That is crazy, i can understand a car having wear and tear issues but when the issue can cause death that gets a from me. Lexus better find a way to fix this problem because if this happens to kill somebody there is gonna be a problem. Glad your family is alright.

 

Heard the same thing, already knew what it was lol. Replaced with OEM outer tie rods & ball joints from sewell (220 shipped) and then paid local Toyota dealer 290 for install and alignment. Mine was doing it shortly before a stop and shortly after. 108K on the vehicle. Service history showed the passenger side ball joint being replaced at 70K but no driver's side replaced. I did both sides and said screw that.

So here you go 01+ WITH BALL JOINT issues for everyone who assumes its just 98-00. But do remember these are wear and tear items and them going bad at 108K is expected by me. Not all car suspensions are designed for the wheel to fall off like this, which is another reason why you don't always hear about it from other manufactures. You are driving a Lexus, spend the 200 bucks in parts for piece of mind, security and safety.

Steering is much tighter now, no slop in the wheel and everything is nice .

 

Brake pads = wear and tear. If you don't keep up with them your brakes will fail and may cause injury/death.

Tires = wear and tear. If you don't keep up with them your tires will fail and may cause injury/death.

Ball joints = wear and tear. I think you get the point.

 

Just put in my order for the ball joint set after hearing an odd clunking noise coming from the front suspension while going over speed bumps. Looking to get my piece of mind soon...

 

anyone know how much it costs to install? or anyone wanna help me install it in socal? i'll treat you to lunch

 

Reputable shop will quote you about ~1hour of labor each side + alignment.
Of course, actual time to complete might be way less than 2hrs.
You may be able to find a shop that will do it for less, especially if you bundle other work together.

Potentially get other suspension work done at the same time to save on multiple alignment costs.

 

I cant find these on the Sewell or Carson website. Can anyone help here?

I can get to this page on carson but am unsure of which to choose:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...&siteid=214915

I have a 2003 300.

Thanks.

 

post # 18 was best price i EVER found even from carson or sewell (they wanted 145 when i called them) but that was me awhile ago, i've heard of others getting them cheaper and yes they come sealed in toyota bag so they the same part dealer will give you

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...-joints-2.html

 

Sewell Lexus is still cheaper than that $67.68 per side which comes out to $135.36 for both. If you look at Sewell Lexus's online site they have a set of lower ball joints (Left and Right) selling for $122. After clublexus discount it comes to $107.36.

 

Are you the original owner? Has your car ever been lowered?

I haven't heard anyone with stock suspension who has NEVER lowered their 2GS having lbj issues....only the lowered or previously lowered 2GS has this issue....due to the additional stress put on the lbj when the suspension geometry is changed.

 

i found out that your factory rubber bushings helps out to mess up your ball joint. when i bought my car car drove nice, lowered it with nf210 it was ok. few month later car start to feel weird movement slowly. after i got my rims got worse. when i drive nomal it's fine but when i run over something even a small hump car moves weird and when i do reverse my tire hits my fender liner. i bought myself daizen front and steering rack bushing kit for like 150 or so. replace all of them and now my car is better then ever. my tire won't hit my liner anymore that tells me there is HUGE!!!! movement on the suspension arms and ball joint will not be happy about it. i check my ball joint it was ok but rubber riped and grease started to leak. stock bushing sucks they're just way too soft for not so light GS body. i recommend that everybody should check the factory bushings first. daizen bushing is not that expensive(labor will) i did it at my work with hoist and press it took me 4 hours not easy job but well worth it.

 

Here is an update: After this forum was posted and waiting enough time to compile the amount of us being effected I'd file a complaint to the NHTSA. Here is the complaint number or Confirmation number (ODI Number): 10257562 Below is what I wrote in the complaint. Everyone should write or file a complaint if your balljoint had failed.

I own a 1999 lexus gs300. I've heard some creaking noises coming from the front suspension leading up to the failing of my lower ball joints. Before it failed I brought it to firestone on FT. Lewis, WA to get a suspension inspection where they did not see or hear anything from my suspension. So a week later (January 15th 2007) I was driving in Seattle, WA when the lower ball joint failed. The result of that was body damage due to the vehicle crashing down onto the wheel and a snapped ABS sensor wire. Just to repair this vehicle to be able to drive was to replace the ball joint and new tires that all together amounted to about almost $600 dollars for a part was was about $50-60 dollars. The cost of repairing my vehicle isn't an issue but this is a very serious malfunction or defected item that needs to be reviewed. I've waited to file a complaint to see the amount of people effected by this and since than there were more than a dozen instance where the ball joint has or had failed causing damage and in time will cause death or serious injury to people not aware of this problem i.e on a freeway where people can't stop in time to avoid it or the actually wheel comming off the vehicle and hitting another vehicle. Most of these instances has happend at low speeds, side streets or parking lots. Like I said before I waited to file a complaint to see the amount of people effected by it and to also compile more information. These are a direct link to the disscussion about the problem that includes pictures and accounts for each instances: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...gs-owners.html and https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...with-pics.html There are more links to discussions about this problem but I believe these two links will be enough to discribe the problems and people effect by it.

 

The only way there will ever be a recall on this is if you can prove that, for each individual that had ball joints fail on an unmodified car, the ball joints were inspected per the Lexus-recommended inspection method at the recommended service intervals and that those inspections indicated that the ball joints were in good condition when they failed.

Unfortunately - the above description of this failure doesn't seem to be what is actually happening.

 

Yea I know and that's why it is up to the individual to file a individual complaint discribing each instances because one complaint can't involve every ball joint failure because everyone of them involves different circumstances.

 

I guess my point is that there really isn't anything to complain about. Our lower ball joints will eventually fail if not replaced when they need it (hence the "tear" part of "wear-and-tear item"). Those that have broken are just those that were not maintained properly.

Your complaint says that your LBJ's were making creaking noises, you didn't replace them, and then one failed. So what's to complain about? If my brakes were squealing and I didn't replace the pads and then my brakes failed causing damage to my car, is that Lexus' fault? Should I write the NHTSA about it?

I'm not trying to be a jerk. But I do think this whole "It's a Lexus...this shouldn't happen." attitude 2GS owners have about their lower ball joints is a bit ridiculous. Especially if you've read the owner's manual – which tells you precisely how to care for them.

If you had a mechanic tell you that your lower ball joints with over 75k miles on them were fine and then they failed, I'd complain about the mechanic, not the car.