NM98LS400

99lsguy, You hit the part right on the head. The bushings at the front of those bars are what look pretty worn (cracking). My mechanic told me that they are aprrox. $85 from the dealer (which isn't too bad considering it's from the dealer) for the each complete bar. I would like to know if there are aftermarket bushings that can be pressed in, and if its worth the trouble considering the new replacement price of the bars. Everybody, Your input is great, keep it coming! B)

Ok, I have a 98 LS400 with approximately 76K miles on it that I bought this year. Everything about this car is great. The only problem that I have is with a clunk from the front end, most noticeably coming from the passenger side. I usually hear it when going slow (<30mph), and when I'm going over rough asphalt, prominent speed bumps, or the transition from the street to my driveway (has a rolled over curb). It appears that these road conditions that cause rapid compressions of the suspension system are the conisistent precursor to the "clunk." Other than that, the front end is very tight and smooth. I just had the front struts replaced by a trustworthy mechanic who specializes in Japanese vehicles. This took care of some of the problem, but not all. When I took it in again, he showed me that the front bushings on the front trailing arms were dry and cracking (not the upper or lower control arm). He told me that everything else checks out ok without tearing it apart. He checked the ball joints, sway bar bushings and control arms for looseness and didn't find any. He also made sure every nut and bolt on the front end was tight. My questions are, is it possible to replace the bushings on the trailing arms with changing out the whole part, and does anyone have any other idea as to what could be causing my annoying clunk? Thanks for the help.

Hello everybody. This is my first post, so bear with me. I just bought a 98 LS400 from a very good friend of mine that also happens to be a car dealer (I got a great deal!). The first thing on my list to get resolved was to replace the hood struts. I was shocked at the price from the dealer: me: "how much are they?" parts dude: "$120" me: "for the pair, right?" parts dude: "no, each" :::silence::: me: "a piece? what are they made out of?" After finding out that nobody carried a direct replacement, I finally ran across the post on this site that recommended replacing the strut with an autozone strut that wasn't listed for my car (part #C95029). Well, it worked great and saved me 200 bucks. It took about 30 - 45 minutes to finish the job (including removing the ball joints from the old struts) and it is now as good as new. I thank all who contribute to this board. Without the useful information here, I would have spent more money than I had to. The only other thing on my list is a slight front suspension clunk when I hit a bump, which from reading other posts, points most likely to bushings as the culprit. I'll address that and see what happens. Other than that, I love this car! :P