Melnod

Anyone know how to increase the volume of the turn signal? I have a 2007 IS250 and sometimes I leave the turn signal on but don't hear it. So it stays on for a while until I see it (no the stereo is not blasting away).

Is there something I can do or is this one for the dealer to do?

Thanks

My tech guy says you need to change the speedo/odometer too. But it affects your warrante (ie voids it in my case because I can't prove the actual milage). I bought my car in the US and I'm in Canada now. Also it's not cheap, so I'm living with it.

I drive an '07 IS AWD. I bought steel rims without TPM's with winter tires. There was only one snow fall worth mentioning last year in TOronto. The car handled great.

But the tire warning light does come on almost right away. The light stays on until the spring when you put your summers back on. I was able to reset the warning light indicator myself after I filled my summer tires to the proper pressure.

I didn't care that the warning light was on for the four winter months but it drove my wife nuts. And anyone else sitting in the passenger seat would comment "hey you have a warning light on"! So...I bought a new set of rims and TPM's this summer. The Toyota dealer completed the initialization for these new wheels for about $50 (I think is $75 at the Lexus dealer). The TPM's were about $100 each. Like my wife says, "you paid $40k for the car. You certainly can pay another $400 to not have a warning light on 33% of the time).

Good luck.

Can you share how to enter the cheat and operate the GPS while driving? Is it difficult to do?

Thanks

Just remember that if you upgrade from the 2006 Nav you will no longer be able to enter the cheat and operate it while driving....right?

I have been watching out for potholes all along, the city's just getting more stingy with maintaining the roads. + With some snow on the ground it gets real hard to obviously spot those potholes. Not to mention having a wife in the passenger seat and my one and a half year old son in the back constantly taking my attention away from the road :D

Went to Mega Wheelz this morning. They said that my old Dunlop that went flat a few days back was so not repairable, that pothole just killed it. Besides that all the tires were near bald. So I had 4 new tires installed -Toyo Versado LX 215 50 R17. I hope these Toyo's do alot better, and I hope the higher sidewall makes somewhat of a diff. Other than this irritating problem I do love everything else about this car. Wish me luck

I need new summer tires this year too, sounds like a good idea using a higher side wall.

I put snow tires with steel rims on my car this year for winter safety. I kept on sliding or get stuck in my old car. I was worried about my kids in the back seat although they enjoyed the ride. As you know there was no snow in Toronto this year so I really didn't get a chance to test them out.

But I did hit some big pot holes and my wife did hit several curbs!!! No issues. My winters are on 16" rims, to the side wall is quite large. It saved my nice refirbished summer rims too. This is another option.

Winter tires on an IS250 AWD - you got one SAFE ride for the winter ;) Yeah, you really can't tell these rims are refurbs. I was worried the refurbs might not be perfectly circular, God knows how many potholes the previous might've gone over, but the Manager at Lexus On The Park let me come in & witness the tires being mounted to the rims. When they spun there was not a single imperfection. Since then i've hit curbs 3-4x while trying to park nice & adjacent to the side walk, hope I don't see any bubbling anytime soon

I hear ya. I hit the curb trying to get out of that parking lot.

The service mgr. says no one is 100% sure why the bubbling occurs. Some rims get it worse than others. His theory is salt makes it worse.

By-the-way, thanks for the tip on this place. Service is top notch.

(my kids loved screaming and running around the show room testing all the cars too)

I noticed some bubbling on both the passenger side front & rear rims. Anyone else have this problem? My old Toyota mechanic told me to claim warranty on them & have them replaced. Wonder why it's even happening.. I think i'll take some pictures & post 'em up

I just picked up my rims yesterday after the refurb (dealer put on my winter wheels while they fixed my summer rims). They look new!! The sevice manager says they should be good now however if I have any more ssues with bubbling to give him a call.

There was no charge. I'm happy!!

Looks like the dealer putting in that new lightbulb solved the problem, no issues since

I can't believe this. I just noticed this happening to my car too The difficulty is that when I notice the issue, it's at night (that's when my lights come on). At that point the dealers are closed.

This has only happened once in the past month but I'm getting the same symptoms.

My car is going in for some other work and I'll ask them to check it. Good to know the solution may be as easy as a bulb change.

I just got back from the dealer. I have a seal or gasket that needs replacing. When it rains, a little water is getting in causing my bulb to go out intermittantly. There is visable condensation in the housing too.

They said this is a problem they have experienced with the HID lights. The are fixing and drying everything up inside the housing. All covered under warrantee.

Not only did they replace the seal and dry things up, they replaced the bulb. He says that the bulb gets so hot even the oil from your fingers will reduce the life of the bulb. So with all the condensation, they believed the life of the bulb would have been shortened considerably. All under warrantee.

He suggests if I ever have to replace a bulb (even halogen), use a paper towel and don't touch the bulb with my fingers.

Looks like the dealer putting in that new lightbulb solved the problem, no issues since

I can't believe this. I just noticed this happening to my car too The difficulty is that when I notice the issue, it's at night (that's when my lights come on). At that point the dealers are closed.

This has only happened once in the past month but I'm getting the same symptoms.

My car is going in for some other work and I'll ask them to check it. Good to know the solution may be as easy as a bulb change.

I just got back from the dealer. I have a seal or gasket that needs replacing. When it rains, a little water is getting in causing my bulb to go out intermittantly. There is visable condensation in the housing too.

They said this is a problem they have experienced with the HID lights. The are fixing and drying everything up inside the housing. All covered under warrantee.

Looks like the dealer putting in that new lightbulb solved the problem, no issues since

I can't believe this. I just noticed this happening to my car too The difficulty is that when I notice the issue, it's at night (that's when my lights come on). At that point the dealers are closed.

This has only happened once in the past month but I'm getting the same symptoms.

My car is going in for some other work and I'll ask them to check it. Good to know the solution may be as easy as a bulb change.

All 4 of my rims were replaced this past Friday. The refurbs look as good as new. Not a single imperfection noticable - in the ride & cosmetically. More than happy, love this dealership (Lexus on the Park, Toronto).

You were bang on... Lexus on the Park has my service on-going. I don't care how out of the way he is.

Thanks for the tip.

Just an update on this. The dealership offered to cover half of the cost to refurbish the rims. They blamed it on the salt. I am not happy, and I have never seen this happen on any other wheel I have owned. And by the way the wheels are not "covered" on the "corrosion" policy that was so generously pointed out to me as a selling point, conveniently only the body of the car is covered when there is a corrosion problem. I am sure when my body starts to rust the wheels will be the only thing covered.

An update on this.....I can't believe the variability in responses from dealer to dealer.

Dealer 1 - scuffs on the passenger side wheels caused the bubbling so they are not covered. However the two on the driver side is covered. I said that makes no sense. They're all bubbling

Dealer 2 - It's the salt in Canada. There was an issue where some of the wheels were not coated with a special protectant before painting the rims. These cars go to the south US where there is no snow. Somehow I got as set of those rims. He can refurbish and will charge me his "cost" price. $250 wheel. New rims are $1100 each so he says he's doing this for me because of goodwill.

Dealer 3 - These guys are awesome. "He can't comment on the special coating, news to him". Regardles the salt is making the wheels bubble. He asks me "If it's ok with me he would like to fix them for me. These wheels are under warrantee and this should not happen". I have an appointment for next week where he will remove my summer rims and put on my winter rims. He'll recondition the summers back as good as new, all under wantantee. He also says there are two other warrantee items he will fix for me that day too. Very politely, "If you're in agreement with this"?

Dealer 3 has my service for ever....

It's worth it to call around to get a quote from other dealers.

I read that you want to keep your 17" rims because of the TPM's. But read the discussion regarding the bubbling on the rims. It sounds like Toronto is using a lot of salt causing the bubbling. I also have this bubbling issue so I went with both winter tires and steel rims for this winter. Something to seriously consider.

I ended up getting four steel 16" rims with winter tires for just over $720 plus taxes. No TPM system on the tires though. The tire size is quite popular so there were several tire manufacutures to choose from.

I was thinking about the 205/55R16 but the guy at Lexus told me if I do that then I won't have the TPM's, else I have to get the whole set from Lexus for over $2000. So I decided to stick with my current stock rims so the TPM's won't be affected or taken out.

That sounds a little steep. However the dealer does need to take his mark up. I was given a rough estimate of an additional $125 per tire to install TPMs for the new rims. I chose not to get them. I also wanted more flexibility changing the wheels out by myself if required.

There is some slight risk to the rims and tires every spring and fall when you re-mount your tires too.

All 4 of my rims were replaced this past Friday. The refurbs look as good as new. Not a single imperfection noticable - in the ride & cosmetically. More than happy, love this dealership (Lexus on the Park, Toronto).

I'm going bring my car into Erin Mills Lexus (in Toronto area too) and see what they say. This will give me an idea what the service is like. Otherwise I'mm off to Lexus on the Park in Toronto too.

Got my new IS250 AWD (CANADIAN) just this summer in August. I am hearing that it does really bad in snow with the stock all-seasons.

I live in Toronto, and I will be driving a lot of highway back-and-forth to Waterloo for school (on weekends)

I've been shopping around for decent snow tires and have come down to a few things that I would like some advices on:

**btw, I'm keeping my stock 17" rims because of the TPM's, so I'm only replacing snow tires of size 225/45/17**

**these prices do not include installation and are in CAD**

Michelin Primacy Alpin PA3:

these are "recommended" tires for my car by both Costco and Lexus, but it's very expensive

- $168.29 each ..... $999.33 for 4 including tax & shipping (from TireRack.com)

- $191.43 each ..... $946.62 for 4 including tax & shipping (from DiscountTireDirect.com)

- $295.00 each ..... $1333.40 for 4 including tax (from Lexus)

Michelin X-ICE:

Costco says this tire cannot handle the weight of my car, so it will wear out faster... is this true?

- $159.00 each ..... $718.68 for 4 including tax (from CAA Car Care Centre)

Michelin X-ICE Xi2:

these are supposed to be the "best" snow tires out there, but customer reviews on TireRack.com says otherwise

- $156.72 each ..... $943.38 for 4 including tax & shipping (from TireRack.com)

- $243.83 each ..... $1099.07 for 4 including tax (from Costco)

General Altimax Arctic:

these are a lot cheaper, and so far the reviews are all pretty good

- $110.44 each ..... $723.95 for 4 including tax & shipping (from TireRack.com)

- $122.01 each ..... $666.95 for 4 including tax & shipping (from DiscountTireDirect.com)

- $226.22 each ..... $1022.51 for 4 including tax (from Canadian Tire)

Right now I'm really liking the Altimax, but will it handle my car okay? (car too heavy, etc.)

Also, where should I buy my tires? Are TireRack.com and DiscountTireDeposit.com trusted? If I do end up buying online, I don't want to receive a wrong order, or tires that have problems since it's in the States and will be too time-consuming to send back and forth.

Thank you all so much in advance for your opinion and advices!

I have ordered/received tires from TireRack in the U.S. in the past and they were reliable.

I read that you want to keep your 17" rims because of the TPM's. But read the discussion regarding the bubbling on the rims. It sounds like Toronto is using a lot of salt causing the bubbling. I also have this bubbling issue so I went with both winter tires and steel rims for this winter. Something to seriously consider.

I ended up getting four steel 16" rims with winter tires for just over $720 plus taxes. No TPM system on the tires though. The tire size is quite popular so there were several tire manufacutures to choose from.

I was pressured to use full synthetic oil for an oil change versus the normal conventional 5W30 the last time. The guy says it's better and can extend the change interval. It's about double the price though!

Any others switching over? I don't think I'll continue using full synthetic but will make sure I stick to the oil change intervals though. Or are there thoughts to use full synthetic in the winter months only?

Went in this morning and complained about the excessive black brake dust, no problems getting them to cover it under warranty. Decided to delay them actually changing them a few weeks - Has anyone noticed an obvious difference in braking performance after having them changed? With the pads that are on right now I find the braking superior to any vehicle I have ever driven.

Which dealer are you using?

Happen to notice you live in the Toronto area as well. Etobicoke here. Believe me, just wait for the first snow fall and you will see your AWD in action. My car goes over snow like an SUV B) I don't think I could ever drive a 2-wheel drive vehicle again. Used to have so much trouble w/my old Celica GTS (front wheel), but this past winter was just great w/the AWD IS250. Snow piled parking spots were no match for this vehicle. Just wait & see.

& No I do not use snow tires, just the stock all season tires.

Small world...I used to own a Celica GTS too.

I got stuck twice last winter in my rear wheel drive car and said "no more". I'm looking forward to this winter.

I ended up getting a deal set of snow tires locally.

Thanks and good cruising...

Some good feedback and advise, thanks to all.

There is a bump in the drivers side foot well as well as visible CV joints with the same tires all around. To tell you the truth I was just a little paranoid.

Cheers!!

I purchased a 2007 IS250 AWD and just started thinking about the AWD system. Aside from the letters on my truck, is there anyway to determine if my car truely is working in All Wheel Drive and adjusting continuously according to the traction? Does anyone know is on one of the many menu screans or a push of a button on my dash that confirms my car is running on AWD? I can't find anything in the owners manual to test and acknowledge that system.

I guess one option is to have the mechanic confirm to me next time I get an oil change.

Maybe the previous owner put an AWD emblem on the rear and it is really a RWD car -- a little like what Rodeo Drive posers did back in the 1960s when they put a 6.3 emblem on the trunk lid of a 6-cylinder or 3.5 liter V8 Mercedes 300SEL or in the 1970s when they put a 6.9 emblem on the trunk lid of an ordinary 450SEL.

Are we being paranoid?

Brings to mind my brother-in-law trying to sell his bright orange Ford Pinto many years ago. I gave him some Porsche crest emblems to put on it and it sold quickly -- really ... I'm not making this up.

Thanks. But I like the idea of trying to spin the tires on a dirt road and have someone watching. Darn...I just washed that car too.

I purchased a 2007 IS250 AWD and just started thinking about the AWD system. Aside from the letters on my truck, is there anyway to determine if my car truely is working in All Wheel Drive and adjusting continuously according to the traction? Does anyone know is on one of the many menu screans or a push of a button on my dash that confirms my car is running on AWD? I can't find anything in the owners manual to test and acknowledge that system.

I guess one option is to have the mechanic confirm to me next time I get an oil change.