climberd

Greetings,

First, I am a reputable vendor on LegacyGT.com, so please excuse my low post count. I DD a 1990 LS400, which I love, and I am an experienced aftermarket mechanic; the LS400 is my reliable car that I don't mess with much.

I am replacing front and rear Springs / Struts / Strut Mounts / Insulators on my LS400

Problem: A set of 4 insulators (the rubber piece between the Strut Top Mount aka top hat and the coil spring) runs about $200 for a set of 4 from Lexus. Also, the rubber is too soft and breaks down over time, and the shock bellow portion has cracked and fallen apart in my rear suspension. This is a bad design that most manufacturers don't do!
See part 48257B (top right):


$200 is too much for too little to buy new ones. There is no aftermarket alternative.



I am going to make a complete set of 70A durometer polyurethane insulators / coil spring upper seats, which will be molded to new KYB upper strut mounts SM5176 and SM5178 (front and rear). These will be compatible with any aftermarket bumpstop&bellow set for the 1995-1998 LS400, which will protect the strut rod from dirt. I bought Moog, which are cheap and good quality:



I can make you a set if you need them. THIS IS NOT A LINE OF BUSINESS, this is just something I can do for a small number of people if they are like me and want to save the money and get a proper quality product that will last. It would also be a way for me to recoupe my costs of getting the initial mold made, which is where most of my time and energy will go.

Cost: $48 for a set of 2, $96 for all 4 corners, plus modest shipping. That saves you roughly 50%, for something that should last a lot longer.

I can also do variable height casting, so anything between 1/4" and 3/4" should be viable, depending if you want to lower or raise your ride height a little. Stock insulators compress to roughly 3/8" height.

Mods please move thread if more appropriate elsewhere, or let me know if I broke some rule you have here