My car is at 109k and its time to replace the shocks. Ive been looking at either Monroe or KYB. The only thing holding me back is that I'm afraid that won't ride as smooth as OEM. Please leave your opinion and what shock you think is the best.

 

What makes you think that the SHOCKs need replacing? Have you inpected the struts for leaks or done the old bounce/rebound test? Mileage really isn't a good measure for suspension component failure.

IMHO Monroe and KYB are trash. I recommend that you spend a few hundred more and buy Koni Yellow shocks. They are very high quality and provide an OEM-like ride.

 

Another option is to put in coil overs. Megan EZ street ride quite decently for the price.

 

If I were you I'd go with coilovers. If set correctly it will ride decently and handle much much better.

 

So, did you change your shocks? Which brand did you go for?

 

I put a set of Megan Racing EZ ll Coil Overs ll on my 2006 IS250 and worked out great. Better handling cornering was really pleased. I used Michelin Pilot tires

 

Jwild909, did your vehicle (2nd Gen IS?), come equipped with the LT Luxury Package?

 

Koni all the way

 

On my AWD, I did KYB Gas-A-Just for all sides around the same mileage you are considering. There was some slight leakage all around but overall quality was still "ok". I was replacing them because I was doing all rotors/pads and had two rear axles with torn boots to replace. Otherwise I would have kept it until 150K.

My experience is the KYB felt immediately more positive, firmer, etc on the first drive. But then after about 2-3 drives my butt-o-meter couldn't tell any difference anymore as I got used to it. About 1.5 years in now it still feels great. If you want OEM, this is a good replacement.

Note that a few of the shock tower boots were torn. You can either not care, tape em up, or try to figure out how to get replacements. I did a combo of don't care and tape. I'm in a non snow, non humidity, non rain climate so I decided not to worry about it too much.

 

I've run these shocks on my IS250. Ever since I used them on my IS250 they have been replacing all my oem shocks with them as long Tein makes it.
The Tein EnduraPro Plus
https://www.tein.com/srch/us_search....PLUS&genuine=0

They are a twin tube shock, with 30 rebound adjustment clicks. You can make the car ride like a boat if you want, or as stiff as a set of coilovers. The range is huge.

 

Aside from the new struts, what else did you need to buy? Did you reuse all other parts?

I ordered the same kybs and the upper mount hardware. I'm kinda wondering if I should have bought new coil springs too. I'm at 150,000.

 

I did not need any other parts that said, the rubber dust covers of the full strut assembly were torn in some cases, I'm not sure if you can get those on lexuspartsnow.com or similar site. If they are torn badly you should be able to figure that out now before you start by looking. If you aren't in a place with salt it hardly matters. If you are in a place with salt everything gets shot so fast anyway it may not really matter, kind of a catch 22.

Springs actually don't really wear out. They can break but typically it's not a situation where a spring is less springy over time and you'll get some massive benefit in replacing them (within reason of course of normal driving expectations). If your strut is totally shot that's why the spring could break but generally speaking the strut is working in conjunction with your spring. OEM springs are expensive. If you are going full coilovers from a reputable brand then you are in a different boat then using the KYB struts already anyhow. I think Meghan Racing has full coilovers.

If I were to do it again what would I maybe also do?
1) It's a LONG DAY to do all 4 sides. Maybe do rear day 1 and front day 2. If you don't need to drive the car then maybe the night before jack up all 4 sides and put it on jack stands, take the wheels off, get the carpet out of the trunk and the plastic beauty covers off the engine bay, that way you get to the meat of the bone quicker and don't start filthy from the tires and wheels. Tip on that, wash the car/wheels/tires the day before that, it makes a big difference in mess.
2) It'll make it VERY long but you could consider doing rotors, brake pads, brake fluid, and maybe doing SS brake lines (stoptech I think has em). Maybe other ancillary stuff like differential fluid (I'm AWD and my front bolts are corroded so I can only do rear diff)
3) Maybe check your CV joint rubber boots to see if they are leaking. Now if you want to replace the CV's that will be an extremely long day.
4) Maybe check balljoints, tie rods, etc. You can check the overall health of the tie rods after jacking the front up try to wiggle the wheel. Plenty of you tube videos on what it should be like, short answer, nothing moves at all and it feels like you are pulling on a boulder.
5) Alignment was perfect after changing struts so I did not get the car realigned.

Again you can see it quickly morphs into a 5 day weekend.

Good luck!

 

Thank you! You've reassured me in this endeavor! Much appreciated! I do live in Florida, but the car gets bi-weekly washes and sits most the time in covered area. Hopefully they are fine and have been replaced in past by previous owner. We'll see...