1991 Ls400 Upper Contol Arm Options

[godpossessed]

Well - the old girl has 232K miles now and the used upper control arm that I put on the front passenger side 2 years ago is sloppy now. Is there a better choice than trying used again. The OEM is ~$500 as you all know. What about aftermarket.

thanks

Mark

[godpossessed]

found em

http://www.arnottindustries.com/part_LEXUS...d46_gid421.html

thanks

[blake918]

I just put the Arnott upper arms in my '99 a couple weekends ago. So far, they have been great. They cured an assortment of clunks and a squawk! I absolutely wasn't going to pay $800 or $1,000 for a set of OEM arms. These aftermarket ones were $210 out the door, and they come with a lifetime warranty. They look and feel just like the OEM ones that came out the car. Worst case (assuming the stigma about aftermarket parts is true), even if the arms lasts 7 years instead of 10, it's well worth it, especially since it takes much less than an hour to change each upper control arm.

[godpossessed]

Same here - I got the arms on in about 40 min per side. The quality seemed fine and the handling is nice and tight.

[Ross W.]

found em

A wonderment: do the air suspension cars have different upper control arms than the standard cars? And did Lexus change the arms for the '93 - '94 cars? My car is in dire need of the front (and rear) suspension overhauled.

[godpossessed]

found em

A wonderment: do the air suspension cars have different upper control arms than the standard cars? And did Lexus change the arms for the '93 - '94 cars? My car is in dire need of the front (and rear) suspension overhauled.

The part# for the '93-'94 cars is the same. You could call Arnott and ask about the air vs. standard suspension differences.

[dasha1]

Same here - I got the arms on in about 40 min per side. The quality seemed fine and the handling is nice and tight.

Do these aftermarket control arms make the ride tighter and stiffer than the OEM's? Can you feel any difference?

[godpossessed]

Same here - I got the arms on in about 40 min per side. The quality seemed fine and the handling is nice and tight.

Do these aftermarket control arms make the ride tighter and stiffer than the OEM's? Can you feel any difference?

I don't know what it was like when it was new (I bought the car in '01 with 53K miles) but the ride is smooth with these arms. They seem compliant, but controlled. I guess the bushings are similar in hardness to OEM.

[dasha1]

I don't know what it was like when it was new (I bought the car in '01 with 53K miles) but the ride is smooth with these arms. They seem compliant, but controlled. I guess the bushings are similar in hardness to OEM.
[/quote]

Thanks, that's helpful, and tips me toward buying the Arnott arms. I haven't used any aftermarket parts yet for any repairs, but I may go with the Arnott control arms because the OEM upper control arm costs are ridiculous. I spoke with a gent who was selling a single new OEM UCA on Ebay for about $330 and he apparently can get Toyota/Lexus parts at dealer cost. He said that dealer cost for the upper control arms for a 99 LS400 is $311.58 each. (I think it's the same part for a 95-00 LS400) Coincidentally, the price on parts.com is is $358.32, exactly 15% higher than the purported dealer cost. But then parts.com adds another 15% for shipping and another $2 for a handling fee and you're up to about $415 apiece.

If I install the Arnotts, I will have two OEM control arms that could be refurbished and later put back into the car if the Arnott's fail. Anyone know of an entity that would install new bushings and a ball joint in an old control arm? I found a website (www.lextreme.com/Lexus-Control-Arms.html ) for someone who apparently refurbishes the bushings but not the ball joints and he still charges $200 each, not including shipping. That price seems high, and I would not be interested in replacing the bushings and not the ball joint.

[RDM]

The upper ball joint is not available, period. No one makes a replacement unit, and removing a good one from another damaged or bent arm would more than likely damage the ball joint. Hence the need to replace the entire arm.

The old arms you remove are therefore useless unless you have a buyer who has bent or broken theirs and just needs a cheap fix.

[VBdenny]

When I bought my car 7 or 8 years ago, I had it checked at Lexus. At that time they told me my upper control arms were "weak." I said uh huh and worried about it for awhile. I still have the originals in and haven't changed a thing and I have to tell you, the car drives great, handles great, has no clunks or vibrations, stays smooth right up to a buck, and the tires don't wear. I have had plenty of cars and you know when a ball joint is failing, because you notice several of those things. I'm leaving them in until I can see a reason to change them. No way would I pay that much for OEM. I don't understand why Lexus feels they have to rip off their customers. If I owned a Lexus dealership, I would have a couple sessions a month when owners could bring their cars over and chat with the technicians about them. Pretty idiotic huh?