I have a broken rear strut on my 2009 LS 460 with 27000 miles. First noticed it about 25000 but dealer said it was only the cold weather and all was fine. I had a mechanic friend ride with me and he said I had a broken part in the rear suspension. Back to the dealer and this time they test drove it and diagnosed the broken rear strut. The tech told me that they had recently seen several LS 460's with the same problem. The broken strut causes handling problems and I am reluctant to drive at highway speeds. The dealer (and all the other dealers I called) said that there are no parts available for the repair and one told me that the last strut had to be brought from Japan. My dealer, Mcgrath Lexus of Chicago, said that they expect the part on or about Mar 9th. The manager said that he had another ls 460 with a broken rear strut in today. I can not recall hitting anything that might have caused the problem. I find it hard to believe that there are no parts available if this is not a widespread problem. Has any one else seen this problem? Can I expect this to be a warantee repair?

 

I recall the vp at my firm mentioning something a few weeks back about this. He has a '09 with 18K on it. I'll follow up with him when he returns next Monday from vacation. Best of luck in the meantime.

BTW I grew up in Hinsdale, IL. Anywhere close to you?

Cheers,
James

 

wow, not wassup! So the strut fails to compress and rebound or something else is broken on the mounts or something? Did you hear anything strange while driving or what are you experiencing so others will know what to look for. I know that if a strut is bad on most cars, you can push down on that corner and it will continue to bounce a little instead of stopping immediately after it rebounds

 

jallegrett,

what are some of the symptoms that you experienced that caused you to believe that the rear strut is broken?

 

jallegrett,
I'm a presently having a suspension problem on my 2009 460LS AWD. When driving over small potholes, speed bumps, or bridge connection strips which causes shock compression, I have noticed a "thud" over the rear right tire. I have taken it to the dealership for an oil change recently and ask to have them look at it. They thought everything was fine. I have been driving the car for the last week with the same problem. Car handles well. Does not matter whether the height level is on or not or whether comfort or sport suspension is activated... still get the right rear "thud" driving over moderate bump. Plan to take the mechanic with me next week.

 

Have LS460 with 30K miles. Have had 2 broken shocks. Even when shocks are not broken the rear bottoms out even over small bumps and potholes. I've been leasing LSs since 1991 and this model has the worse suspension system ever. I assume it must be connected with the change to 4WD. It has definitely affected my decision to lease another Lexus next time around. I can imagine Lexus hasn't put out a fix for the problem.

 

again, how can you tell if your rear strut is broken?
Have you tried pushing down the rear? Does it go down then up then stop or does it go down then up then down then up etc (bouncing).

 

I am curious as well. The car already feels floaty as is. Maybe if mine breaks it will be the perfect excuse for coilovers

 

sounds like a plan, have the dealer replace the bad ones then sell them on ebay.

 

jallegrett,

This is a follow up to my March 2011 post. As I stated I thought I had a suspension problem on my 2009 AWD Ls 460...The problem was the rear strut. The car rides great after repair that was under warranty. I was blessed to receive one of the few rear struts sent from Japan before the earthquake. Apparently the factory that assembles these struts is no longer in existence after the tsunami washed it away including the workers.... Lexus has been scrambling to keep up with demand for parts. After talking to many people, this is my understanding of the Air suspension struts on the 2009 LS460: There is a weakness in the originally manufactured struts exacerbated by cold weather. I believe the problem to be in the seals. I was given indication that although the part number is the same as before the engineering of the strut is different.. although this is not confirmed. There have been other Lexus owners with this same problem and actually have had both rear struts replaced. I have been concerned with the air pump that maintains the pressure in the strut ,being over worked for the many months the strut was not working. I will post if something develops.

 

Extremely unhappy with this expensive car. Noticed rough driving after 16k. Drove on thinking I was wrong until intolerable. Dealer found both rear struts were broken. Replaced with improvement. Took car back to replace the actuators as well. Now front left makes noise like worn out brakes. Embarrassed to ride in it. Noticed front tyres were both worn out. Rear tires ok. Have left car at dealer to fix whatever the problem is. Will pressure to return car without penalty on lease. This car is a nightmare. Called customer satisfaction. Lets see what they do. Wish I had gone Mercedes.
Bakhtiar@collatus.com

 

I have a 2009 ls460 awd they replaced all struts at 22000 miles under warrantee cost of replacement if you pay $10,000 the struts have a different part number and do not ride the same!!!!

 

i have a 2009 with 65k miles and i dont see/hear anything on the suspension? the only thing i hate are the brakes on this thing.. there is a "scraping" kind of noise from the brakes when i am going at 5-10mph in traffic... not sure what that is, but my mechanic said i might need my rotors turned since my brakes are 30k miles old now..

 

Is this the same mechanic that told you never to buy a LWB LS460?

I've never heard of having to turn rotors regularly as part of maintenance, other than for warpage or when pads are replaced.

 

I think new rotors come free with the brake pads - at least they do at my dealer (I have a guy...)