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Attaching to my other thread, KYB excel G improved the ride a great amount, but I’m still getting that clunky sound over bumps. From research and others commenting, it’s the strut rods, I’ve been seeing others say having a new bushing only fixes it, but I have 196K on the car, how does one tell if the actual arm of the strut rod is bad? Been searching around on owmlexusparts.com and can’t find anything else on most sites...... I read from billydpowe that If you go polyurethane it kills the ride, can anyone attest to this? Thanks.
Usually it's either strut rods or lower ball joints. Never go polyurethane for anything in this car if you care about ride quality. Infact, most people say just to pay the premium and stay with OEM for all suspension components and to stay away from aftermarket (the one exception is the Excel-G shocks). Lexuspartsnow has been my go-to for finding most of the parts I need, though I have ordered from a few ebay stores from dealerships if their prices are favorable.
The #1 suspension issue with these cars are the strut rod bushings. They usually fail around 100k miles and you can tell on the test drive if you're front end feels very loose over bumps. It can also cause a slight vibration when going 60-65 mph or a shimmy under light braking from highway speeds that will be felt in the steering wheel instead of in the pedal like warped rotors normally would.
Lower ball joints should also be replaced if the cars have over 100k. They're heavy cars and wear them out faster than other models. If grease is leaking from the boot, then it's time to replace. Grab the wheel at 12-6 and at 3-9 with the car jacked up and shake it. If there's play, then it's time to replace. You can do them when changing the strut rods as it's a pretty simple job compared to many other cars.
Another test that is common for the strut rods is braking from 5mph to 0mph. If you get clunks when doing that, it's most likely the strut rods.
Last edited by 400fanboy; Feb 15, 2020 at 11:38 PM.
Usually it's either strut rods or lower ball joints. Never go polyurethane for anything in this car if you care about ride quality. Infact, most people say just to pay the premium and stay with OEM for all suspension components and to stay away from aftermarket (the one exception is the Excel-G shocks). Lexuspartsnow has been my go-to for finding most of the parts I need, though I have ordered from a few ebay stores from dealerships if their prices are favorable.
Usually it's either strut rods or lower ball joints. Never go polyurethane for anything in this car if you care about ride quality. Infact, most people say just to pay the premium and stay with OEM for all suspension components and to stay away from aftermarket (the one exception is the Excel-G shocks). Lexuspartsnow has been my go-to for finding most of the parts I need, though I have ordered from a few ebay stores from dealerships if their prices are favorable.
Another test that is common for the strut rods is braking from 5mph to 0mph. If you get clunks when doing that, it's most likely the strut rods.
my clunking was coming from a bad sway bar to body bushing in the front. I could move my front sway bar side to side which the car was on the ground, so it was really worn out. I would hear clunks over speed bumps. Also, my lower balljoints appeared fine as the boot was intact and still had grease, but there was about a 1/4' of vertical play in them.
my clunking was coming from a bad sway bar to body bushing in the front. I could move my front sway bar side to side which the car was on the ground, so it was really worn out. I would hear clunks over speed bumps. Also, my lower balljoints appeared fine as the boot was intact and still had grease, but there was about a 1/4' of vertical play in them.
The sway bar bushing was more of a rusty door hinge sound when I replaced mine, whenever the front springs would compress it would rotate the bushings and I'd get a creak\rusty sound. I would have guessed that the end-links would have been shot if you could move the sway bar by hand. But I'm glad it fixed it with just the bushings, they are a lot cheaper & easier to replace.
Re your ball joints: I have a 98' with 136k on the clock. I replaced my original 22 year old ball joints because they were making noise.
I wish I had a picture of them, but the shop said they would have put them back in the car because they looked visually fine when they took them out. No cracks or grease leaks. I did the normal wheel test and the front wheels felt perfectly fine. However, they were completely shot. Not only making noise, but it totally changed the handling dynamic of my car. Front end feels so much more planted, stopped tramlining in the groves in the road and it eliminated a lot of the "fall out of your seat leaning" that I had prior to that. You have 1\4'' play form the 12-6 wheel test?
Just my 2c. I have a sample size of one, me, so take my story with a grain of salt.
Last edited by 400fanboy; Feb 17, 2020 at 05:57 AM.
Yup way to go . Done this on two LS400. Fixed the clunk. Paid 35$ for each bushing
Pressed them myself. Home made press with 20 ton hydraulic jack.
Find some shop with the hydraulic press should be doable. I think it needs to be 10 tons at least.
If you are out of luck like I was on one of the cars the bolts are seized
Makes it more time consuming with more to remove. A few hours DIY extra.
I have exchanged two lower balljoints 20 years old I think.
The old ones were flawless! I will not do the other car (22 years old now) until needed.
Checking them every year.
When I pressed the bushings out, I was using a HF 20-ton press. It made a loud pop when I broke the seal of the original bushing. It scared me for a bit thinking I messed something up. LOL
at that mileage i'm fairly certain it's the SR bushings. make sure they are clocked correctly.
there is a certain position they need to be when pressing in. note the orientation when pressing out the old one (see the little "flag" at the 12 o'clock position).
Clunks are soooo easy to find .. Over two years slowly I have replaced everything on front end... by choice
Struts to control arms and the most entertaing job was the strut bars...lining up the bolts.
My clunk was the upper control arm ball joint. Replaced bushings as well.
Back to soft rubber suspension Lexus LS so known for
Strut rod bushing vs strut rod
