e-man

Hey guys. Lately I've been noticing that my ride has been deteriorating over the last few months. It's fine over smooth surfaces (obviously), but my car seems to shake, shimmy and shudder horribly over uneven surfaces (especially on the highway). I'm currently running stock 16s for the winter, and something just doesn't seem right. I've been considering replacing the ball joints, LCA bushings, shocks, tires, you name it. Anyway, I went over to Lexus today at lunch to get it checked out. The head tech who works on my car was out sick, so I left.

I happened to pass a Midas on the way back to the office, and, as most of you probably know, Midas offers free suspension inspections. No appointment needed. I just drove right up and they took me right away. The guy put the car up on the lift, and 5 minutes later called me over to the service bay to have a look. Long story short, he pointed out every suspension component he checked (ball joints, control arm bushings, shocks, springs, etc.) and told me that everything appeared to be in great shape (particularly for a 7 year old car with 76,000 miles). It wasn't the answer I expected to hear -- after all, I figured he would try to sell me something. He then told me that although the shocks look fine (no leaking or cracks), there's a good chance that they're shot. He said that Lexus recommends shocks be replaced every 30k miles (has anyone else heard this?), and that by 75,000 miles, if they're not completely shot, they're certainly worn out to the point where they aren't even close to performing like they did when they were new.

Anyway, they provided me a quote to replace the shocks with Lexus shocks. The total for parts and labor comes to $900 ($375 parts, $625 labor). Ouch.

Any thoughts?

e

rominl

iTrader: (4)

wow 30k? that sounds very low. not sure if i will go by that.

and 900? damn...... 625 labor is ridiculous imho

e-man

I forgot to mention the labor costs included an alignment. So deduct $100 from the labor amount for that. I believe the labor, before taxes and shop supplies, came to a little over $400. Still seems high, though.

gs400998

If the reliability and quality of shocks on a Lexus are only good for 30K -75K Miles, I probably would buy an another brand instead of Lexus. My previous 93 LS4 had over 105K miles when I traded it and the shocks were fine.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Yeah e, if you still have your original GS shocks, they are probably dead. Mine were dead by about 60-70K. NO WAY!!! would I put the same type back in there. You could get L-tuned, or get Bilstein HDs, or KYBs. The OEM Lexus shocks are like a $25 shock that you'll pay almost $100 each for. If you get aftermarket ones independently you can spend the same $100 each but get $100 shocks. It cost me $600 at my Lexus dealer to get shocks AND SPRINGS installed, not just shocks, which are the easier of the two. I seriously would get aftermarket shocks and have them put in by an independent mechanic, not too tough.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

PM GSquicksilver about Bilstein HDs with stock springs, he has 'em.

GSoup

yeah if they are the original shocks..they're probably shot by now.... depending on the driving done...

for that price just go and spend a little more and go with coiloversLOL

e-man

Thanks for the input guys. Engin_ear, my concern with Bilsteins, KYBs, L-tuned, etc., is that the last thing I want to do is stiffen the ride. If anything, I'd prefer that it be a bit softer (I know, I'm like an old man). I can get the stock shocks brand new for about $225 for the set, and if they last me another 75,000 miles, I'll be fine with that. By the way, was that $600 for labor or for parts and labor. I'm guessing just labor, but let me know.

On an unrelated note, I am so F'ing pissed right now. I just ran out to the store, and, in my effort to park away from other cars, I didn't see a HUGE concrete curb (at least 8-10 inches high) smack dab in the middle of the parking lot. I still can't figure out for the life of me what the hell it was doing there. The parking lot was not well lit at all, and the curb was not painted, and I absolutely nailed it with my right front bumper as I was turning into a spot. After my bumper hit it and rode up on it, my right front tire ran over it and then the car came crashing down. Luckily, by the time I came down, I had turned enough so that the car was clear of the curb behind the wheel. Anyway, most of the scraping is on the underside of the bumper (which amazes me that there isn't an impact mark on the lower front face of the bumper). The irony is that that exact part of the bumper was already messed up to begin with by the first owner. Anyway, I'm just venting. I guess it's a good thing that I didn't paint my front bumper when I got the car (I just did the rear one). Crap, crap, crap.

Here's a picture of what it looked like before I bought the car. I guess it doesn't look much different now. Just more scratches in the exact same place.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=166715

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

600 was the labor price for shocks & springs combined. I brought the L-tuned shocks & springs to the dealer & they put them in.

e-man

That's what I figured. I'm hoping I can get the labor in the $300 range. Probably not, but we'll see. Man I am so pissed right now about the bumper. I'm such an idiot.

e-man

Engin-Ear -- I could send you a PM about this, but I thought I would ask for the benefit of everyone. You said your stock shocks were shot at about 70k miles. How did you know? What were the symptoms? Maybe it wasn't so obvious to you at the time, but looking back now in hindsight, what were the tell-tale signs?

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

It was obvious. Symptoms were lack of control on uneven pavement, and lack of control on the highway. Running over small bumps at higher speed (like 70+) would disturb the car and the best tell-tale sign is that it wouldn't recover quickly, and the recovery was sloppy, a lot of rebound. After having run my '88 Supra for almost 120K on original shocks (and still going), I never thought the GS would need shocks that soon, but I was wrong.

e-man

Okay. I'm convinced because you just described my symptoms. It's the highway thing. My car gets very unsettled, loose, sloppy, etc., over bumps on the highway. Driving down local streets at 35 mph and hitting bumps is no problem. It doesn't feel great, but it's manageable. It's the bumps on the highway that really jolt the car and make it shimmy and shudder.

By the way, did you get the chance to examine the shocks after they were off the car? How did they look? Oh, and one more thing, I take it that your car passed the 2 tests that people usually do to check to see if the shocks are bad -- the "bounce test" (push down on each corner and see whether the car stops bouncing after 1-2 cycles) and the "no visible leaks" test.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

300 for labor is already high. i think 250 is the max i would pay for labor

chuckb

hey Jerry, aren't oem shocks made by KYB? do you think the oems have softer valving than the aftermarket KYBs?

sorry to hear about your bumper e-at least it was already scratched there

by the way e-please don't let Midas touch your GS, they are mostly unskilled rip off artists.