sdudra

Kharizma,

The spark plugs are to dang easy to accomplish to pay someone to do for you. Honestly, if you have any mechanical experience whatsoever, can you change the oil??? , then you could change these plugs. The drivers side has nothing in the way to get to the plugs. The passenger side has a part of the intake piece (I think) that has to be removed, but it is maybe 2 bolts and a few electrical connections and I think one hose to disconnect.

After that is removed, everything is visible and easy to get to. From the time that I opened the hood and re-started the car with the new plugs installed was 45 minutes. Seriously consider doing this yourself. The satisfaction alone is worth it.

Now back to the ball joints, I was at Tires Plus last night getting a rotate and balance and it appears that these "ball joints" can be easily installed. I was wondering if anyone else has installed their own before and will this mess up the alignment in any way?

Thanks!

Stephen

sdudra

FYI.. I just looked at lexus-parts.com and the ball joints are 76.12 each.

Still a savings!

Stephen

tgbn

K,

I feel your pain...As you are aware our choices for local Lexus dealerships are limited to Kuni & Stevenson, and as personable and professional as their respective staffs may be, I too find their pricing structures to be cost prohibitive. Here's a suggestion, try Toy Car Care 303.799.3895, they are just south of the Tech Center off Arapahoe road. I've been using them for a couple of years for routine maintenance and repair on my Toyota & Lexus vehicles and have been ver satisfied with the customer service and pricing.

Hope this helps.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

You will need an alignment after the install of new ball joints. You can get it installed anywhere that does suspension or the local Toyota dealer. The lexus dealership will charge you so much cash, you can take all of us out to lunch.

GILLEXUS

iTrader: (14)

You bring up a good point. For people looking for alternative shops sometimes if they check for shops that specialize in Toyotas and Lexus they usually have Toy/Lex trianed mechanics.
I do belive Kharizma is in Colo.Springs.

Also for the Denver area there is Toy/Lex on south broadway and the Toy Doctor.
I have noticed that these shops are sometimes leary ( like the dealers here) about installing aftermarket stuff like intakes sway bars,LSD and TQ converters I don't know about Toy Car Care.

SC400-V8

iTrader: (1)

should you just put new LCAs in, since those include ball joints already installed, and at 98K miles, your bushings might also be on their way out.

GILLEXUS

iTrader: (14)

Check out this place great skematic of many body and engine parts w/ great prices too Park Place Lexus. They have your ball joints for $63.17 ea and lower control arm if you go that route for $114.18 for the front. to boot I think shipping is free. that is great for any heavy peices.
http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...=7&catalogid=1

Don't for get to check w/ Carson Toyota for prices they are always cheaper than the dealer.

Kharizma

iTrader: (6)

hmm, no i don't think i need new lower control arms, i'm gonna replace all my bushings with the daizen kit..

anyways, i found a great price for the ball joints already (about 55/each) so i'm gonna go with that, and i still don't know where to get the labor done at, i'm gonna hit up toyota tomorrow when i get some time off hopefully and get some quotes but i might just look in the yellow pages to see if there's any other shops that deal with toy/lex as stated.. so do you all think that.. maybe around the $100 mark is reasonable to get ball joints installed?

tgbn - yea thanks for that man, i'll look into them if i don't find a place closer to me 'cause i'm in the springs lol so that'd be a bit far of a drive for me just for some ball joints lol

corkycal

iTrader: (8)

when i replaced my ball joints, i also replace my outer tie rods. i've read that it makes your suspension as good as new. try doing a search where ed (lexforlife) wrote about this.

i had this done when i rebuilt my whole front suspension with the daizen control arm bushings/ball joints/outer tie rods/castor arms..after getting this done, the front end is perfect.

i would say just do everything at once since you're already thinking about the daizen bushings.

Kharizma

iTrader: (6)

how much are the out tie rods and what are castor arms and how much are those? what did you pay for all your things being installed?

corkycal

iTrader: (8)

outer tie rods are about the same as the ball joints, around 65-70 each. castor arms are already on your car, when you get your daizen bushing kit, it's in the package.

your mechanic will have to swop out the upper and lower control arm bushings as well as both caster arm bushings.

as for labor cost, it's different everywhere. i went to tm engineering so you can pm todd about his price. i may or may not be relevant.

Kharizma

iTrader: (6)

what do the outer tie rods do? do i need them replaced or should i get them inspected and if they're fine just leave them?

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

"If it aint broken, dont fix it" Mine are fine. Al I changed with my front suspension is the balljoints. The car tracks straight and true.

maintrain

iTrader: (1)

I just had my struts, springs, ball joints, and strut mounts installed yesterday for $380 at my local mechanic. You can get a better deal than that. Even Pep Boys quoted me something like $480! I bought my ball joints from Sewell for about $120.

corkycal

iTrader: (8)

read lexforlife review:https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...=outer+tie+rod

concept is simple, just like changing your timing belt, you change your water pump because you have access to it.

when you change out your ball joints, you have access to the outer tie rods. if you change out the ball joints and later, your tie rods go bad, guess what, you're going to pay for it. i also have to mention you'll need another alignment once the new tie rods are installed.

get the whole front end rebulit one time and you will not have to worry if something should fail in the future.

just my opinion