Saucana6

Yes, bought used from one of our members here in this club for $200 , that's the best money I ever spent , now my car ride normal smooth at 248k miles .

wopdud

I have 2003 Lexus LS 430UL ,,with 148000 k on it, fine ride no problems, sorry to hear about yours Good Luck

LexRoy16

I am a Club Lexus member because I love my LS (third LS I have owned), hate the cost of ownership associated with going to a dealer and as a “born again” greaser from the 60’s (swapping 327’s into mid 50’s GM autos) I am not afraid to twist a wrench on occasion.



Since getting my 91 LS400 18 years ago, I have found that any OEM part for a Lexus is rudely expensive and getting anything done at the dealership is also rudely expensive (of course the car wash, coffee and loaner during service work is “free”). The good news is that after 18 years of LS ownership I have had very few problems and most of those problems that do occur have cost-effective solutions compliments of Club Lexus.


I am one of 59 (27%) of those 217 Club Lexus members who replaced the air suspension on my UL. I choose Megan coil-over shocks so I can lower my ride. And I do not think one can extrapolate that 27% of all new Lexus UL models will need new air shocks before the odometer hits “X” miles.



It was the passenger side rear that failed at 81,500 miles – 14 years after the car was built. I think that is good life for a “shock absorber” and I could have purchased basic coils and shocks for less than half the cost of the Megan suspension.


Unfortunately, I cannot get data for how many UL’s are part of the 140,000 LS 430’s that were sold in America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus_LS . Would it be out of line to suggest 15,000? Since 2006, this thread has 217 members of Club Lexus who have posted their experiences with the UL air suspension – including me. I think those UL buyers who have “invested” more than $65K (plus taxes etc.) for the new UL would not be members of Club Lexus and that most of those UL owners get their cars serviced by their dealer. In the world of sadistics (a term for the statistics course I took in University) the nature of the poll sample (complainants versus cold calls) coupled with the sample size leaves the poll with little more value than satisfying my UL owner’s curiosity.


I pulled the fuses for the air compressor and headlight leveling and I manually set the headlight levels. And I have spent mega hours reading posts in Club Lexus on how to restore the functionality of the headlight auto-leveling system, hopefully the answer is one of the many threads on the air suspension and headlight sensors ……

RRocket

I spoke to these people: http://www.rebuildmastertech.com/

They are in the R&D process of rebuilding LS shocks. They told me they hoped to have a product ready by the end of the year.

paulg1981

It would be awesome to have an aftermarket option for the air shocks on the LS. I simply refuse to pay $1900/shock from the dealer but I do love the ride. I would consider going back to air if they were reasonably priced!

Keep us updated!

LexRoy16

I love the Lexus ride. Both my previous LS's (1991 + 1998) were Lexus shocks and springs (I drove the 1991 to 175K Miles) and I can say the UL's air suspension was not noticeably better, but the option of switching to "Sport Mode" when I lived in the west and drove some twisty roads was always a plus.

When my wife and I looked at an LS460 (thinking of upgrading) we were so disappointed with the quality of the interior finish (faux leather etc.) we decided we would keep our teen-aged LS430 and bite the bullet for a new suspension (Megan system at less than a G-note and shop labor and alignment around $600) when the first air bag failed and for the 90,000 mile service that was on the horizon (cost us $888 with water pump and timing chain etc.) and ride on!

The Megan system had the softest spring rate of any coil overs I priced. I have the dampeners set at the highest (softest) rating and have dropped the front 1-1/2" and the rear 3/4". The ride is still very Lexus - soft, quiet and as perfect as can be for the long boring Interstates in Florida and surrounding states.

I like the idea of the headlight leveling system and having it functional; although I am not prepared to pay any money for that "luxury"

I will put the car up on blocks (literally - I have cut and assembled wood blocks to put under each corner of the suspension to simulate the height of the center of the hubs when the tires are on) in the next few days and with wheels removed I will be able to easily remove all 4 headlight leveling sensors, take them apart, clean them, fix as necessary (per various other threads) and re-install them within the computer tolerated ranges to see if I can get the headlight leveling system to operate properly.

If I am successful in getting the system functional, I will post step by step procedure with color glossies ...

e60bmw

iTrader: (1)

I was working on bleeding my brake lines over the weekend and saw my air struct in the right rear which has always sagged since I bought the car. I noticed there is some oil dripping down from it. I guess its gonna be shot. Trying to figure out what to do now. I'm not a fan of coilovers at least on this car, I do NOT want a harsh ride, I'd like to keep the ride quality I have. I have ksports on my BMW and they feel like trash. I was looking on alibaba at reconstructed air struts but I'm not sure how reliable that would be.

How much would a aftermarket system run do you think?

LexRoy16

About 8 months before the air struts were replaced in our LS430, it would take all night for the car to be 1" lower in the right rear compared to the left rear. After starting the car, the bag would be re-pressurized and operate normally. We continued to drive the car until the bag would lose pressure after the car was idle for a few hours and that is when we replaced the air bags with Megan Racing coil over spring systems.

Options for coil over systems range from using stock Lexus parts ( http://www.trademotion.com/parts/200...iagram=8930620 ) which will cost $1400+ to basic after-market suppliers (about $500). All four corners have to be replaced if the suspension is going to be switched from air to coils. And there are warning lights, auto headlight leveling sensors and other electro-mechanical items that also have to be adjusted, uninstalled or deactivated.

I have owned 91 and 96 LS400's, each with stock coil over spring systems and the ride was almost as nice as the air bags.

I chose to use Megan Racing coil over shocks with height and dampening adjustments (about $1,000 plus installation) because I wanted to lower the car on the suspension and the Megan system had a very soft spring rate. My LS430 is now about 2" lower in the front and 1" lower in the rear than stock with the dampeners at the softest setting. My wife and I like the ride. I am not sure the ride is better or worse than the LS400 spring and coil systems or the LS430 air system but it is different. The Megan Racing suspension system absorbs road abnormalities effortlessly and I like the look of the lowered car (my wife is indifferent to how it looks).

The shop recycled the leaking air bag and I kept the other three that were still sound for sale on eBay. The front two have been sold to two different owners. I still have a rear strut for sale.( http://www.ebay.com/itm/252467880054...84.m1558.l2649 )

nissanguy8

My car seems to be high on the drivers side front and passenger side rear also about 1 inch high!!!! Hope I can just manually adjust it!!!!

92blacktt

iTrader: (1)

does anyone know the length of the strut fully compressed, and uncompressed?

pgirard

I have a 2004 LS Ultra with 29,000 miles. The car sits about 1/2" higher on one side. I took it to the dealer and they informed me that the air suspension compressor is weak; and I would need to replace the air suspension compressor and the drier ($3,250 total).
Questions:
I checked the height control sensor links in the front and measured the distance between the 2 lock nuts; there is 3/8" difference between the driver and passenger side. Shouldn't both the links be set up at the same length?
The dealer told me they would have to remove the bumper in order to replace the compressor and it would take 6 hours to do the work. Has someone ever replaced their compressor themselves?
Thanks

lildann

Man, sorry you have to deal with this. I'm pretty sure that they didn't look at it or they didn't know what they were looking at so they just gave you worst case senecio hoping that you would leave. If the compressor was weak it would take a long time to raise the car up or it would blow fuses because it ran so long trying to fill the bags up. Yes, the links could be the problem. The only way that the car knows how far it is up is from the height sensors. If they are 3/8" different, the car could reading the sensor wrong. I would suggest setting them to the same length. Lastly, the compressor is behind the front bumper on the passenger side. The bumper does need to be removed to get to it. But 6 hours seems high. It's usually 1 hour to remove the front bumper. I would think another hour or two to replace the compressor. There may be an additional labor charge for the air system dryer. I don't know where it is offhand. And I'm guessing that they wanted to do an alignment after that work.

I would start tart by adjusting the height sensor link rods and see where that gets you.

pgirard

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give it a try and let you know. I guess that I would need a wheel alignment after adjusting the height sensor link rods?

lildann

I would get one just to be safe after you get everything set where you want it. Changing the height of the car can affect the toe. Don't want to ride around with your toe out causing excessive tire wear.

pgirard

I found a local mechanic who works on lexus. He adjusted the height sensor link rods and checked the alignment afterwards. Final cost: $95.