2007 Lexus LS460 w/ 169K miles.

I've confirmed that the bushings for my upper and lower control arms are shot. Not a repair job I wish to tackle myself. My tire shop is experienced with this and has quoted me $277/per side labor, which seems pretty reasonable to me. Problem is they want another $1200 parts. They'll install whatever parts I supply though.

Looking for recommendations where to source the arms. I know there's Rock Auto, but I've personally had mixed results from them. Appreciate any feedback.

 

I am going to install my Rock Auto supplied ones next week along with new ball joints. Parts look good to me. That labor actually seems a bit on the cheap side.

 

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I recently replaced 6 of the 8 front control arms on my car (2008 LS460 at 119K miles) and also I replaced the two stabilizer bar end links. I bought all the parts from RockAuto. The 4 upper control arms and the end links were MevoTech brand, which have life-time warranty. BTW, the Lexus service book says that the upper control arms must be replaced in pairs. The two lower rear control arms were Beck/Arnley brand, which have 36 months/50K miles of warranty. I haven't driven the car much yet since I replaced the control arms due to working at home and therefore I can't say too much about the results of replacing the control arms. From the look, Beck/Arnley control arms felt and looked like the OE control arms and were an exactly match in shape and design. The MevoTech control arms looked slightly different from the OE control arms. Especially the ball joints on the upper rear MevoTech control arms looked different from OE control arms and looked less of quality. The MevoTech end links looked much less of quality than the OE end links. I would have used OE end links if I had to do it again. My OE control arms, particularly my 4 upper control arms, were not too bad. If it were not for working at home and having plenty of time, I probably wouldn't have replaced them. The upper control arms could be replaced in less than one hour each side with regular hand tools. However, I needed the right pulling tools to remove the lower rear control arms. I spent the longest time pushing the new lower rear control arms back to the frame of the car and lining them up right with the long bolts.
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What is the suggested way to preload the arms during installation? I imagine I could use a second jack but how much/high should it be lifted?

 

All the way up.

 

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I marked the positions of my control arms before I removed them. After I removed the old control arms, I placed them side by side with the new control arms and then transferred the markings to the exact spots on the new control arms. For installation, the upper control arms were simple. I just aligned the new upper control arms by their marks on the mounting frames and tightened them to factory toque (37 ft.*lbf). For the lower control arms, I jacked up the rotors/steering knuckles until the marks on the new lower control arms matched the marks on the frame of the car, and then tightened the control arm bolts to the factory torque (107 ft.*lbf).
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I went with macautopartsdiscounts on e bay, very fast shipping impressed with price parts work great
actually not that hard of a job 300 p/side would be good, a garage probably could get one side in about 2 hrs

 

The labour to parts ratio seems backwards. Usually the labour is billed at close to $1000 and parts $300 . There might be some wires crossed there . I just replaced them on wife’s car and it wasn’t that hard . Just need basic tools , two jacks , and a tuning fork to smash the ball joint.

 

If you are getting parts for $300, you will be back in there in no time replacing them again. And your ratio is way off-research this subject.

 

for the lower rear CA (straight aluminum) you may want to use genuine Lexus control arms preferably the updated version with beefed up bushings, price is about $300 each. In my case a no name brand from ebay lasted about 6 years 55k miles.
all the other ones I used Beck Arney and other no name brand from ebay. after 7 years 60k miles they are still working fine.
labor cost i paid for switching all 8 CA was $25 each or $200 total in 2015. I also replaced brakes for all 4 wheels, and stabilizer links at that time.

 

Good evening. I've been searching the forum on the correct method for tightening the front lower control arms once they're installed. I used the 16" method to set the lower control arms in the proper position (with tire removed, I lifted the knuckle assembly with a hydraulic jack until the center of the hub was 16" from the edge of the front fender. Then I tightened the control arm bolts/nuts to spec. I found a clip on YouTube that makes that recommendation for how to tighten the control arms.
Does this sound correct? I'm working on a friend's LS460 RWD and I want tighten the correct, preferred method.

Any feedback really appreciated.

 

If you're torquing the castle nuts to the proper spec + the holes line up properly for the installation of the cotter pins then you are fine.

EDIT: To be safe after driving 50 or so miles check all everything to make sure it's all still tightened down and everything is where it should be.

 

Threadjacking: how does one know that the arms need to be replaced? I have had some very light clunking from the front left when reversing and hard turning (parking situation). Just a single clunk.

Had it checked out by a mobile mechanic and he said the wear looked normal, nothing to do yet.

I don’t like driving on anything that makes a mechanically unsound noise. Also the concern that it could impact other components. Do I just replace all the arms? 31k miles.

 

For me the symptoms were an erratic sound when I would start braking between 40-60mph. It was a loud vibrating noise and the steering wheel would shake. Also I had uneven wear on my tires really bad uneven wear to the point the inside and outside of the tires were bald while I had plenty of tread in the middle. I bought the polyurethane upper control arms from figs engineering and the 2013-2017 ls460 lower control arms from eBay. The revised control arms fit no question just make sure you get the right ones for your car if it's rwd or AWD. Car drives amazing again and it handles like when we first got the car. I have 160k miles on my 2008

 

Sounds like you got yourself a good deal on labor. Unlike my shop who charges $160/hr and ended up being 3 hours labor for ONE front lower rearward control arm. (Im guessing this is because they took the steering rack off instead of turning the steering in towards the engine to take the bolt out for the LCA).
I just replaced all my front suspension on my 08'.
All upper/lower arms and ball joints, everything except the tie rods. Also did the front struts using tool rental spring compressor (I used 4 spring compressers per strut instead of 2 for additional safety).
Car rides like brand new now. Wasn't too bad before but all my bushings were ready to break.
Best of luck with your decision!