In further reading theses posts I decided to replace all control arms in the front and not just the bushings. Two arms were cracked, rest had some slight wear and tear.
Bought all eight arms off EBay from Buy Auto Parts in San Diego for $499. with prepaid shipping and one year warranty.

Had a company called Mobile Repair Dr. in Phoenix come out to my house and the mechanic did a full change out in just over 3 hours.
I made sure the arms were torqued to factory specs with the cars weight on wheel jacks and everything appears level.
Lexus dealer quote $4000.
Cost of the house call $483.
PERFECT.

 

Well done. For the nay-sayers that criticize the reliability of the LS and costs associated with this job, it's another example of how inexpensive and simple the job can be. Your cost was similar to mine....or about the cost for a nice set of tires.....and those tires will be replaced again in about 30k miles or less.

 

Nice price. How did he torque down the uppers? With the weight on the tires?

 

That is a good deal for labor, did it look difficult? If the guy just did it in your garage in a few hours it sounds like it could be more of a DIY then I thought.

 

Asked the mechanic to tighten the control arms with the weight of the car on them, he did so by jacking up each wheel and torquing to factory specs.

Mechanic said there were just two arms on the left which were difficult to remove, others went fairly easy, he used air tools.
Don't know if I would take it on as a DIY....Might have 20 years ago when I was more handy!

Believe there are step by step instructions along with tools needed at the beginning of this thread if you want to take on a project.

 

The CA's aren't the issue for DIY.......it's do-able. However, if you find that the ball joints need replacing, that's a whole other story. Personally, I wouldn't replace the CA's without also replacing the ball joints.

 

Do you have the link of where you bought the control arms?

i need to do all 8.

Anyone have the link link for the ball joint?

 

Question was not directed at me, but here's an Amazon link to a complete set for $318.00 which also includes tie rod ends and end links:
The only thing you need to add are a set of ball joints (2) which you can get here for 90 dollars: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-FRONT-LOWE...lU~rNk&vxp=mtr

 

any my feedback on quality of these????

this is a to good to be true price?


this is for a 2008 460L, correct?

thanks for flashing me the link...

 

ok it seems like this set is missing the rear lower arms.

 

You are correct....that kit is missing the control arms at the lower rear. I will delete my post so others don't get he wrong stuff. Good save.

I PM'd you the link for the correct parts from Rockauto.

 

I plan to replace the control arms to get the new ball joints but I'll press out the rubber bushings and press in the polyurethane bushings from Armstrong Distributors. I'm hoping they will last a lot longer than the rubber bushings. I also don't have to worry about preload.

 

When you say, "to get the new ball joints", keep in mind that the ball joints located in the spindle/kingpin (lower), do not come with the control arms. You need to get those separately. I strongly suggest replacing them as part of this job.

 

Oh, I meant that by getting the new arms, you also replace the joints on the other end as well....
I'll get the ball joint too.. the one that's under the lower control arms, right?

 

You betcha!