stiles_s

About 10k miles ago the dealer replaced one of my rear shocks under warranty.

The car felt a bit "off" with one fresh shock, so not much later I bought a new rear shock from Sewell for the other side to balance things out. That helped, and the rear ride was far better (read: less/zero harshness from bottoming), but it still felt a bit "off". You could definitely feel that the front struts were weaker than the rear shocks. This manifested in both some wallowing, and some impact harshness.

I finally bit the bullet and bought new front struts from Sewell. These I had installed professionally, partly because I don't have the energy or time right now to mess with spring compressors, and also because it was going to need an alignment afterwards anyways.

Picked the truck up last night and immediately noticed a difference.
- the front feels "supple"; in fact the entire truck feels "supple". that impact harshness I was getting from the front is gone. It feels like there's a generous range of appropriate travel and damping from the front now. Actually feels like there's more suspension travel.
- overall body control is much better
- the front and rear suspensions now feel totally balanced and coordinated
- for some bizarre reason, I swear that the front of the truck feels higher than before. is it possible that Lexus adjusted the spring perch height on later struts?

I had an alignment done at the same time, and the OE alignment was pretty far off (or had drifted off over time. i'm the orig owner). There was a ton of "toe in" in the front, and it wasn't tracking straight. I hadn't noticed any strange tire wear (from the toe-in), but this will only help decrease wear.

Thought I'd share the story. It wasn't a cheap overhaul, but the truck feels like new now. I was tempted to go the bilstein route, but I have got to admit I like fiddling w/the adjustable shocks on a pretty regular basis.

Final comment from the shop owner. He runs a super reputable local guy. He says he has a couple customers pushing 250k miles with their GXs with no trouble. Was good to hear that our trucks are solid from somebody in the business (and not the lexus dealer).

Scott

ROK

Vendor? Thx

stiles_s

Bought all the parts from Sewell online.

Had Truline bellevue do the install. Best tire/wheel/suspension shop in town, IMO.

RickC5

Your comment about "suppleness" reminded me that I have seen several Japanese cars with many miles on them where the shocks actually got tighter rather than looser as time wore on. Eventually these same cars rode like they had no suspensions at all--super stiff. Interesting for sure.

stiles_s

Yeah, it's odd. Seems like they get harsher over time.

Also, just found out that the shop inflated all of my tires to 40psi to ensure the alignment was correct. That's probably the cause of the feeling of increased front ride height. I'm going to air them down to my typical 36psi later, which will soften up the impact harshness even more.

ROK

What parts along with the shocks should be replaced? I see a bunch of misc little parts online. Recommended? Thanks.

stiles_s

IIRC the shocks and struts came with the necessary nuts and bushings for the install. I had the installer look at other rubber parts (control arm and swaybar bushings, for instance), and he said they were all in great shape.

mann777

Scott...is yr truck with KDSS or without.

stiles_s

With KDSS, why do you ask?

ROK

Was just quoted $2300 new OEM shocks at all four corners out the door, non-KDSS.

Decent deal?

stiles_s

did you price out the shocks on Sewell? I think it is about $1300 in parts?

I paid about $800 for the front strut install and alignment, and did the rears myself. So your number sounds like it is in the right ballpark. Expensive when you add it all up...

I really wish there was a plug and play bilstein setup for our rigs. Maybe there will be when I do this again in 50-60k miles.

ROK

You're pretty much on target. I actually had the vendor call Sewell and then they sourced another dealer in their network and pricing was a little higher, but they were able to adjust the labor cost.

May be a shock to some, but I'm using a local Les Schwab shop on Bel-Red. They've provided outstanding service every time I've made a visit.

Like you, I actually like the adjustable ride and air suspension so won't be going with any aftermarket unit, even reputable Bilstein, unless they replicate OEM functionality down to the t.

Thanks, Stiles!