and felt) as if something had shifted (sort of like a stick-slip setup). This only made them more convinced that the issue was the remaining set of control arms (trailing arms). This was it, and it was the one time where the car had a symptom that was directly and solely attributable to control arms.

As many here know, a TSIB was issued for some control arms on the LS. My repairs happened months before this TSIB, and because of that I already knew that some of these control arms had been redesigned (bushings in the factory upper control arms have been a problem). Interestingly, though, the final set of control arms I had replaced (the ones that were unambiguously making noise) are NOT part of the TSIB (at least as of the last time I saw it). Go figure...

lexusls430

I believe the control arm tsb applies to newly updated lower arms (the one that comes from the front of the car to the wheel itself. Ive had it done recently. I dont think the uppers have been updated.