Rear Suspension - O/S/R and N/S/R trailing arm suspension bushes separated requires replacement

K_S

Hi, I have a Lexus NX which needs to have an annual service at the dealer to keep the warranty active for 10 years.

I dropped it off for an MOT+service, they did an initial check and told me that the following will be an MOT fail and the parts HAVE to be replaced.

Rear Suspension - O/S/R and N/S/R trailing arm suspension bushes separated requires replacement.

They've quoted around £1,400 for parts and labour, plus £150 for wheel balancing after the work, and a 3 week wait for the parts.

I know nothing about car mechanics, and might well be wrong but from a search online it seems like a fairly common replacement so thought I'd get some input here.

Any thoughts on - is the quote reasonable? Are these parts costly?

Is this the kind of part mentioned in the comment? It's what came up when I put in the reg plate and searched for 'trailing arm suspension bush'

I have about a week before the MOT expires so in an ideal scenario would just like to get the work done from another garage, if it's fairly straightforward.

K_S

This is what I could find on the Lexus parts direct website when I put in my model and 'trailing arm'

400ixl

So this is from a main dealer for pricing?

Go and get an estimate from a local garage (or independent Lexus specialist) to do the work.

The wheel balancing will be wheel alignment not balancing. Everything needs to be checked for alignment once the parts are replaced, although that can depend on what adjustment there is that could be put out alignment in doing the part swap. Being the rear, this may be very limited and mean alignment is not required.

Should be able to get it done for a lot less than a main dealer price. Probably a days worth of labour + parts.

Mildly_Miffed

It's probably not unexpected from a Toyota main dealer, but it'd be extortionate anywhere else.

Having said that, do NOT just go out and buy the cheapest off-brand parts you can find. They're abysmal quality, and you'll be doing them again in a year or less. Get OE quality parts, but don't pay franchise dealer labour rates...

It's not wheel balancing you need afterwords, but alignment, making sure they're pointing the right direction.

While an NX is a Toyota RAV4 with slightly different cosmetics, there *might* be detail differences in the arms. It may well be possible to replace just the rubber bushes in the arms, rather than the complete arms, but it often works out quicker and cheaper to do the whole thing. If you do do just the bushes, look at polyurethane, but they may have a mildly detrimental effect on ride quality.

Goudy

The rear suspension on this is what's referred to as multilink.

There are various linked arms so when the wheel moves up and down it keeps the thread level with the road surface. It also helps keep the wheel base even, it doesn't shorten or lengthen the wheel base as it moves up and down.

Part of all these links is the trailing arms, they have three bushes in each side. Two at the hub and one to the chassis.
These are the parts K_S links too.

They are pretty notorious for the bushes to degrade on the Lexus and can be changed on their own.
I seem to remember two at the hub being fairly easy as they are split bushes, but the larger bush at the chassis end is a bit of a pig as it's interference fit and needs pushing/pulling out with a bush tool. 

It usually works out (initially) cheaper to replace the whole arms than come with new bushes because of labour, but they do go the same way sooner or later.
Genuine arms and bushes will last fairly well, cheaper aftermarket arms are a waste of money.

You can fit uprated bushes, there a few different aftermarket bushes.
Hardrace supply a toughened bush kit but they are fairly pricey and transmit a bit of vibration back to the car's body.

I also think there are polyurethane ones available that will outlast the car, these are usually a bit more forgiving when it comes to vibration.

If it was mine and I was planning on keeping it, I would probably change them to polyurethane.
A local specialist should be able to help and it would be far cheaper.

And yes, as the rear multilink has been apart and new bushes fitted the wheel alignment needs checking and setting.
A full laser alignment and adjustment shouldn't cost more than £80 or so.

Mildly_Miffed

@Goudy - worth swapping the arms now, then rebushing the old ones at leisure for next time?

Goudy

Mildly_Miffed said:

@Goudy - worth swapping the arms now, then rebushing the old ones at leisure for next time?

Maybe.
There might be someone that has already done this and are selling them ready to fit.

I used to refurb a few different car suspension components, usually for friends or fellow club members.

Poly bushes are usually split "top hat" type bushes that just push in and easy to fit.

The trick was getting the old metalastic bushes out.
They can be a bit fiddly without a range of different size tools or a press but you can burn out the old rubber then thread a hacksaw through the hole and carefully cut the metal shell that's now stuck in the void.

Bigwheels1111

Are you near Croydon ?, I know a great Toyota mechanic.

K_S

Thanks all, that was really helpful.

I took it to a nearby garage with decent reviews, they will do the work for about £400 in labour, parts at cost from the lexus direct website. So in total about £500 less than the dealer quote.

They showed me the bush with the car lifted up, and said that the MOT was overly strict and one side should've been an advisory and the other is fine as things are. But now that it's been recorded as an MOT fail (I didn't realise that the dealer completed the MOT!) for those reasons, it has to be repaired.

They said they might be able to do just the bush but it wouldn't be a Lexus part and might well invalidate a future warranty claim so he wouldn't recommend it until the car is out of warranty.

Anyway, I'm going ahead as I unfortunately don't have any more time to do research on alternatives.. Lots of lessons learnt - firstly don't do the MOT at the dealer!

danby22

Hello @K_S
I have run into the same issue as you by the looks and my plan was the same as yours to purchase items from lexuspartsdirect and get them fitted at a local garage.  Can you confirm if you ended up buying SKU: 48780-78010 NXP1 & SKU: 48760-78010 NXP1?  The pictures on the website (& the screenshot that you show above) look a bit different compared to what was seen on the car and the person at the garage was not convinced I picked the right item.  If you could confirm these parts were the right ones, that would be much appreciated!

For reference, this is what I was told at Lexus: "O/S/R suspension trailing arm bushing completely deteriorated/ split."  And the same for N/S/R.  [O/S/R - I interpret this as "Outside Rear", with N/S/R as "Nearside Rear"].

Thank you!

Mildly_Miffed

NS - Nearside - the side near the kerb. RHD car in the UK, passenger side.

OS - Offside - the side off from the kerb. RHD car in the UK, driver side.

"outside" would suggest the side away from the centre of the road, but that's the nearside.