What is a realistic price to replace the front struts including the top mounts for a 2001 LS430? I happen to have one strut making a creaking sound which I'm sure will only get worse. I'm assuming that OEM parts are not necessary for this job, but I was quoted 3 hrs of labor. Is an alignment necessary as well? Thanks all.

 

KYB is the way to go. RockAuto, Amazon, eBay all have them. They are oem. Monroe would be my second choice but it's not worth it. About $105 each for KYB. All the others are junk.

 

$250 for struts and $250 for labor probably, if you assume the KYBs are purchased by you and the labor is per the shop you went to for diagnosis.

This is offtopic but do you really own a 2010 Jag? And if you do, then this sounds harsh but it looks like you should sell that or the Lexus to afford one car and it's upkeep. Or else I am reading into your worry about the costs to maintain a 15 year car and have assumed incorrectly - for which I am happy to apologize to.

 

about $850 for 2 struts and front end alignment. buy the struts yourself and save about $200. I was charged over $200 each for the struts and the alignment was only 2 wheel, not lexus recommended 4 wheel alignment. my strut mounts were not replaced but you can buy them also. I thought I could save money using local independent, but it was just as much as the dealer due to overcharge on parts.

 

Thanks for the info. Are the strut mounts recommended when replacing struts? I would probably feel more confident getting a diagnosis confirming the creaking is coming from my struts from Lexus. Will Lexus generally charge a minimum diagnostic fee to look at my car and then apply it to the repair if I do the job?

 

total labor was $368 and 2 struts $210 each. buy your struts online and save a lot of money this was in January of this year. I could have saved over $200 just buying struts online. I imagine you will save on the strut mounts as well. is your car driveable or not? buying online will take time. maybe a week or more.

 

I had mine done by the local Lexus independent, Davenport motors. I had it checked out and quoted by Goodyear first to confirm there was a strut problem, which I was sure there was, and they wanted over $1200 to install Monroes. The checkout was free.
I just took it to Davenport, they gave me a loaner car for the day and paid the $850 with confidence knowing I had purchased the OEM lexus part and put on by people who know what they're doing. Drives great now and the noise is gone.

 

Did Lexus charge you to diagnose the noise?

 

Legender...what part of Texas? I'm near Lubbock. always looking for good independent mechanic. my lexus dealer doesn't like it when you want to bring parts.

 

Sorry... in the DFW area... we have two independent's here. Pratt brothers in Fort Worth and Davenport with two locations in North Dallas area. I've not brought parts to them and not sure what their policy is.

And I had the noise diagnosed by myself and the Goodyear tech as we both got under the car and checked it out... the left strut was leaking fluid.

I did not have Lexus diagnose the problem. The independent shop verified it prior to swapping out the struts. While only one was leaking I went ahead and did them both. Little disappointed as the car only has 53K miles on it but then it was like that when I bought it from an individual about 4k miles ago.

 

I don't have an issue with KYB, but the KYB struts you buy at a parts store are not the same as the KYB from a Lexus dealership.

They aren't made in the same factory, KYB is making a lot of their stuff in China now, they used to be exclusively from Japan.


FWIW, the Monroe's I bought for the LS were actually manufactured in Japan.

 

Just dropped my LS430 with the creaking front end off at my local Lexus dealer. Went for a test drive with service manager who is quite knowledgeable. He heard the creaking as well as the strange noise it makes when driving slowly. He grabbed me right before I got into my loaner and asked if I had a recent alignment as I have brand new Primacys with around 2,000 miles on them. I said I did a few months back. He mentioned something about checking out the eccentric joint on the lower control arms as some alignment techs either don't tighten them enough or too much. Either way, I will be repairing it at Lexus as these guys have come through for me in the past. Hopefully it won't be too bad. To be continued........

 

Just tossing my 2 cents into this (I have a LS460 with a leaky pass side front strut), was diagnosed by Park Place Lexus here in Dallas with the issue and $1000 to replace both sides (parts were $520, labor and tax was the rest).

I took it to Davenport motors to confirm the issue with a quote of $820 was about to have them do the work then bumped into a Lexus mechanic (works for the dealer) who said he'd do it on the side for $200. Ordered both KYB front struts (yes...I know...not OEM, but was made in Japan) for $205 and this guy put it on, total cost was just a hair over $400.

I have found a couple independent shops that are ok with you bringing in your own parts though (KYB $102 vs OEM $260) though not sure what Davenport's policy is either so your luck may vary. For the 2001 LS430, check out www.kyboutlet.com I priced out each KYB strut is $108 (use GOOG5 for 5% off discount if you do order) and call around to see how much it would cost for you to install. Unlike some other repairs, a strut repair is somewhat straightforward and (in my humble opinion) you don't need a Lexus/Toyota certified tech to do this kind of work but of course it is your car and not mine so take my comments with a grain of salt.
If you want OEM parts check out Lexus of South Atlanta (as some members can attest) to check on pricing.

And YES you definitely will want to get a 4 wheel alignment done afterwards

 

Lexus has still not been able to diagnose the front end noise after 3 techs were looking at the car. Further investigation is required and they will be using "Chassis Ears" to try and narrow it down. Now I'm "on the clock" with a minimum diagnostic charge of $99 which is fine for me as long as they are able to find and fix the annoying noise. To be continued.

 

Boca there are a few things that have caused annoying squeaks in my car's front suspension. First one is sway bar mounting bushings, they have a fabric-type liner embedded in them that rubs against the sway bar. When the liner deteriorates then it can squeak. They may look fine to the naked eye though. Greasing them makes it worse; replace them, they're cheap. Second source like you were advised is the eccentric mount for the forward control arm bushing or camber bushing. If it's not torqued to 166lb ft then it can squeak. Most alignment shops never torque this bolt tight enough. Another possibility is the inner tie rod, although if it is bad it will likely create a knocking sound also. All of these sources present noises at low speeds over bumpy surfaces.