new shocks , top mounts and insulators for the Ls400 1998

[Matt1986]

Hi all. just thought I'd share my experience of changing the shock absorbers, top mounts and rubber insulators on my 1998 LS400. 

Bought all the bits from amayama. Good prices and pretty fast delivery before all this covid business started. 

I decided to go with the KYB Excel G shocks but oem for the rest as the originals are made by KYB and are twice the price! 

The removal of each shock was fairly straight forward but the rear was more tricky initially as you have to remove the rear seats. (The 98-2000 models seat base just pulls up rather than hooks on like the early ones)

Each of the old shocks showed no obvious signs of being blown but the handling was wobbly and lots of roll as well as crusty rust on the shocks and springs So i decided to change as I've done all the other suspension components pretty much with oem parts. 

Initial thoughts are that it's made the single largest difference to the ride and handling of anything I've done. it now rides much smoother and more stable and its eliminated a great deal of the body roll! The car feels more planted and turn in is crisper. 

I would definitely recommend that if your shocks are old to replace them. My car has 156k miles on her. 

looking forward to being able to get her on the motorway and see if its cured the high speed instability feeling. 

 

[steve2006]

Good information, yep rears are a bit of a pain with having to remove the seat and rear parcel shelf to gain access to the top mounting nuts.

[Matt1986]

yeah definitely!  I found it unnecessary to remove the parcel shelf though. the pdf factory manual I found f has been invaluable.

I've also been adding some additional soundproofing to the rear seat as the factory stuff is quite poor under the seat base especially.  Now that is a time consuming process!  hopefully it's worth while. done both rear doors as well and they now have a solid sound rather than tinny when knocked on. doing the fronts tomorrow