So my front end vibration is back! I began hearing "clunks" this last week following a long 6hr drive to the coast and it's gotten proficiently louder and more proficient going over bumps. I replaced and preloaded all 8 control arms in March, 2019 (put less than 5K miles on them), new wheel bearings, new rotors, new brake pads, pressed in new ball joints on steering knuckle, road force balanced tires, and new aluminum (vs plastic) wheel centric hubs. Thought I had this whipped for the last couple of months and now it's back. I'm headed home from work this afternoon to tear her apart and try to figure this out. When she drives as expected, I absolutely LOVE this car, but this crazy *** suspension has me pulling my hair out. I plan to physically recheck all my control arms, but really struggling on whether to keep this car. I am spending way too much time on this front end than I ever have on any vehicle.

Don't say take it to an expert, as there ain't one here in Monroe, LA that I have found. The Lexus dealers simply play trial and error, and well hell I can do that for a lot less money. I am not cheap! I don't want to be taken advantage of, and would be EXCITED to pay a fair labor rate to someone that really understands this vehicle and can tell me or fix it for me.

Any advice from my Southeast LS cohorts for say Shreveport, LA; Jackson, MS; Alexandria, LA; or Dallas, TX?

 

Does anyone know of a way to "test" the control arms without taking them off? Visually, the last set did not look that bad and I couldn't tell any tears, except on one arm's bushing. I'm shooting from the hip here as to potential issues, but also worried that maybe I didn't "seat" the arms ball joints in enough originally. I torqued it to correct amount, but if it wasn't seated all the way, then it could have some play? I'll know more later, but trying to minimize the guessing and look for specifics.

Going by these specs...https://workshop-manuals.com/lexus/l...pecifications/, but would love it if there were some more "tips" out there. Kinda like when RoadFrog mentioned marking the arms with a permanent marker before removal, to know loading position when placed back on. That was good tip.

 

Check you sway bar links and bushings to make sure they're tight with no play. Those can clunk.