rob_es350

looks good barkley... the front side looks lighter than the back..is that true or just the way the light is hitting it?...what % tint did you use there? thanks

not so lucky here... 3 speeds in an 18 month period and mandatory suspended license where I live..had to live through that disaster a while back no major ticket problems since then thanks mostly to having cop friends giving me their cards to display when stopped..gotta play the game, lol

No one ever commented about the rear window of my 90 LS not being tinted while the side windows had 35% tint. It looked fine and I enjoyed the clear rear view on dark winter days when I lowered the retractable shade. Attached is a photo of the 90 LS taken a few days before I sold it in 2003. The non-metalized tint on the rear window of my 00 LS is a different shade of gray than the metalized tint on the side windows. I don't think anybody can tell and no one has ever commented. Can you tell? Look at the photo of my 00 LS showing both the rear and side windows from a distance - it's the photo labeled "with winter tires". It is quite common to tint the front side windows to a different degree than the rear side and/or back windshield. Many states do not allow the same degree of tint on all windows -- here is a table showing the various state requirements: http://www.tintlaws.com/ And what about SUV's and minivans? They almost always have darker factory tinted windows aft of the front side windows. As for a Lexus requiring a certain "look", the photo of the license plate frame on my 00 LS says what I think about that! If I "followed the herd", I wouldn't have bought my first Lexus LS 21+ years ago at a time when many people, including some of my friends, said it was stupid to pay so much for a gussied up Toyota. not a fan of the mixed tints, we will have to agree to disagree on that one but I do agree that I can't tell the diff on your 00 car, that one looks way better to me maintaining a particular look for a lexus was tongue in cheek humor, hence the lol that followed..guess you didn't get it..trust me, I do not give a rat's what the herd is doing

i don't think having mixed percentages of tint on the car is gonna look good at all....it's a lexus, requires a certain look, lol my guess is you will be happy with either the 35% or the 40% all around

The 35% Llumar metalized gray tint we have on our current cars and have had on our past cars doesn't seem dark at all when looking out from the inside of our cars. But I'm unusually sensitive to sunlight due to a cornea issue and spending way too much time at the beach -- some of my friends call me "Prince of Darkness". Maybe other colors and brands of 35% tint might would seem darker than the 35% tint on our cars. I have chosen gray tint because I've been told that it is more optically neutral. My suggestion is go with the 35% maximum allowed by your state. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that they wish they had lighter tint on their car. I would prefer something like 20% if 35% wasn't the maximum allowed in Kansas although I would probably still use 35% on the back windows so I could see well enough to back up safely. If your ES350 has a retractable rear window shade, consider leaving it untinted. You can always tint it later if you don't like it. My first LS400 had one of the very rare optional retractable rear window shades that was available as a dealer installed option in the early 1990's. I left the rear window untinted on it and have since noticed a number of other cars with retractable rear window shades that had the rear window untinted. Also consider that rear window tint may interfere with your automatically dimming interior and exterior mirrors and that it usually causes a little "light scatter" on the rear window defroster lines from the headlights of cars following you at night. I've gotten used to the defroster line light scatter but I still wish the auto dimming mirrors had not been effected. Also be careful of using metalized tint on a rear window that has a radio antenna. My tint installer recommends against this so our cars have lower quality non-metalized tine on the rear windows. Another tint option you might like is a front window brow. I had mine installed a few years ago when I scratched a cornea with a hard contact lens I used to have to wear and sunlight glare was making it difficult to drive. The window brow on my LS is 15%. The installer "cheated" a bit and extended the brow below the ASI line on the sides about an inch so that the line of the brow would be perfectly straight when viewed from the side. Attached are two photos: My side view of my 00 LS with 35% tint on a sunny day and a garage photo (dirty car!) that shows the front window brow. looks good I have no doubt that darker than 40% does not create a visibility issue when inside the car my point was that cosmetically from the outside, the darker tints on lighter cars, do not look that good, imo with darker cars, especially black, even up to 5% limo level looks pretty cool I guess it is the stark contrast of the dark tint against a light car that doesn't look appropriate, kinda stands out like you are trying to make a point ..best I can describe it some people think any dark tint is "obnoxious"..of course we all disagree with that ,lol

didn't want it mine, but have seen plenty of them, and her is my opinion for what it is worth generally it looks good, but way better on darker cars, especially black for lighter cars I would not go darker than 40%, perhaps 50% would look even better for darker cars, I think 35% is dark enough, but even darker is still pretty decent looking let us know what you decide I was thinkjng like you. My car is white (Starfire Pearl w/tan interior) and I'm thinking the lighter 40% would look good and kind of split the difference between the 35% and 40%. it's gonna look great..maybe get some pics up here when it is done, enjoy!

didn't want it mine, but have seen plenty of them, and her is my opinion for what it is worth generally it looks good, but way better on darker cars, especially black for lighter cars I would not go darker than 40%, perhaps 50% would look even better for darker cars, I think 35% is dark enough, but even darker is still pretty decent looking let us know what you decide

didn't want it mine, but have seen plenty of them, and her is my opinion for what it is worth generally it looks good, but way better on darker cars, especially black for lighter cars I would not go darker than 40%, perhaps 50% would look even better for darker cars, I think 35% is dark enough, but even darker is still pretty decent looking let us know what you decide

had to look up the lsa, yip, that would take care of my es handling complaints

It would be interesting to know what percentage of total U.S. Acura TL sales are FWD/AWD. It's probably anyones guess. 60/40, 70/30, 80/20?? I'm sure it varies by region of the country In NY, most dealers barely stock the FWD..couldn't sell um , and I believe the 2012's ONLY come with AWD, and the 3.7 engine makes sense..price on the 2011 AWD with came with the larger engine was just another 3k or so

great pics steve didn't realize this was a RWD car, so agree that es is not head this way wish they offered the es with AWD, believe that would attract a lot of new buyers that was probably the biggest thing I gave up when purchasing the es over some of the AWD competitors

http://www.lexus.com/lexus/LF_GH/index.jsp?s_ocid=LFGH11NPPPC&srchid=sem_k845_[KeywordID*] perhaps the new es will look like this these concept cars are usual over the top, but for the most part, I like it they might have gone a little overboard with the front end imo, but sides and rear, very nice

not a poker player, ok here is one article http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/04/three-largest-online-poker-sites-indicted-and-shut-down-by-fbi.html absolutely pathetic The govt has no problem with the lottery or casinos where they collect tons of taxes, but no taxes from on-line poker, so that was an apparent target, so sick if they would think a little, legalize the sites, and tax them, the revenue windfall would be absolutely huge

It's because different tire models can have dramatically different handling characteristics. I have Michelin Primacy all season tires on my Lexus too (I do not use them in winter) and they are quite, ride great and provide acceptable handling and braking but they fall far short of the handling and braking provided by the previous tires I used during Spring/Summer/Fall -- summer ultra high performance Bridgestone RE750. The RE750's were incredibly fun but I didn't like their short life - I squeezed just over 20,000 miles out of the set and I really should have discarded them sooner. The Primacy's are very nice and should last far longer but I have had to moderate my driving style which is something I should be doing anyway since I'm in serious geezer (60+) territory and I know my reflexes have to declining even if I don't notice it. No blasting around curves at the limit of adhesion on the Primacys. People interested in maximum performance don't use all season tires. Interesting that tires of the same size, assuming the same wear, would be so dramatically different in braking. Guess the friction difference can be pretty substantial. When my Michelin's have had it, hopefully not til 30k or so with Lexus 5k rotation schedule, I will definitely consider something else. ================== Wildly off topic, but since we have spoke at some length regarding govt intrusion (camera enforced traffic signals, etc), the other day was a very sad one for poker and for the country when the 3 largest on-line poker sites were shut down for US players. Good thing the govt is spending our tax revenues looking after our gambling habits, LOL.

Thanks. Mine actually came with the Michelin's. Glad that was the case since you report the handling is much better. Not sure why the tire change would affect the braking so noticeably.

You guys make a strong point. As I mentioned in other posts, I did drive a bunch of other cars before deciding on the ES These included infinti g37x, bmw3, and 5 series, acura tl, lexus gs350, cadillac cts, audi a4, and a6 The bmw535x was the best by far, but a 20k over the es did not make sense to me The g37x was amazing and pricing was even a touch less than the es, but it was a little too small ES was the most comfortable hands down, and performance was acceptable No regrets on the decision..spend a ton of time in the car, and comfort comes before being able to exit a highway without having to brake on the ramp..though I do like that,lol Once I figured out the tire pressure thing, I have not thought about the performance, just fine for me As far as the brakes, just wanted to know if you guys shared my opinion, which you obviously don't but imo, the brakes could easily not have that spongy feel with quick stops and still not give up any of the smoothness..I have no doubt that the brakes will stop the car in a big hurry if necessary my guess is that there are some es owners that we have not heard from yet who share my opinion regarding the brakes..I noticed it the first time I test drove the car anyone?, lol

Thanks smooth1! I do indeed think the suspension could be firmed up a bit. Only had the 5k maintenance to date, so new brakes still ahead of me. When the time comes, I will definitely look into your suggestions. When it comes time for tires, I will likely go up something different there too, probably even go with at least an 18'' wheel.

I ranted a bit, well a lot, about the handling of the es when I first got it, and then found it fine after I increased the tire pressure from the factory 30psi to 36-37psi have one more complaint about the car since I bought it...curious to see if anyone else on board brakes are not good with quick stops..I would characterize them as spongy, or somewhat non-responsive eh?

wow, great info!! we definitely need some feedback on odometer accuracy

ok, more confirmation on your thinking that it is an industry standard makes sense from their point of view for the reasons you've cited, but it's not right..just make the freakin gauge accurate and i'll decide whether to speed or not likely that only participants on this forum give a rat's about it though, lol

ok, so all speedometers across manufacturers are reading a bit high could be the great warranty ripoff scheme, but I think that what steve said makes sense that is, to keep drivers going marginally slower, and to reduce their liability if someone tries to blame the gauge for a speeding mishap

ok, conspiracy theory is on must be a known industry gimmick to save money on warranty work i have to check mine does the nav show mph? don't remember seeing that, but i don't use it much thanks steve No it doesn't. You need a Garmin or other after market GPS for that. that sucks...didn't think it was there thanks k.c.

ok, conspiracy theory is on must be a known industry gimmick to save money on warranty work i have to check mine does the nav show mph? don't remember seeing that, but i don't use it much thanks steve

We may be saying the same thing. My spedometer reads 62 when I am only going 60. I used 60mph for my calculation. The calculation is simple eighth grade math solving a ratio. Using your example, if your speedometer reads 52.5 mph when you are only going 50, the math ratio is" 52.5 is to 50,000 as 50 is to "what?" Or 52.5X = ((50,000)(50) and solve for X. X equals 47,619. So you are being screwed out of about 2,380 miles. (yes I was a math major, Univ of Texas, class of 1968, hook'em horns). don't get paranoid my texas friend, lol, I was correcting Django44 who had everything way wrong the calculations that you did are correct

I don't see why mixing is insane 50% of 89 and 50% of 93 should give you the performance of 91 I would thing I know if you throw in a bit of racing fuel, you will definitely feel the difference