Hobowon

Big slam when slowing to stop - does it only when car is at idle speed just short of full stop (behind car in front, stopping at intersection, etc). If I can keep the rpms at the mark below the 1000 mark (consider the mark just below the 1000 mark), such as when the air is on or even when the tranny is in the "overdrive off" mode. Another way to avoid the "bang" is to make a harder stop; that isn't in line with my driving style but that is another way to avoid it. Lexus has checked it out four times, (Lexus) tranny fluid changed twice, have new drive shaft, differential mic'd and within limits, other gears tight, idle set by Lexus, throttle body cleaned. Sure could use some help and would be very grateful for suggestions. Thanks.

Anyone have any suggestions of how to get out the "fog" that seems to get in the headlights ? Without buying new headlight assembly's ?

I have a ES330 2004 .. .

On mine, the lense became oxidized so I went to Pep Boys and bought smething called headlamp restorer. Worked wonders. Not of caution: use and use and use the clarifyer and don't use the pads included in the kit if at all possible. You may end up with scratches. Really, the darn stuff works wonders.

He didn't hurt anything by waxing over that stuff...

I think you would really benefit by investing in a machine like a Porter Cable as Josh mentioned. Your paint looks pretty good to me for a 16 year old car. Lexus black is single stage, which means it doesn't have a clearcoat. The bad thing is its really easy to scratch, but the good thing is it comes out looking great once its polished and sealed.

Look around on here, read some of the threads that have been posted here and on www.autopia.org.

You do want to clay the paint (plenty of writeups here). You won't be able to remove any scratches or marring by hand (your buffer trails are just hidden by the wax, they will come back). if you want to do as good a job as you can by hand I would reccomend the following:

Clay (Meguiars makes a good clay so does Mothers, so does Clay Magic)

A good one step wax product like Meguiars NXT 2.0, it will hide a lot of imperfections.

If you want to really make the paint look as good as you can you need to invest in a machine...

A note to the guys that get a machine: you should have no problem using the current ones on the market; steer clear of the ones that were common several years in the detail shops. You know, the ones that look like a 24 inch weedcutter. They will do an awesome job if know how to use one and if you don't, your paint will be toast. So, if gramps has one in the garage from "the old days" and wants you to have it, tell him you have a bad back and need something lighter. NEVER hurt your grand dads feelings.

He didn't hurt anything by waxing over that stuff...

I think you would really benefit by investing in a machine like a Porter Cable as Josh mentioned. Your paint looks pretty good to me for a 16 year old car. Lexus black is single stage, which means it doesn't have a clearcoat. The bad thing is its really easy to scratch, but the good thing is it comes out looking great once its polished and sealed.

Look around on here, read some of the threads that have been posted here and on www.autopia.org.

You do want to clay the paint (plenty of writeups here). You won't be able to remove any scratches or marring by hand (your buffer trails are just hidden by the wax, they will come back). if you want to do as good a job as you can by hand I would reccomend the following:

Clay (Meguiars makes a good clay so does Mothers, so does Clay Magic)

A good one step wax product like Meguiars NXT 2.0, it will hide a lot of imperfections.

If you want to really make the paint look as good as you can you need to invest in a machine...

Clay is the founding block of any detailing regimen. Without clay, the surface is never going to be properly prepped. No offense to the guy and the store, but you've got two professional detailers here and several very knowledgeable enthusiasts telling you clay is neccisary. His comment that clay should be a last resort makes no sense at all...

I'm glad it worked out, but we're not a lot of help to you if you won't give our suggestions a shot.

Josh, are you using the liquid or the paste? With the liquid I agree, but my experience with all paste waxes leads me to believe that drying=bad. I've never used NXT in a Paste but I've used other Meguiars paste waxes and this was certainly the case.

i try to use the paste whenever possible steve, as i work mostly by hand, hoever with waxes like gold class luquid and #26 you are right. with darker colors, letting these dry are a no-no. i find on my lighter colored car that if i dont let it dry, i get the same effect the OP is experiencing.

BlackOnyx, i own a Black 2003 ES300, same as yours and trust me, everything that these guys have advised you on will get you the look you're looking for. Claying your car is crucial getting that "COTDAMMY!!" reaction. when i first bought my car i was ignorant to claying, polishing, and all the prep work one should do before applying wax. I would just wax my car with Meguires cleaner wax and call it a day. However, one day i went through the entire process, clay, polish, cleaner wax, yadda yadda, and ill tell ya the results were amazing! All that to say, CLAY YOUR CAR!!!!

I have moved from OTC products, with the exception of claybars, and meguiars products. I love the clay-magic claybar, and its $13 at Autozone. But I love the poorboys line, as well as the SwissVax products.

Take it from the guys who tell you to use the clay. I have been doing my cars for years and the day I began using the clay bar, was the day of enlightenment. I don't know what you have access to, but I bought the kit called "California Clay Bar" ($25, I think); remember, when you use it, don't be in a rush, don't think "a little pressure will do this much, what if I really give it (the clay) hell." Not only not necessry, but doesn't work as well as just plain ordinary pressure. AND: use the lubricant generously. I finish my jobs with a product called "Mothers Reflections." Got mine from Pep Boys for $17.95. Really awesome stuff; easy on and off and lasts. Great shine.

Hey everybody, just wanted to get the traffic moving a little bit in the detailing forum.

I wanted to start this thread up and give everyone a place to share those little tricks of the trade they've picked up over the years. Please, post away!

New '09 ES350 purchased 12/17/08...and I started noticing dust on the dash, around the knobs, plastic, etc. Ddin't find an answer here (although I got some of the best detailing tips ever). So, I went to a few auto parts stores and looked at some 2 dollar detailing brushes. Not wanting to use a $2 brush on my baby, I went to Longs (drugstore) and bought a $15 makeup brush (YES, very embarassing) that is so soft, it does the job perfect. Along with the tips to get the Sonus products, I'm a happy camper with a detailed car.

Have you noticed some of the cars with plastic headlamp covers oxidized so bad you wonder if any light at all is coming out. Had one on my SC400, went to Pep Boys and bought a headlamp lense restorer. Does awesome jpb. A point of caution: don't get in a hurry, spend a little extra time on applying the clarfyer and if at all possible, avoid using the little pads included in the kit; they could scratck the good work you have already done.

So I finally got around to changing the struts on my SC............needless to say after 180k the OEM struts were toast as were the Bump stops. The left front stop was in pieces LITERALLY and the right one was in half, but to my surprise the mounts were fine. I thought the SC had bearing in the mounts, but they dont, all they have is a rubber grommet that helps hold the spring insulator in place. I had already purchased new front mounts from rockauto so I put those on but I really didnt need to waste the $40 for them.

Now I still need to replace my rears and I'm wondering if I should buy new mounts seeing how the fronts were perfectly fine? For those of you who replaced the struts on the SC did you reuse the mounts and just change out the stops and boots? Normally I would just purchase new mounts but I would rather put the $100+ for the mounts toward either LCA's, Tire Rods, PS Pump, Gasket Kit and the list goes on lol. The other issue is not a single place around here stocks them and every shop has to order em and it is going to take atleast a week to arrive..................I'm not patience once I start something lol.

I have always had a good experience with Midas. Don't know if you have any near you, but even if you want to install them yourself, maybe a local Midas will order them for you. Something I have had done on my SC400 and the last four autos is to have Monroe SensaTracs put on. Has all the stuff on you need in one package.

I just finished fixing my left headlight assy on my SC400. The culprit on my light assy was the bottom curved drain hose tube was too loose. For some reason the mfg. made them too small and wouldn't stop water flow from the outside of the rubber where it connects to the headlight assy. And my light assy is only a year old. I simply used silicon sealer on it. You have to remove the headlight assy in order to fix it. Taking it off of the car with althe bulb assy's installed gave me a chance to pour water over it from the kitchen spray hose and find the leak. First I had to remove all of the bulb assy's and use a hair dryer untill the the inside was dry. I then used the kitchen spray hose under very low drizzle from one corner of the light assy to the other corner while looking through the clear plastic untill I saw what area the water was leaking from. That should help you out. Taking the headlight assy out of the car is no big deal. You need to jack up that side of the car to gain access to the fender well panel and remove as many screws as needed to pull the panel back enough to gain access to the two mounting nuts located inside the fender well. Then remove the mounting nut from under the hood, disconnect the buld connectors and wiggle the light assy out of the body. Good luck. This worked for me. Ric :)

ricfla, you are too cool. First, I would avoid even replacing the parking light assembly on my SC400; double the avoidance ragarding the headlamp. For the parking light assy, Lexus charged $65.00, if I recall. Anyway, just want to pass on a recent discovery relating to headlamps. You've seen the ones with the lenses oxidized? Lexus has a product for $29.95 that you can use just like polishing your car. Get it from Pep Boys, much cheaper. Word of warning: unless the lense is super oxidized, don't use the little pads. Try to hang with the clarifyer and take your time and be patient with the process. Mine turned out as clear as a new one. Thanks for your post, BTW.

When I come to a rolling stop, just a few feet from the full stop and what appears to be when the RPMs drop to idle, I get a big slam in the differential. Won't occur if I do a more aggressive stop which is not my driving style; I typically come to a smooth rolling stop. Sometimes incident won't occur with the air on and overdrive off. Never does it if I come to a hard stop, not slamming on the brakes, but harder than a smooth stop. Now for the "rule outs: Lexus did a top end carbon blast and also cleaned the throttle body and air conditioning switch; idle speed verified to be at factory specs; got a new drive shaft whth front and rear couplers; Lexus removed the third member and sent it to LA for mic, came back within parameters; had tranny flushed, one mechanic questioned the rear stabilizers and (sort of) worn rubber bushings; strange as it may seem, when I have a tech do a ride with me, I can't duplicate the problem - one guy thought it might be the extra weight; maybe I should go to Home Depot and buy a couple of 100lb sacks of concrete an put it in the trunk. Everyone says the tranny is healthy. I have taken the car to two Lexus dealers, one automatic tranny shop and one Foreign car shop and no one can diagnose it. Recently, I came to a stop and I swear I thought it was going to blow the rear end out. Here is a "sorta like": come to a slow stop, the tranny gears down to idle speed, just before the full stop, look out!!! Gives me the notion the tranny "goes to sleep", then suddenly "wakes up" and says "gotta take up the slack." The way I try to describe to the techs is: short of stopping, slack is taken off the drive line, then gets taken up forcefully. Won't do it any speed but as described. BTW, the car has been well maintained, has 142k.

Just a quickie: I recentlly discovered that if I disengage the overdrive (overdrive off), the sucker doesn't go "bang". I spoke to a guy at one of the repair shops that suggested it might be a defective overdrive unit. And woould you believe, Lexus does not sell only the unit - you have to buy the whole tranny. I will resolve this problem if it takes the rest of my life. Maybe I should consider just buying a tranny and get on with life. Anyway, I'm still open to suggestions, so bring 'em on down. Thanks.