Front Suspension Shock Struts

[John N]

At 24 years and 200K miles the car has developed a 'creak' from the front nearside suspension. I think it is the shock absorber because when I switch the suspension to 'sport' the creaking stops.

There appears to be three choices for a replacement.

1. Genuine Lexus from Lexus Parts Direct at £1,352

2. eBay genuine Chinese copy at £179

3. Second hand at ?

Does anybody have experience of the Chinese copies?

[Malc1]

John hi ,     Did the last MOT pop up any Advisories ? and your mileage since then ? ……. that might help the analysis 🧐 

Malc 

[John N]

16 hours ago, Malc1 said:

John hi ,     Did the last MOT pop up any Advisories ? and your mileage since then ? ……. that might help the analysis 🧐 

Malc 

The last MOT was November last year. It passed as usual, the only advisories being tyres and a spot of rust. Since then it has done 11k miles with just normal servicing.

[Malc1]

Straightforward bushes begin to creak a lot at 200k miles too …… have you had any replaced yet ? 
Your regular servicing and MOT garage hadn’t mentioned anything over recent times ? 

if it's none of this, and you trust your garage  ok, I’d consider an early MOT in October ……, the allowed for month in advance, and see what Advisories come about ….. if any ! 

Popping £00’s into guess work maintenance doesn’t seem quite right to me 

I’d be more inclined to consider it’s possibly almost much else bar the suspension units themselves …….. they generally go on much longer than just 200k imho 🤔

( On my Ls400 anyway at 251k miles  now ) 

Malc 

[BigBoomer]

There are a couple on eBay at £180 per strut with a 2 year warranty.
For that little money they are worth taking a punt on.
Probably Chinese made, but then chances are so are the Lexus branded £1400 ones.

[John N]

On 9/27/2024 at 6:10 PM, Malc1 said:

John hi ,     Did the last MOT pop up any Advisories ? and your mileage since then ? ……. that might help the analysis 🧐 

Malc 

The last MOT that was 10 months and 7,000 miles ago only had advisories for tyres and a tiny bit of rust. No mention of any suspension issues.

[John N]

11 hours ago, BigBoomer said:

There are a couple on eBay at £180 per strut with a 2 year warranty.
For that little money they are worth taking a punt on.
Probably Chinese made, but then chances are so are the Lexus branded £1400 ones.

That's the way my mind was thinking. I was just wondering if anybody had experience of using the Chinese ones from eBay?

Something strange has happend. A few days ago I set the suspension to 'high' and the shocks to 'sport', and the creaking stopped. Then a few days later I set the suspension back to normal height, and there was still no creaking. Now I have also turned 'sport' mode off and there is still no creaking!

I'll let you know if things change.

All I've got to do now is fit my new radiator. The one I have has a split in the top header and was fitted 5 years ago, it was a £100 from eBay.

My local main dealers parts department has quoted me £650 just to supply a new OE one! So it's back to eBay for another £100 replacement.

No inflation there in the last 5 years ! ! !

[donkmeister]

Hopefully it's fixed itself!

Creaks are notoriously difficult to track down on cars in general... I had a creak on a car and my tyres/suspension place of choice just shrugged and said "come back when it's a clunk". They didn't want to just load up the old parts canon in the vain hope that one of the various bushes or joints would be the right one.

They did suggest spraying WD40 on anything that could be a culprit as a temporary measure.

[BigBoomer]

Chances are the changes to the suspension geometry flexed one of the bushes that was creaking and has stopped it for now.
I have to admit that I set my suspension to High about once per month for a day or 2 just to give the system a workout.
It does make getting in and out slightly easier but the ride is a little harsher and she leans more in slow corners.
It probably needs half of the suspension bushes changing as the rubber goes hard with age.
I know that many of mine could do with being replaced. They are not split or even cracked, but are VERY hard.

Mine has a creak on the brakes after being parked for a while.
Goes away within a few hundred yards of leaving home so I assume it is due to the aftermarket brake discs and pads I had fitted 2 years ago.

[MLW]

I had a leaking front unit and a slightly leaking back. Went to this place and bought two second hand ones. No connection but found the chap to be straight and a real Lexus man. Parts arrived by post about 3-4 days later.

Try him.

PAUL FROST

Autotek Lexus Spares Direct

Cotton Hall Street

Darwen

Lancashire

BB3 0DW

United Kingdom

Phone: 07590072646

Email: paulnfrost@hotmail.co.uk

07590072646 Lexussparesdirect@gmail.com