Suspension Bushes for LS460 - PSB

[PJ Murphy]

I decided I wanted to address the MOT advisories that I have worn upper suspension bushes so I had a look on the board and found that a member had ordered from PSB a company in Bournemouth. My car has only covered 80K miles however when speaking with their helpful team I eventually decided to go for the whole 12 piece set as per the images of what has arrived this morning only a couple of days after placing my order. I was told that I would not get the full warranty on part of the set due to an issue with the Lexus design but I felt it worth a punt to try.

Now off to my regular garage to book it in for the replacement. I will post back once done and an update on the ride.

PJ

[PJ Murphy]

My car finally went in to the garage for the bushes to be replaced and in conversation with the garage decided to fit the sway bar and top control arm bushes which were the ones listed on the MOT and as the others were all ok leave those until they needed to be done. As I am fitting them as an upgrade of standard bushes in polly rather than for performance that made good sense to me. In all the work took 4 hours.

I picked the car up this morning and immediately felt the difference.  It was like driving a much tighter car at the front and feeling more planted on the road. A job well worth doing and I am very pleased with the result not to mention the cost advantage over the new arms from Lexus. 

I have no connection with PSB in Bournemouth, the bush supplier, but would happily recommend them to any of our members.

So Up to London at the weekend for my first long trip with this improved magic carpet ride!

[Malc]

it's such a pity that longevity, just 80k miles in a 15 year young car causes such wear and tear BUT fixing it all is good, and economic I hope, to take your magic carpet ride forward for a good many years too

Well done

Malc

[PJ Murphy]

Hi Malc, thanks and hopefully I will keep this one for a while (I had my LS430 to over 10 years and 100K plus miles) I am doing more work around Europe now so it will eat up the miles in comfort.

Cheers

PJ

[The-Acre]

A great result, and one that will help others I'm sure. 

[Spock66]

2 hours ago, Malc said:

it's such a pity that longevity, just 80k miles in a 15 year young car causes such wear and tear

From an engineering perspective I don't think that's unreasonable, just think how many potholes a 2-ton car has to navigate in 80k miles.

What is less reasonable in my opinion is how much these things cost to fix, so you end up with the situation that cars which are basically sound get scrapped for what really should be basic maintenance tasks.

[Malc]

In think I started replacing my UCAs at about 150k miles with the BluePrint brand having very poor longevity at 42k miles life and the final original ones replaced with OEM from Amayama at about 210k ? miles or thereabouts ...  and stamped Toyota in their packaging

Thus I thought 80k might have been a tad light on longevity 

No good me ever having a modern car eh !

Malc

[Howplum]

I keep toying with the idea of removing the rear suspension on my 1996 LS400 to deal with the usual surface corrosion and replace as many bushes as possible, preferably with polyurethane, for reasons of cost and ease of installation.

Like your car, mine has only done about 80,000 miles and the bushes are showing their 26 years, with plenty of surface cracking, although my usual MoT tester has not made any adverse comments, yet.

In the course of my research I thought that the hardness was indicated by the colour, but this is not universally true, apparently.

I read somewhere that the standard bushes were 70ShA, whereas on the website of strongflexuk.com they state their yellow (Sport) bushes are 90ShA and their red ones are 80ShA, which they say equates to the standard rubber bushes. 

I did get in touch with PSB and they told me all their bushes are all 90ShA, so perhaps a compromise is to use polyurethane for most of the suspension bushes except those parts that attach directly to the bodyshell, to reduce NVH.

Having said all that, aftermarket rubber bushes are available, but more than one member has stated that they don't seem to have the longevity of the originals.

Having replaced the (front?) control arm bushes have you noticed any difference in noise or ride comfort, which obviously as Lexus strong point? 

 

[PJ Murphy]

Hi yes small difference for the better with noise and comfort plus an improvement in feel. I have driven about 200 miles since and am pleased with the choice.

[ILLEXUS]

I have just been quoted 3600 euros to replace upper and lower front suspension on my 2007 Lexus 460ls. Is that reasonable?

Thanks.

[Howplum]

Reasonable is probably a subjective term, depending on experience and expectations. At that sort of price level I would suggest getting alternative quotes.

As has been mentioned elsewhere a significant saving can be made on OEM parts by ordering from the likes of Amayama, even allowing for shipping, duty and VAT, although patience may be required.

[Malc]

Lesley hi and welcome to the Club

has anyone given you alternative quotes ?  and for all elements needing replacing or just certain parts maybe .......  does it all need replacing ?  and at what mileage etc 

Malc

[ILLEXUS]

Thanks for your replies. 150k kms. My car failed the Irish “mot”for wear on the lower “wishbones”but my Lexus garage said I needed to replace both upper and lower because removing upper to get to lower would ruin the upper ones. I’m clearly a novice at this and realise its about half the value of my car but I do love it.