ArmyofOne

I'll just say one thing... NEVER pay retail on ANYTHING when resources are so readily available. It isnt hard to make connections in the caar world, EVERYONE knows somwone who can get something cheap, you just have to ask.

count on $1,000 a corner USD, air struts aint cheap. there is an after market setup aoutther somewhere...

what do you think adding vents to the bonnet to address the engine temp issue? ← odd, mine is 15 years old and is fine...but i would imagine home depot would have some similar high heat insulation...

OK, leave a message with your name and # if i dont pick up.

Yes, the bumper will stay as is for now. i just took the curl otu fo the fender and bannged it around a ltitle bit so it lines up, all they will have to do is level and paint now. i will take it to some body shops tomorrow and see if i cant knock a few hundred off that estimate.

I have never done it. I have always done it on the cars drom the old days by turning the carb LOL. Be careflu you dont fry your cats, too much fuel and the unburned fuel wil go into your cats and burn there, disentegrating them, too little fuel and your engine wont run right.

Congrats on the new car! Do yourself a favor and go ahead and bite the bullet and replace the tires with something higher quality and quieter riding. Lexus puts terrible tires on their cars, and I wish I hadn't waited 25k to replace the original tires on mine. Good rubber makes a huge difference. Most of your problem is probably the run flats, replace those with some good quality normal tires and the difference will be unreal. ← For All season ride, control and durability, i reccomend the Falken Ziex ZE512. Do a search for "ZE-512", and you will find my post on them and my review.

Steve, you should call before i go, so we can chat. and thank you very much, you have no idea what it means to me to hear these kind words from people. *sniff* y'all are gonna make me cry.... :cries:

apparenty your mechanic didnt know what he would be getting himselfinto. PM user JPI, he will tell you, its alot nmore complicated than a R&P on most cars.

OEM R&P? for $400? probably not likely, not unless you know someone. Mine rebuilt was $986, i Know someone and got it for $367. an aftermarket one will run you $400 though...i woudlnt reccoemnd aftermarket on this part, thats just me though.

Thanks guys for your wishes, and your prayers, they are wanted and needed. Serving my country is the least I can do. I feel I have to give back at least some of what was given to me so willingly. Anyone who wants to get a letter from me while in basic can PM me there address and name. Lexls: I enlisted in the DEP program and was listed Inactive reserve for a little over a year Yes, i am just starting out, in the military...but I have had a small amount of hand to hand combat training and have had to work out to lose the weight I needed too. I was 324lbs, with 48% body fat in Dec. 2001 when this endevour started (the first day i went to speak to a recruiter). In ~1.5 years, i had dropped to 200lbs. Eating right and biking 20 miles a day were the 2 things i had to do. It took a long time, but when I stepped on that scale for the physical at MEPS (military Entrance and Processing Station) for DEP (Delayed Enlistment Program), I almost cried. It read 199.7lbs. I was over on weight (max was 179) so they took a body fat measurement: 23.9% (24% was the max). So i passed, but barely. I was admitted to the DEP on the condition that i lose 2% body fat before coming back for ADR (Active Duty Rotation). I was 19 at the time (april 2004), and the last time I had seen a scale with a 1 in the first slot, was 1997. I kept excrecising, but I toned down the routine to 20 miles 3 x a week. enough to maintain my weight. I went and took this physical for ADR (april 2005), and it reads the same, but my body fat had dropped to 18.7%, with a lean muscle mass of 163.7lbs. That means that for the first time in many years, I was more muscle than fat...but not just that, I was WAY more muscle than fat. There are 3 thinsg that kept me going through all of this: Family, Friends, and Faith (i call them the "3 F's"). You are all y friends, and its important that you know that. For, me this has been more than a way to get into shape, to give me a reason to get off my lazy !Removed!. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was something that I was meant for. Every road i took lead me back here. Every scenario of my life I worked through in my head took me back to the same place: Serving My country, and being able to be a part of something so endearing, so special, that i would remember it all my days. I still live at home... so im not just starting out in the army, im just starting out in life. Wish me luck fellas. BTW, the job i chose was 63B, Light Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic.

Becuase im shipping to Basic Training/Active Duty Rotation on the 21st! Im currently Inactive Reserve/Delayed Enlistment. I (re) swore in today as a member of the Active Duty Army. My car will probably be stored until i get back, but i may just sell it to my brother. just wanted to let you all know. i will be backavailable on the flrums again in 6 months, so please dont delete me! i recieved a $14,000 enlistment bonus, which i will take delivery of after Basic Training and AIT. ($4,000 taxable, but will be returned in next years tax return).

that woudl work except it woudl still be a total,and i dont have full coverage, and its not true. I got an estimate for $898 @service king if i buy the 2 lights. thats R&I of the panels that need fixed and paint blending.

there is a catch, he wont pay for the bumper. it was wack before he hit me. so he said no. We cant claim on insurance, i called them this morning if we claimed the Hood, Fender, Bumper, both bumper signals, Mounting Panel (it is indeed broken) and the headlight and parking light, they will write me a check for the value and brand it SALVAGED. becuase the the damage would exceed the value of the car. if i can find a used bumper, then it might be a possibily just to have them paint it at the same time. so: 1. The light he hit was my good one, i REALLY needed the one on the right. 2. My mom tried to tell me i was parked to close to the driveway (not buyin it!!!) and that i may have to fess up half the damages. 3. the deductible wont matter, if they claim it on insurance, i get a check for $2,000 and thats it. im not willing to take that since i just spent $4,000 in repairs. 4. again, maybe not all of it. 5. Good point. 6. and then we come back to maybe not. the thing that really irritates me the most is, that if i backed into his truck (and managed not to decimate my poor lexi) then he sure as *BLEEP* would have made me pay for the ENTIRE thing. now he only wants to pay for half? WTF is that? My car was parked! i was 100 feet away, asleep. TOTALLY his fault. :chairshot:

Cleanup <_< : O took the parking light off too, since i dont think it would stay on at freeway speeds. Damn he hit this car hard, it fared pretty good. he hit it hard enough to knock glass halfway across the street. does anyone find it odd that my headlight lesnes are actually glass and not acrylic? that would explain why they are not hazed.

REPLACE THEM. you are right there anyways. i would also do the valve cover gaskets, but that requires a little more work. so thats up to you.

He hit it with our F150. the truck is fine, only a 1 inch cratch on the chrome bumper... if it gets written off, then allstate will no longer be my parents insurance co (they have been with them for 28 years). after discussing it *calmly* with my mother, she said they would just take it to a bodyshop and have it fixed, to avoid the insurance hassles and having my cars record blemished forever. the hood looks like it can be repaired, and the mounting panel for the headlights is fine, its just the headlight itself, the fender and parking light. this sucks... daytime pix: not sure whats wrong with my camera ATM, sorry for the blurry pix.

This morning at 615am, my dad comes upstairs and wakes me up. he tells me he was backing out of the driveway and hit my car. I see hood repair, headlight mounting panel, fender replaced, 2 lights, and i might as well go ahead and get a new bumper too.... JUST IN TIME FOR THE FRICKIN MEET on the 16th...I AM SOOOOOOOOO p!ssed! The bumper was already FUBARED before he hit it...

True, but the song above (titled "Oklahoma") could have been a personal story. maybe his mom died and he didnt know his dad. then was placed in foster care, while social services tried to locate his father. then he would know more about that situation than i do... its a mater of perspoective, this 12 year old may have been through alot more than you or i, therfore is better able to articulate feelings associated with the situation. i have met 12 year olds that have had a much harder life than anyone should...just a thought. :) as for the tammy wynette song, ithink that was just a tribute or somthing, a recitation.

really? I assumed it was a female, sounded like it...

A few pix of mine: 1990 ES250: These were pre window tint and decals :) 2002 Chrysler Concorde Limited, MODDED TO THE HILT!...looks stock. there are only 2 people on this site that know whats under that hood other than me, and niether of them will talk. :) (RIGHT GUYS!!!???) and the 2002 F-150: ^Rhino Liner Bishes!!! ^after a fresh detailing from me. ^peep the taillight covers LOL. sorry, i had to show off a little :)

Thank you for saving me from my own ignorance lexus freak! i LOVE my falkens!!!!

I have no idea what the song is called, but Billie Gillman sings it (female country artist). here are the lyrics. I found it very touching. I dont know why, but that song touched me more than anything has in a LONG time. It made me realize how lucky i am to have a father who loves his family and stuck it out through thick and thin, and that he is always there when i need him. If you all dont want to talk about yoru past thats fine, but this is a reminscing thread i guess. So lets have some of your fondest memories.

Whenyou do, search for Falken Ziex ZE-512. you will get my opinion on these tires in the first thread or 2. :)

ouch...very ouch LOL. its tru though, at 75-85mph, my RPMs are between 35-3600. at 65, its like 2900 even the f150 cruises at 1500 or so...