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Hey L, A couple of things; The easiest way and most organized way to search our vast amount of data and postings from over a decade, is to use the search line at the top-right of the page. It is a small white horizontal line. Enter your search words, then chose your search method,(I use Google for best results, it searches our archives but formats it in a Google style), then go. I too have looked up the Toyota web site for your seat belt assembly and price, but was not able to get a result for that model year. I really believe in all honesty that we have given you as much info as we can at this point. I noted that you had also posted your question on Club Lexus as well. Their responses haven't been much different from those here. For you to answer your beginning question once and for all, I would strongly urge you to buy an assembly from one dealer or the other, take it to the other dealer and compare the parts side by side. A reputable parts department should have no problem with you returning that part if it was not used.

Changing your rim size to the 18" will certainly help. Based upon the specific model, some tires are better than others for providing a smoother , quieter ride. For example, many of us who have later model ES350's prefer Michelin MXV4 tires for best ride and quiet. You might want to try checking Tire Rack for reviews and ratings on tires for your SC. From a tax sheltered Druid to a blind deduction, LOL

Hi Steve and welcome to the LOC. Since you don't trust your dealer I'm not sure anything I can offer is going to help. The wind noise problem was prevalent with the 2007-2008 LS460 models. A fix for the problem was put out in the Technical Service Bulletin,(TSIB) as referenced in the quoted thread below. As far as I know the incidence of the problem has dropped significantly. The change in the glass type appears to have been helpful. But whatever Lexus fixes are available would have to come through your dealer and since you don't trust your dealer I don't know what to recommend. For more information try doing a search of the forum by clicking on the search button at the top of the page. "I picked up my LS 460 this after noon after having the TSIB NV009-07 performed which for my Vin# included both front glass replaced with Lamisafe glass. I noticed a significant difference. There is still some slight wind noise at speeds of 65-75 mph, however while at the dealership I test drove a late model 08' which has the lamisafe glass installed from the factory and it too had slight wind noise at the same speed range. Interested to know if anyone else has noticed this as well!"

Hi Bill and Donna, and welcome as well to the LOC! Bill you mentioned the winter solstice. I have been looking into becoming a Druid and seeing if I can be declared an endangered species, thereby maybe earning a tax deduction for protecting myself!!! (Yes, I've had to much egg nog). We hope you'll enjoy your SC430 and many miles of great driving. Please post again and let us know how things are going. Paul

"A December to Remember"!! The author of this article says this Lexus ad tag line makes him gag. But it's not just the Lexus luxury car holiday ads,....read on.... http://autos.aol.com/photos/best-luxury-car-deals/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl14%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D122882 Have an opinion of your own??

Hi Paula, and welcome to the Lexus Owners Club! Unfortunately, I'm afraid the answer to your question is no. In fact, I just spoke with Lexus special services last week about some of these issues and was assured they were NOT working on any upgrades, patches, downloads, etc. to improve/correct some of these problems. My best guess is that improvements will be made as new models are introduced. But, it's Christmas and I won't give up hope that someday Lexus will come out with a upgrade for all of us. Paul

Merry Christmas!...you two just saved $2600.00 dollars!! If ever there was a an example of a owner/car that did not need an extended warranty, your it. First off, you have maintained your RX just as you should. You have followed the factory scheduled maintenance as described. This means that all points of wear and those in need of attention have been cared for. Secondly, You put very few miles on your vehicle. Ten thousand a year is considered "low Mileage" by industry standards. Third, in four more years you will have 76,000 miles on the car. The spark plugs won't need to be changed until you have between 100,000-120,000 miles on it. You won't even have worn out the spark plugs yet! Additionally, the new battery should be good for another three years or so,(depending on climate and hard use). Your husband is able to replace the brake pads ( should be every 35-40k miles). This car is in excellent condition. The RX350 has been a reliable and well like part of the Lexus crossover family. It has a good history of low maintenance and good reliability. In other words, in my opinion, I would not buy the extended warranty if it was my RX350. You would only be protecting yourself from a major loss such as a transmission failure or engine loosing all of it's oil at once while driving down the highway. Those repairs would cost more than $2600.00, so you can see that since the dealer/insurance company is only charging $2600.00 for the coverage they figure the likely hood of those things happening are pretty slim. Paul

Hi Dave, and welcome to the LOC! I'm sorry that I don't know the direct answer to your question. With the holiday weekend, things will probably be slow on the board for at least a few days and other members won't be checking new post very often. Additionally your question is very specific to just a very small screw. It will take a while to find someone that has that precise knowledge.

I don't know about a LS430, but you can reapply a clear coat. But, there are a few things to consider. What are you trying to correct? Is the present coating flaking. Are you looking to do only a spot repair or a total restoration from e-coat out? I would check with a good auto detailer or body shop.

Hi Gizandra, and welcome to the Lexus Owners Club! Almost every dealer offers some form of extended warranty plan. It is a big profit maker for them. But, dependent on the circumstances, it can be a safe decision for the owner or a big waste of money. First off, we need more information about the circumstances. How many miles are on your RX? So far, have you had the car serviced on a regular basis based upon the schedule in the owners manual or that recommended by the dealer? What repairs has the RX had since you owned it (any work at all)? How many miles do you drive a year and how long do you plan on keeping the car? What were trying to do is determine what condition the RX is likely to be in, and what might be the likely hood of it needing repair in the future based upon the histories of other RX350's of the same year. Also, we need to know what your car is worth now. Once we know the mileage I can look that up for you. Again, How much money do want to invest in keeping a car going if the market value is steadily declining. An extended warranty simply needs to be weighed between how much would I have to pay in repairs out of pocket between now and when 60,000 miles roll around, and how much the warranty cost. My guess is that you'll probably say no to the warranty. Please collect you information should you decide you want to proceed and write back as soon as you wish. Paul

Welcome Steve to the Lexus Owners Club! It's good to hear that you've already found information that has been helpful. Keep on posting with your questions and let us learn from you as well. Paul

I did look and it does not appear that the shade can be accessed that way. Local Lexus dealer did advise you had to remove the rear deck to access it. I note that the thread on the sub-woofer replacement was for an older model Lexus. Do you think it is still applicable to a 2005? Thanks As the diagram shows that Jim, (Bad Santa) just posted, your right that you can't get to it from the trunk. Look at the diagram and you'll see the shade tracks mount to the shelf under the rear deck, or "package shelf" as is the proper name. It does look like you will have to remove the fabric covered top of the package shelf and then you should see the mounting brackets for the shade. All any of us have to go by are these postings and diagrams since none of us have done this, and so far no one else has chimed in that has any first hand knowledge. Keep everyone informed.

I just read that the motor for the shade is in the trunk under the deck. You might try getting in the trunk and seeing if the shade can be removed from there.

I spent about 2 minutes doing a search of our postings and found this, a step-by-step guide to removing the back seat, bottom and back, and rear deck, and with PICTURES to show the steps. However, as I found out from the author, the sun shade is NOT attached to the rear deck. This write up is originally for removal of the sub-woofer but is the same process for getting to the rear deck. As for how do you get the sun shade out, use 2 different search methods; 1, Use the standard method you see when you click on "search" at the top of the page. I used "remove rear deck". Try also "remove sunshade" or any thing else. 2, Toward the top right side of the page is the tool I like the most. This is the small white bar that says "search" in faint print. Type in your search words. In the forums box chose Google then go. If you don't come up with anything after all this, hopefully members will continue to post and someone will know the answer to your questions. It's more likely that the step-by-step guide and photos will do the trick. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=60009

Well, that is just weird. Basic common sense tells us that something can't be right. Let's do this; A Lexus dealer in Dallas, TX, is an approved vendor of Lexus parts for LOC members. Go on line to" Sewellparts.com" and register as a Lexus Owners Club member for a hefty discount. Since you have your part numbers, you should be able to look up the belt assembly and get the price. I don't know, but there may be a Toyota dealer on line that also sells parts. Google that and check with them. You didn't say if the Lexus price included labor for removal of the old and installation of new belt.

Hello da7, and welcome to the LOC. We're glad you joined us. I did a search of the Club's forums, and it appears that the seat belts are the same. However, there must be a mistake in the part prices you've been quoted. There can't possibly be $500.00 difference in price for the same part, even if one does comes from Lexus. For example, does the Toyota price include ALL components; belt, tensioner, mounting hardware, latch, and labor to install. Does the Lexus price include all parts and installation labor? Come back and let us know what you find out. Merry Christmas, Paul

I guess I'll run against the grain somewhat on this, and I'll probably hear about it. But, quite frankly sometimes you just want a new car. Yeah, it might be cheaper to fix the present one, or the "practical" or "common sense" thing to do, but life my friends is very short. I'm not advocating spending money you don't have, but I'm also not promoting throwing good money after bad. What I am promoting is to allow yourself to thank that old vehicle for it's service and buy the new or newer one just because you want to. Within the last day, I was exchanging notes with one of the other LOC members. They had suffered a loss of a close relative and I shared that I had lost my sister recently. In that exchange, I was once again reminded how unpredictable life is and how all the plans we make for ourselves and just know will happen, don't. In short, you don't always have to do the prudent, safe, and predictable thing. If you like that shiny new car, and you can afford it, take a walk on the wild side.

To all Lexus Owners Club members all around the world, best wishes for a Merry Christmas and hope for a New Year filled with Peace, someone to Love, and good friends. Enjoy!Paul

Welcome to the Lexus Owners Club. I'm in my Den and I can smell this dealership all the way from there! In short, your situation does not pass the smell test. I can't imagine in my wildest dreams how a brand new LX with 27,000 miles on it could possibly go through THREE sets of brakes in that time. If I recall 2nd grade, that's a set of brakes every 9,000 miles. And this is because "it's just an SUV". My suggestion is try another Lexus dealer for an EVALUATION ONLY. This means you only want them to look at the wear on the brakes and rotors and see what they recommend. Don't do anything. Your looking for how they treat you, if you feel their honest and straight forward. That's all. Next, go to an independent mechanic (ask around for recommendations) I do not recommend Midas, Firestone, Sears or other high volume stores where I feel they go for volume and not expertise. See what the independent mechanic tells you. Does it ring true with anything else the others have said. If you wish, you might go to a Toyota dealer if you live in a area where there are no other Lexus dealers. They may be able to evaluate your brakes and give you some feeback about their wear and condition Finally, what does your Owners Manual say about normal maintenance and checking intervals for certain parts. Let's see what others say their getting for brake life intervals.....as they chime in.

This is from a search of the board and should cover most of what you are looking for. If not, there is more information available, just click on "Search" at the top of the header and try "sunroof drain" as your search string.Welcome to the LOC! Posted 08 November 2011 - 05:35 PM I live in South Florida and several weeks NOAA reported we had a 25 year rainfall ... almost 15 inches. My '92 LS 400 headliner, seats and floor got soaked. I read everything I could from this website and came up with my own plan to clear the sunroof drains. I used compressed air to blow out the drain channels in the rear. The drip hoses are located in the trunk behind the left and right side trunk panels. Once you have these panels removed, you can access the the drain hoses which exit the water to vents under the car. The drains are hard lines with spring wire clips connecting to clear drain hoses. I used compressed air to blow them out from the trunk to the roof. These drains are attached to the sun roof drains located in the rear side of the roof panel. Unless you're a trained technician, and you are absolutely sure the drain from the roof panel is actually leaking, I would not recommend attempting removing the headliner. If indeed it appears these rear drains may be clogged, you can remove the glass panel to see if there's something obstructing the flow to the rear drains. To remove the glass panel, you will have to remove the left and right glass panel plastic covers to expose the fastening screws. There is a spring clip holding this cover in the front and the back. Because there are shims on each side, you will have to remember where each shim stack needs to be replaced. Almost always the plastic covers will break toward the back and you will have to make a repair afterwards. When removing these plastic panels, use your finger nails to pry them loose rather than a tool to prevent breaking the glass. There are also two drains located in the front of the sun roof panel at each corner which run through the A pillar. I used weed whacker string to check that there were no clogs at the top side, but because these drains apparently terminate some place in the rocker panel, I wasn't sure they were completely clear because you can't see where they exit. However, I did notice that by testing with water that there were weep holes in the rocker to allow water to escape. It was here that i discovered that the rocker weep holes were crimped closed by hydraulic lifts and/or floor jacks used to hoist the car. I unbent the rocker weep holes and removed the front rubber access plugs and a subsequent water test proved that the water flowed out freely. Recently the we had another downpour and in the morning after the car was dry inside. Hope this helps.

When you say dead, have you checked the fuse for the shade to make sure it's not blown? On my previous 05'- ES330, it was a 10amp fuse, but I can't remember if it was in the cabin fuse block or the fuse block under the hood. I have never removed the rear seat or deck. Someone else will come along and add some more info. Also, do a search of the forum and see if you'll find more information.

For all the Lexus Owners Club members all around the World, best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a hope for your New Year to be filled with peace, someone to love, and friends who bring you joy.

From Motor Trends You Tube comes this leaked photo of the new LF-LC. What do you think?? http://www.autoblog.com/2011/12/20/road-and-track-leaks-lexus-lf-lc-concept/?a_dgi=aolshare_email ____________________

Hi Jim, and welcome to the LOC. What specifically did the dealer sight as the reason this problem is not covered under the "bumper to Bumper" warranty? Like you, I would assume this would come under materials and workmanship.

Now days, I believe that is called "precision guided all organic ordinance"! lol Your wife is single handedly accounting for the accelerated extinction of several non-threatened species. Whoa to those who reap carnage with a Japanese luxury car while sipping their latte' and listening to the stock reports. (My wife had a pet Deer "Bambi" when she was a child. We hit and kiiled a Deer last year and she was sure it was it's cousin.LOL...)