collegeguy

Yeah, $450-$500 is about what I would have guessed. I wanted to get the shocks done this summer but my dumb @ss destroyed my exhaust system...$500 down the drain so they'll have to wait till winter. I haven't noticed any further wear of the shocks and they aren't in too bad of shape (while the ride isn't as smooth as I'd like the driveability hasn't been effected). So, it can wait.

heh, mine are just starting to go on my '94 and I was wondering the same thing. Although after riding in my friend's cars, a Lexus with worn shocks still has a smoother ride than 90% of the cars out there.

This must be a common problem....I changed my rear brakes this summer and noticed that both rear calipers were missing a bolthead. How crucial is it that I get the bolts replaced? The calipers are still held in fine...it's just a pain in the !Removed! to install pads.

Thanks, I'll go ahead and file a claim. I know little about the process of filing a claim since I've never been in an accident of any kind up until Friday night. My only concern was that my insurance premium would go up despite the accident not being my fault. But if this isn't the case I'd definitely like to proceed. And, just out of curiosity, what speed do you typically have to be hit at for the airbags to deploy? Even though I was hit at a relatively low rate of speed I was kind of surprised they didn't deploy, although I'm also very happy they didn't since my car would be undriveable right now.

This was Friday night...I was in the left lane of a 4 lane road. I was approaching an intersection at about 30-35 and there was a red SUV about 20 feet in front of me. The idiot in the oncoming lane wasn't paying attention and veered into our lane of traffic....the guy in the SUV swerved to the right, and got hit in the left rear of his truck. I put on the brakes and figured the oncoming guy would be able to stop/swerve in time to avoid me but alas, he hit me head on. Now the good news - damage is VERY minimal (and wasn't even apparent until a close inspection of my bumper. The left side of the upper portion of my front bumper is pretty scraped up...and there are a couple cracks in the lower (darker tone) bumper. The foglight casing is pushed in about an inch from where it should be, and there is some crackage in the undercarriage (in the same general area). The issues SEEM to be only cosmetic in nature, and are not even noticeable until a close inspection. I looked under the hood and nothing seems out of place, and there are no changes driving-wise. Anyway, I am considering filing a claim against this guy. 100% of the fault was pinned on him (there were about 7 witnesses between the passengers in my car and the passengers in the red SUV). Anyway, what kind of work am I looking at here? With the crackage in the lower portion of the bumper, am I looking at a full bumper replacement? The cracks are very minimal but I fear they might be susceptible to corrosion (although I'm not sure about this - since this portion of the bumper is plastic). Also, I don't want some engine problem to surface at a later date, when it's too late to file a claim. Overall, I feel very fortunate right now - damage was extensive to the other two vehicles involved. Considering the guy was probably still going 15 MPH or so when he hit me - I expected a lot more damage than was actually present since he dealt me a direct blow.

I took it in today and it turned out that the backing plate fell off - nothing else. Very cheap and fast fix and my car is back on the road! I still need to take care of the ABS issue but it won't effect the driveability until winter. Sweet!

I'm almost positive the front (left) brake pad on the bad caliper wore the quickest.....I'm going to examine the wear before I take the car in tomorrow...I don't have the car with me, it's about 1/2 mile from my house right now, so I can't really go outside and take a look. I'm going to the shop tomorrow and i'll see what they have to say, and come back here after I know what went wrong...

No, the left rear is completely blown whereas the right rear brake pad is in fine condition. As are the front pads which were replaced over a year ago (as opposed to the rears which were replaced 3 months ago.)

First, I don't know exactly what is wrong...I replaced both rear brake pads with my stepfather back in June...I did a lot of driving this summer but not enough to warrant a brake pad going bad. My right rear brake pad is in fine condition as are my front pads (replaced in the summer of 2003). So, obviously something is wrong with the left rear braking system but i have not been able to diagnose it. I'm sure I can put a new pad on and drive safely...but something is causing abnormal wear of the pad and I am not sure what. After talking to my stepfather I am even more confused because the missing bolt head on the caliper apparently could become an issue after corrosion - but I have not driven a winter without the caliper's bolt head. Unless the missing bolt head caused the caliper to slide...(according to my stepfather). Again, I am not mechanically inclined so I don't know what's going on exactly. Thanks for the help though.

Thanks for the response, and thanks for correcting the misspelling in the thread title. I replaced my front brake pads with cheap pads from auto zone and haven't heard a squeak yet (this was over a year ago). THey are still in good shape. But I will follow through with Toyota OEM per your advice. I'm assuming the brake squealing was directly related to the fact that my left rear brake pads wore out extremely fast. I'm still kind of at a loss as to what caused this. This missing bolt head was caused by the fact that I drove with worn rear brake pads for way too long. I admit, this was my failure to give attention to a problem - but I drove my car for several weeks after my rear brakes had started to squeal. I didn't replace my pads until I heard a horrible scraping from both of the rear wheel wells - and I had destroyed both of the rotors. Now, I have essentially brand new rotors and brake pads in the rear. My step-father pointed out that BOTH rear calipers had a bolt head come off due to extensive wear. I have noticed NO problem whatsoever from the right rear brakes. I hope I'm making sense here...I may have misinterpreted my stepfather (he's an engineer at a prestigious university and is one of the most intelligent people I know period) so I have no reason to doubt him. But this is, for all intents and purposes, the best I can accurately describe the situation. I appreciate your help and hope I can figure out what is wrong without spending more money than is necessary. Thank you. P.S. I've had a bit to drink tonight so if I rambled a bit I apologize.

I thought I'd add - For a couple of months I've heard a metallic rattle coming from the general area of the left rear wheel well of my car when I hit bumps...(no, not the shocks). Also, brake squeeling (at stops and sometimes even during non-braking conditions). I was incredibly busy and the overall driving of the car was not affected so I (perhaps stupidly) ignored this. My step-father (who is an engineer and very mechanically-able, I trust him with anything to do with mechanics) helped me replace my rear brake pads, and pointed out that one of the heads of the bolts had come off of my left rear caliper. I asked him what effect this would've had on my brake pads wearing so quickly and he seemed pretty baffled. I'm not sure if this helps with diagnosing the problem or not...I'm going to go ahead and get new brake pads put on tomorrow (since I'll need new pads regardless of the problem). The car should be completely driveable with new pads, but I'd like to figure out what's wrong to avoid costlier repairs down the line.

$1500, $600 for aftermarket? I'm ignorant of how that translates to U.S. prices. I had to replace my exhaust due to backing into a parking spot too far and hitting the curb (the curb was very high). It basically jammed the outer pipe into the inner pipes and right into the manifold to make a long story short. My whole exhaust system needed to be replaced and I paid a bit less than $500 including labor. My suggestion: Don't go through Lexus, dealer prices are always going to be through the roof. And if you have a problem that needs to be fixed by a dealer (I never have until now with my ABS sensor), almost any Toyota dealer can perform the same service for less. I took it to a local repair shop (one that I trust). I'm pretty sure they used the Camry part as well, and I've had no problems with the new exhaust (I've even duplicated my back into the curb job - and after feeling my heart sink been able to pull away with NO noise from the exhaust). Good luck.

I replaced my rear break pads this summer (94 ES) and the right rear is still fine but my left rear just died tonight! This makes no sense. I don't know if there are caliper problems that could lead to this? My rotor is still in good shape despite this...and a break pad replace would be easy and cheap but I don't want to spend $20 on a break pad and find out that there is some other component of the break that caused my break pad to wear at an abnormal rate. Also, another unrelated break problem - I took my car in a few weeks ago to get my front CV joints replaced and literally 10 minutes after I drove it off the lot my ABS system went heywire. Now, for the first 10 minutes of driving or so, my anti-lock braking kicks in whenever I stop. After about 10 minutes, my ABS light comes on and the pulsing stops...I took it back to the shop and they couldn't find anything - I took it to a dealer and they said the shop could've broken the sensor, I was leaving for college in 2 days so I have had no time to look into this since. Is this likely a sensor issue, and is there any way I could get restitution from the shop to pay for a new sensor (which I'm assuming is expensive)? What a headache...this couldn't have happened at a worse time.

Thanks for the help guys...I brought the car in tonight for a diagnostic check and sure enough, it was the alternator...I got a good deal on a new alternator+labor so I'm happy. As for the CV Joint - I'm already at the clicking stage unfortunately. Although it's not real bad (yet). I'd imagine I'll go for a remanufactured one...not worth buying a new one for a 10 year old car even though the engine & Transmission are in tip-top shape.

I'm in Pittsburgh, PA. I searched a few wholesale parts stores online and found a Bosch alternator for $167....I'd be happy with this deal especially since I have a friend who is willing to install this for me since I'm not all that handy. http://catalog.auto-parts-wholesale.com/?m...=1994&x=107&y=4 My only concern is being too stingy and ending up with a lemon of an alternator. Are the Camry and ES300 alternators interchangeable? If so, would this be a cheaper alternative? Also, while I'm at it - I need a new right front CV Joint - how much is this likely to run me and how easy would this be to install myself... Sorry about all the questions, school has been stressful recently and the alternator issue has only added to my stress...I need to get this taken care of so I don't have tto worry about starting my car in the morning.