ArmyofOne

good, cause im frameless sounds good steve. mucho thanks!

underbody rust count?

speed demon hell! lol, my car hasnt seen over 4k RPMS in 4 months!

was that corrosion warranty lifetime? and was it around in 1990? i just found rust!

DFW traffic density os SO similar to washingtonDC Steve, its rediculous. I have driven through DC once and it so remids me of there. do the expressways in your area still book along at 80-85-90 and 4 feet from each other? THATS scary. if you backoff and allow more room in between you and the car in front of you, some a$$ will slide into the space, so you have to back off some more. its like youhave no choice but to tailgate. not to mention there are cars on ALL sides. scary. Interstate 635 Loop around dalls is quite possibly the WORST in the area. especially around the High-Five interchange. at 5pm, either that highway is doing 90 with cars merely inches from each other, or it doesnt go over 10 mph for MILES. are your freeways anything like that? or are they laid out better than ours? we have one interchange here that will go from 6 lanes to 2 in 100 feet. THATS crazy. if you ask me, these are the things that we need to be working towards gettingchanged, not speed limits. the freeway system in DFW has not been rerouted or had its layout changed (with the excpetion fo a few interchanges) since it was originally designed. thats right, its basically the same as it was in 1950's. think about it...how often in the city do you get to even do the speed limit of 60 safely? it aint often around here! abnd its because fo the design of the freeways, they were awesome when they were desgined, but that was over half a century ago.

1990 Lexus ES250: 145,000 miles, heavily neglected by the previous owner, but this owner cars enough to keep this piece of lexus history on the road. currently one of the cleanest ES250's around :) 2002 Chrysler Concorde Limited: Modified for fun, its a secret, Blake and Jason are the only ones who know (SHHHHHHHHH GUYS!!!!). Mom pays the insurance and i pay the payment, its in her name though. I drive it the most. out of the 55k (and second tranny) i have put on 45-50,000 of them. 2002 Ford F150: Nothing special here, its all stock except for a few minor asthetics mods. oh, and a rhino liner. its the workhorse.

omg!!!! for once I totally agree with monarch. steviej ← Ditto!

If I only had those four to pick from: Yokohama. But do more research. Try a search, as there are many opinions from various users. ← Falken Ziex ZE-512. mine were $45 a piece, but they are smaller than yours will be. i wouldnt think you would pay over $100 a piece though, and they are the BEST tires i have ever owned...PERIOD. I have logged over 500,000 miles on americas roads, but these are by far the best. they are quiet and have excellent handling they are the BEST of all worlds. when these wear out, they will be rpelaced by the same thing. do a search for "Falken" and see look at my post.

speaking of polishes SW, where are mine?:whistles: ;) ← Dammit! I'm sorry! I'll get these out to you I promise! Moving coupled with starting my new business has me scatterbrained. ← No problem, the meet is on the 16th and i would LOVE to have them before then, but if not thats ok too. ;) i dont NEED them to make my car look good, but it sure would help :) you still have that plate frame?

Come on now, out of the countless times you've made fun of me for driving slower than your grandmother, you really think I use ECT Power? :whistles: If Lexus put it in the cars, I'm sure it can't hurt anything other than fuel econ. :whistles: I don't really see the use of ECT if your Lexus has tranny intelligence; they pick up on your driving habits and start shifting accordingly. I notice that mine adapts very quickly to my driving habits. At any rate, when I want to "go," I just plant my size 14 shoe on the gas! ← i baby my car too. but that doesnt mean my ECT doesnt stay on :)

BTW, NC211, you are more than welcome for the parts hookup. seriously, if anybody needs anything, let me know! i will be more than happy to help you out. at the very most its a phone call for me to "see what i can do".

if its the ECT power (and not O/D power, as this is the only button that should deactivate O/D) thn you have that wrong, my O/D engages, even though slightly harsh, at around 50MPH in this mode...the LS maybe higher, but it should engage. Basically, that buton uses electronics to override the standard programming of the ECU and firm up the shifts. it also moves shift points around. these firmir shifts are MCUh easier on yoru tranny than the smooth soft ones. the softer the shift, the more parts have to work, and the hotter the transmission is. Ask blake918, i believe he leaves his on all the time, and he now has almost 253,000 miles on his original tranny. however, the differences in tranny wear may be nominal, as the first 138,000 miles of my cars life, the button wasnt even used once (previous owner had no idea what it was but said he never used it). but knowing what i know, it makes sense to me that keeping it on would help the tranny "live" longer, but maybe it doesnt make sense to some people, just my .02 cents :)

If your power button is engaged your trans should not shift up till your rpm's are higher. I have never felt a whole lot of difference though so I just leave it in the normal mode. ← it will make a difference in the heat that is built up inside the tranny, but even this may be nominal. i leave mine on all the time.

speaking of polishes SW, where are mine? :whistles: ;)

Whoo-hoo, 145K will be rounded this week on my ES250!!

Step 2: Replace. ^The ball joint is connected to the steering knuckle with a tapered connection, called a steering taper, which is also used in other steering connections. To remove a ball joint requires the use of a ball joint remover. Another way of "breaking" the taper is to use a large hammer. -First, remove the cotter pin from the ball joint nut and loosen the nut several turns. -Position the vehicle so that the coil spring is pushing on the ball joint. This could require lifting the vehicle or allowing its weight to rest on the wheels. -Use a hammer to pound sharply on the steering knuckle on the outside of the taper. This will deform the taper and spring pressure will separate the ball joint from the steering knuckle. Removing the Ball Joint from the Control Arm A ball joint can be retained by one of several methods: Some ball joints are held in with rivets from the factory. The rivets are drilled and punched to remove them. Bolts and nuts are used to hold the replacement joint in place: -The most common method is press fit. Some manufacturers require you to replace the entire control arm assembly if a ball joint is to be replaced. In these cases, the ball joint and control arm are made as a single assembly and individual parts are not available. -If the control arm has been removed from the vehicle, a pressed-fit ball joint can be removed using a standard hydraulic press. When the control arm is still on the car, a special press set allows the removal and replacement of these ball joints. Some pressed-fit ball joints have a spot weld that holds them in place. This must be carefully removed. When a replacement ball joint is installed, a snap ring often takes the place of the weld. NOTE Be sure the grease release hole in the new ball joint's rubber boot is aimed away from the brakes.

Here you are camlex: Step 1: Inspect. (irregardless of whether you desire to do this step, i will put in in here for the archives) -In some vehicles it is recommended that you check to see if the grease fitting can wiggle in the ball joint. If it does, the ball joint should be replaced. Always check the service manual when checking ball joints. -Some ball joints have a wear indicator built into them. The most common type of wear indicator has a shoulder that sticks out of the bottom of the joint about 0.050" when it is new. If the ball joint has worn, this shoulder will recede into the ball joint housing. When it is flush, the ball joint should be replaced. A wear indicator ball joint must be loaded and at normal ride height to read the indicator. -Ball joints should be checked for excessive wear and torn grease seals. Look for unusual tire wear. Worn ball joints or other front suspension parts that cause looseness can result in cupped wear of the tire tread. A torn or missing ball joint seal will require replacement of the joint by a front suspension specialist. Bad shock absorbers or a tire out of balance can also result in cupped wear. -Feel around the outside of the boot, looking for tears. If the boot is torn, the joint will probably fail soon and should be replaced. -Inspect also for signs of rust or cracks on the control arm near the joint. -Load carrying joints will have some slop when the weight of the vehicle is taken off them. Follower joints should never have play. -To check a load-carrying joint, it must be unloaded. When the coil spring is on the lower control arm, raise the vehicle by jacking under the control arm as close to the ball joint as possible. This gives the maximum amount of leverage against the spring. -The ball joint is unloaded when the upper strike out bumper is not in contact with the control arm or frame. A quick check for looseness can be made by using a pry bar between the tire and the ground. part II coming up...

With that criteria, it sounds like you would be more well suited to a mid-late 90's LS. but i think the best ES is from 96-2001. the styling had only very subtle changes during these years. blake918 has an LS that gets really good mileage and it also has high mileage. if i had to choose based on reliability, (based on my opinions and my research) i would have to choose the LS. Bear in mind (im sure you dont need to be told) that any car, even a lexus, will have problems the older it gets, irregardless of mileage. some people wil try to tell you otherwise, dont listen to them, it is still a machine, and they do break. but when well maintained, their downtime is NOTHING compared to other cars intheir classes.

for which? if ball joints, i will post when i get home. :)

You are in denton? Im in Ft worth LOL, there is a meet coming up, check here: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151907 I would say more than likely its your rotors. care to let me take a ride? i would be happy to ride along if you want to meet me somewhere. EDIT: Oh BTW, ifyou were driving through watauga on Denton HWY, then dont worry about it, its the road. that road has all kinds of washbaords in it.

Oh, boy. If Best Buy told you they wouldn't do it, it must really be a job for the dealer only. I'm sorry, but it looks like you will have to take it to the dealer. ← :( not good. took it by the dealer today, one of the techs said he sees it quite often on the 300M/Concorde/Intrepid Platform. he also said that removal and install of th headunit w/ new unit was over $2,000. looks like i will be living without the CD player for a while. meanwhile i will be getting second opinions.

The R&P bushings on an ES are a PITA, an LS is different. those are easier. i woudl say if you cant change a CV axle/align your car, dont attempt this. Ball joints are a farily easy procedure, will cost you 1-2hrs per side, 2 hrs being the MOST. the ball joints themselves are under $40 here: http://www.discounttoyotaparts.com

No problem, glad i could be of service :)

they might look ok, but chcances are they arent, their lifespan is about 100K miles. maybe 150 if all highway. 9x out fo 10, ball joints look ok until they are changed, then you dont realize they have been eating themselves alive LOL. the other thing to check is the rack and piniopn buchings and mounts, make sure they arent loose/bad. if you can move the wheel laterally or vertically, chances are you have a fried ball joint, and/or bad rack and pinion bushings. the R&P bushings tend to last MUCH longer than the ball joints though.

check your lower ball joints. also your strut mounts.