toyotarx350

When I went for oil change, they told me that I need the following
-Front lower control arm bushings has deep tears
-Front sway bar links cracked and leaking grease.


Their quote is $4297.
It would be helpful, If anyone has done similar job, kindly provide me the part numbers so that I can buy the parts and get it done outside.
I do not know what parts are needed for the above job.
VIN starts with J - made in Japan - RX350 - 2008 - AWD
Thanks in advance

Leeper

I just did a very similar job a couple months ago on my Rx330 awd

Lower control arms with ball jonts $160 for both took @ 8 hours as I've never done them before (definitely do the ball joints while there as well) this will require an alignment when done (@$125), would likely take me half that time to do again with my basic tools
Front sway bar links run @$15 each, OEM $65 ea, very quick and easy to replace especially while doing the LCA's
I'd suggest having the rear sway bar bushings done as well (Thanks to Matt I just got mine for $36 for both shipped to me just over an hour I had to grind my old one off as the the bolt was rusted)
All parts are from Rockauto you may also want to check Amazon as they often have great pricing and less on shipping

Bottom line is they are absolutely bending you over badly, even $2K would be a high price run as fast as you can never go back. I wouldn't have them change my oil they are thieves

Suggestion - find a good indi mechanic see if they will install the parts you give them from RockAuto if you do't feel comfortable doing it yourself... a dealer or qualified mechanic can do all this in 4 hours easily with a lift, air tools, and a little experience

Forgot to add this is extremely common at this age and any mileage over 100K so it wouldn't be any surprise that the front and rear sway bar links and lower control arms are shot, they are rubber and deteriorate

Felix

http://rockauuto.com just to add, The rear part of the A-arms, some ppl have torn rubber bushings even when they changed them out. .Whiteline does offer bushings of which you'll need to press out of the A-arm & press in the Whiteline ones.....

joedaddy1

iTrader: (1)

I'm thinking about tackling my front lower control arms soon. I had my passenger wheels off and saw that bushing had cuts.
Car drives "fine," but I know I will probably hear the symptoms soon. 3,6,12 months, 2 years? who knows.

I think I read someone say you need to mess with the motor mounts. Is that true? I hope not.
I'll probably do OEM parts ($250 per arm parts). I have an impact wrench, so hopefully it'll come in handy. I know it saved me at least an hour when changing out the shocks.

Leeper

The engine needs to be reased a couple inches in order to access the bolts that hold the LCA's in place, in order to raise the engine the motor mounts are lossened (I believe I took my drivers side off. It is nothing to worry about not hard to do at all. Upper "dogbone" engine mount gets removed (accessed from the top of the motor) you replace one side LCA lower that down then do the other. A floor jack with a 2x4 to spread the load worked perfectly so as not to damage the oil pan. There are some good YouTube videos showing how this is done that I followed. It seemed daunting at first but honestly was not bad at all. Impact tools will make this much easier, the bolts holding the LCA's on are large and are tightened down hard.

Things to check out while there:

Ball joints - if your LCA's are bad then the ball joints are likely shot too if original
Steering boot - you're right there, they are very inexpensive at $27 for 2 on Amazon may want to do those one of mine was torn underneath. Very quick and easy to do
Front Sway bar links - cheap and easy especially since you'll already have access and half the work done
Sway bar bushings - mine were fine after 170K miles but check them anyway

Get it aligned right afterwards LCA's will throw off your alignment.

None of this is really hard, if I can do it most any garage DIY monkey can do it I'm not a high level mechanic

Chapp

I just did this and had to cut one of my motor mounts off -seized. So, maybe make sure they are loose before as I had to wait for a new one to come in.

vidyarthi

Does it make sense to replace just the bushings in OEM Front Lower Control Arms? What kind of life is expected from whiteline bushings replacement? Or is it better to just replace the whole Lower control arm? I am assuming OEM from dealership is going to hold up lot better than Moog or Mavotech? Any recomeendations?

Felix

I'd get a pr of quality A-arms to start with as they come w/ b/j's & bushings. Now if you want to get the Whiteline bushings & take the new A-arms & the bushings to a shop to have them pressed in, thats up to you. What I find is no matter how new the A-arms are, the rear bushings are going to crack, to some degree. So more then others. You'd be out the cost of the bushings & getting them pressed in.

vidyarthi

What do you call a quality A -arm? Any particular brands? If the quality A -arm comes with bushing and ball joint which most likely is going to be quality as well then it may not make sense to get Whiteline bushings pressed into new A -arm since rear bushing are going to crack somewhat anyway....

How much life could I expect out of new quality A-arm? I am trying to make them last 5 years if I could,,

Thanks

RGrx3502015

! I got a quote for RX 350 SUV 2015 140,000 miles, from one dealer for 2 lower control arms and 2 ball joints $710.00, Labor 10 hrs @ 203.00/r ) then 2 front sway bar link $680.00 labor 1.50 hrs $312.00 ($208/hr), 4 wheel alignment 200.00,Oil filter etc 130.00 All together estimated $ 3865 plus Tax = $ 410.00 Over $4,000.00
What is the valuable suggestions:

Leeper

Are you in the US? IF so... run away fast! I recently did my LCA w/ ball joints it took me @ 6-7 hours in my garage never having done them before with a lift I could them in well under 4 hours now. Front sway bar links take maybe 30 mins the links cost @ $100 for OEM, @$30-40 each for decent aftermarket ones. I posess no brilliance and only common garage DIY tools with no assistant to help.

Degree of difficulty on LCAs - 5
Doing the Sway bar links - 1-2

You're getting hosed here but that is not unexpected. $203/hr is a completely ridiculous shop rate AND do not forget that these are "flag hours" not actual time rate so again you're paying some mildly educated person a rate of >$400/hr for the actual work done + you'd be allowing the shop to make a massive profit on the parts as well. Dealers do not do any better work than most reputable indi's yet charge almost double as they make their profits on service adn parts... someone needs to pay for those shiny marble floors, espresso machines, and marketing

My wheel alignment was $129 at a Les Schwabb, most every dealer just sends cars out to a similar shop as they do not have the equipment themselves they just pad the price to make a profit by sending it out.

Felix

The rear bushing is the one to replace that Whiteline offers..Probably not worth getting the Whiteline bushings. .I'd start at http://rockauto.com

tomr51

i just replaced the dog bone, left and right engine mounts and the left and right lower control arms It took 3.5hrs. I will replace the front mount this wk. With the car on a hoist letting the front wheels hang , the LCA bushes were badly ripped. The dog bone bush was also ripped. The engine mounts showed no obvious damage. Replacing LCAs and mounts at the same time is not a lot of extra work cost of parts was roughly $500 + $80 for a wheel alignment

vidyarthi

Did you use OEM parts or aftermarket? If aftermarket can you share the brand and your reasoning for choosing that brand?
Thanks