RX in NC

Just wait until you're 53, you whinin' whippersnapper.... I'd cut off my toe of your choice in a heartbeat to be able to go back to 33....

Some 18-inch V-rated tires carry a 65,000-mile treadwear warranty (specifically the Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza in a 235/55VR18 fitment). I don't believe they'll go anywhere close to 65,000 miles, but they might do 40,000 to 45,000 miles if they're properly cared for. But they are supposedly SUV tires, so whether they could or should even be mounted on an LS remains in question. Happy hunting. How I hate those 18-inch wheels. Give me 16-inch wheels any day of the week....

Yes, originally in late 2003 after asking Lexus Corporate to send it to me and more recently, the class-action lawsuit letter this past November.

If treadwear life is important to you, the Michelin Pilot series is going to be a problem. You may be fortunate to get 30,000 miles....

You're right on target. It's yet another gimmick. Air is so much easier and available, and I check my tire pressures every weekend anyway. I'll stick with good ol' air, too....

Depending upon how you park (level garage floor, slanted driveway, etc.), a rear main oil seal leak could show up in a small variety of locations. In our case, it was approximately the middle of the engine bay but more to the drivers side of the vehicle. A dime-sized spot of oil would collect there over the course of a few days. If your vehicle is over 70,000 miles, chances are very high that your leak is in fact coming from your failing rear main oil seal. Now that you've found this thread, you know what to do from here....

Potholes, curbs, rough roads, and sometimes just looking at your tires the wrong way can and do cause all vehicles to lose proper alignment. If you've never put an alignment on this vehicle before, chances are better than 90% that it is out-of-spec. Find an alignment coupon from a respectible establishment in your local newspaper and go get yourself an alignment. Be sure to ask for the printout of before and after specs so you can see just how bad your alignment problem is. Anytime you put new tires on the vehicle, you should get an alignment done at the same time and often for a discount.

Tom, Did you locate the source of your front-end vibration?

nc211, A fully-loaded Subaru Outback would be the perfect replacement for my wife's 2000 RX300, and probably for your wife's Honda Civic as well. I've tried to talk my wife into it. But her perception of Subaru (cheap and spartan) just cannot be changed even though it is completely wrong. She won't even go to the Subaru dealership to kick tires and drive one. "It's a station wagon and I won't be seen dead in it!" But as you'll learn over time, it will not cut the mustard for what you'll be doing with and to your house and property. My friend, you need a Big Iron, full-sized, 100% American pick-up truck. It can be a shortbed to be a little sportier for you (mine is) and it doesn't really matter whether you lean towards Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, or GMC (alphabetical order so don't read in any bias), they are all head-and-shoulders above whatever else is coming out of Japan these days that calls itself a full-size pickup. Get yourself a nice, late-model, well-appointed one - you'll be amazed at your choices and just how affordable they are if you haven't looked at full-size trucks lately. I used to fill my garage and driveway with multiple SUVs, sedans, and sports cars (as many as six at one time) just so I would be able to pick the vehicle I needed for the task at hand or the way I felt like driving that day. Then I got smart, realized how much money I was wasting, and got rid of all those toys and got myself a big bad Ram. It's a workhorse, it doesn't break, it will fly, it looks great, it drives and rides like a dream, it's dirt cheap to work on and insure, and I love the hell out of it. My wife thinks it's big and ugly but when she heads off to Lowe's for pine straw bales or boxes of tile or to the local nurseries for plants and trees, do you really think her puny weak-kneed little RX300 can do the job? Hell no, she swipes my Ram and cleans those places out. Sooner or later you'll come to the realization that a nice, full-size Big Iron pickup can and should be the only set of wheels you need. Your wife will call it ugly and massive but when the time comes that she needs to buy plants or lumber, she'll be all over you begging to borrow your truck and promising to fix you a special dinner if you'll just let her use it for a couple of hours....

LEXIRX330, Thanks for your input here. Glad you're happy with your vehicle. But I'm not willing to outlay some serious money to acquire the vehicle and once again have to deal with a shaky transmission issue. Replacing the transmission in our current 2000 RX300 under warranty back in November 2003 improved the shift patterns somewhat, but as I've said on this forum many times before, the transmission in my 1999 Dodge Ram 5.9-litre V8 pickup shifts far smoother than our RX300 ever did and it doesn't have to be treated like a baby and have its fluid changed every 15,000 miles the way Lexus wants you to do. For vehicles that cost as much as these RXs do, that's simply inexcuseable. Any other RX330 owners out there who can provide their feedback as well?

RX330driver, Is it really the transmission that bothers you or is it the drive-by-wire throttle system? mikey00, We drove the Acura RDX as well as the Mazda CX7 on Saturday. My wife really liked both of them and realizes that either one of them can run circles around any RX300/330. Yes, the RDX and CX7 both have their downsides, but she can have a brand-new RDX or CX7 with everything except Navigation for under $30,000. In my opinion, that's a far better bang-for-the-buck value than spending $29,000 on a 2004 RX330 with 32,000 miles on the odometer. So the battle continues. If I have my way, she'll shut up and keep driving her RX300, I'll get her a new set of tires in about 5,000 miles, and we'll postpone her next vehicle decision for another year to give the RDX and CX7 a chance to develop a history on the market, either good or bad. Thanks to all for your input. Anyone else have comments on their RX330?

While on-line yesterday my wife found a white, loaded RX330 AWD with about 32,000 miles that has obviously been well-cared for. She suddenly developed amnesia with regards to all the known problems we've endured with her 2000 RX300 and wants to investigate this vehicle even though she knows that I think it is overweight, underpowered, and lousy on fuel economy as well as performance. This particular RX330 is being offered by a locally-owned high-end reseller that we've done business with in the past and have a high degree of respect for. The CarFax Report comes up clean and I can make a couple of phone calls and get any applicable Lexus service records tomorrow. He's asking $31,500 but I feel that I can deal down to between $28,500 and $29,000 cash out-the-door. Kelley Blue Book computes a value of $32,300. Those of you who've been on this forum for awhile know that I'm against this pursuit of another RX, but at the end of the day it's her money since it would be her primary vehicle, not mine. Since I'm expected to maintain it, I do get some input. Maybe enough to !Removed! this deal, but maybe not. Time will tell. So for those of you out there who have an RX330 AWD with significant mileage (say 70,000 miles and above), please answer the following questions candidly and honestly, and be sure to provide your current mileage: 1. By the 2004 model year, has Lexus truly fixed the dreaded early transmission failure issue on their RX AWD versions? Have any of you had to repair/replace your transmission? If so, why? 2. By the 2004 model year, is the oil gelling problem a non-issue? 3. By the 2004 model year, is the rear main oil seal leak issue no longer a concern? 4. The drive-by-wire throttle system in these vehicles has caused enough frustration and fury in some owners to make them dump the vehicle, while other owners have experienced no problems with it. What is your take on the drive-by-wire throttle system in your particular vehicle? If I have to accept another RX into our stable for the next four or five years, I want to ensure that the well-documented problems haunting the early RX300 AWD versions have truly been addressed and corrected by Lexus. Never again do I want to have to deal with the numerous defects that caused me to despise her current RX. Thanks for assisting by providing your answers. It is very much appreciated....

I did some research and decided to go with PIAA standard silicon-coated blade refills on my wife's RX300. I never replace the metal arms, just the refill inserts. She's been very happy with these refills, including during the past couple of days when we've had our first sleet and snow in two years. These refills fit the metal claw holders better than any of the other refills I've tried from NAPA, Pep Boys, AutoZone, etc. Granted, they were a bit more expensive ($10 each) than the typical refills which go for about $6 each. The RX requires two different lengths and widths - drivers side is 24" long with a claw width of 8 mm and passengers side is 21" long with a claw width of 6 mm. But the PIAA refills fit the original metal claw holders perfectly and have done a great job thus far. They are advertised to last at least a year under normal conditions (whatever that means). Hope you didn't throw away your original OEM metal blade holders. Go to piaa.com and check out your options. I think these blade inserts are a great value....

Keep 'em at 31/32 psi yearround. They'll be quieter, they'll last longer, and you'll get better gas mileage. You'll be happier all around with these tires if you'll just keep that pressure up a bit....

As you know, a number of us have had success requiring Lexus to cover our rear main seal leaks either under the regular warranty period or (as in our case) under their "goodwill" warranty scenario (which can obviously vary from dealer to dealer). Contact your dealership, use your knowledge obtained here, be professional but firm, and get your new main oil seal. Your advantage is that you suffered the problem at a relatively low mileage reading, well within the 70,000 mile barrier that some dealerships throw up. I'm sorry about your issue in this situation. That is exactly why I opted to stay with conventional Valvoline 5W-30 oil after researching the rear main seal problems back in 2004. I thought about switching to synthetic oil after having the new rear main seal put in, but given our vehicle's mileage at that time (about 75,000 if I remember correctly) I decided that the risk was just too great and that I would probably be dealing with multiple oil leaks down the road if I switched from conventional to synthetic. The vehicle is now pushing 128,000 miles with no oil leaks, no sludge, and I'm glad I stayed with regular ol' Valvoline 5W-30. I don't believe that synthetic oil CAUSES leaks in situations like this, but I do believe that synthetic oil will FIND weak spots and leak as a result. Good luck and keep us posted on your outcome with the dealership....

To date I don't have a sludge problem with my wife's 2000 RX300 AWD, now showing 127,600 miles. That's not to say that if we keep this vehicle long enough we'll never have a sludge problem even though the vehicle receives scheduled oil-and-filter changes that I routinely do myself. But I have had to deal with numerous other defects that this vehicle is known for, the most notorious and disappointing being the early transmission failure issue that is well-known on this forum and others like it. But my point in this posting is simply to state that anyone who doesn't bother to save all maintenance and parts receipts and keep a maintenance log on every vehicle he/she owns doesn't deserve to have any manufacturer come through for them when problems arise. Anyone who has sense enough to find and use forums such as this one knows that problems are going to occur that may require interaction with the dealership or corporate levels. If you don't save your receipts and keep a log for your vehicle, you aren't showing enough personal responsibility to even be driving. Use some common sense and keep your records. You cannot change the way Toyota or any other manufacturer chooses to do business in blowing off known problems, but you can certainly protect yourself and therefore stand a far greater chance of getting your issue repaired on the manufacturer's dime if you have the documentation to prove your case. That's elementary and if you aren't keeping records, you need to be walking or riding the bus, not driving....

Be sure to check your motor mounts, starting with the "dogbone" motor mount on top of the engine on the passenger side. I hope that turns out to be the source because that's a cheap fix - you can purchase those dogbones on-line for less than $60. Good luck and keep us posted on this issue....

The domestic full-size "Big Iron" pickups continue to easily outdistance the so-called Japanese competition in value, power, performance, comfort, styling, and maintenance costs. The only category that remains potentially undetermined is longevity. Doesn't matter whether you prefer GM, Ford, or Dodge full-size trucks - at this point, they're all considerably better than the far more expensive Japanese wannabes. I've seen nothing even close to making me consider getting rid of my 1999 Ram that's still in fantastic condition with only 46,000 miles on it....

For tires that I research and purchase myself, I never feel that I've gotten my money's worth unless they go at least 45,000 miles. That's easily done on my wife's underpowered RX300 (her Firestone Destination LE tires installed in December 2004 are coming up on 50,000 miles right now, they've been a great tire for the money, and if we keep this vehicle beyond 130,000 miles I'll put another new set on it) but very, very difficult to do on my 1999 Ram 5.9-litre V8 pickup, especially with my heavy right foot. That truck's horsepower, torque, and quickness can easily go through a decent set of tires in 25,000 miles if you're not careful. For OEM tires, you have to just take whatever you can get from a mileage perspective. The Goodyear Wrangler OEM tires have been the worst in our stable over the past decade or so. They've never lasted more than 28,000 to 30,000 miles on our previous SUVs over that span of time (three 4WD Jeep Grand Cherokees and a 4WD Dodge Durango). Man, I hate those Goodyear Wranglers - all versions of them. Goodyear should have to pay you to put a set on your vehicle....

I quit carrying a cell phone in July 1997 and swore I'd never put myself in a position again where I had to tote a freakin' electronic leash around 24/7. My wife can't live without hers, but I don't miss having one at all and have never even considered changing my mind about it. I will admit that I've used my wife's on rare occasions when we've been traveling. But when I'm by myself I don't want to be bothered so no stinkin' cell phone for me, thank you. If you need to reach me, call the landline and if I'm there I'll answer. If not you can leave a message and I'll get back to you. Why screw up a good system?

I believe that a reasonable rule of thumb for potential buyers to avoid the dreaded RX transmission failure issue is as follows: If the vehicle is an all-wheel-drive RX300 regardless of the model year, just keep your checkbook in your pocket and move on. The all-wheel-drive RX330/350 models have probably had their transmissions redesigned and improved enough to be not much more at risk than any other small Japanese all-wheel-drive SUV/crossover type vehicle currently available. But I would still change the Type T-IV transmission fluid myself every 30,000 miles just to give me a better chance of avoiding the problem. That's fairly cheap insurance that could wind up paying off big-time in the long run....

You're causing your own premature tire wear by following the always-underinflated Lexus recommendation in order to provide the soft, cushy ride that Lexus believes it's customers all want. To get that marshmallow ride, you sacrifice a good bit of treadwear and therefore your tires lose 10,000 or more additional miles that they probably would have lasted for if you had kept them at around 32 psi instead of 29 psi. As long as you realize that, run your tires at whatever pressure you wish. It's your money....

Exactly as would be expected. The CEO of Ford should drive a high-end Ford product, just as the CEOs of all automobile manufacturers should drive high-end models from their own lines. Anything else would create the biggest public relations gaffe they could muster. Ford's long-term survival as an independent entity remains seriously in question. GM is slowly climbing their way back from near-oblivion. Chrysler appears to be in the best financial shape of the three at this point in time. But none of the Big Three will ever again enjoy anything close to the profitability or status that they were essentially guaranteed before the 1970s oil crisis paved the way for the Asian automakers to gain a foothold here in the U.S.

I agree that synthetic oil does not CAUSE leaks. The problem is that synthetic oil FINDS leaks. If you have a susceptible seal somewhere that is holding up just fine for your conventional oil, synthetic oil will find it and breach it. Folks who want to convert their vehicles to synthetic oil after 50,000 or 60,000 miles should be made aware of this. They may wind up having to chase multiple oil leaks (which equals expensive repairs) and may wind up spending far more time and money on finding and fixing the leaks than they care to deal with....

Been married for more than 27 years. If I want peace and quiet, I go hiking in the local state parks....