Suspension

[GSLV6]

It's been a few months since my Dec 2014 RX450h went through it's MOT from which I received advisories for split control arm bushes.  As they had not completely torn through I was advised to do nothing until the next service this summer and they'd look at changing them then.  I enquired on the after market for these as I thought I could get some cheaper only to be told by several companies that they come from Lexus at Lexus prices.

Here's the  shocker....replacement of two control arms (nearside front and back) was estimated to be about £700 plus the VAT!!!!  I would reasonably expect these to be replaced under warranty as at only 33K miles, that's not reasonable wear and tear.  Anyone else had this?  I know the pot-holed, speed bump strewn roads don't help but this seems early for failure of those bushes.

[jumbojake]

I'd expect the bushes to be pretty cheap ... so mostly labour charges, which themselves seem a bit steep!   Is it worth checking with a local garage, this is a pretty usual thing to do on cars of a certain age, as the rubber perishes.

[GSLV6]

I did check that and the answer was that the bushes and surrounds need the control arms to be removed so that heat can be applied to get the bushing out with a drift and hammer.  If this is the case then I'd expect the advice to be sound, ie may as well replace the control arms as labour is the same.  It was done this way some years back on an E46 Bimmer I had.  Bushes themselves shouldn't be any more than a few pounds apiece I'd have thought.

[Farqui]

Hey Paul, £700 😮

Bushes are <£16 each here; https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/lexus,2014,rx450h,3.5l+v6+electric/gas,3306989,suspension 

Although knowing dealerships, they'll replace the entire lower control arms...

...which are still only £62 each here, https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/lexus,2014,rx450h,3.5l+v6+electric/gas,3306989,suspension,control+arm,10401

+ P&P (not much).

If you had someone fit them then you'd still have mucho change vs the dealer estimate.

[jumbojake]

yes, likely the dealer will go for shorter route, replacing the assembly, but a local garage might swap the rubber bits... as it is just suspension, nothing high tech .... I'd expect a local garage to do a good job on this, for a reasonable price... a quote won't hurt and someone else working on this wouldn't impact any warranty, providing they are a professional garage, using genuine bits

[iwonder]

Mileage isn't the main issue for suspension wear. It's the area its driven that matters. My car was mostly motorway miles throughout its life and suspension bushes were perished. Since i've had had it mostly town driven, ive managed to tear both bushes. Bumps everywhere around my area and I take them had higher speeds than I would if I had a firmer riding car. The same can happen to trailing arms. £60 arms with a cheap bush wont last in the same circumstances as a genuine setup. I have fitted lemforder lower arms in the past which were starting to crack 12 months on. 

[scudney]

Furthermore its also worth considering how some of these SUV's are driven,some drivers go over bumps,humps,sleeping policemen,potholes without a care in the world,have seen SUV's and other cars that are less than 5 years old down the garage I use with broken springs,bent suspension arms etc🤔

[GSLV6]

6 hours ago, Farqui said:

Hey Paul, £700 😮

Bushes are <£16 each here; https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/lexus,2014,rx450h,3.5l+v6+electric/gas,3306989,suspension 

Although knowing dealerships, they'll replace the entire lower control arms...

...which are still only £62 each here, https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/lexus,2014,rx450h,3.5l+v6+electric/gas,3306989,suspension,control+arm,10401

+ P&P (not much).

If you had someone fit them then you'd still have mucho change vs the dealer estimate.

Great info, thanks Lee.

 

I may just do that although I;m sure I'll get the usual "if they're not Lexus approved your warranty will be void" remarks.

 

Best course of action I think is to see if they'll agree to replacing under warranty (I don't hammer the car over bumps and do treat it with kid gloves).  If not then I'll go the local garage route I think.

[GSLV6]

5 hours ago, jumbojake said:

yes, likely the dealer will go for shorter route, replacing the assembly, but a local garage might swap the rubber bits... as it is just suspension, nothing high tech .... I'd expect a local garage to do a good job on this, for a reasonable price... a quote won't hurt and someone else working on this wouldn't impact any warranty, providing they are a professional garage, using genuine bits

It's the "genuine bits" where you're usually stung on cost though.  I've already got the quote for the arms....£240 each was the Lexus quote...

[Barry14UK]

Lexus/Toyota have been shown to be a tad more reliable than other makes but when most parts need to be replaced these are often much more expensive and there seems to be a dearth of Independents.  Also, there doesn't seem to be many alternative people making the parts compared to say those for BMW.  I fitted replacement control arms and drop links by a top alternative manufacturer for my E39 at reasonable cost and I had some other work done by a BMW specialist at under 50% of BMW or Lexus main dealer prices.  With Lexus you pay for exclusivity but the same can't be said of Toyota.  Incidentally, a lot of owners with BMW's got their rubber bushes pressed out and replaced these with a push in kit of poly bushes. Handling was further tightened up at the expense of harder ride.  I doubt this option is available to Lexus owners but stand to be corrected. 

[GSLV6]

I replaced both front control arms on my E36 Barry, including labour for the price of supply of just one control arm from Lexus.  That was from a local motor factors.  I don't think I can justify their prices if they decide that it's not a warranty item.  For a 5 1/2 year old car, that is the only thing I've had to pay for since I bought it so I suppose I can't really complain.