18 IS front sway bar bushing excessively worn
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Driver School Candidate
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From: MB
18 IS front sway bar bushing excessively worn
New car pickup on 2018 April, right now its got 32k KM
Had the IS in dealership on Thursday for service #3,
the guy told me that the bushing is worn out and needs replacement, but its under warranty, $0, so I had it done.
But Im wondering is this normal to have bushings "excessively" worn out @ 32k km?
also, they said The brake fluid needs to change as well, for $159 CAD, cuz they found dirt/contamination. (I lived in Manitoba, pretty bad winters here)
any thoughts guys?
Had the IS in dealership on Thursday for service #3,
the guy told me that the bushing is worn out and needs replacement, but its under warranty, $0, so I had it done.
But Im wondering is this normal to have bushings "excessively" worn out @ 32k km?
also, they said The brake fluid needs to change as well, for $159 CAD, cuz they found dirt/contamination. (I lived in Manitoba, pretty bad winters here)
any thoughts guys?
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 6,260
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From: Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Only my thoughts...wait on the brake fluid until at least after winter...and a little closer to 50K kms.
I'm thinking the tech is having a slow day and needs the money...just my guess though...1.5 years for brake fluid flush is a little bit of wishful thinking.
I'm definitely a little skeptical on the bushings as well...the 3IS has been out since mid-2013 and no one has reported changing sway bar bushings...you're the first that I'm aware of.
Unless you slalom race your car every day, I can't see them being worn out...and if they were you would have noticed a clunk noise from the front every time you went over a bump.
Since you didn't mention any noise, I'll assume there was and is no noise. And it's 2 bushings on the bar, so did they change one or both?
I'm thinking the tech is having a slow day and needs the money...just my guess though...1.5 years for brake fluid flush is a little bit of wishful thinking.
I'm definitely a little skeptical on the bushings as well...the 3IS has been out since mid-2013 and no one has reported changing sway bar bushings...you're the first that I'm aware of.
Unless you slalom race your car every day, I can't see them being worn out...and if they were you would have noticed a clunk noise from the front every time you went over a bump.
Since you didn't mention any noise, I'll assume there was and is no noise. And it's 2 bushings on the bar, so did they change one or both?
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Mar 2016
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Likes: 2,576
Bushings are not only "on/off" items, so one cannot usually say "there are no issues at all" without any real degree of certainty. Bushings degrade over time which means you get used to the slop over time, thus leading one to say "no issues."
On a performance car, really, with such a bushing that's primarily critical for handling/steering response, you guys should be treating that bushing as a maintenance/periodic replacement item. That same bushing, on BMWs, us performance/track guys would replace them at around 45-60k regardless. Same w/ dampers. Again, on a performance car, where the car is designed and engineered w/ such a purpose.
If you commute softly, you can double these maintenance figures. But if you're constantly loading your 3,600 lb behemoth up in corners and subjecting the entire car to high and frequent loading, your car will feel like poo (not like new) unless these items are treated as somewhat regular maintenance.
You guys are lucky you don't have rear trailing arm design in the back. Imagine a second set of these bushings. Older BMWs had this same bushing pair, but in the back as well. They were frequent items as well.
The IS uses multi link with multi point steel balljoints in the back so they're pretty hardy.
The rear subframe bushings are another story. I found them to be really soft. which means they'll wear pretty quick and severely.
On a performance car, really, with such a bushing that's primarily critical for handling/steering response, you guys should be treating that bushing as a maintenance/periodic replacement item. That same bushing, on BMWs, us performance/track guys would replace them at around 45-60k regardless. Same w/ dampers. Again, on a performance car, where the car is designed and engineered w/ such a purpose.
If you commute softly, you can double these maintenance figures. But if you're constantly loading your 3,600 lb behemoth up in corners and subjecting the entire car to high and frequent loading, your car will feel like poo (not like new) unless these items are treated as somewhat regular maintenance.
You guys are lucky you don't have rear trailing arm design in the back. Imagine a second set of these bushings. Older BMWs had this same bushing pair, but in the back as well. They were frequent items as well.
The IS uses multi link with multi point steel balljoints in the back so they're pretty hardy.
The rear subframe bushings are another story. I found them to be really soft. which means they'll wear pretty quick and severely.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 9,509
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I originally interpreted the OP's post as front control arm bushings.. i realized it's sway bushings. which is odd to wear so quick. did you mean front control arm bushings OP? either way, above rings true for main control arm bushings
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