RidingAway

Hi everyone,

New member here with a new-to-me 2007 ES350 with 130k miles. Love the car and it's a big step up for me. Everything about the car is great except for the suspension, which is all stock. It randomly switches every few days from a smooth soft ride to a very hard, loud and unforgiving ride. It feels as though something is preventing the springs from compressing and instead the force of going over a bump is transmitted directly to the cabin, causing a lot of rattles and vibration to be heard. This happens to both the front and rear suspension and makes the car sound and feel like a cheap econo car.

Had it checked out at a local shop and they couldn't find anything obvious. Tire pressures are all set at 32psi. The car doesn't keep bouncing up and down after going over a bump so I would think the shocks are fine. Weather has been in the 70s so not sure if that's the problem. Don't see any fluid leaking from the top of the struts either.

I'm scratching my head on this one and can't figure it out. If it stayed bad, I could see a blown strut or something but the fact that is goes back to a smooth soft ride after a few days is puzzling.

nevernu

this is the shop troubleshooting guide though I dont see anything except overloading and/or weak spring which might be a cause

jagtoes

Sounds like the shocks are bad. Just because they bounce and do not leak doesn't mean the valving is good. At 130K I think you are over due. Also check the motor and transmission mounts.

Clutchless

Your shocks are intermittently sticking and seizing up and cannot handle fast transitions. Time to replace all 4.
This happened to my sister's BMW.

RidingAway

Thanks for the replies.

I spoke with the local mechanic I've been using the past few years and he indicated it is cheaper to replace the entire strut assembly including the springs as one entire unit. Something about not having to use special equipment to remove the old spring and install it onto the new strut. He quoted a price of $450 parts & labor to do the rear two struts which includes new springs and strut mounts. Haven't gotten a price yet on the front set. I thought springs basically lasted the life of the car so not sure if I'm paying extra for something that doesn't need to be replaced but if it is in fact cheaper with new springs, I'll do that. Any comments would be welcome.

12jimmyjam

Sounds right about replacing with an aftermarket kit. Replacing with oem/lexus parts is really expensive. A local Toyota dealer charged me about $1200 just to replace the individual struts and wound up just using aftermarket parts that they charged me twice as much for than what I could have paid at any auto part store.

Even buying lexus oem parts online at discounted prices (i.e. not jacked up by a dealer) is very pricey.