After a decade of driving German automobiles, I purchased my second Lexus back in January. Found a clean 2009 LS 460. Car drove great and has an impeccable interior (looks almost brand news despite having 140k miles). I had absolutely no problems for the first couple of months (even took the car on an extended road trip). Then in April the VSC light came on.... so I took it to the local Lexus dealership and found out about the dreaded brake actuator. Just spend $4,000 to fix that problem...a tough pill to swallow. Now I've got a rocking sound coming from the wheels and I've just been informed that I need new control arms... just got quoted for another $4,000.

Really frustrated at this point... and quite frankly... turned off a bit to Lexus. As much as I love the car... I've never had such bad luck in the course of just 3 months... even owning (supposedly less reliable) BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Cadillac. I knew I was taking a chance on an older luxury car... but $8k in repairs is killing me.

My question.... I see online that some have saved a significant amount of money on replacing the control arms by purchasing NON OEM contol arms and having an independent shop do it for them. Curious if anyone has experience or advice with going this route? I'm not really a DIY guy... but would be very much inclined to seek out a local independent repairman to help out. Just got a quote for a shop that specializes in Lexus repairs... I was surprised they quoted me so much. Any advice appreciated.

 

Woah... You should have picked the brains of some of our folks before coughing up the dough for the brake actuator. New OEM part can be had for $1k and install is only couple hundred dollars...I got my control arms fixed under warranty but hear it’s only a $1500 job at an Indy including parts. Look for an Indy to fix control arms and enjoy your car in good health. The two issues you’ve had is pretty much the major issue this car has. Once fixed, you can enjoy the care with just basic oil changes. Good luck.

 

Yeah, stop going to the dealer. Paid way, way more for the brake actuator than you had to.

and this sort of thing is just part of buying an 11 year old 140k used car.

 

Ok, so you bought an LS with 140K without researching, knowing that the suspension is a very big deal.
And you did not know if replacing components had ever ben done before you bought it.
Well I was just as naive as you and had to pay $3500 four months ago on my 07 with 120K to replace
all the control arms and shocks and that was through my trusted local independent shop.
I have not had my brake actuator fail, yet, but the quotes I am getting are around $2500, dealer is more.
I do not read of anyone having it done for less, unless they did the job themselves.

 

Only go to dealer for free warranty work unless you don't mind spending big money for the service experience. Find a local shop to do the arms they are not too complicated. This car is a Toyota with an L on it. Don't get hit again. You should be smooth sailing after this and you'll be happy with your purchase, these are well built cars.

 

As everyone said, going to Lexus after the warranty expires is expensive. Find an independent shop in your area that works on Toyota/Lexus products. I'm sure there are several former Lexus/Toyota service techs who have moved on to their own thing. I know there are a few here. The car has 140K miles so it can't be considered a perfect car. I can't speak for German cars short of the neighbors and friends who used to be BMW owners and got rid of them because of the constant issues. I'd say find the right mechanic, get the work done and you should be riding in style for years to come. Good Luck!

 

$4000 for a brake actuator? US dealers most be *******s. My Toyota dealer wanted $1350 when I asked them.

 

tough pills to swallow but to be expected. I would start searching for a mechanic that does stuff on the side....many Lexus or Toyota mechanics do side work....many will get you parts a cost or you can source your own parts and they will give you a much better labor rate. Start looking now so you are prepared.

 

I found several brand new Lexus OEM actuators on Ebay for about $1100 sold by Lexus dealers. I suggest you look for control arms there to price shop.

 

with all due respect to your situation it was 100% your fault for paying $4000 for the actuator before researching ir and looking for other options.

The brakes were still working fine I assume, just throwing the VSC light, u could of taken your sweet time with that one.

Control arms can be bought for pretty cheap, find out which exact ones are bad and order just those.

Stay away from Armstrong bushings and PSB bushings

 

How does the brake actuator, also known as ABS module, fail? Can't they be repaired without replacing the entire unit?

I had one fail on my previous car, a Jaguar XK, and a company in UK repaired the ABS module (the hydraulic pump motor in it to be exact) for something relatively insignificant, 300 € or so. This was only for the repair job, and removal & reinstallation cost money as well, but the total was still a fraction of a new part.

 

Farewell Lexus... After over $5500 in repairs on my LS 460 in the course of 9 months.... I sold it. I WILL NEVER OWN A LEXUS AGAIN. Bought a 5-Series... glad to be back with a German car.

 

Sorry to hear about your negative experience.

The LS460 is not exactly Lexus's bright spot when it comes to reliability and inexpensive trouble free ownership over the years but if you came to this site ahead of time we likely could have steered you away from buying that particular car, told you what to look for, how to take advantage of the extended warranty, and much cheaper way of dealing with the issues. You may have had better luck with BMW's but as a whole they are by far more troublesome then Lexus cars, even the LS460.

 

I get it, If you are going to spend $5500 in repairs, it might as well be in a German car that is more fun to drive.
Too bad you are not mechanically inclined and don't appear to have options to repair other than the Lexus dealership. In my 2 years of ownership of my LS460, I've probably performed over $5500 dealer cost labor doing stuff myself. 1/2 of them required repairs & the other half to restore it. It was a good car to me but I sold it before the resale value plummeted further and before the brake actuator failed. $12,750 for a 2008 LS460 with 100,500 miles on it sold last year wasn't bad after paying $15,750 2 year prior.
You should have just kept it since you repaired one of the most expensive parts. I guess you were ok taking a major loss moving on.
BTW I'd feel a lot more secure driving an 11 yr old Lexus vs ANY 11 year old German car with 140K miles

Bye Felicia :

 

I just replaced all my front control arms plus the knuckle all oem purchased from ebay came out to be about 1700 in parts. I did the work myself so I saved on labor fees. Other than I can't imagine labor to be more than 700 bucks if you don't want to do it.

Anyone that says changing it out yourself is difficult its not! They are all plug and play. So if you got the tools for it, its an easy job each side shouldnt take more than hour if you know what your doing if not probably 2 to 3 hours on each side.