nc211

Well shoot, if you've got those kinds of sweet prices from a dealership in your backyard, then it's a no brainer! Keep it! ;)

You're spot on right about them being targeted towards kids, which is also why you can pick one up for pretty cheap. I guess, from what I've read, kids buy the Scion becuase it's affordable, and "cool", and then instantly yank the stock stereo for their custom jobs. Furthermore, if I buy this unit, I'll turn around and put my stock stereo up on ebay, and recoup about 50% of the cost "depending on purchase price of Scion unit". Some guys report getting theirs for like $50-$60 bucks, which is increadible. Further reading, I was told these Scion units have digital sound reproduction "dsp" features as well. If it works out the way I think, the actual I pod cable will cost more than the head unit itself. From what I can gather, the Scion units are made by Pioneer, just like the units in the LS400's. The stock unit is made my Fujistsu. It ain't bad, but like you said Smooth, for that kind of money, why the heck not? It's also my understanding that Toyota has common connectors across the model lines, making it easy to swap out steroes here and there.

Anyone have any opinions about the Pioneer Scion stereos used in the Scion cars? I ask, because the 4runner guys are buying them up like hotcakes, for around $100 or less. I guess they're super easy to install, as they're perfect fits, perfect plug n' play, and report much improved sound. Plus, you can control "and charge" an ipod straight from the unit, and also install xm satelite. I'm in the running for one on ebay, an 08' model. The oem in the 4runner is kind of lame. It certainly don't bump up my !Removed!, and keepinz' dem' pimps from snippin' at my ho's...fo' shizell. Are they any good? Anyone messed with one?

Thanks Mad Dawg! We're very close to having the baby...any day now actually, which is making my work nearly impossible to focus on right now...that, and I've got some serious spring fever going on these days. Looking forward to a couple weeks off after Jr. comes.

Rotors have been talked about a lot on here. You'll find several good suggestions if you run a search for "brake rotors" or any combination there-of. But, to sum it up... Genuine OEM receive A LOT of strong recommendations, for ease of use, quiet operation, etc... buy them online, not at your local dealership, to save a lot of money. www.parts.com, www.lexuspartsonline.com, are just a couple places. Brembo has received A LOT of strong recommendations as well. In terms of buying other aftermarket rotors, my only advice to you is to MAKE SURE, 110% SURE, they have the centering screw holes to mount them correctly to the hub. You do not want a rotor that simply slides over the wheel studs, like most cars have. The LS is soo smooth, because it's perfectly balanced. You throw off that balance, you'll be hopping/pounding down the road. I learned this lesson the hard way, until I realized my crap-o-carquest rotors didn't have the centering screw holes. I was pounding down the road, shook something horrible. Also, when you do start the process, it'll serve you well to waste $5 before hand at the dealership, and buy a couple extra centering screws. You'll find that they're very soft metal, and extremely easy to strip, extrememly easy. Having a couple extra on hand, can save your butt from some serious frustration....again....learned this the hardway.

The Check Engine Light (CEL). There is a computer in the car that stores all error codes, and will transmit a specific error number to a code reader. From there, you post up what that error code number is, and usually someone will translate it for you. You can most likely take the car to your local auto parts store and they'll hook up their gadget machine to the computer port, pull the code, and tell you what they are. This is the 1st thing any mechanic is going to do to your car, before doing anything else. The dealership will charge you over $100 just for this check, so it's best to take advantage of the nice folks at your local Autozone, as they usually do it for free. I believe you have the OBDI series "OBDII became federal law in 96'", which breaksdown the codes even further, and required all cars sold in the US to have a universal terminal port for computers to hook into. If you look at a car made beyond 96', you'll usually find this terminal around the driver's left knee area. Before buying a bunch of parts, I'd have this done. You might find it's something as simple as a traction control fuse ;)

Nice! I know what lives out there....you guys play with the big guns!

How do these guys find these 4 year old threads??? Isn't there a "delete" feature on the server after a few years? Josh, when this thread started, weren't you getting ready for your prom? Hahaha... ;) By the way, Josh, my little brother-in-law just received is deployment orders last night. He's supposed to be national guard MP, but has learned he's being reassigned to the tank battalion. He's heading to training on how to drive and fire, then going to Kuwait in Jan, and has already been "stop-losted", so he'll be in Iraq for at least a year.... Those tank guys pretty safe over there?

I place those non-alcoholic beverages in the same category as decaf coffee, suger-free candy, and democrats.... there's just no use! HAHAHA..... Bullseye on me! Fire away! :P Joking aside... thanks for the advice everyone. I did use the old stuff last weekend, and the results were spectacular. I clayed the car, then polished with the old Mequires, then put two coats of wax. I finished up with taking the wheel off the car, claying them both inside and out, and using some Mothers Metal Polish "stinky blue stuff", on them. Now, the car is so smooth, a paper towel won't even sit on the hood, it just slides off. I rain-x'd all the glass and light/markers. Of course, Murphy's Law showed up the following day with about 3 inches of rain. But, at 40mph+, you don't even need to use the wipers, the water just flies off the car. I don't have one of those Porter Cable machines, but I've got to admit, my $50 GNC 10in' random orbital buffer from Lowes really works quite well, and makes this chore bearable. The 4runner is next, which will take me a couple of days. The paint is so rough, it's probably going to take two of those little Mequire claybars to get clean. That project might require some true budweiser to get through, which is why I'm waiting until after the baby comes to do it, which should be any day now! May 17th is the official due date....

Yeah man, they're a "must have" in my opinion. They sell other's that have the internal heater for the water, that heats it up an additional 25 degrees. But in my opinion, the water tank is so small anyway, that by the time the water starts too cool down to the point of losing it's effectiveness, it's time to refill anyway. So, wasn't worth the extra $60. I bought mine at Best Buy for $59.99 a few weeks ago. The wife was ticked! Said we didn't need to spend the money to replace the old machine. I told her there was no way in hell I was going to live in a house that has cream colored carpet and cream colored furniture with 3 cats and a newborn baby without one! Since she drive the 4runner now, she saw the wisdom of my knowledge when she sat in the 4runner. I'm out of the dog house, and back in charge! Hahaha....for now....

90', I think the question for you to ask yourself internally is "are you a perfectionist?" If you are, then in my honest opinion, the LS can drive you insane with trying to chase down little vibrations here and there, and can ruin the experience of owning one. I'm a perfectionist, and I've got to admit, although my LS was one of my favorite cars I've ever owned, it was also one of the most frustrating, expensive, and damn irritating as well. Honestly, a big part of me was relieved to let it go, and be free of "constant monitoring" while driving. After awhile of fixing something up, you tend to lose sight of the fact that it's just a car. But, having said that, when my LS was right, it was spectacular! It was fast, it was glass smooth, it was church-mouse quiet, it was solid, and it was impressive. It was also about $4,000 on my credit card to get it there too. I chased vibrations that resulted in the replacement of: All control arms, all motor & tranny mounts, rear differential mounts, all struts, all balljoints, all outer tie rods, all brake components, all tires, all bushings, front door weather stripping, fluids, plugs, filters, and even the damn drive-shaft "which eliminated all vibrations". So, you can see, if you're not willing to accept the fact that a 18 year old car is going to have some 18 years of age on it, you can easily go insane with it, like I did. Some say I was foolish to waste the money, and I'd be hard to disagree, but for me, it was a learning experience on automotive care and maintenance, that I never had before. So, I take that knowledge with me into the future, and have used it already on my other cars, but to a much smaller degree. My recommendation for you, on your car? Replace the motor mounts and tranny mount. If you're getting the clunk from the front, replace the strut rod bushing "I believe your series can replace just the bushing". And you might want to have your rear carrier bushings looked at and possibly replaced too. There are some aftermarket parts for those that aren't too bad on the ole' wallet. And then, I'd stop and just drive the car. If you find that it needs more suspension work, and you're not 100% sure you want to keep the car anyway, I'd sell it and move on. Unless you want to use your LS to learn some DIY stuff "which the LS is quite an expensive car to do this on", just replace the mounts, set your cap at the strut rods, and go from there.... Oh, my car? Well it did sell for about $7,500 last November. It had 132k on the clock, and needed a new rack and strut mounts. The rack was obvious, as it was leaking on the passenger side, even with clean fluids and clean screens throughout. The strut mounts were due because the front end would "pop" on sharp bumps. I forgot to replace them when I replaced all the other suspension components, and was too lazy and didn't care enought to replace them. I could also hear something in the engine sounding like a bad bearing was coming down the line. I wasn't sure what it was, but I suspected either the alternator, ac compressor, or steering pump, was getting close to the end. I"m glad I didn't take on those repairs.

Well, a little update. My big bissell steam cleaner broke a few weeks ago, so I replaced it with a smaller version, called the bissell little green machine. It's basically just the hand wand version of the upright models. Got sick and tired of lugging that big ole' thing out everytime a small spill happened around the house. I don't know if the old one was tired, or the hand wand attachment was broken and I didn't realize it, or technology improved these machines over the past few years, but the little green machine works 10 times better than the attachment of the old, larger one. So, I decided to try the 4runner cleaning again yesterday. Holy Crap, that thing cleaned the seats and carpet back to new! All I used was hot water, no cleaning solution. The used water was freakin' nasty! Just cleaning the front passenger seat and rear passenger side seat produced dirty water that was so brown, you could barely shine a light through it. It was freakin' disgusting, to say the least. The funny thing though, is the smoke smell had gone away after about 6 weeks from the purchase date. I used about a dozen dryer sheets over the months to help eliminate the odor, which worked quite well. But I always felt like the fabric was just dirty. It didn't seem dirty, but in my mind, it felt dirty. Well, now I know the truth, it was absolutely covered in smoke residue, and I'm sure some dirt too. My digital camera's battery is completely dead, so I couldn't take any pictures. But the best way I can describe what the dirty water kept looking like every time I emptied the tank, would be to compare it to a cup of hot chocolate. Just nasty. Now? The fabric is fluffy, car smells new, and you can see the actual pattern of the material, even some of the square pattern inserts that are shinny. I'm actually stunned at the results, and very pleased with the little green machine, which is linked here: http://www.bissell.com/Featured_Product.aspx Again, I don't know if my old one was just worn out, broken, or poorly designed. But these new ones, have some serious water pulling muscle. Took the car about 2 hours to completely dry. But, you guys still agree that I shouldn't use the bissell on the headliner though, right? You guys still say it'll most likely cause the glue to fail?

We would all appreciate a demonstration of this technique, could you post it on Youtube? Thanks. What, no dinner, motor talk, or keg of Budweiser first? What kind of Southern Hill-Billy do you take me for? But, it goes something like "Look here at this Lexus issued TSB on specifications. Do you see those numbers? Do I need to notify my friends at the Better Business Burea, who undoubtably will file a report, that will be picked up by the SBA "Small Business Adminstration" during their quarterly review, and will ultimately contact you for being in default of your loan agreement, to not take part in such unethical business practice". I was very mad that day, and I know a thing or two about small businesses, especially new ones. It also helps that I live in a "on-line" county, with direct access to the registry of deeds. The SBA records certain documents, that can be found...

Hot spots: You mean pad stamps on the rotor itself? If so, mine use to do that too, until I learned a little trick, which I do now in all cars that I drive. When I come to a stop, I roll forward about an inch or two to allow the rotor spot under the pads to cool. If it's a really hard or long stop, I pop the car into "n" and take my foot off the brake, to allow air to slip under the pads and prevent the heat trasfer into the rotor. My 4runner had those pad stains on the rears a few months ago. I had them turned with no problems. If you measure the thickness of the rotor and post the results up here, I'm sure someone can tell you if you're within spec. Which is always good to know prior to going to Midas, as they'll almost certainly tell you it's not within spec and you should buy one of their "specials", even though it probably is within spec. has happened to me, twice. First time I feel for it, second time I barked like a junkyard dog, which resulted in a perfectly turned set of rotors... ;)

Hahaha!!!! RX, I KNEW you'd be the first to post up after my comment!

When you removed the rotor, were there two small screws you had to remove to get the rotor off? If not, they're absolutely 110% NOT Lexus oem. If there were several holes that could be used for the two screws, they're not Lexus oem "although I believe there are two other holes, with black rubber caps?". Just two holes for the screws = Lexus OEM rotors. Since you've got the rotor off, and if you wish to keep using them, then I'd run it up to your local Midas with a $20 bill and have them throw it on the lathe.

I do good, amigo. How 'bout you? The wax and stuff has been sitting in the garage, so I figure it's probably still good to use. I'm going to finally get some wax on the Mazda, as some have been reporting rust issues around the fenders, all northern cars though, but still. With the wife within a couple of weeks of the due date, you know the second I get a beer buzz, she'll go into labor, and we'll be going to the hospital in a cab. So, no brews for me these days, which SUCKS! Because I'm soooo friggin' thirsty, I can't stand it!

Mods: I posted this one on the detailing part, but didn't get much traffic. I'm starting the process today, thought I'd post here too, in the freeway of chatter. Since I'm not a moderator "nor have never been asked :cries: , geezz, what's a guy gotta' do to get a key to the front door around here?" hahaa...just kidding, don't want one! I can't erase my first post.. I've still got a lot of the #2 Mequires series wax/polish/paint cleaner. It's about 2 years old, has been sitting on my shelf. I'm getting ready to finally detail my cars at home, and am curious if this stuff is still good to use? I'm going to claybar the cars first, then do my thing. I'd rather not spend another $80 on this stuff if I don't have to. Any input? Last time I used it was when I detailed my LS, back in March of 06'. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=27799&st=0

I heard on the NATIONAL news two nights ago, and finally mentioned on a national forum, that the "speculators" are running the oil futures market right now. Speculators....the same kind that speculated during the housing boom, also known as flippers...and also the same ones who are accounting for the vast majority of the foreclosures. Not all, but the majority. Give it time....they'll lose thier asses in this too. They're also artificially running up other commodities, such as rice, by pimping bogus supply and demand reports. Somebody is going to get thier butts handed to them... Oh, and to put the cherry on the cake.... President Bush made it official three days ago, on CNN.com, by saying "America is not in a recession". Does that idiot even own a calculator? I liked him after 9/11. But now, I can't stand him, and ANYTHING would be better. He's left the economic barn door wide open, and too stupid to realize it. His buddies are robbing the cookie store, blind.

I've still got a lot of the #2 Mequires series wax/polish/paint cleaner. It's about 2 years old, has been sitting on my shelf. I'm getting ready to finally detail my cars at home, and am curious if this stuff is still good to use? I'm going to claybar the cars first, then do my thing. I'd rather not spend another $80 on this stuff if I don't have to. Any input? Last time I used it was when I detailed my LS, back in March of 06'. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...=27799&st=0

Those are called the rear carrier bushings. An aftermarket set is available. If you run a search for rear carrier bushings, or carrier bushings, you should see some threads discussing them. You're talking about the little bushings inside of the wheel hub itself, right?

:( I've got to admit, this is an amazing thread to read. My apologies, I have no idea how to fix this. The car doesn't have some kind of aftermarket security system on it, does it? You don't have a different kind of key-fob gadget to lock/unlock the car? It says Lexus on it, right?

One lock bad, possibly the lock. Two locks bad, possibly a dirty key... All locks bad = wrong key, period. Edit: Sorry split1atom, I just saw your other thread, didn't realize you were having so much trouble....

for $999,999.99, you can have the friggin' fry-daddy machine! But, if you want us to fry them, that'll be another $100k. NAFTA....ain't it a !Removed!... Actually, for $999,999.99, you can have the keys to the joint, I'm retiring and heading to the Outer Banks with my 26ft Boston Whaler, cooler of beer, and some shiney new rods!

that'll be $999,999.99. please pull around to the second window.