Would anyone recommend buying used air struts? Coming off a LS430 UL with around 110K

Is it worth it? Any way to tell, just by pictures, if they are still good or how much life they have left???

 

Have you check on ebay seen some with lower miles on them

 

I picked up a used set of 4 from eBay off a 2005 model with about 50k on them as the owner converted the suspension to aftermarket air. They looked in great condition and were guaranteed for a month. The challenge is that you cannot really test the air-shock unless it is on the vehicle. You can however look for obvious signs there are are bad and ask for at least a 30 day warranty. The most obvious would be oil or hydrolic fluid leakage and maybe rust or physical damage.

I have mentioned it before but I was paranoid when I got my UL with all the naysayers and how much the shocks would cost to repair. My backups have been in a box now for nearly 4 years. Living in the Northeast now will take more of a toll on them I am sure.

 

If they're coming off a car with 110k miles , I wouldn't buy them unless they were really cheap. I had a different Lexus with an air suspension and it developed leaks at about 90k miles that required complete replacement from the sagging.

 

Thanks for all the responses.

I think I will stay away from them.

 

Just waiting for the garage to give me a timeslot to remove airstruts and replace with Bilsteins
airstruts and bags:
2 rear 36k miles
1 right front 6k miles
1 left front 116k miles
want to sell as set and only after the mechanic has them inspected and verified as A-1 condition

anybody interested , please pm me
For anybody who wants to retain the OEM air suspension this would be a very good opportunity since it will become increasingly difficult to get lowmileage parts for this set-up. As the LS gets older so is the mileage, then its a decision to get older used ones or bite the bullet and get new

 

I disagree, you can test them in hand. Stand it upright, force down on the shock, you'll know if it's ****ed or not.

If you're adventurous/somewhat handy...you can replace a shock in an hour. If they're reasonably priced, why not install a used shock.

 

That's interesting L8R. I did not know this. When I got mine I called around to multiple Lexus dealers and spoke to the service managers and they all said it needed to be on the vehicle itself to test properly.

 

But there's two parts to these struts.

A) Does it hold air without leaking and can it support the vehicle. This is basically the "coil spring" of the vehicle, the rubber "bladder" on top.

B) Does the shock/strut that absorbs the up and down movement blown or worn out? This is the part that looks like a regular shock on the bottom.

An air shock can hold air, but the shock/strut could still be completely worn out. Sort of like on a conventional car, the steel coil spring on a car can be fine, but the strut is completely blown. Or vice versa.

So a used air shock/strut could "work" in that it supports the weight of the vehicle without sagging, but would you put say a single used strut with over a 100k miles on one corner of the car with a steel coil? I personally wouldn't because it could lead to weird handling issues because that strut could be way more worn out than the rest.

If it's cheap enough though or came off a low mileage car, I can see a case being made of just trying it out and it being "good enough" to get you back on the road.