rickatups

ArmryofOne .... just my two cents .... I appreciate the time you took to show us how to do what you do .... the products you have chosen, and how they worked for you .... great job, by the way! As for me, auto detailing has been kind of a hobby ... well ... kind of .... so I am always on the look-out for new products, or perhaps how other well known products are working for other detailers ..... so I appreciate your postings here ..... I am the one guy on my street who is so often out in the driveway cleaning a car, or waxing a car ..... I think it is a good bet that my neighbors think I am perhaps a little crazy (their cars always look like crap, however) .... anyways ..... thanks for the information you have shared ......

just found your post here and am quite impressed ...... very, very interesting for sure .... personally, I have really enjoyed Zaino products, but I insist on keeping an open mind .... I would love to try this product you have found here .... very glad you shared this with us ... because of the weather conditions at the time you did this job, the humidity was very favorable for you ..... most people probably never consider that element, but I live in the Mojave Desert .... the lack of humidity here whenever trying to detail a car is very noticeable ..... it changes the game. Sometimes I have to do my car at 5 or 6 am (summer months) to even get close the correct conditions for such work ..... great job !!!

great job ..... truly!

jeffls400 ... just a quick comment to say that your posting on your A/C system was GREAT. Thank you !!! I wish I was your neighbor ... I would love to pick your brain about changing out my suspension bushings and doing all 4 strut replacements on my 95 LS ... I do not know how much pizza and beer would be required ... but I would gladly buy! hahah! Suspension stuff is far from anything having to do with A/C ... but it sounds like doing what I need done would be easy for a person like you .... no matter what, I am going to learn how, buy the tools, and do it my self .... I am so sick of paying absurd labor costs.

Hi coolwater .... I do not know if this would interest you .... but a member here known as DCFISH has an LS for sale that looks GREAT .... if you go to the "buy/sell" area of the forum here you should be able to locate it ...... his car is one of those incredible, exceptional cars that was maintained with no regard to cost ... always parked inside .... and on and on .... truth is I want it, but I just can not pull it off at this time ..... perhaps you might be interested .....

Hi ... 17LexusOwner directed you to a car in Florida .... I just wanted to say that I have been following that particular eBay seller for over a year now .... he always has ultra clean, low milage, high end cars .... that is all he will take. I can not say I have used him to buy a car from ... yet .... but I think I would be willing to. I would check that listing out ... Florida seems to be loaded with tons of low milage, high end cars ..... I am on eBay alot looking at Lexus LS model cars every week ..... seems like every time I find a perfect, low milage car is it from Florida ..... Good luck on your search .... perhaps you can show us some photos of the car you do finally get??? If you do happen to get that black LS in Florida ... it would be very interesting to find out how the whole transaction really went .....

Hi George Z ... welcome! Well ... I thought I would throw in my 2 cents worth of comment, if I may ..... I am a rather fastidious [automotive] maintenance nut as any of my neighbors could tell you ..... on just about any Saturday I am always out washing, waxing, detailing, and maintaining my cars in one way or another it seems ..... they all think I am kinda crazy ..... maybe they are right? (^-^) my first LS400 was a 95 with 101,000 miles on it ..... I switched it over to Mobile 1 about a year ago (138,000 miles now) ..... and all is well. I change the oil when I do not like the look of it .... kind of a money-no-object approach on my part, and rather extravagant for sure ..... but I figure this Lexus motor is so great, .... well ... why not, you know? Anyways ...... my most recent discovery is Royal Purple full synthetic oil ..... George ... you gotta go to their web site and see the videos they have there .... pretty interesting! I have not yet used any Royal Purple, but I am planing on switching my LS400 over to it the next time the oil is ready to be done ..... You can also find a very interesting test on YouTube ... all you have to do is type the words Royal Purple in the search field there .... pick the first video that comes up ... you will see a lab technician doing a test with some type of device made for this purpose .... I thought it was quite fascinating to see ..... I think you would find it interesting Well .... hope this offers some food for thought ..... ! I really like my 95 LS ..... but I would really like to upgrade some day into a newer model .... I am always looking .... kinda like the 2004 LS these days .... again .. welocome to the club here .... it is a great place to be if you own a Lexus

Hey guys ..... got a REAL PROBLEM here today .... I was just washing and detailing my LS400 like on any Saturday ... suddenly out of nowhere, my ignition key will not work. It is as if I was trying to use the key for your car in my car. The key goes in .... but it will not turn the lock. It goes inside the key cylinder just fine ... but it just will not turn as if something is stuck in the mechanism. There was no warning of anything going wrong whatsoever ..... it has always worked perfectly. It does not feel loose or sloppy or make strange sounds ...... everything seemed just fine ... until now. Ever had this happen? Ever heard of this before????????? Geeeeeeez !!! Thank God this did not happen while I was on a long distance trip out of town or something ...... the car is in my drive way at the moment ...... got sooooooooo lucky in that regard ..... Well ..... if you can help solve this enigma .... I would be very glad to fax you a beer and pizza, for sure ..... !!!! T H A N K Y O U !!!!!

hi ... over at AUTOGEEK.NET if know where to look, you can find 3 small videos that show how to do paint correction .... great little videos! You might want to check that out .... go to Autogeek.net ---- then click on "car polishers, buffers and pads" ..... then when you are on that page, scroll down a little and find where you would click on "Porter Cable 7424 Dual Action Orbital Polisher and Accessories" .... click on that and then look at about mid-page to see where it says "learn how to use the Porter Cable" .... you will see the videos there. I use a Porter Cable 7424 as they show in the video ..... that is some of the best money I have ever spent ... great machine and makes the job so much faster. it really works just like you see in the video ... hope you check it out ...

wow ... very nice job! food for thought ...... as you probably know, the plastic headlight lenses / tail lights can be waxed / polished same as paint .... there are many dedicated products to do this with .... but have you ever heard of Zaino? ( zaino.com ) Zaino has a product called PC FUSION .... it is a small bottle and for me, it has been like a miracle in a bottle! With PC Fusion, you can take out the haze in the headlight lenses .... or ... you can keep the haze from ever starting in a newer lenses such as the van you did here .... I think it is fun to try new products so as to always become better at detailing .... anyways ... I had a car I was doing for a guy once and it turned out to have some very, very light paint over-spray on it all over the front of the car .... they only way you could see it, was if the car was in the perfect lighting situation .... or, you could feel it ... Well, I started to take it off with 3M compound ... and it was working ok ... but it was taking FOREVER to do. I ended up calling over to LA Zaino (lazaino.com) and speaking with Ira who strongly suggested to me to at least try PC Fusion for this situation, or for dealing with oxidation problems. I did and I have no regrets. PC Fusion is awesome! The biggest problem guys like us have is how long detailing takes, especially to do the job correctly. PC Fusion has become a non-abrasive, safe major problem solver for me and it has saved sooooooooooooooo much time in getting paint to the place where it is ready for sealant, etc ..... Just thought I would throw that out .... hope you try it ..... bet you a cheeseburger and a 94-oz Coke (extra ice) you would love it .... best regards ... Rick PS .. Ira has the correct towels to use and they really make a difference .... they are inexpensive and great ...

Wow! What a GREAT example of an LS !! What State is the car located in? thnx ....

Hi .... well ... you got a great car, for sure! I have one also .... love it! first thing I would do (like right now) is learn about the power steering rack solenoid and clean it (much here at L.O.C. written). Be sure to remove it, then put it all back together minus the little solenoid filter ... then flush the system .... THEN re-install the filter ..... this probably has not been done on your car unless you are very lucky. This one, simple thing could save you soooooooooo much time, trouble and $$$$$$$$$ ....... by the way .... this little tiny filter is VERY fragile ..... so really be careful with it .... I would service every single filter and fluid ..... and if money is no object I would convert the car to Royal Purple synthetic oil products .... (royalpurple.com) .... that is an interesting subject all by itself ..... when it comes to synthetic oil everyone has an opinion of course, but as far as I can tell at this point .... many manufacturers make claims, but Royal Purple has the actual tests to prove their claims ..... the LS 400 is certainly worthy of such an expense .... I have found that working on these cars is not that hard really ..... take a look at your battery cables and make sure they are really clean. You do not want crud or "cancer" growing on your positive battery terminal ... (long story) how do you feel about detailing cars? I like Zaino .... it was a discovery I made while here at the club .... great stuff! if you read everything here at this site you will learn so much ...... the Lexus Owners Club is perhaps one of the best things about owning a Lexus ... so glad I found it! Best regards ... and ... enjoy your car!

Hey CHEF ...... welcome to the club ! I have 2 cents worth of thought to add ...... if I could do it all over again, I would have been more careful about my first LS 400 ....... I have learned the hard way that WHO you buy your car from is just as important as the car itself ....... in my case, I bought a 95 LS400 with 101,000 miles on it and paid low book for it .... BUT .... it needed a bunch of service done to it .... like change all the fluids / filters ... brakes all around ... 4 wheel alignment ..... steering solenoid cleaning ... (and on and on). I did not know it until i had the car for a few weeks, but apparently some guy had spilt a great amount of cappuccino on the carpet on both sides in the front of my car, but it was hidden under the floor mats, so I never saw the problem until it was too late. I got a lot of the cappuccino out, but that kinda sucks ..... you know? Plus ... the car had not been garaged much in its life time seems to me, as now the paint is starting to fail. I am trying to keep the paint alive by detailing it very frequently to the point that my neighbors think I am out of my mind .... they see me working on my car quite often .... If you take your time and really look for a low milage car being sold from a very fastidious owner, I think you will save money in the long run even if you pay more up front when you buy the car. For example, about a month ago I found a guy in San Diego that had a 1990 LS that had about 28,000 miles on it and it was FLAWLESS ..... you should have seen the write-up he did and the pics he provided! Wow! The day he bought the car new, he took it home and immediately took off the stock rims and put them away so that they would be available as perfect in the day he decided to sell his car ..... he had a heated / air-conditioned garage ... never drove the car in bad weather ..... detailed the car always .... had tons of maintenance records ..... obviously a very well financed owner where money was no object whatsoever, and fastidious to the 10th power. I think he sold that car for about 8 grand. Rarely have I seen a 90 LS 400 so mint ..... even the under-side was perfect front to back! anyways ..... if you can just wait and be patient ... I would find a low milage car and the right owner / seller ....... the right guy will break out with lots of service records and be proud to show you ..... personally, I prefer the 95 - 97 series II cars cuz they are a little larger with a little more horsepower ..... but I love em all, to be honest ...... they are all very reliable, seems to me ... As far as I can see, the root to all power steering problems with these older LS 400 cars is the little, tiny power steering solenoid filter which can get dirty and can clog over time, thus creating a higher than normal system pressure ... thus causing leaks. It is fairly easy and inexpensive to service and has been written about here many, many times ..... most club members here know this .... but non-club members do not. That would be the very first item I would service if I bought an older LS 400 today. The 98 and newer LS do not have this problem as there was an engine design change and this item was one of the things they improved .... How about the timing belt? The service interval is 90,000 miles ..... many have gone longer than that .... but .... something you should be aware of. If Lexus changed it, you will see their unique service sticker in the engine bay where it is obvious ... What would a fastidious owner really look like? Well ... I would look for an owner that always uses Premium fuel (Chevron I hope) and always used synthetic oils. Such an owner could be identified as the type who serviced his transmission and differential on time (as well as everything else of course), kept his car garaged always, detailed his car always .... and has all the receipts to prove the above ... These cars are a BLAST! I have never regretted buying my car ..... the blessing of having to fix a lot of stuff on my car is that I learned a lot about my car ... so I am glad for that .... plus I know the work was really done and done right. Hmmmmmmm ...... you are going to drive it in snow? I have never had to ... but if I did, I think I might consider buying a 90 lb. bag of cement and wrapping it up in 2 plastic bags and then put the bag of cement in the trunk. THAT should offer more rear end traction! hahaha! Good luck ..... hope this helps ...... !

Hi ..... well ... first, welcome to the club! geeeeeeez! sounds like you have quite a mess on your hands ...... I hope you are mechanically inclined??? we need to know more about your car ..... the model year, milage, and any previous service history (in a nutshell)??? did you buy your LS 400 in this condition ... or did all of this suddenly happen to it one day? let us know ..........

I have always had the impression that if your timing belt breaks on one of these engines, it is major trouble .... I have never actually heard of a timing belt ever breaking on one of these cars .... kind of interesting. I seem to remember one guy saying he finally changed out his timing belt at 125,000 miles ... honestly I do not think I have the guts to go that long when it comes to my LS 400 ..... These are great cars for sure ..... there are several things to learn about them, but becoming a club member here will put you in a far better position to know all the little secrets ...... I got my LS 400 with 101,000 miles on it .... now it has 138,000 and it still feels great every time I drive it .... one of my latest discoveries is Royal Purple Synthetic oil ..... that is an interesting subject..... anyways ..... to stay on topic ..... I think you can go further than 90,000 miles on your timing belt ... but ... how far exactly? Ummmmmm ...... not too sure about that .... Yes ... Happy Easter !

Hi ... glad you were able to see that video on YouTube ... I remember that one also .... that was quite good, I thought. Well ... how do you address the smaller areas that the polishing machine cannot reach? Well, I still do some smaller areas by hand .... AUTOGEEK had an interesting hand tool that is made of a dense foam material ..... or if you buy any Zaino, they will usually send you their applicator pad for free which is quite handy for many smaller, detailed tasks ... I like it, because it is quite soft ... I think the products you are currently using are very good as well ..... I like to experiment with all the brands as I am able ... but as you can tell, at this time I am kinda hooked on Zaino ..... By the way .... AUTOGEEK still has the "Porter Cable 7424 HD" .... the "HD" has the longer, thicker cord .... I really like mine ... I am glad I upgraded into that model. Let us know how it all goes for you .... !

I would be curious to know that IF it turned out to be a fuel pump starting to fail ... what milage is your '95' LS at now? got my '95' LS with about 101,000 miles on it and have had to do much to reverse previous neglect ... however I got lucky with the timing belt as it was changed by Lexus before I got my car, thank God .... anyways .... I have really been wondering for some time as to exactly how long one of these factory fuel pumps will really go ????????

take a look over at AUTOGEEK.COM .... they have a few little videos that can show you how to take care of this if you want to do it yourself .... also ... there is a tool called a soap gun that you might find interesting for future washing of your car ...... I have seen one used once .... looks like a very low risk way to do a wash .... the next trick would be to simply use the correct wash mitt or sponge .. or what ever it is you use .... as long as it is very clean and soft, I would think it should work quite well for you .... ughhhhhh .... use an automated car wash? Well ..... as for me .... I will pass. I always do a hand wash on my car .... but then I am the guy on the block who everyone thinks is a little crazy cuz of how much I DO wash my cars and detail them ..... anyways .... hope my 2 cents worth is of help ...

I am on the look-out for an "01" or and "02" as well .... ( LS 430 ) ... one place I go to a lot to look around is AUTOTRADER.COM .... I think the best thing is to not be in a hurry and to find the lowest millage car that has all the things you want in your [new] LS .... I have also learned the hard way that WHO you buy your car from is just as important as the car itself ..... I think a truly fastidious owner will be proud to break out with all his service receipts .... I want to see that he really did the transmission services and that he honestly kept up with every other fluid the car uses .... I have also noticed that a CARFAX report that says the vehicle has no history of rebuild (body / paint work) is not necessarily to be believed. You gotta really, really look ... and be sure. I have had 2 deals in the recent past that had a clean Carfax that said the vehicle was free of rebuild, but both times it was incorrect. I have noticed that Sewell often has many LS models of this vintage ... I have never been a customer of theirs (yet), but I would be willing to ..... last time I checked they had a very good Better Business Beauaru rating ... they do a lot of volume and repeat business seems to me .... I have also noticed that they seem to always practice full disclosure about their pre owned cars ... Oh .. and yes .... welcome to the club ! This is a great resource for the Lexus owner ... you are gonna like it ... !

here is an idea .... look up BOBBY LIKIS ... he has CAR CLINIC RADIO.COM .... Bobby is an ultra automotive guru to the 10th power .... his opinion on the subject of doing a transmission flush would be valid, as he has been in the automotive repair business for so long. His business is huge. I know that I have E mailed Bobby with questions several times in the past, and he always answered me every time .... he is very intelligent and is dedicated to always doing things the correct way .... I feel I have learned much from him ... food for thought .... hope you check him out ...

perhaps I should also say .... Zaino has quite a few products, the most simple of which would be "All In One" which is simply a one-step ... great if you are in a hurry. If a car has not been waxed in a while, I use "PC FUSION" first so as to clean the surface very well, then I follow up with "Z-2" and then spray the car with "Z-6" .... all of the Zaino products go on FAST .... and come off FAST .... assuming you are using the towels they recommend, which truly make a huge difference. Ira, over at LA Zaino (Los Angeles) makes these towels for a reasonable price .... I am so glad he talked me into using them ... ZAINO is very much worth a try ..... great stuff ! !

if it were me, I would do a total system flush ... they hook up their equipment to your transmission cooling lines and pump out the entire contents of your system and put in the new fluid .... My Independent Mechanic is a Toyota guru and he strongly advised that we go into a synthetic Transmission fluid ..... like I said ... he IS a real guru ( 30 plus years doing this) ... so I said yes. GLAD I did. I noticed much better performance overall in my transmission ..... we did this service at about 110,000 miles which is also when I had bought this car ( 95 LS 400) .... At stone cold it shifts smooth, but before we serviced my trans. it would kind of hang in 2nd gear when it was still cold .... but not now. It shifts smoothly now in all ranges and speeds. This cost me about $200 and it also included a new filter .... I think this price is kind of high, but I think he had to really flush it good, cuz it was pretty dirty when I got the car; so perhaps he allowed more fluid to run through the system to achieve the transition from standard toyota fluid and into the new synthetic fluid .... it was over-due in my case ... for sure .... I think this would totally solve your problem .... and it sure is less expensive than the potential [greater] problems in the future if you do not do this soon ....

I have soaked my mats with a strong concentrated stream from my garden hose outside, plus using a brush and various types of cleaning solutions .... FOLEX has worked well the times I have used it .... My next idea has been to use a pressure washer on my mats ... actually I have this one customer that just never cleans his mats ever ... he just waits for me to do it when he brings his car to me ..... so they are a disaster every time I do his car .... they have been so bad, the pressure washer has definitely come to mind several times. The Lexus mats are so strong, I think this method would be safe to do ... I have been doing some reading and have found an extraction machine that has a water temp of 200 degrees at the nozzle .... the machine costs about $700, however ..... I am still cloaking on that price .... but I just might get one anyway. Heat really makes dirt release. anyways ... just my 2 cents worth of comment on the subject ....

To LS 0181158 .... hi .. well ... I have been detailing cars off and on for about 30 years all by hand until about a year ago when i finally stepped up to a Porter Cable 7424. Best money I ever spent. It is like leaping ahead in technology by about 5 light years !! did you already order yours? Ummmmm .... well .... maybe? Ummmmm ..... just so happens there is a slightly upgraded model you can get that has a slightly heavier and much longer power cable to it ..... it is worth the extra $25. I got mine from AUTOGEEK.COM AUTOGEEK.com has some short videos that will show you how to use your new machine ... really great! You are not going to damage paint with your PC 7424 .... May I suggest checking out ZAINO.COM .... they have a product called "All In One" which is simply a one-step polish if you are just doing a daily driver. That stuff rocks. What if you were trying to deal with major oxidation or water spots .... or .... some over-spray? In the past I would use 3M polishing compound which is still a great product .... but .... Zaino has something called PC Fusion .... this stuff is a MIRACLE IN A BOTTLE !!! You will NOT scratch the paint with this product. It is the ultimate solution to difficult problems ..... even if you are trying to work on hazed headlights. Yup ... works like a miracle on these modern headlights that are forever hazing on us .... see for yourself. You gotta try this stuff, my friend. Now ... assuming you want to try Zaino .... I would suggest going to LAZAINO.COM (based in Los Angeles) and ask to speak to Ira .... he makes the correct towels you will need. The towels matter and are not an attempt on Zaino's part to hijack more cash from you. The towels make a BIG difference and they work GREAT. They are fairly inexpensive as well ...... Ira will explain ... anyways .... what ever random orbit you choose .... I bet it will only take about 10 seconds to wonder why the heck you did not get one years ago .... they are awesome! The products you have mentioned are all good .... I only share the Zaino idea just in the event you have not heard about it yet .... it is worth a look ... I have used many many products and these days car waxes and similar products are sooooooooooo great compared to what we had only 10 years ago ..... in my opinion, Zaino is the best for ease of use, effectiveness, and longest lasting ..... however ... as I have said ... the products you have chosen will also delight you. let us know how it goes for you ..... would love to hear some feed back .... Rick UPDATE: in my opinion others have indeed damaged paint because of conventional rotary polishers that develop a very high RPM speed, thus causing very high surface temps. being created when trying to polish paint. However, with a random orbit device, the technology is totally different and far more safe. You simply cannot develop an ultra-high surface temp when using a random orbit device. Furthermore ... if you follow my suggestion of using Zaino PC Fusion, you will find that PC Fusion has virtually no abrasive qualities at all ... thus it is very safe, especially when used with a machine. I never bare down on my Porter Cable ... I just use light pressure ... it is all that is required. In fact the lighter your touch with the Porter Cable, the faster the pad will spin .... but if you start pushing on it with greater pressure, the device will slow down on you ... consequently it is also saving your butt by not burning anything. When you see those short videos over at AutoGeek ... you will see .... I have used medium-cut 3M polishing compound with my Porter Cable. I did not burn off any paint ... but I must say ... I was using a very light and careful touch with it ... I kept a close eye on the surface temp and the paint surface never once got hot on me .... so I knew I was still safe ... plus the fact that the paint i was working on was in excellent condition ... all I was doing was trying to remove some over-spray --- it worked ... but it was taking forever, even though I was using a PC 7424. Sooooooooooo .... I made a call to Ira over at LAZaino and it was then that he just rolled his eyes and said " .... Rick ... please; try PC Fusion ..." He was right. pretty long winded answer here .... I hope you enjoyed my book! haha!!

MARCUS ... ( 94 lexus) ... I hope you can get back with us and give us more detail here .... we are interested ... thanks ...