I called the sealership, oh I'm sorry, the dealership near me and it wasn't that high. It was only $92-95 for each side; now that is just for the ball joints.

 

hehe i printed the offer price from trademotion and got a price match from my local dealership i got the two ball joints for 116 and 130 plus two quarts of trans fluid

 

New ball joints for me @ 108K miles and this Cali car has been babied. They are both blatantly worn-out. I also get a front wheel "shudder" when braking around 50-60 MPH due to worn ball-joints.

Ya know eventually someone is going to have a major accident due to a ball-joint failure. That will suck. Until then, however, Lexus will not instigate a recall. I suspect the reason it appears to not have happened yet is that the failure is caused by high steering angles, which only occurs at low speeds.

Good luck all. Don't risk it, check your ball-joints. It's just a matter of jacking the front end off the ground and levering the lower arm to view the free-play.

 

my ball joints and tie rod ends from sewell:




i only have one dodgy ball joint (mechanic says there is more free play than he would like to see), but i don't want to tempt fate (1999 gs400 with mid-98 build date, 77673mi on odo)

 

If you need a DIY write-up, so a search on my threads and you will see one that includes how to remove and install both the lower bj's and outer tie rods.

 

Just ordered mine... cant wait to put them on.

 

just had to change mines at 134k...along with: upper control arm, wheel hub, and wheel bearing...

99' GS400 Supercharged 330hp HID Nakamichi/Kicker
"..yeah, thats how she sleeps."

 

Just got a quote from two local dealerships on the replacement of the lower ball joints and the tie rod ends. Crown Lexus quoted 600.00 for just labor 1.5 hrs per joint and 1 hr per tie rod. Called lexus of Riverside and they quoted me 770 for the labor alone 3hrs for the joints and 4 hrs for the rods? Am I missing something? Anyone know of a mechanic or dealership in the inland empire that will do this for a good price

 

No you are not. I am in new york city and the closest dealer to me 10 mins away in larchmont quoted me at 800 for the tie rods and ball joints. Im gonna just buy the parts and have someone install them. Found a mechanic willing to do it for $230. That includes wheel alignment.

 

the private mechanic i asked quoted me $80 per tie rod or ball joint for labor, not including alignment. i told him about the lexus rates and he can't understand why it's so expensive... any competent mechanic with the right equipment and tools can do it. worst case scenario is that the ball joints could be messed up and seized, etc...

 

just called LMW and they will do it for 80 per ball joint and 80 for both tie rods. dropping it off tomorrow.

 

I have never worked on my car a day in my life, but I just changed the ball joints and tie rods myself with alot of help from the two DIY write ups. It took me two days to do it because I picked the coldest day of the year so far to do it, and because the nuts were extremely rusted. My car had 123K miles on it.

 

Congratulation!!
You save yourself lots of money and most importantly you learned a whole lot about your GS.

If you can remove and replace a wheel, you can change you own ball joints.
Remember, SAFETY FIRST, use proper jack stands.

 

Had new lower ball joints installed last week. Their was a rattle previously over every single little bump, now it's gone!

 

Ball Joint set and Outer Tie Rod Set from Sewell Lexus (www.lexus-parts.com)

GS Ball Joint Set $113.40 (w/ promotional Code: CL911M)
Item: 43340-39415-02


Outer Tie Rod Set $104.40 (w/ promotional Code: CL911M)
Item: 45460-59015-02

Just ordered these for my 01 GS430 with 100k miles. Hope this clears up all the ambiguity.

Now I need to know where to take the car to have this worked on in the So Cal (City of Industry/Diamond Bar) area and how much will it cost do do both, thanks.