98 Ls400 Air Suspension Problems

[stever]

Had a catastrophic failure of my left front air shock today (i have air suspension). My wife was driving and the left front just dipped suddenly. She was able to pull off into a bank parking lot. Anyway.... I would think with this failure I'm looking at replacing the strut. :cries: I've read the threads and other posts but have a further question or two:

1. Can anyone recommend the conversion kit from Strutmasters? What is the ride like with the new shocks?

2. Does anyone know of anyone that is rebuilding these air struts? I found a guy on the web but I believe he is in Australia !! (I live in LA)

Hope you can answer soon. I've got to get this car on the road ASAP. Thanks.

[jainla]

The only place in the US I know of is Arnott Industries in Florida. www.arnottindustries.com.

I know some people in the LOC have bought from them. Do a search and see if you can find out how their product is.

[stever]

The only place in the US I know of is Arnott Industries in Florida. www.arnottindustries.com.

I know some people in the LOC have bought from them. Do a search and see if you can find out how their product is.

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Thanks for the tip. They don't list struts for a 98 on their website but I will phone them. again- thanks.

[stever]

Well my mechanic checked with Lexus and, with his discount, the one front air strut is $972.00- uninstalled.

So I've decided to purchase a set of strutmasters struts for all four wheels and get rid of the air suspension system.

I'll report later what the result is.

[nc211]

right choice. air struts are nice when they work, a very expensive p.i.a. when they don't.

Well my mechanic checked with Lexus and, with his discount, the one front air strut is $972.00- uninstalled.

So I've decided to purchase a set of strutmasters struts for all four wheels and get rid of the air suspension system.

I'll report later what the result is.

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[Lexuses71]

I'm reading this thread and am now wondering, is air suspension standard on '98 LS400 models? I don't even know yet if my car has it. How can I tell?

[stever]

First - to answer your quetion - you can tell if you have air suspension by looking next to your shift lever. There is a rocker button to adjust the ride height if you have air suspension. You may not - it was an expensive option on the LS400s.

The installation is finished on the car. I like the ride. The car does not seem to lurch as much as when I had air suspension. Also going over speed bumps i no longer hear a bumping/clunking sound under the front end. On the downside you do feel a little more of the bumps on the road but overall I prefer the traditional shock ride.

Also for those of you who purchase these struts- i was able to use my mechanic's tax id # and saved all the sales tax on these struts- saved me over $50. The front struts were easier to replace than the rears. The rears were a big deal- removal of the back seat etc... My mechanic charged $200 for the complete installation. Pretty good deal I thought.

Also I'm thinking of selling the other three air struts on ebay, to recover some of my costs. Does anyone have any ideas what they are worth? I know that they were $972 each from Lexus.

Oh, one other thing- the back of the car is slightly raised with these new struts- I would estimate about 1", so if you are doing this swap you may want to opt for the lowered sport struts for the rear. That's it. Thanks for the input!!