What mileage is best to install new struts?

 

Whenever they are bad? Either leaks develop, or there is mechanical damage, or your gluts can't take it anymore.

 

glutes. sorry.just trying to help, not being a know-it-all.

 

we replaced ours a month ago on the 350. how did we know? i hit a 3" pothole on the interstate and it immediately felt/sounded like a flat. since i didn't want to stop on the highway and the next off-ramp was right there i kept on driving by the time we stopped(overall about 1/2 mile) the noise/feeling was gone. i got out and everything looked fine again and so we kept on for another 60 miles home. saw my mechanics next day, told them what happened and we deduced it must be the struts. try to reuse your old springs as they are VERY expensive from lexus and lexus is the only game in town with respect to rear springs. also replace you links while you have it all apart.we did this with 'only' 80,000 miles on the 350. seems premature to me.oh, when we looked at the old struts they were junk , all fluid had leaked out.

 

You can push down once hard on your front or rear bumper and the car should bounce one and a half times. If it bounces more, its not dampening and it needs replacing.

 

Mine acted fine by the test above, but when on a curvy road the car appeared to wallow and felt unsafe. I replaced the lower control arms, and all four struts with upper mounts also. This dramatically affected the handling. At the time it had 170k miles roughly. RX400h 2008. By the way when I removed old struts, the gas charge was all but gone, the pistons would not extend on their own.