t600

Hey guys, so I have a 2006 Lexus GS430 with a blown strut on the front left corner. I have read post after post about struts and coilovers and I'm still about as confused as I was when I started. I had hopes of trading the car in the spring and didn't want to drop a lot of money on it until then, but what are my choices for strut replacement? All I see is OEM and nothing else seems to be offered as a direct replacement without going coilovers, or am I wrong? Do I have to go OEM to keep the shock light from coming on....my car does have the sport/normal rocker switch on the console. From what I see it's $275 for a single strut OEM. If I have to go this route it's ok but my fear is that as soon as I get this one fixed another one with blow since they all have 130k miles on them. I just figured I could run to autozone or something and buy a set of struts and be done of all this, but it's surely not the case it seems. Is coilovers a smart choice? I know nothing about them but I mostly care about the ride and would never mess with the ride height. I did see a set of Megan EZ Street Coilovers on Amazon (OEM and these were only ones that come up for my car) for $750 for all 4. Does anyone know anything about these? Also is there a big price difference in having coilovers installed versus traditional struts. Sorry for all the questions guys I'm in over my head, I know very little about suspension. Any help you can give will be most appreciated!! Thanks!

samsonn25

Chance are the other 3 struts are worn out too, just not blown out yet.

I just rreplaced all 4 of mine and the front right was leaking but the other 3 were very worn also, can feel them bottoming out on dips.

If you are going to trade the car in dont even fix it. If you gonna keep it for a few years change all 4. After pricing in factory replacements that would cost $1000 I wound up getting BC racing coilovers. Better quality than stock, and height adjustable to higher or lower than stock. 30 way adjustable to harder than stock and softer than stock.

You could also go cheap and get compatible struts from say KYB's lower line a pair is $100 I think.

I didnt get a code when I disconnected the factory electronic struts, but some other have I have heard. If I switch the power on the throttle response increases and the green sport lights up, but no code.

Aprilia

Reviving an old thread,,,

Any update?

My GS430 has a similar issue; RearDriver shock blown.

I plan on keeping it another 50k miles AT LEAST.

The ability to firm up the suspension is nice, but not at $250 vs $100 per shock.

Any real world experience here?

Did you miss it? Did the aftermarket ones last as long? Would you do it again?

Thx

samsonn25

In my opinion the kyb is similar to stock. I never really noticed the adjustable suspension working that well. Spring rates are more important than slightly adjustable damping struts anyway.

oem can last 40k or 140k depending on road conditions.

my aftermarket BC racing coilovers had front right strut mount go at 40k. Rear right strut leak at 50k. Front left strut mount go at 50k. Rest of struts are good after 61k. Respectable considering I have 12k 10k set up and drive in Philly which has some of the worst roads in the country.

t600

About as soon as I posted this on the forum a back strut blew on the same side. I had to make a decision asap because my car was almost un-driveable at that point. I have a buddy that works for Lexus and he had his parts guy look up OEM struts...I was quoted $1,672.03 for just the 4 struts. I decided to try coilovers since I had plans on selling the car anyway. I decided on Megan EZ streets and bought them. I was contacted about 2 days later saying the shop had sold their last kit and couldn't fill my order. He claimed they were on backorder and there was a shortage in the US. He told me I should try a set of Godspeed Mono SS's because they were comparable and even though I had no idea if they were or not, I bought them instead. I installed them myself and have been pretty happy with the purchase. They have been on the car 20,000 miles now and I still haven't put the car on the market yet. I think the biggest problem I have with my coilovers is the fact that because they can be lowered, the length of the coils are much shorter than stock so it doesn't have the suspension travel that OEM has. With that said on rough roads and hitting potholes and stuff the ride isn't too good. I have adjusted them to make them stiffer and found that they actually ride better. If I had known I would have ended up keeping the car this much longer, I probably would have went back with a traditional strut, even if it was an OEM that costs more. The coilovers I bought have 16 levels of dampening and honestly I haven't really tried to fine tune the ride or anything like that. If someone has some ideas to help me with that, I would love to hear them.

samsonn25

I have 12/10k BC coilovers on my car, the struts are 30 way adjustable and I have them set at 24, 30 being max stiffness. If I dial the number lower there is more movement in the strut but the ride is slightly softer because of more suspension travel.

The coilover setup on my BC have alot less strut and spring travel than the factory setup.

Mine is height adjustable from about highest setting which is slightly lower than stock to 8 inches down. And adjusting the height doesnt change the spring preload either.

amdaxiom

I'm at 140K miles and about to change my struts as well. Can I ask if you had any warning lights and what was done with where the cables normally plug into for the AVS compatible shocks? I haven't seen the system myself so not a clue what it looks like yet but I'm also considering going non oem for the cost savings. TIA

t600

I have had absolutely no warning lights come on at any time since I made the switch. The rocker switch near the console that changes the firmness still works and lights up the light on the dash saying what setting the suspension is at, it just doesn't actually do anything anymore to the suspension. On the top of the struts is a cap being held on by 3 nuts. I took it off and took the servo motor that turns the adjustment screw of the strut off as well. When I put the coilovers on I just covered the moving parts of the servo with something to keep it from hitting anything in the cap and binding and then I attached it to the top of cap on the inside with tape. I installed the cap back over the tops of the new coilovers. With that said, I have to remove the 3 nuts and pull the cap when I want to adjust the suspension. I only keep them on finger tight though, so it's not that bad and I rarely adjust them.

samsonn25

I took the cap off and left it off, and the wires and loom hanging