The ES is link a tank on the front end - $90 shocks wont cut it. My installer told me the toe is wearing more although it is aligned 8 mo ago. But I don't drive it its my daughter and she may have gotten it out of alignment doing stupid things and never tell parents.. I ask her did you hit any curb in the recent past. its always a NO quick NO (why are you asking me a stupid question), right there they are lying and thinking the world is stupid. Kids don't care, they only care when then have a loan on it.
KYB quick structs for Lexus ES
- Thread starter MaximaGuy
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Maybe your front control arm bushings are getting worn out, causing it to lose alignment.
Quick struts are not made for car enthusiasts, but for shops to make money and for people to repair their car as cheap as possible with little regard to performance. OE Toyota vs Quick Strut, there is no comparison in terms of quality.
If your suspension is completely wasted it might be an improvement, but it will not restore your suspension to like new performance.
If your daughter hit a curb there would likely be visible damage. The car has 150k miles. If the bushings are worn alignments don't do anything. As soon as you drive off the machine the load on the bushings is different and because of the excess play the suspension shifts out of alignment.
I had an issue like this where the steering wheel could not be centred due to worn bushings. The shop doing the aligment was not competent enough to check the bushings and they were mucking around on the alignment machine.
If your suspension is completely wasted it might be an improvement, but it will not restore your suspension to like new performance.
If your daughter hit a curb there would likely be visible damage. The car has 150k miles. If the bushings are worn alignments don't do anything. As soon as you drive off the machine the load on the bushings is different and because of the excess play the suspension shifts out of alignment.
I had an issue like this where the steering wheel could not be centred due to worn bushings. The shop doing the aligment was not competent enough to check the bushings and they were mucking around on the alignment machine.
IMO, LCA bushings are for life item - I remember replacing my other Toyo at around 230K and they were just fine, the ones that came out. In fact the ride on new OEM LCA (whole arm) was sloppy - there is no OEM equipment in comparison to original installed equipment.
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Here’s my quick take. I put KYB quick struts on a Sentra. Nissan was only stocking their ValueAdvantage quick struts so I thought KYB would be better.
18 mo in I can say the mounts and bearings are close to silent. Very faint clicking if you open the hood and listen closely but inaudible from inside the car. Certainly more silent than the worn OEM ones that came off. Would new OEM be silent even up close? Maybe. Time will tell if that’s a meaningful difference in quality.
Regarding the springs, no Carolina squat.
Regarding the boots - one is torn. Seems premature to me. Not going to stress about it.
Regarding the performance - it’s phenomenal, car handles really well. A little stiffer than the Sachs originally on the car but in a good way. The general consensus is that the excel-g struts they put in the Strut-Plus quick struts are quite good - the surrounding parts are sometimes not to the same standard. i would agree that the excel-g struts are great.
Overall I’d do it again for that application. Not all KYB quick struts are built to the same standard. Some applications are better than others. I have no doubt your mechanic has a ton of happy customers. We scrutinize a lot here. The Honda’s getting OEM though when the time comes.
18 mo in I can say the mounts and bearings are close to silent. Very faint clicking if you open the hood and listen closely but inaudible from inside the car. Certainly more silent than the worn OEM ones that came off. Would new OEM be silent even up close? Maybe. Time will tell if that’s a meaningful difference in quality.
Regarding the springs, no Carolina squat.
Regarding the boots - one is torn. Seems premature to me. Not going to stress about it.
Regarding the performance - it’s phenomenal, car handles really well. A little stiffer than the Sachs originally on the car but in a good way. The general consensus is that the excel-g struts they put in the Strut-Plus quick struts are quite good - the surrounding parts are sometimes not to the same standard. i would agree that the excel-g struts are great.
Overall I’d do it again for that application. Not all KYB quick struts are built to the same standard. Some applications are better than others. I have no doubt your mechanic has a ton of happy customers. We scrutinize a lot here. The Honda’s getting OEM though when the time comes.
Interesting. As I understand it the Excel G is their lower end stuff, at least with shocks.
I put some Excel G's on the front of a Nissan Hardbody. They're tiny as far as overall diameter and VERY soft. The Gas-a-Just seems to be their more robust line, at least for trucks. Not sure if this translates to struts in any meaningful way.
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They market excel g as their OE equivalent for cars. I think it would slot similarly within their lineup to where Bilstein markets the B4. The gas-a-just appears to be their heavy duty lineup but I haven’t seen them offer it for a lot of passenger cars I’ve looked at - mostly seems to be for trucks. Probably similar category to Bilstein HD. I do like the Bilsteins a lot but unfortunately not an option for a lot of Japanese cars.
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I've never used quick struts, but what I read about the most are complaints from those that have installed them. Granted, most reviews are complaints so, grain of
.
My preference would be, OEM struts with the existing springs. Although, the KYB GR-2's on the Legend are OK.
.My preference would be, OEM struts with the existing springs. Although, the KYB GR-2's on the Legend are OK.
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I mean there is nothing conceptually wrong with a quick strut. Both Honda and Ford sell fully OEM quick struts that I would prefer to use in a car I plan to keep. Mando claims their quick struts are fully OEM parts for Hyundai/Kia applications. It just seems the Monroe/Gabriel/KYB/Sensun/whatever aftermarket options we have are all compromised in some way.
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