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Hi there, I have an 02 CL500 for 7 years now. I have done quite a bit of work & have always stayed on top of it w/ the preventative maintenance so the car is in excellent, like new condition. The ABC is working great. I can let the car sits for weeks & all 4 corners do not sag at all. Anyway, have a question on the suspension noise, perhaps you can shed some lights on this issue: As stated, I've owned the car for 7 years & the suspension has always been noisy (thumping noises) from day one when driving, especially on bad roads. Initially, I thought the noise was road noise due to old tires so I went ahead & replaced all 4 but that wasn't it. Next, I inspected all the bushings that I could see & found cracks on some of them so items i.e. front left, right upper & lower control arms, rear left & right lower strut's bushings & the 2 front rear sub-frame bushings have been replaced w/ either Lemforder or OEM parts. I've also shimmed the top of all 4 struts w/ the rubber donuts to fill the gaps that was caused by the compression/deform of the top strut mounts due to being old. Even after replacing w/ all of these new parts, the suspension is still noisy to this day & I'm running out of idea. Any thought? Thanks in advance.
Hi John,
Getting ABC suspension right is something I've been working on a lot lately, and I think there are lots of causes of noise.
Firstly, what's your benchmark? Why do you think it's noisy?
Secondly, what sort of noise do you mean - is it road noise or bump-thump?
What size wheels have you got?
What type of tires?
Cheers, Nick
The things that wear out first on the W220 are the load-bearing elements, meaning the strut tops and bottoms, and the lower track control arms. The latter have to be replaced at some point on every car. they just get eaten.
The other links in the firing line are the front lower brake reaction arms, with the huge front bushes. These don't have such a hard time, but you can still replace the bushes quite cheaply.
One of the things I do is grease all the ball joints. It's quite fiddly, but it's rather worthwhile. I use a medium size syringe and try to squirt it past the rubber boots.
Finally, the other thing that can affect the ride is the accumulators. I've only ever replaced the one on the pressure regulator by the right hand side front wheel, but lots of folks say the ride is better when they replace the accumulators on the F & R valve blocks.
Hi Nick,
I have 2 other Lexus LS400's, they're also old but well maintain & super quiet. The type of noise I'm experiencing w/ the CL is a bumping-thumping noise. When I bought the car 7 years ago, it came w/ CLS 18-in stagger wheels & Continental ContiProContact 245/45/18 & 275/40/18 tires. The fronts were half worn so I thought the noise was due to the tires so I bought a set of Nito NT555 Extreme same size as the Continental 2 years into owning the car so it's 5 years old now. I'm thinking about buying another set of all season this time around.
All- I've pm'ed Nick for advise but since I've also posted the question here so I'll show the conversations & what we've talked about just in case you folks also run into the same issue I have so here it is:
Hi Nick,
I work on cars a lot so it's funny that you've mentioned about the use of a medium size syringe to squirt the grease into these ball joints. I've just bought one w/ a zerk fitting so it can be attached to the grease gun. Haven't used it so don't know how effective it would be. How do you normally squirt grease into those joints? Poke a hole w/ the needle through the rubber bushing? I don't like the sound of it & afraid the hole will turn into a tear later on. I think the best way is to disconnect the control arms or whatever attached to it so you can access the ball joint from the top & squirt the grease into it w/o poking a hole into the rubber.
In regards to the accumulators & the front lower brake reaction arms, aka the strut bars by other car manufacturers, I've also replaced them. Not sure how many accumulators your W220's have but mine has 4. Upon removal of the old ones, I've found only the front by the left wheel housing is blown but for peace of mind, I went ahead & replaced all 4 w/ OEM's purchased from the dealer but the noise still there.
Could the thumping noise has some to do w/ the struts even though there's no leak on any of them & the ABC is working great? I may replace the Nito NT555 Extreme summer tires with the softer all-season tires this time around & see if it helps cutting down on the noise.
John, you think along exactly the same lines as me. It sounds like you've done everything.
Can you show me pictures of your strut top bushes?
What I found with mine is that if the bushes aren't pre-loaded enough, so there's free space under the bush, you get a loose, shakey ride.
If they're pre-loaded too much, so they're always heavily compressed, you get an over-firm, edgey ride.
My black car feels about right. In that, I can just turn the bushes around with my fingers when the weight is normally settled on the wheels.
Great minds think alike. Lol
Yeah, I've done pretty much everything to the point I'm running out of idea. The rubber donuts that I've made for the front struts are just like yours (I used big metal washers for the rears), however mines are a bit thicker so they're slightly compressed but the noise was there before & after so I don't think it was it. I'll take & post a picture later when I get home from work today.
John
Nick, did you notice there's a built-in metal washer or stopper at the top of the strut's shaft right below the top strut's nut? Any idea what it is really for?
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