Sounds expensive.

 

I got my car very used, but love it to death. I wouldn't even consider a Hyundai.

Oops, wrong chat. Hehehe

 

For the AVS owners (LUX) is the eco/normal mode a lot more forgiving on lousy roads or not much different in your experience?

 

No, I was asking the ones Who Did Not have problems with 100K. You had problems, like me. lol!

 

You would be the perfect person to ask! is the eco/normal mode a lot more forgiving on lousy roads or not much different in your experience?

 

I have a 2013 lux and yes the sport+ setting, which changes the suspension settings, is much harsher than sport, normal or eco.

 

No problems here on AVS.

86,000km.

 

Bought the car used, only buy my cars used. Also my car has AVS.

 

Yes, reason was I was wondering if they can leak as early as 30k or so? Maybe they were replaced under Lexus Warranty before some got the car used. But also does you 450h not also have a different strut or something different about the Suspension than the Reg AVS GS350? I may be wrong but I though it was different some kinda of way Suspension wise? IDK though?

 

It was a lease return, one owner, all serviced at the dealer. the only thing replace on the car before I owned that was not regular maintenance was related to PVC valve or something like that.
There might be some difference with the struts to compensate for the additional weight of the battery and the hybrid drivetrain. The car stock is about 4200 pounds. I have probably added about 100 pounds between sound deader and other mods.

No doubt in my mind the struts will last the life of the car, with zero issues so far. I drive the car in normal mode 98% of the time. I upsized my tires a couple months ago for more sidewall and slightly smoother ride.
My first car 1998 Honda Accord sold it with 232,505 miles had zero issues with suspension.

I think if you have 18" rims and non-fsport suspension you'll likely have no issues with the struts.

 

Yes that's what I thought about the weight difference too. I had 3 Struts leaking and replaced all 4. I have the stock 18" wheels and Non-F Sport suspension. I have had about 6 Lexus or more. Ran them way up in the High 100K miles. I too have never had a Strut problem with any of them before this GS. Many others have had the same problem with their GS too.

 

If your not the original owner for all you know the last guy had lowering springs on the stock struts. That will drastically kill the life of the strut, or had 20's and before they sold returned the car to stock.

 

Yea you never know, but my car came from a 72 year old lady that bought it new years ago, She had 2 cars and rarely drove the GS. She told me she never even had anybody sit in the back seat. She never got around to Modding with Lowering springs or 20's. At least she didn't tell me about it, anyway.

 

Good to know if I purchase an used vehicle.

 

I have a 2013 RWD w/lux package and Sport+ w/AVS and the answer is no.

If there is a difference between eco and normal it's hard to tell and if a cushy ride is the goal, then eco mode is not it. Roads here are not that bad but any rutts, small potholes, uneven manhole cover etc are annoyingly harsh. Don't get me wrong, it's better overall than many cars but I could stand for it to be slightly softer in softest mode. I'd say from eco to sport+ ranges from normal/harsh on bad roads to stiff, harsh and responsive in sport+ with minor increments in an increase in harshness going from eco, normal, sport and sport+. I recently went from 235/45R18 to 245/45R18 and there was a noticeable softening of the harsh bumps I mentioned earlier. There was a bigger improvement going to these tires than between eco and normal. New tires of the same size would probably have given me a similar nicer ride due to the new softer tread so it's hard to say which mattered more.

Even though I'd like a softer ride when just cruising, there is a noticeable improvement to handling in sport+ which is nice but most of my time is spent cruising and not trying to race.

As for the adaptive shocks, mine seem to be performing fine, however like I said, there is no dramatic diffference in dampening among the modes unless you're comparing sport modes to eco. I have noticed a slight oil film developing on the rear shocks so it looks like they're weeping oil at a small rate. I've wiped them down a few times when I've had the wheels off and it seems to come back so I might be in for replaceing them in the future. I've got 90k miles right now.

I've priced out the shocks and K&N ( the OEM are K&N) go for about $90 each. Lexus dealer wants double that and about $1500.00 total to change two of them. I think the rears can be done pretty easily as the springs are seperate. The fronts are doable too but they're struts so you have to get the spring off the shock.

Does anyone know of AVS compatible front coilovers? Has anyone gone to coilovers on the front but left the rear seperate spring and shock?