Lexus air ride struts, $1500 EACH!?!?!
 

Are you ****** kidding me? My wifes RX330 has a popping sound coming from the front end when you turn in reverse, then go forward. I take it into the dealership and they told me its a bad strut. $1500! The car is equipped with air ride, and this was offered up to me as the reason for the expense, but I've found the OEM strut available for a bit less than $900. $600 to replace a strut? Isn't that like 2 hours max per wheel (I was thinking less....)?

I have found non-air replacement options for way, way less. Why not just ditch the air ride and convert to standard struts? Anyone dealt with this crap before?

My parents had a Caddy with the air ride thing. They put regular shocks on it and saved a ton of dough when they needed new shocks.

expensive?
 

Just be thankful it's not an S class Benz. :eek:

WTF? This service advisor is flat out lying to me. I've being going to this guy for years. I always double check what they quote me at the dealership. I know their going to be more expensive, but this guy is just pulling my chain. I've checked with multiple dealers, and the part is way, way less than he is quoting me.

Sounds like it's time for a new shop.

how about a LAN Drover? or a Citroen?

Allroad?

My brother was quoted that kind of price on his Expediton He bought after market for around $300 and the first one took us three hours, the second one took us under an hour.

he might not be lying to you. The Lexus which has sport mode, shock/strut is very expensive. One of a friend's car need them. I called around several places and that's was the price I got quoted.

Well I found the OEM parts for $851. He told me the part was $1100, $1500 installed. $400 in shop cost to install a strut?

I told them to skip it. I don't even trust that its the strut. I'm taking to another shop.

If it is the strut, I'm wondering how similar the new one will be to the one on the other side. Perhaps replace the pair?

My '05 LS had all 4, at different times, replaced under warranty. $1.5k a pop.

Let's hope they hold up, because she's out of warranty now.

Get them from Arnott because they use real bladders and only charge a couple hundred. They use Goodyear and such bladders.

My wife has an R350 Benz without the air suspension and I'm glad. A lot of people are complaining about the air ride suspensions not working and converting to the typical shocks.

The price you've found on the interwebs is the wholesale price, and I'm sure what the dealer is quoting is retail price. Mark-ups as high as 30% are very common in the industry.

I'd venture a guess that the shop labor rate at that dealer is over $100 an hour, and the vehicle will need an alignment after the repair, which is part of the labor charge, I'm sure. Certainly, your wife's Lexus has TCS/VSC so the steering angle sensor will have to be zero-calibrated after the alignment as well, requiring TIS Techstream, or a factory service-level scan tool like Vetronix Mastertech.

$1500 is a lot of cabbage fer sure, but the job is more that just 5 bolts, 2 lines, and a wheel speed sensor plug. You CAN do it yourself though, and just have the alignment done after wards to save some money.

Buy a luxury vehicle with fancy options, prepare to pay luxury prices....

It would have been much cheaper in a Civic, but then it wouldn't have been nearly as pretty or fancy or comfy.

Found the people that can get you "luxury" parts for cheap

Air Suspension Kits, Air Shocks, Suspension Parts, Struts - Arnott Industries

Edit: Don't see RX struts but this is a good link to keep handy for other vehicles.

Too bad it's not a real SUV, then you could use it as justification for a coil spring conversion and lift.:) It's very common with vehicles like the Lexus LX470, Range Rover, Discovery, etc.

Just to wrap up this thread, I picked up the car, and discovered that the service agent had added on $400 in things I did not ask for. "Customer requested the rear differential be flushed....." Yeah, like I asked them to flush the differential. Not. The guy was bound and determined to turn me into a cash cow. Good on him, he succeeded. Bad for the dealership, they lost a customer for life. It was odd, I have been using the same service guy for years. He was different. The management must be standing on their necks to make $$$.

BTW, the dealer was Lexus of Bellevue in Bellevue, WA.