First time doing a front end job on Lexus LS430; this particular vehicle is a 2005 with ~38,000 km (23,750 mi) on the clock, but time and extreme temperatures have taken their toll on the bushings. A friend inherited the vehicle from his grandfather, and it remains a garage queen.
Looking at the factory parts catalog, the bushings are not available separately (except for the caster bushing or the "No. 2" bushing as Toyota calls it) and you have to buy complete control arms. The upper arms are $480 each, the lowers are $270 each, bringing the controls arms to $1,500. There's zero reference to upper ball joints in the catalog, but add the lower ball joints at $125 each, and you're up to $1,750 already. Add the sway bar links at $103 a piece and $39 for the bushings, and you're at $1,995. The rear suspension is fine, but the sway bar links and bushings are shot, so add an additional $160 for the links and $39 for the bushings. Now the grand total is $2,194.
Ordering online could work out cheaper, but when you're shipping just the four control arms with a combined shipping weight of 60 lbs half way across the world, you're looking at $315 for freight alone, plus customs and miscellaneous clearance fees imposed by FedEx. The sway bar bushings don't weigh much, but add the ball joints and the links, and that will go up quite a bit more.
Siberian Bushing is often my go-to, because it combines the durability of polyurethane with the softness of natural rubber and I've never had issues with squeaky bushings on any of countless applications I've used them on. That being said, they have the upper control arm bushings available, as well as the rearward caster bushing on the lower arm, but not the forward bushing. Out of curiosity, I've looked at other brands such as SuperPro, Energy Suspension, Prothane, White Line, Powerflex, etc. and a lot of them don't even offer anything for this specific application. The most common one is the caster bushing, and I don't see the point of having just one polyurethane bushing and the rest of them rubber.
The only rubber bushings available for this application are from Thailand, which is not a bad deal at $140 for all 10 of them. But the upper ball joints are integrated into the control arm, and cannot be bought or serviced separately. No point buying bushings for an arm with a bad ball joint that cannot be replaced.
Next option is the aftermarket. Delphi has control arms for this application made in the U.S. (wonder who the supplier is?) and while the upper arms are readily available, the lower ones appear to be discontinued. Lower control arms are available from Mevotech, but the fact that they're made in China put the owner off of installing them on his prized possession.
In the end, OE was chosen path forward. Factor in an additional $120 for front and rear brake pads, $220 for brake hoses, $75 for new parking brake shoes (since the friction material was coming off), a set of four Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires and it was $3,857 in parts alone. They charged about $70 for alignment, and while he didn't have to pay labor, it still hit the ~$4,000 mark.
It was a fun car to work on, and my friend certainly learned a lot as he actively helped put it together. Certainly a different animal compared to his '13 F150 that he's used to and had since new. With the exception of the wheels, everything was untouched like it left the factory and that alone makes it that much more pleasurable to work on.
Having said that, for all the people who complain about the cost of a repair because the car is old, or not being used much, or whatever the excuse may be, the cost of parts do not adjust to inflation. This car was worth $60,000 when new, which is probably about $80,000 in today's money. Moral of the story, even though this car has a market value of $9,000, you're still going to be paying for parts for a car that's worth $80,000.
Looking at the factory parts catalog, the bushings are not available separately (except for the caster bushing or the "No. 2" bushing as Toyota calls it) and you have to buy complete control arms. The upper arms are $480 each, the lowers are $270 each, bringing the controls arms to $1,500. There's zero reference to upper ball joints in the catalog, but add the lower ball joints at $125 each, and you're up to $1,750 already. Add the sway bar links at $103 a piece and $39 for the bushings, and you're at $1,995. The rear suspension is fine, but the sway bar links and bushings are shot, so add an additional $160 for the links and $39 for the bushings. Now the grand total is $2,194.
Ordering online could work out cheaper, but when you're shipping just the four control arms with a combined shipping weight of 60 lbs half way across the world, you're looking at $315 for freight alone, plus customs and miscellaneous clearance fees imposed by FedEx. The sway bar bushings don't weigh much, but add the ball joints and the links, and that will go up quite a bit more.
Siberian Bushing is often my go-to, because it combines the durability of polyurethane with the softness of natural rubber and I've never had issues with squeaky bushings on any of countless applications I've used them on. That being said, they have the upper control arm bushings available, as well as the rearward caster bushing on the lower arm, but not the forward bushing. Out of curiosity, I've looked at other brands such as SuperPro, Energy Suspension, Prothane, White Line, Powerflex, etc. and a lot of them don't even offer anything for this specific application. The most common one is the caster bushing, and I don't see the point of having just one polyurethane bushing and the rest of them rubber.
The only rubber bushings available for this application are from Thailand, which is not a bad deal at $140 for all 10 of them. But the upper ball joints are integrated into the control arm, and cannot be bought or serviced separately. No point buying bushings for an arm with a bad ball joint that cannot be replaced.
Next option is the aftermarket. Delphi has control arms for this application made in the U.S. (wonder who the supplier is?) and while the upper arms are readily available, the lower ones appear to be discontinued. Lower control arms are available from Mevotech, but the fact that they're made in China put the owner off of installing them on his prized possession.
In the end, OE was chosen path forward. Factor in an additional $120 for front and rear brake pads, $220 for brake hoses, $75 for new parking brake shoes (since the friction material was coming off), a set of four Pirelli P Zero Rosso tires and it was $3,857 in parts alone. They charged about $70 for alignment, and while he didn't have to pay labor, it still hit the ~$4,000 mark.
It was a fun car to work on, and my friend certainly learned a lot as he actively helped put it together. Certainly a different animal compared to his '13 F150 that he's used to and had since new. With the exception of the wheels, everything was untouched like it left the factory and that alone makes it that much more pleasurable to work on.
Having said that, for all the people who complain about the cost of a repair because the car is old, or not being used much, or whatever the excuse may be, the cost of parts do not adjust to inflation. This car was worth $60,000 when new, which is probably about $80,000 in today's money. Moral of the story, even though this car has a market value of $9,000, you're still going to be paying for parts for a car that's worth $80,000.