autovation

And did they go... both front shocks are toast. Leaking badly and pretty much useless. The rears are still very good.

H&R springs were put on the IS350 at 35k miles. Now at 45k miles the front shocks are gone. Here's the problem, I'm being told you can't just order the shocks from the dealer. I'm told you have to order the entire shock/spring assembly at a cost of about $185 each.

I'm looking at switching everything to F-sport shocks but that is another $1000 (after installation).

I'm very happy with the ride of the OEM shocks + H&R springs and would like to keep that combo. I'm not sure if I would like a stiffer shock.

So... does anyone have any front OEM shocks with very low miles that they are looking to get rid of?

nabbun

WOW and that's H&R. a reputable brand . . . I wonder if this is just an isolated incident. I feel for you man. $1,000 is big money. (not for a few of you bastids lol)

huddleston

iTrader: (3)

sorry to hear about that. i hope this doesnt happen again when you get the replacement strut. it looks like upgrading to the f-sports may be a good solution.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

The information you have is wrong. The shock is very much available separately. If you are being quoted $185 for the shock, I'd call it a great deal. FWIW, it is not possible to order the entire shock assembly as a unit.

Also, we've seen a few members have their stock shocks with stock spring blow out at surprisingly low mileage. It may not be related to the springs at all. Greyhound was the first on this board - he lost his rears with less than 7k miles on his car. So it may not be related to the springs at all.

nabbun

oh wow. i hope this doesn't turn out to be a big issue

autovation

Great info on the parts, thanks! I think I found them for $170 here (http://www.parts.com/oemcatalog/inde...07&catalogid=2).

Regarding the shocks, I've heard most members dismiss the issues with stock shocks and aftermarket springs as something that must be caused by "re-installation error by the technician". Since mine failed about a year afterwards, I doubt the install was the problem. Hearing about someone losing their REAR shocks at 7k is very concerning! Even if the trunk is overloaded that shouldn't happen.

JiggaWATT

they are known to produce a floaty sensation coming out of dips.

not sure if your setup did that, but i can tell you that teins and f-sport shocks do feel floaty coming out of a dip.

Pnuge88

iTrader: (1)

hmmm i have H&R's and a spirited driver (now i've stoped) had them for 10k so far.. hope they don't go out on me.....

iSuxeL

iTrader: (21)

I say go for the F-Sport, they just went down in price too

passnu2

iTrader: (33)

I dont think its the springs either. I think you just had bad shocks or something went wrong and would have even if you had your OEM springs on still.

H&R makes great springs...I would just put them back on after you replace the shocks. Is the dealer willing to work with you at all?

ISF_GG

iTrader: (2)

Your shocks blew at 45K. I've had shocks last longer than that, and I've had shocks blow sooner than that. I agree with lobuxracer that it probably isn't related to the springs at all, they just simply wore out.

carchitect

iTrader: (1)

We get cars in time after time with bad shocks. It isn't very common. It is a reason to have your car serviced and oil changes are not services. During a service a competent techinician looks over the vehicle and test drives it to see how the vehicle is behaving. If there is a problem it gets addressed. If the vehicle has warranty and the item is warrantiable the component gets replaced.

My IS350 has the sport suspension. The shocks are different from the standard suspension and the F-sport (Bilstein) shocks. The sport shocks seem like they are the stiffest. The car now has 15K on it with a lot of spirited driving and 3 HPDE events. Granted the suspension isn't modded, the suspension has been leak free and performing like day one.

If you were to purchase new shocks I would highly recommend the sport shocks over the standard or the F-sport shocks. They have a yellow label on the body of the shock. The standard shocks have a white label on the body of the shock. The IS-F shocks have a blue label on the body of the shock. I'm not so sure what the difference is in the IS-F vs the IS350 sport shocks.

nabbun

this is the only reason why i wanna make the switch to a 350 . . .

autovation

I did some more thinking about this recently as I had to replace the Eagle F1 GSD3's with some newer Eagle F1 Asymmetric's. I noticed the GSD3's have a very stiff sidewall. I initially thought this was much better for better turn in, rim protection, etc. I know think this may be a significant contribution to the shocks wearing out so soon after installing the H&R's.

Thoughts?

If you have a defective shock, it's highly unlikely both the front shocks would go out at the same time.

Byprodrive

iTrader: (1)

I would think if you installed shorter springs & bottomed out the shocks while driving it would "blow" the shocks everytime.