The ball joints on those seemed fine, but might as well replace those too at this point... thanks.

Anyone else got any other ideas to what it might be? Its fairly loud and definitely coming from the front suspension (I can feel it through the steering).

 

Hi,
I live in Dallas. Would you recommend a mechanic who can help me replace the control arms?
Thank you
Mikhail

 

I'll give you my honest opinion...any mechanic can easily do this repair. I mean maybe not a lube tech, but any B level tech can easily do this job. I teach automotive and I've had 15 year old kids work on my car; just two months ago one of my students replaced my wheel bearing...I didn't even have to assist him. It was that straight forward - he did it in less than 40 minutes - and if I hadn't replaced my control arms myself, I imagine he could have replaced my control arms too, easily. Some of my students work in independent garages after school and I know one of them has replaced control arms in an LS460...I thought that was pretty cool...he said it was easy. So an experienced tech can do this job. No problem.

 

Excellent forum,great information,im really thinking about buying a 2008 Lexus LS 460 L with the Executive Rear Seat Package for $10,900 i probably can get that price lowered,what im really concerned with is the 208,000 miles it has,i started it up, sounds great,still have to test drive it,this particular dealership will even let me take it to my own mechanic,my only concern is will it get to 300,000 miles or more without any major problems,Carfax showed it was maintained very well,should i chance it or not,oh yeah the AC wasnt blowing out as cold as it should have,not a deal breaker though....

 

You're not the only one who's said they've seen these cars with over 200,000 miles and they still look good.

I think with a car with that type of mileage it all depends on how it was maintained and how it was driven. Obviously with it making it that far - and still looking good - it probably has a good history in those departments. I know a guy who works for BMW that was faced between buying a BMW with 70,000 miles and 160,000 miles...he bought the higher mileage one and the prices were almost the same. He said he bought the higher mileage one because he knew it was maintained well...actually over maintained. He said the guy actually replaced the radiator as part of his maintenance schedule...whereas the other car hadn't been maintained well at all. Everything that normally would go bad on the car wasn't touched...those are things to seriously consider.

If the car you're looking at has had the "major" issues already addressed and the service history is good? Hey maybe it's a good buy. It would also help to be able to talk to the previous owner. If the car was just a daily commuter with lots of highway miles? That's not bad, not bad at all. And those cars are out there (and that very well may be the case with your car, but you need to find that out). Nine grand may be a price to consider.

 

Hi Wandl - can you please send me details of your mechanic. I want to replace the control arms too.

 

Welcome to CL! Can you share some information about your LS and a couple of pics? Hope you are enjoying your ride!

Are you sure control arms are the source of whatever issues you are having?

 

I have a 2007 LS 460. It is silver in color. I had two different body shops tell me that the upper and lower control arms are shot. When I am driving at slow speeds, I can hear some sounds. And the tires are wearing out. So i definitely want to get an opinion and get them changed. It doesnt bother me during highway driving at all - so sometimes I wonder if it is worth it. What is the downside of not replacing them ? Thank you for the wonderful posts to help out your fellow brethren.

 

Has you car been aligned recently? The Lexus dealer told me " It's as close as I can get it without replacing some suspension parts." Six of the 8 on the front have recently been replaced. They were not totally shot (bushings disintegrated) but the bushings were splitting. Wow what a difference!

 

This is true. I'll give you a personal example. When I traded in my troublesome 7 series BMW, I did so with it having a host of issues unresolved. One of them being that the car was burning oil with blue smoke everywhere. The valve stem seals needed replacing. Also the emissions system was coked and carboned-up requiring thousands of dollars of work to remedy. There was also other issues. I know that at some point, those issues will have been addressed by a subsequent owner and done with upgraded parts and components. That owner MAY enjoy years of relatively trouble-free miles (MAYBE). More so with a Lexus that has better reliability.

 

I think the downside will be a loss in performance in handling, when those bushings move a little more than they should due to wear it changes alignment angles and suspension geometry enough to perhaps effect handling and tire wear. I think you'd experience a looseness in the front end, etc, just like any other suspension components that wear out on other cars. I drove around with mine worn out for maybe 30,000 miles. When I did get them changed the car did feel tighter, but my tire wear issues never improved (despite having the vehicle properly aligned). I did have to replace a wheel bearing at the same time I did my control arms, and I sometimes wonder if the worn arms placed stress on that bearing, causing it to wear prematurely...then again at 114,000 miles?? It's not all that uncommon for that to happen anyway. And I only replaced 6 of 8 control arms - I'll probably do the other two sometime this year. I also used all aftermarket parts and 20,000 miles later they are holding up fine (just checked them yesterday and they haven't torn or anything).

 

My 2007 with 90,000 miles has what I think are original bushings. There is no noise or tears I can see. They do look squished but that could be normal. All my extensive records came from one dealer, I'm presuming the only place the one owner took the car even for tires. I'm ready to install new bushings no big deal any time but if it ain't broke why bother. My steering, suspension and tire balance are spot on and feel great like every other part of this amazing car.

 

Sorry for the late reply PM'd you the info

 

Do all LS 460's have the control arm problem or is it just some of the vehicles?

 

do all 2010 LS 460's experience the control arm issue or is it just some of them?