LexBob2

Let us know how you come out. There's a good chance a mechanic or dealer has encountered this before. Hopefully it's a quick fix.

You might check with a dealer to see if they have a solution/suggestion. Good luck.

They definitely took a conservative approach with the new Camry. I'm anxious to see one in person to compare with the pics. I'm sure it will sell well, it's just not as swoopy as some of the competition. Maybe not a bad thing for longevity. agree that it will do real well..imo, they would gain share in a big way if they had an AWD option there of a ton of customers who will only buy AWD cars now since there are so many good ones out there at reasonable price points Probably doesn't bode well for the next gen Avalon or the new ES350 to get an AWD option.

They definitely took a conservative approach with the new Camry. I'm anxious to see one in person to compare with the pics. I'm sure it will sell well, it's just not as swoopy as some of the competition. Maybe not a bad thing for longevity.

With the 2012 GS, it looks like Lexus is getting away from the L Finese styling theme. From the pictures at least, I like the look of the new GS. Need to see one in person though. The next gen ES will no doubt have styling similar to the GS since that's the direction they seem to be going.

You are correct. One new color (I think Smokey Granite Mica goes away) and minor trim changes according to C&D. Also read that the 2012 will finally have backlit overrhead Homelink buttons.

Do ALL 4 door locks work? Check to see if any of them are not responding. You may have a bad door lock actuator at one of the doors. That may cause what you are describing. It actually locks all 4 doors with remote key..Thanks I don't have my manual handy, but is there a setting to disable the beep and flash? If so, maybe it needs to be reset. Just a thought.

That stinks. At least she left the note. Do you have a good body shop lined up?

Your car looks nice. How did you decide on 20%?

I thought I'd seen a video from Lexus showing the wood/leather steering wheels being made from real wood. As I recall it showed how the wood is formed and then finished. Am I remembering correctly?

I got my car back today and it looks nice. I went with the 40% all around. It could be a little darker maybe (35% is legal here) but I wanted to error on the side of a little too light vs. to dark for a variety of reasons. Looks like the shop did a good job. Now for some sun so I can see how it works...

Barkley thanks for the pictures. Like rob, I'd like to know waht % your tint is. From the angle it looks like it might be darker than the 35% allowed here in Illinois.

This will be the first time for me, probably why it's taking me so long to decide about things.

Yeah, my preference is to have the same % all around. I'm glad this forum is available, if I talk any more about tint around the house, my wife may leave me. Hmmmm....

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 window. 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. Jim, thanks for all of the information. In my (over) research I've considered several of the points that you brought up and it was good to hear them from someone else. The installer I'm using uses the Llumar brand, and I'm going with the non-metallic film too. Still wrestling with the 35%-40% question though. The installer said if I went 35% and thought it was too dark he'd redo the front side windows with 40% or 50% at no charge.

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! I set an appointment for next week to get the 40% tint installed.

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%.

Does anyone out there have tinted windows in their ES350? Any pictures or feedback would be appreciated. I'm thinking of having mine done, and am trying to decide how dark to go. Here in IL, 35% is legal which is fine with me, as I don't want my windows too dark. I'm thinking of going 40% since I'd rather error on the side of going too light vs. too dark. Thanks in advance for insights, opinions etc.

I've read about people having a problems with the color from jeans transferring to light colored leather upholstery. Is this only with darker color designer-type jeams? I wear pre-washed jeans virtually all of the time, and prefer light color interiors and have never had it happen.

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

Quite a few ES competitors offer AWD. LaCrosse, Taurus, G37, Acura TL etc. I wouldn't be surprised if the ES gets it some time in the future.

You are correct, sir. The ES model numbers always refer to the engine size. ES 300, 330, 350 etc. I'm confused by the thread title, 2008 GS engine????

I agree that the cabin lighting was dim on the '07-'09, but I liked the look and the ambiance they created on my '07. The dim lights were never too much of an issue for us.

You might try to find a shop that would make the swaps for you. There are shops that install accessories (alarms, remote starters etc.) that could help you make the changes.

There certainly is some interesting competition to the ES out there right now. From Buick, Lincoln, Audi, Infiniti, Acura, the list goes on. I'm sure that Lexus realizes this, so hopefully the new ES will stay at or near the top of the Entry Level Luxury pack. yeah, i totally agree....competitors have really caught up...will be interesting to see if lexus can innovate a bit at this point i drove all the cars you mentioned, before buying the 2011 es, and as we have discussed here on this forum, it was a close call...especially the infiniti When we bought our car the Infiniti G37x was on our short list. Nice car. Good value too IMO.