New Es300 Owner--a Few Questions

[interested]

Hi guys,

I bought a 2000 ES300 over the week-end to replace my 2000 Porsche 911 Cabrio. Family circumstance made my Volvo station wagon go away, leaving me with the Porsche which--while it has two backseats for my two small kids--was proving too impractical and expensive to keep. My goal was to find a practical family car with some "worth having" factor and creature comforts. I initially decided to buy a new 4-door GTI Volkswagen with the DSG transmission, but the local dealers were upsetting me with the usual shenannigans (sp?). A local Buick dealer had the ES300 on his lot as a trade-in and since I knew the finance manager from our church, I felt comfortable buying it instead of the GTI. At less than half the price the savings were substantial as well. The car is champagne colored with the beige interior. Has 16 inch wheels, upgraded stereo and moonroof. 60k on the odometer and in very nice general condition. Bought it with an extended 4 year/48k mile warranty that my friend set me up with. Probably worth its price for piece of mind.

As to my questions...there is one thing I really do not like about the car and that is the 16 inch wheel. Why Lexus seems to have a hard time making a decent looking wheel is somewhat beyond me :) Looking at the car's lines, I feel that a more closed wheel like the AMG style Mercedes wheel would really complement the car. Has anyone tried to fit those to the ES? Is there some wheel in that style that anyone has fitted? Personally, I think the rotors and the size of the rims at less than 18 inches are too small for really open spoke. Just my opinion of course! Any ideas here are most welcome.

Second thing is the trunk. Has anyone modified the spring to make the trunk open all the way when it is unlocked with the remote? That would be useful to me as I usually have my hand full of kids and groceries as I walk up to the car.

Third...a closing thought: this is a really nice car to drive and a great environment to be in. Coming out of the Porsche--the newer ones are really pretty sumptuous inside--I dreaded the next car, but the Lexus is actually as nice in a more...Zen?...way. Anyway, glad to be part of the club! Thanks for any thoughts.

GP

[gbhrps]

Congratulations on the new ride. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. As to the wheels, as long as you get something with the same lug spacing, offset, and caliper clearance, you can put anything on the car. I've seen many different Lexus wheels from various years and models and most of them look far better than what is on many other cars on the road. But that again is a personal taste matter. I really would advise against modifying the trunk springs to pop up the trunk. My mother-in-law had a nasty experience with her car (not a Lexus) because her trunk lid would pop up when unlocked. Last fall on a windy day the trunk popped up and was caught by the wind. Both trunk hinges were destroyed and the back window was shattered when the edge of the lid was jammed into the rear glass. Then again, you can probably modify the trunk springs to do as you wish, being aware of the problems on a windy day. Welcome to the club!

[interested]

Thanks Gbhrps for the reply and thoughts on the questions I have. The pop-up trunk might very well be an issue that I had not fully thought through. Perhaps modding it to where it opens about half way would do the trick, but looking at the springs inside the trunk, I have no real clue as to how to actually make it do that. Maybe someone on the list has done it and could tell me.

As far as the wheels go, does anyone have the range of offsets and rim widths readily available? Is this in the FAQs?

Thanks in advance,

GP

Congratulations on the new ride. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. As to the wheels, as long as you get something with the same lug spacing, offset, and caliper clearance, you can put anything on the car. I've seen many different Lexus wheels from various years and models and most of them look far better than what is on many other cars on the road. But that again is a personal taste matter. I really would advise against modifying the trunk springs to pop up the trunk. My mother-in-law had a nasty experience with her car (not a Lexus) because her trunk lid would pop up when unlocked. Last fall on a windy day the trunk popped up and was caught by the wind. Both trunk hinges were destroyed and the back window was shattered when the edge of the lid was jammed into the rear glass. Then again, you can probably modify the trunk springs to do as you wish, being aware of the problems on a windy day. Welcome to the club!

[Toysrme]

5*114.3 38mm offset = stock

all you need to know :)

you can find plenty of threads with wheels on ES / Windoms. ill leave that to you to do.

ES = Camry trimmed to the nth degree. everyone on earth has rims but i. i maintain the stock rims are lighter and transition better because they're not as wide & heavy. which is basically bull*BLEEP* for after 5 years wheels are still nowhere near the top of my todolist. bawahahahahahahahahahahahaha

here's a sticky at toyotanation's camry forum discussing wheel offsets with lots of pictures.

2000 ES 300 = 4th generation Camry platform (1997-2001)

[interested]

Thanks Toysrme, for the post on Camry wheels. Lots of good info on various offsets and wheel sizes. However, still feel that the open spoke design wheels--which everyone seems to have--are the wrong design for the car. Again, this is just *my* opinion! A more closed wheel would do better with the slab-sided look of the ES. AMG figured this out for the late-90's MB 300-series. I went to Tirerack.com but they have nothing listed for the ES300 that has the look I am referring to.

Also related to looks: has anyone had the blacked-out section below the body cladding painted cladding color? I am talking about the lowest part between front and rear wheels, which is painted black by the factory in an effort to make the car thinner/svelte looking. To my eye, it results in a taller looking roof and appearance of a higher ride height. In case you get the wrong idea, I have no aspirations to customize the car or make it look "tricked-out!" However, sometimes simple changes make a big difference and I am about to have one panel of the cladding painted to get rid of a big scratch.

Any ideas on this?

GP

5*114.3 38mm offset = stock

all you need to know :)

you can find plenty of threads with wheels on ES / Windoms. ill leave that to you to do.

ES = Camry trimmed to the nth degree. everyone on earth has rims but i. i maintain the stock rims are lighter and transition better because they're not as wide & heavy. which is basically bull*BLEEP* for after 5 years wheels are still nowhere near the top of my todolist. bawahahahahahahahahahahahaha

here's a sticky at toyotanation's camry forum discussing wheel offsets with lots of pictures.

2000 ES 300 = 4th generation Camry platform (1997-2001)