The DEW98 is NOT simalar to Caddy... but instead Jaguar. Second... aftermarket and OEM are 2 different things. You won't get alot of quality aftermarket parts for certain areas of the LS. OEM is the only way. For suspension parts... Moog is now making most suspension parts for the Gen 1 LS,,, but not the Gen 2. Lemforder and a couple other quality makers are still avaialable hit and miss,,, But lemforder was actually OEM for Jag. Bushings are available,,, but you have to do the research. British company is actually making all bushings in urethane. The LS is "pay to play" now.
Lets go through this point by point
1. Caddy and Lincoln not similar? Agreed that that the caddy and the lincoln don't share the same platform. GM and Ford aren't known to work together on collaborations much. But LS and CTS are absolutely similar in my mind. Name any other rear drive US made 4 door sedan (or perhaps car for that matter) available with standard transmission and independent suspension all around. I'd love to know of others, since that is what I was in the market for (along with folding down rear seats, which out of country competitors IS250/IS300/G35x / BMW 5 / mercedes c class don't have default - merc and beemers it is an 'option' on). And yes, I'm fully aware the s-type is the lincoln's stablemate from when Ford owned Jag. Its unfortunate that the STR doesn't share all the same suspensions links / spring seat sizes / etc, as there is one near me with a blown head gasket for fairly cheap that would make an interesting donor car if more it were an easier swap and that particular one had newer parts (read, i don't want to swap K-frames and i've read that the fronts are different, not sure of rears).
2. Agreed, OEM and aftermarket are two different things. One is the manufacturer that supplied or contract manufactured the part for the car company. For example Lemforder is the OEM for some BMW suspension parts. *** is the OEM for some bmw parts (such as wheel bearings). Boge is OEM for some Audi struts. And on and on. And agreed that OEM is the only way. This is exactly what i'm complaining about. What i'm used to is the ability to get OEM parts NOT branded by the automobile manufacturer. That is, get OEM parts in the aftermarket. Not crap quality chinese aftermarket parts. (Although it seems that some of the OEM's now have chinese parts being sold on aftermarket :-/)
3. Yah, aware that Moog has some parts. When i first bought the car I did moog lower ball joints. The problem sourcing parts is basically the whole rear end.. toe /lateral links, upper ball joints, upper and lower control arm pivots.. the boots on ALL of these are showing big signs of cracking and wear on my car, and there are no OEM parts available in the aftermarket, which means paying stealership prices.
4. Thank you, good to know that Lemforder was the OEM for jag, didn't know that. Makes sense though, with the similarities in design to BMW and german lead designer or whatever on the LS (which also explains the super-high foreign parts content from europe, on things like the heater valve which on mine was made by bosch in france). Too bad can't get Lemforder rear suspension parts for the jag in aftermarket either. gr.
5. Oh, there is a company that does urethane bushings eh? Basic searches for bushings didn't show it, but now that you've clued me in to looking for performance bushings (i.e. urethane).. a quick search does show some options. Awesome, thank you! Although pricing still looks a bit silly, ugh. But I'm sure it is a fairly low volume product (for those attempting to 'do reasearch' and later reading this thread, found s-type bushings here
http://powerflexusa.com/stype.aspx)
