Why I like genuine parts

[Newbie1]

New ARB drop links and bushes front and rear and the ride has improved quite a bit, with an annoying noise from the rear now gone. Doesn't roll around corners as much, too.

[cornershop]

1 hour ago, Newbie1 said:

New ARB drop links and bushes front and rear and the ride has improved quite a bit, with an annoying noise from the rear now gone. Doesn't roll around corners as much, too.

Got a pic of the old ones?

[Newbie1]

Shirish, I left instructions for the old parts to be retained but the guys binned them, annoyingly enough (first time they've done that, to be fair). I asked the mechanic what condition the links and bushes were in and he said fine with no breakdown of the rubbers and were Toyota parts  so probably original (car has done 75k miles.). Here's to another twenty years on OEM components.

[Newbie1]

One for the geeks. The Toyota Soarer V8 was sold as a Lexus in the US. However, under the skin it is not built like the LS400. The attached photo shows the clips used to fasten the interior upper window garnish on both the LS400 and the Toyota Soarer (I've bought new ones to replace  the old clips that dry up and rattle). As you can see, the LS400 clip is much bigger and the plastic actually feels different to the Soarer one. And it's not simply a matter of having less clearance on the Soarer for fitting the window garnish-it's similar. 

[ColinBarber]

Soarer has build quality of the GS. Shared many component with it and the Supra. 

[Newbie1]

Good point. I'd be interested to dig around a GS300/Aristo to see what the component quality is like (drive train aside.) The LS and GS/Aristo were built in the same factory (Tahara), but it seems the LS400/Celsior is closer to the Toyota Century in terms of quality than anything else.