Lexus RX Air Strut Replacement Options

[NickJrv]

Hi,

I can't seem to find any forum posts about the various options to replace/refurb air suspension struts on Gen2 RXs...

 

I have just bought a 2007 RX350 SE-L (UK car) with air suspension. What I'm not asking is whether to replace it with 'springs'... (I have an RX300 and want the difference between the 2 cars). The Rear right airbag has a clear and obvious leak of air and it collapses within about 2 mins of parking (though it seems to be able to inflate fine on start-up).

 

To keep the air suspension, there seems to be several options:

1) Refurbish - somehow I need to take it off, send to Poland or Bulgaria, wait for the refurb and return. This'll cost £400-500 (GBP) for a strut

2) New Strut - Lexus original part - I can get one for about £800-900 (GBP)

3) New Strut - 'OE' Copy (supliers in UK, but parts originate from China) - I can get one for about £250-350 (GBP) depending on who I go to

4) Used Strut - Lexus part - can cost anywhere between £250-400 (GBP) for an item described as 'working' but obviously there's no guarantee that would be the case...

 

So, does anyone have any experience of any of these options? Are the Chinese replicas as good as original Lexus parts. If so, I could buy 2 rear ones to ensure the corners balance each other. Should you always go 'Lexus' for this sort of thing? Are there any UK-based refurbishers of struts that people have used? Are 'used' struts as risky as I am assuming? Perhaps I'm wrong to think that...!

 

Also, is it idiotic to only replace one strut (I certainly wouldn't do that with tyres..) or is it always best to replace front or rear struts in pairs?

 

Any thoughts and experience would be most welcome - thank you.

 

[Tomtit]

I read a post on the American LS forum. It said that it is OK to replace just one air strut, because the suspension will balance itself out, unlike conventional shock absorbers.

[NickJrv]

Thanks Tomtit

[Tomtit]

Bear in mind that if one strut has failed the others may not be far behind. It will then be expensive to keep the air suspension. I fitted coil springs and shock absorbers to my LS430 after an air strut failed. It was a matter of economics. My insurers said the car was only worth £1100. The parts cost £1000 and my suspension will now last the life of the car.

My wife's 53 plate RX300 is on air. When she bought it last year the dealer fitted 2 new struts; probably Chinese, as the dealer would not have paid Lexus prices. I have not driven another RX on air so I have nothing to compare it with. The ride is more choppy than my LS.

[NickJrv]

Very helpful info. Thank you

[NickJrv]

In case anyone is interested in the future, I replaced the rear right strut with a new OE (Chinese made) option for £277. Works a treat! responds as well as the other struts which are yet to wear out and start leaking. Hopefully I won't have to replace it for the time I own the car 🙂

[jaegerfly]

Hi Nick - can you provide a link or point me to the site for the new OE (Chinese made) option? Thanks

[NickJrv]

An eBay search for "lexus rx air strut" should flush them out (then I select 'New' and 'UK Only')

Fronts seem to be cheaper than rears at the moment (though my rear one was same price as fronts when I bought it a couple of weeks ago) but it may be to do with stock/availability.

Here's an example of a front one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/174909384210

[NickJrv]

In case anyone is interested... I replaced the other 3 struts with the new 'cheap' Chinese manufactured options... oh my goodness... night and day!

Now, it's always possible they may die in 2 weeks, but I wil try to keep this post updated from time to time to a 'real world' road test / experience 🙂

Hopefully it'll help someone else.

The other thing was it was pretty quick to swap them in and out, so if you're handy with DIY car mechanics... it's a job you can do yourself. My only concern was dealing with the air tubes/connection. I didn't want to balls that up. My mechanic knows what he's doing and did a great job keeping all the original connections in tact so they fitted back snugly to the new ones.

I've heard talk that it costs minimum (approx) £1,000 to convert air struts back to springs (I doubt that after my own investigations, particularly if you factor in labour costs), but this cost me about £1,450 (incl. labour) to all in to keep it air strutted 🙂

[NickJrv]

Update... all struts still performing well 👍

I'll be honest if they do start playing up, as don't want other owners to make a mistike, but so far so good (bit early to tell)