jgimondo

Hi All,

Recently had a bad run with my windshield. One star crack and another much longer crack within a span of 2 months. I never replaced it for the star, just got it fixed, but now I'm going to have to replace the windshield. I went to my Lexus dealership and they told me that the original would cost me $1200 to get it fixed, but they can get me the after market (sans the Lexus logo) for $715. I can get it for much cheaper outside (the after market). So my question basically is, do you think its better to get it done through the after market at Lexus, or is it ok to go with a third party?

I checked with them with regards to the warranty and they said all other parts of the car would be covered as usual, but any work pertaining to the windshield would not be covered if it were done outside (which makes sense), but which makes me wonder whether its worth paying the price difference and going with the Lexus dealership.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

maybe i can help a little. first off, i had a chip/small crack in my windshield last fall, and my insurance (MA) covered the entire replacement. i'm guessing TX is like NC where I am now, in that insurance doesn't cover glass replacement. even here in NC it's covered as regular damage, so my $100 deductible would apply. i don't know if you can try that.

in any event, i had the lexus-recommended guy do the job, he screwed it up and replaced it. i then started noticing wind noise, and asked him about it, especially since i noticed the glass didnt say lexus on it. he said after-market lexus windshields don't say lexus, so i said fine. he put in a replacement again (#3) and still the same problem. i took it to lexus for my 20k service and mentioned the issue. i took off in my loaner and held it hostage until they finally got the guy to admit that he should've used a real lexus windshield, despite its huge price tag (why did he care, my ins. was paying?). my insurance company paid him the difference of the initial $700 one and the $1200 one, and he put it in. no problems since. now if i was paying out of pocket, i don't know what i'd do.

Your Lexus dealer doesn't balance the tires when they do the rotation? Every Lexus dealer I have ever used rebalances each tire every time they do a rotation.

As for the alignment...no abnormal wear or vibration? Skip it.

i actually do have abnormal vibration so i did some checking and am getting a balance done at the toyota place. but yeah, i asked the service manager at my lexus dealership here and he said that lexus does not specifically recommend a tire balance when they do the rotation at the service intervals. so therefore they don't. he was nice enough to list off all of the wonderful things that ARE included, in response to my somewhat snarky email about $350+ glorified oil changes...

so over the last few weeks i've noticed that when my car is accelerating and braking, during a particular speed range, and also often at high speeds, the car seems to be sort of shaking. during the braking it is most noticeable. because it happens not just while braking, i'm guessing it's not the brakes. my car only has 37k miles on it. if i had to guess, i'd say the tires need to be balanced. would an alignment be reasonable, also? obviously i can bring it in, but i'm not looking to spend money needlessly, so i'd like to have some educated opinions from folks on here.

thanks for any help!

my 2008 es has spikes underneath and the hooks. the things are a pain in the !Removed! to take out to vacuum, but i know it's a response to the 2007(?) incident with mats coming loose. what i don't understand from the story is if the new cars all have them, why are they being recalled? it doesn't even sound like the mat is known for sure to be at fault. what are they going to replace or fix if the hooks come standard? if it's just the older cars, i understand, but the new ones are included in the recall list. another minor point. if they replace my driver mat entirely, i'd like them to replace all of them so they match. i don't need one dark black one and 3 faded, worn charcoal grey ones ;-)

Personally, I rarely bother with alignment or tire balance unless I detect uneven wear or vibration -- but I monitor tires closely. We've had sets of tires last their entire lifetime and wear out evenly without being rebalanced a single time -- particularly on front wheel drive cars like the four Hondas we've owned and the Camry we have now. Your situation could be different than ours -- I'm just telling you what has worked for us.

You do not have to use a Lexus dealer for an oil/filter change and tire rotation. I've almost always done this type of work myself unless the car was still under warranty and I was taking the car in for warranty work anyway. If you are at all handy with cars, are watching your pennies and have a place to work on your car, buy a $4.00 Camry oil filter and oil plug gasket at a Toyota dealer, get a cheap oil filter wrench, and do the work yourself.

I've always used independent Lexus repair shops for more major repairs and service. I make it a point to bring the car back to the Lexus dealership just before the basic warranty expires to clean up any outstanding warranty issues but it is good to occasionally check to see if there are any new service bulletins that are apply to your car.

I"d recommended against using places like Jiffylube, Walmart, Firestone, Goodyear, etc. -- a lot of damage to cars get done at places like that and we don't even want to talk about the scamming that sometimes goes some chains. If you want somebody to change your oil and can't find an indie repair shop that suits you, consider seeing how much an oil change at a Toyota dealer costs.

thanks for the help. :) I unfortunately neither am handy with cars nor have a place to work on them. I have a local place that I trust to not scam me, but are you saying they might screw up something as simple as an oil change and tire rotation? That's what I obviously want to avoid. Also, so you think all I need is a Camry oil filter? What kind of oil does the car need?

anyone else who can help?

Personally, I rarely bother with alignment or tire balance unless I detect uneven wear or vibration -- but I monitor tires closely. We've had sets of tires last their entire lifetime and wear out evenly without being rebalanced a single time -- particularly on front wheel drive cars like the four Hondas we've owned and the Camry we have now. Your situation could be different than ours -- I'm just telling you what has worked for us.

You do not have to use a Lexus dealer for an oil/filter change and tire rotation. I've almost always done this type of work myself unless the car was still under warranty and I was taking the car in for warranty work anyway. If you are at all handy with cars, are watching your pennies and have a place to work on your car, buy a $4.00 Camry oil filter and oil plug gasket at a Toyota dealer, get a cheap oil filter wrench, and do the work yourself.

I've always used independent Lexus repair shops for more major repairs and service. I make it a point to bring the car back to the Lexus dealership just before the basic warranty expires to clean up any outstanding warranty issues but it is good to occasionally check to see if there are any new service bulletins that are apply to your car.

I"d recommended against using places like Jiffylube, Walmart, Firestone, Goodyear, etc. -- a lot of damage to cars get done at places like that and we don't even want to talk about the scamming that sometimes goes some chains. If you want somebody to change your oil and can't find an indie repair shop that suits you, consider seeing how much an oil change at a Toyota dealer costs.

thanks for the help. :) I unfortunately neither am handy with cars nor have a place to work on them. I have a local place that I trust to not scam me, but are you saying they might screw up something as simple as an oil change and tire rotation? That's what I obviously want to avoid. Also, so you think all I need is a Camry oil filter? What kind of oil does the car need?

Hi, I'm new here, so please forgive me if I'm asking this in the wrong way/place/etc.

I need to get my 35k service, which includes an oil change, new oil filter, and tire rotation. The last time I was there (30k), they mentioned something about an alignment/tire balance. I was thinking of taking it to a regular shop instead of the dealership. First of all, would you guys recommend for or against that, and secondly, what would I be well-advised to buy and bring with me to ensure I've got the right stuff in my car. Also, would it be worth asking about the alignment? Money's sort of tight, but I don't want to destroy my car because I wanted to pinch pennies.

Thanks for the help! :D