Jim Clark

I think most tire stores now have the Hunter RFB machine. Most stores charge extra ($10-20 per tire), some don't. It takes the installer more time, especially if they have to rotate one or more tires on the rim which involves deflating the tire(s), breaking the bead seal, and rotating them on the rim to where the machine tells them. They only had to do that on one of the Paradas I put on the RX. The machine also tells them the best placement (tires that tested best go on the front). BUT, I'm not sure why because they're going to be rotated every 5k miles unless it's a staggered setup. I had bought 4 Falken Ziex's for an Audi and 2 of the tires didn't pass the test. Tirerack immediately sent me 2 new ones and paid the shipping both ways. They said they would mount and test them on their RFB before sending the new ones, I assume they did, they passed. After the experience with the Falkens, I will always do RFB on all my cars. On our RX's it's important, but not as important as on a Porsche 911 or other high performance sports car.

This is a perfect example of why Road Force Balancing is so important. Road Force Balancing would have identified the bad tires before they ever went on the car. It also measures the wheels to make sure they are not out-of-round. Regular balancing will not identify an out-of-round tire or out-of-round wheel, it will just compensate with wheel weights, only Road Force Balancing can identify out-of-round tires or wheels. I'm guessing the tire store did a "regular" balance the first time and did a Road Force Balance when you brought it back. Glad your outcome was good.

How many miles are on your tires? Some tires can whine a lot as they wear. Check Tirerack and look at the reviews for your tires, particularly the ones with higher mileage. If you see a lot of complaints for excessive noise, that could be your problem. Checking the brakes is a good idea but I would think if it was a brake problem, the noise would happen while braking. A bad wheel bearing is a possibility and would get louder with increased speed. But only one person I could find in a search on this site had a wheel bearing problem "allegedly" confirmed by a mechanic.

Understood. Amsoil makes filters that are supposed to be designed for 15k+. They offer applications for both the RX and our Prius but neither car has an Amsoil filter installed at this time. They don't have one for the BMW, they offer Mann filters (standard for BMW's but make no claims as to distance on the Mann filters). I plan to have analyses done on all three cars at their next changes. Toyota does not recommend a filter change at 5K. Lexus recommends 5k oil changes so it's moot. BMW does not recommend intermediate filter changes and their oil change interval is 15k. I believe the BMW is the only one that you can change the filter without changing the oil, the BMW filter is at the top of the engine, I could be wrong about this, maybe the Toyota and Lexus filters are high enough above the oil pan that they could be changed, albeit with more difficulty than the BMW. There's nothing wrong with wearing a belt and suspenders (5k synthetic changes), but you might be wasting time and money.

Most Lexus owners take their cars to the dealer for service, I believe that has something to do with it. With good full synthetics, 10k is perfectly safe, especially in a hybrid. Toyota changed the Prius to 10k intervals with synthetic. When my BMW comes back after an oil change, the clock is always reset to 15k, but I do it at 10k. The oils I've always used in the BMW are very expensive (Amsoil for years and Motul at the last change). I just had the Prius changed with Motul and their 0W20 is $15 per liter. I have a good indy near my house and am going to have all routine maintenance done by them on all my cars, including the ones still under warranty, I'll just bite the bullet on the price of the Motul in the RX. My indy will follow the factory recommended schedule and carefully document everything that was done.

It will not let me search on the word "oil". Has Lexus gone to 10k intervals for hybrids when using synthetic? 5k with a good synthetic is ridiculous.

I'm guessing it's not possible or would be so expensive that it wouldn't be worth it.

I've used the ones at Tysons.

25 for us.

Yeah, the OEM Mich's were non-directional. But a quick look at the Paradas by a "trained" mechanic would show that they are obviously directional. This gets filed under "DUH, pay attention!"

What a lame brain mechanic. Cross rotates a uni-directional tire. I was in the Boston area and about to leave to go back to the DC area. I looked at the front tires (they were turned significantly for parking) and thought "that does not look right". Sure enough, they were backwards. It had been at the dealer a few days earlier for a 30k service. I wonder what else he screwed up. My local guy flipped them back correct at no charge. I think I'll have my local guy do all non-warranty service from now on. They're historically German car specialists but they've expanded and he said they can work on anything.

It would help if you gave us the model year and wheel/tire size. For winter tires, I'd bet there are better choices than Michelins. Having separate wheels for your winter tires is more expensive but a lot less hassle.

I was also a bit surprised. But he has 255's, the Parada is not available in that size. But I was surprised at his choice, there were other tires more highly rated in that size, particularly the General Grabber UHP. I don't think he researched it enough. But I hope he'll be happy with his choice.

Still liking my Paradas. Handling in all conditions, ride, noise are all great. Still #1 rated in the Street/Sport Truck All-Season category at Tirerack.

Reporting back on the Yokohama Parada Spec-X. Only have about 4-5k on them but still very happy. Great tire in all conditions. No noticeable noise and ride is fine. So much better than the OEM Mich's. Still highly recommended. It is certainly one of the best tires (maybe THE best) for our RX's. It is still #1 rated in the Street/Sport Truck All Season category at Tirerack.

You're getting a deal. Congrats, you'll love the car. Levinson is overrated, the regular sound system is fine. Hopefully it's Matador Red!

As someone else said, you could buy an extended warranty before the original warranty runs out. With a Toyota/Lexus product, I'd probably not be inclined to buy an extended warranty, the cars are so reliable. BTW, I checked Autotrader and that price with that mileage is REALLY good. I'm surprised they're letting it go that cheap. Maybe that's why they wanted so much to CPO it, the price would still be good with the $3k CPO. Your friend could have bought it for the residual and sold it for a nice profit.

Additional $2,995 for CPO? That's insane! That dealer sounds like a rip-off stealer. You need to do some comparison shopping. Your friend's car may be really nice, but there are a lot of nice used cars out there.

Have a drill? Get a reverse threaded screw remover. You'll need to drill a small hole in the remnants of the screw, then insert the screw remover (you'll need a small one for that problem) and it should get it out. Lubricants like WD-40 or Liquid Wrench will be a big help.

Just got an email from our Lexus dealer. The CT will be here in March. Base price just under $30k, but with the options most of us would want, it'll be $37k list. I think I'd rather pay a few $K more for the HS. Based on that pricing scheme, the small size of the car, and the price for an HS, I don't think they'll sell many CT's.

Sounds like the "wet bandits" from Home Alone detailed your car.

Maybe the US version will get all the power/memory stuff the HS Premium has. It would be a mistake if they didn't offer a "Premium" version of the CT for the US market. US buyers of Lexus's WANT a Lexus, not a "slightly" upgraded Toyota. But, then again, a loaded Toyota Highlander hybrid is only a few K less than a loaded RX hybrid, and it has most of the bells and whistles we expect from Lexus. Our Prius is a nice car and 50 mpg is pretty cool, but we miss the power/memory features like we have in the RX400h. Apparently, the CT is smaller than the Prius, especially the back seat and cargo areas. Our Prius salesman was about 6'5" and he fit in the back seat no problem.

A Prius in Lexus trim would be great and probably extremely popular. Toyota really dropped the ball on this one, they should have done it sooner. Hopefully the CT will have a premium version with the bells and whistles that the HS Premium has.

Yes, I meant the CT200h. The reviewer said it had a manual tilt/telescopic steering wheel. Too bad it's not power/memory. He didn't mention power/memory seats or mirrors (with auto dimming). If it doesn't have those power/memory features, it's just another Toyota.

I typed it as "CT250h" in the thread topic but somehow the forum software changed it....?