The insulators/bumpers are not expensive. I don’t think they cost over $120.
Replacing them you will protect your shocks.

 

how about the labor costs? They have to take everything apart, is it like 7 hours of labor for 4 shocks?

 

Not sure of book time but significant, and then you need an alignment.

 

yeah, and then if you are paying all that money for labor, its a bad idea to re-use very old shocks that can fail any time due to their age.
I wish someone made something you can put around it and then glue together to make it go around, I dont think such products exists

 

I don’t know about the costs. You should ask the mechanic.
No need for an alignement.

 

I still think you should hold off on this as it could be years and your transmission could fail before your struts go bad due to missing dust covers (not that I have ever seen that - years ago shocks-struts often did not even have dust covers over the exposed piston shaft.
If you go down this road with the struts then get quotes from a few independent shops and ask what is the price difference if they get Lexus OEM struts. The shop can procure the parts for you. I am sure you can get all 4 done for a lot less money than the dealer wants as their price is highway robbery. I think it should be under $2000 and probably under $1500 for a shop to do it. I would not worry about putting OEM ones on a 14 year old vehicle as anything new will be a vast improvement although you may not like the initial stiffer ride as you are used to softer worn struts.

However, you need to think about the overall vehicle condition, mileage, what other suspension stuff is failing? How is the transmission? Engine?
What is it worth? Maybe time to trade it for something newer? What is the best investment of your money?

 

Like some CV boots that are designed this way. Don't use those boots they won't hold up but for a shock it would be perfectly fine.

 

what year and how many miles on your car? KYB's are perfectly fine shocks and OEM supplier and much less expensive. No need for Lexus branded shocks especially you are keeping your car for only 2 years. If car is 12 years old you must have a 2011 or 2012? 120K?? NJ pot holes?? Or has it been garaged and barely driven, but somehow the boots disintegrated?? The fact that your boots are all disintegrated makes me wonder about other suspension parts. I guess Lexus may have pointed those out or perhaps they've been getting replaced along the way? Car's lose the quality of ride gradually and over time. Its not like it occurs all at once and the driver sits up and takes notice. An old suspension may "feel" like new until a full suspension rebuild takes place. Then they realize the denial that was taking place. Maybe take a new ES out for a test drive and then you have something to compare.

And yes, the labor cost is almost the same if you just fix the boots, vs putting on new struts/shocks. Alignment will be needed, because front struts need to come out. A good Indy can do this much less than dealer.

 

I have 2012 with almost 150K miles. I consider it in good shape, drives nice and smooth, all maintenance including transmission fluid changes was done on time. There is a small timing cover/power steering seep (not a leak), but small enough that I dont have to keep adding power steering fluid or motor oil. They did suggest replacing one swat bar link because supposedly rubber is getting cracked, but that sounded like BS and marked as "recommended" CV boots are good. I am original owner and took care of it, not garage kept but I washed it as much as I could to keep salt away...
Currently plan to keep it for few more years. The funny thing that shocks were torn probably for a year or longer now, and I never thought of it much until dealer marked it as a "safety issue". I think its a good advice to keep driving until hear noises or something does not feel right. Also monitor for any leaks when rotating tires. thank you all for your help.

 

I rebuilt my entire suspension at 145K including new KYB shocks, 2nd owner, bought at 60K miles. Night and day. Each person has their own expectations of how a car should handle. Before the rebuild, mine was floating like a boat on calm water, didn't like it. Didn't have control of the car in high speed curves or fast emergency stops. Your car will easily go to 250K miles if you want it to. But there is usually a big difference in a car that sees salt and one that does not. So there is always that.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/es-...y-options.html

 

For KYB, can you get just struts and re-use original springs?

 

This is the way to go. Unless the coils are very rusted (sometimes they break) you can reuse the coils indefinitely. BTW when replacing struts always cycle the strut up and down 10 times before installing if you don't the car might ride like a covered wagon for a bit.

 

Yes, but you still need to buy all the components. Strut mounts, boots, bump guards. by the time you add all that up, you can just buy the complete assembly. I hung on to my factory coil springs just in case I wasn't happy. after about 6 months I tossed them. I was a happy customer. If you read thru my thread, one person tried a high mileage car and only replaced the strut assemblies and said ride was too harsh. I suspect the struts were doing all the work and some suspension work was probably needed.

 

Great video by Car Care Nut about torn Toyota strut rubber boots. Around minute 24:00 he talks about it and says that if car drives good with no issues then forget about them, he said it can be many years before (if ever) you have issues because of that.
even for strut leaks he says to wait until grease is half way on a strut and not immediately run replace them as soon as you see a drop of grease.

Same opinion about rack and pinion, unless its torn and big leak do nothing, a little wet here and there - dont do anything. He knows what he is talking about more than any toyota technician, and btw he is toyota master tech

 

To each his own, and suspensions are very subjective. Personally I prefer my 180K mile car to ride and feel like a 20,000 mile car, not a 180K mile car.