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It looks torn. Not unusual for that kind of milage. It will affect alignment and tire wear but isnt something that truely affects safety. Not yet anyway. Time to take her in for a full check of the suspension and buy your parts early so it doesn't cost you an arm and both legs.
Paul
Normal wear and tear for this LCA#2 (caster arm). Make sure when you replace it, buy the OEM part and don't bother with the poly bushing for this particular item.
This could cause vibration in your car steering and inner (front) tires wear.
LCA #2 - Passenger Side 48660-24020
LCA #2 - Driver Side 48670-24020
Essentially, the same chassis design as the 1998-2005 GS-series, the SC430 suffers the same chronic tire wear issues as its 4-door sibling. Oftentimes by 40-50,000 miles, you may begin to see accelerated tire wear, especially on the inside of the front tires.
Most shops immediately give a knee-jerk diagnosis of needing a camber correction kit, but this is oftentimes not necessary, especially if you have approximately negative 1.5 degrees of camber or less, and especially if your vehicle is not lowered more than 1.5-inches. (Please see our technical section for a more in-depth explanation of negative camber vs. toe settings and how they affect tire wear on Lexus vehicles). As mentioned in that article, the most likely cause of this tire wear is a bushing issue, specifically the bushing on the #2 front lower control arms. Over time, the rubber in these bushings goes soft, and causes havoc with the toe settings of the vehicle. Pretty soon the car is wandering and darting all over the road, especially at highway speeds, and you are getting only 6-8,000 miles on a pair of front tires. Simply said - whatever the actual problem may be, make sure you are addressing the correct problem in the correct way.
I have polyethylene bushings and coilovers on my 2002 and OEM on my 2007.
no alignment issues on the 2002...don’t always like the coilovers but like the poly bushings!
coilovers are great for interstate speed plus and spirited driving but not for daily low speed driving...too bouncy!
Should I be prepared for any other suspension parts on this car be having issues like these LCA#2? I'll check them all when we do the LCA#2 but hate to another issue that I could or should be prepared for or should I be replacing all the suspension components?
Should I be prepared for any other suspension parts on this car be having issues like these LCA#2? I'll check them all when we do the LCA#2 but hate to another issue that I could or should be prepared for or should I be replacing all the suspension components?
Ball Joints. Shocks/struts. That's why I recommend that you have the entire suspension inspected. Unfortunately, suspension work on our SC's are not cheap. So, you want to have everything taken care of at once to reduce labor cost of having to fix something today and then something else next year. Plus, it gives you time to buy the parts on-line at a greatly reduced price rather than just going with the local dealer premium. Just how I would approach it.
Driver Side Control Arm Question
