seohenning

Relationship is pretty good, I was in there about every other month for service and for the most part they have been very good in getting me in. The past few times however the service has been very slow. I really don't complain about anything, I guess if I owned an LS or an ISF I might be treated better. Anyway, the problem was the bubbling started at 40k, but it wasn't too bad so I didn't say anything as I don't want to become that "annoying customer". Now that it has gotten real bad I had brought it up and they blamed it on the mileage. The overall point is, it shouldn't happen at all and they should back up their product. I was also told when I bought my car that any corrosion would be covered for the life of the vehcile because they "sprayed" on some extra stuff etc... Apparently that only applies to the body of the car. Funny how that works out.

Could be a grounding issue? The main ground wire from the battery had corroded on my 2006, so when the car was started the current tried to find a ground through alternate routes, it fried a few other wires while doing this and all electrical stopped working. The car was completely dead, and it took the dealer 2 weeks to figure out the problem. That’s my best guess. Good luck!

Final Update - I might post a few pictures if I can in the future. After the dealership offered 50% of the bill, I called someone at the corporate customer relations. They actually backed up the dealers decision to only offer 50% of the cost to refurbish the wheels. They said it was due to the fact that I have so many miles on my car (80k) and that any good-will is better than nothing. I told them that a 2 year old wheels shouldn't have the problem no matter how many miles are on them and that they are producing an inferior product. Honestly, I told them that this is ridiculous, I am not sure why they would hold their ground on an $800 fix that is obviously happening all over the country. I also pointed out that I am a 27 year old customer who has many years of future car buying ahead and that I will no longer be purchasing Lexus, they didn't seem to care. I also went on a tirade a bit about how I drop my pants and spend $115 / hr for labor and service at their dealership and how much money they would be loosing if I took my services else ware. Apparently that didn't matter to them, so I'll be taking my "services" to another dealership and likely another brand, and yes all over $800, which is the sad part. Here is the initial e-mail response I received (I had also complained about the TPMS issue and how hard/expensive it is to obtain and program them): Good Afternoon, With all due respect I made my decision to offer over 400.00 worth of “good Will” on your 80,000 mile Lexus because you are a valued customer to me, My offer was truly that “Good Will” , and the fact that you’re not happy with my decision leads me to believe that I made a mistake. Regarding your tire sensor concern, I have in the past for customers who purchased TPMS sensors here at my facility programmed them at no charge on a case by case basis under good will. I could not and would not make it a matter of policy to give my guys free reign to install, program or perform any work at no charge unless the parts were purchased here and I was made aware of the request ahead of time. …Like my decision above (regarding good will) it has to make good business sense to me. Having said that, I have no further accommodations to offer you at this time…..Please feel free to contact Lexus directly if you wish to seek further assistance. The toll free number is 1-800-255-3987. I’m sorry I was not able to help you this time. Have a great evening. John Sanders Service Manager New Country Lexus Of Latham Out Of Area Call Toll Free-1-888-NCLEXUS Local # 518-786-1000 Fax # 518-690-0237 STATEMENT OF CONFIDENTIALITY This e-mail, and any attachments, is intended for use by the addressee and may contain legally privileged or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, and any attachments, any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail and any attachments, is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify me by telephone, permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail.><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º>¸. ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just went through the same thing and ended up purchasing snow tires, lexus wheels off craigslist, and Toyota TPMS on E-bay for my car. The car has to be programmed by a Lexus or Toyota dealership to the new sensors. The cost at Toyota was $72, Lexus was $100. I am writing a letter to the management of my dealership as well as corporate Toyota because it is ridiculous that that no one else can program the sensors. My local mechanic said he had the correct equipment, but it turns out that the aftermarket equipment can not do everything that the Toyota equipment can do, one of them being programming the vehicles computer to recognize the sensors. He charges $20. Toyota and Lexus sensors both should work. Also note that the sensors are very difficult to take off of your rims, so simply transferring them to another set of wheels is at best a 50/50 chance, possibly causing them to break. It has something to do with the aluminum wheel fusing to the aluminum on the sensor, causing the sensor to break when trying to prying them off. I personally am a bit upset that buying everything stock from Lexus would have cost $400 for the sensors, $1,200 for the wheels and $100 to program them, not to mention the tires. For us living in the north the second set of sensors should be included and programmed for no additional cost or at least done at a "reasonable fee", not simply the min. of "$115 per hour" labor rate or whatever smoke they want to blow up your tail pipe to rip you off.

Just an update on this. The dealership offered to cover half of the cost to refurbish the rims. They blamed it on the salt. I am not happy, and I have never seen this happen on any other wheel I have owned. And by the way the wheels are not "covered" on the "corrosion" policy that was so generously pointed out to me as a selling point, conveniently only the body of the car is covered when there is a corrosion problem. I am sure when my body starts to rust the wheels will be the only thing covered.

Well just an update, I drove the new A4, nice car, but I decided to keep my IS, just couldnt let it go. Thanks for the advice.

I also have the same thing happening with mine. I had planned on asking about it during my next service, 80k. I am glad I am not the only one! If they replace them I will provide an update.

I am seriously considering trading in my 2006 IS250 AWD for a 2009 Audi A4. I know the bias here will be to stick with the 2009 IS, however from my recent research it appears the Audi is a better bang for the buck and since 07 they have been rated very well reliability wise. I test drove both and I still like the overall feel of the Lexus, however I haven't been very happy with my overall experience with the issues I have had with my car. See my other posts for details. Has anyone else compared the two? Any opinions and or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

From my understanding the transmission is self contained and the fluid does not need to be changed. But I would check with your dealer to make sure.

Yes I agree with what you are saying and I am sure they can't be 100% accurate, but that is also the reason why I made the post. I couldn’t figure out why that range was particularly off in comparison to others (granted I haven't checked every range). This range is my major concern as a 1 or 2 mph difference makes a big difference in a ticket, points and fine. As for the driving circumstances, I was traveling from NYC to Albany, NY. I don't think altitude has much to do with it based on location and that is about as straight and flat as you can get in NY. I did have the cruise set at "74" which when I turned on the NAV I noticed it said "72" and that started everything. I also allowed ample time for the NAV to adjust. I guess I'll keep a calc. handy and in the event I get pulled over I can build in that 6.5% "tolerance" factor into my argument. "77? I swear my speedometer only said 72!" Somehow I don't see that working.

I was recently driving a loaner 2009 IS250 AWD without the Navigation and was using a handheld Navigational unit which has a speed function. I noticed that above 70 MPH the cars speedometer seemed to be off from what my Handheld Navigation was indicating. I know the cars speedometer does not have exact numbers on it but it was a noticeable difference. For Example here is what I found between the cars reading and the Navi's: Car - Navi 70 - 70 72 - 71 74 - 72 76 - 73 78 - 74 80 - 74/75 80+ I didn't test any further as I have a company car and speeding tickets = no more company car. I also double checked this with my 06 IS250 AWD and virtually the same issue happened. I tend to believe the Navigation is correct? Anyone else notice this? Note: I do have snow tires on, but they are the same size as the standard tire and I will follow up when I get my summer's on in a month.

2nd Update RE: High Beam Lights/Horn - The electrical issue caused a short in one of the controls that apparently now needs to be replaced. The part will add another $181.00 plus Labor to the series of events that have transpired above. Let's just hope this is the end of it!

Update: So my car is back in the shop, getting the (3) three recalls completed that are out and I am also trying to get the Horn and High Beams working since they were not fixed in the initial "electrical problem". The guys took 8 hours of diagnostic time to figure it out and basically blamed in on the salt, yes we have salt up here, and no it wasn't covered under warranty as I have 70k on the car. I still don't think this should have happened in 2.5 years time and I am going to write to corporate in hopes of finding a solution to the very large bill that came with the "repair" (They did lower the $98 labor cost to $68/hr). The good news for you guys is that in the event the problem happens to you, hopefully I saved you a huge bill as they now have a solution to the problem. I did actually ask about the chance of a total power failure while driving and they said that since it was a ground wire that had the corrosion, that they have the most power going through them at start-up and thus once it's running it should be fine since the amps are lower after ignition and if there as a problem it would happen during the highest amps. I agree with their point, but none-the-less "Should" be fine isn't great either.

I recently had a big problem with my 06 IS250 AWD. I went to get into the car and the doors wouldn’t open, so I got in manually with the "key" and tried to start the car to no avail. The wheel wouldn't move and the break wouldn't depress and there appeared to be no power, and thus no way to start the car. My initial thought was that the wheel lock had been triggered and the battery was dead, so I tried jumping it (correctly) however I could not depress the break and thus the push button wouldn't star the car. However, it appeared that no electrical was working and the push button start wasn't responding to the key? My second thought was that the key battery was dead, however that was not the problem as I tried both sets of keys and replaced the batteries. So reluctantly, I had it towed to the dealership where they spent three days searching for a problem. The result after three days at the dealership (so I have been told) was CORROSION on a ground in one of the wire harnesses that connected ground wire from the battery to the frame located just in front of the firewall on the right hand side of the car. Apparently that was enough to shut the entire car down. I am wondering how a 2 1/2 year old car can build up that much corrosion and how something that small can shut down everything in the car. Also, what else is in store for future years? I am picking it up from the dealership but I want to make sure that something like this can't happen while I am driving. I figured I would post this in the event any of you are unlucky enough to experience this. Luckily it is an easy fix and there was no major damage done! But regardless it took a lot of hours to track down the problem.

I recently had a big problem with my 06 IS250 AWD. I went to get into the car and the doors wouldn’t open, so I got in manually with the "key" and tried to start the car to no avail. The wheel wouldn't move and the break wouldn't depress and there appeared to be no power, and thus no way to start the car. My initial thought was that the wheel lock had been triggered and the battery was dead, so I tried jumping it (correctly) however I could not depress the break and thus the push button wouldn't star the car. However, it appeared that no electrical was working and the push button start wasn't responding to the key? My second thought was that the key battery was dead, however that was not the problem as I tried both sets of keys and replaced the batteries. So reluctantly, I had it towed to the dealership where they spent three days searching for a problem. The result after three days at the dealership (so I have been told) was CORROSION on a ground in one of the wire harnesses located just in front of the firewall on the right hand side of the car. Apparently that was enough to shut the entire car down. I am wondering how a 2 1/2 year old car can build up that much corrosion and how something that small can shut down everything in the car. Also, what else is in store for future years? I am picking it up from the dealership but I want to make sure that something like this can't happen while I am driving. I figured I would post this in the event any of you are unlucky enough to experience this. Luckily it is an easy fix and there was no major damage done! But regardless it took a lot of hours to track down the problem.

I use mine when I am going through mountains, it helps the car downshift a bit faster so that you dont have to break as much.

If you are from Buffalo you could probably drive in the snow with 4 bald tires on a mustang better than someone from NJ with a hummer and 4 snows. I would be more worried about one of them causing the wreck then you with some decent All Seasons. I live in Upstate NY and I have to drive no matter what all year round for work. The AWD has been terrific in the snow and I have been happy with All Seasons. This year I purchased snows since the tread was much lower on my all seasons than the previous winter and I wanted a bit more control for heading up to the ski areas. Also, I was contemplating doing the full set of snows and summers on wheels with TPMS. However, based on the cost I found it much better to just buy a set of Snow tires and swap them out each season. The dealer will charge around $70 to mount an balance. If you factor in $140 / year (summer and winter) minus the cost of snow tires (= $600-700) you could do this for 5 years before the break even cost of having two sets @ $1,400. Plus the snow tires will only last about 4-5 seasons depending on mileage, so you will be buying and mounting and balancing again anyway. The only reason I would buy two sets is if you wanted to upgrade from the factory wheels.

I live in Upstate NY and went with the AWD because I have to drive no matter what all year round for work. It has been terrific in the snow and I have been happy with the power it puts out otherwise. I figured if I know I'll be driving in the snow and I can't avoid it and I am shelling out $30k for a car it better stay on the road when I need it. Regardless of the VDIM on the 350, 4 is always better than 2. Your decision though, if its really snowing bad out and you can leave it at home then go for the power. Also, I was contemplating doing the full set of snows and summers on wheels with TPMS. However, based on the cost I found it much better to just buy a set of Snow tires and swap them out each season. The dealer will charge around $70 to mount an balance. If you factor in $140 / year (summer and winter) minus the cost of snow tires (= $600-700) you could do this for 5 years before the break even cost of having two sets @ $1,400. Plus the snow tires will only last about 4-5 seasons depending on mileage, so you will be buying and mounting and balancing again anyway. The only reason I would buy two sets is if you wanted to upgrade from the factory wheels or you got a real good deal from someone selling them.

I just bough the Conti - Extreme Contacts for my wife’s car. They seem to have great grip on the road, my only complaint is that they have a slightly louder road noise than I would expect for the type of tire. I don't think she notices though. I also had some cheep "Falcon brand" tiers on at one point (they were the only thing in stock and I had to buy them since my tires were down to the metal cabling). Had my first 1000 miles on the tires and had a blowout (entire inside sidewall shredded). As a side note I will be purchasing snows for the winter, so I went with a higher performance tire for the summer.

It has been a while since I chimed in on this topic, but I wanted to add a twist to the great debate. I have been driving the IS250AWD for almost two years now (for those out there who care on premium 98% of the time). So here it what I have found. I drive about 30k a year almost all highway in NY. Winter of 06 I averaged around 26.2 MPG, then in the summer of 07 I was averaging 27.8 MPG! (Which was more than I expected). I had several tanks above the 28 MPG mark. As I expected that dropped a back down in the winter of 07 to around 26.0 MPG. Now with no driving changes or fuel etc... in the summer of 08 I am averaging 26.5, the only difference I have noticed is that I can't find any gas in NY without Ethanol in it. Now with the "Corn Fuel" Ethanol being added to the mix seems to to have made about a 2 MPG difference since this was introduced as a viable fuel option. I don't have all of the facts and I haven't researched this and I honestly don't know if it makes a difference. I know the cars HGWY MPG is estimated at 26, but I can't imagine if I was consistently getting 28 last summer why it would drop coincidently with the introduction of ethanol to the fuel I use. The only reason I state this is that the one trip I took to NJ this summer I averaged 27.6 MPG on the way home. The gas I purchased had no Ethanol in it. Just my observation, but I am looking forward to seeing if anyone else has noticed something similar.

If you are that worried about doing the work yourself just ask the Lexus dealership to buff out the scratches the next time you are in for service. Most likely they will do it free of charge, but will obviously depend on the dealership. If not just bring it to a trusted body shop and they'll do it for a decent price since it doesn't involve painting it shouldn't cost you that much. On a side note, my car was damaged in a car wash where the "touchless" broke and the arm of it went up the passenger side of my car. The carwash place paid for the damages, most of which was simply buffing out the scratches and some slight touch up work. The dif. being that I filled out the report while I was there and could prove my case... you might have a harder time doing that.

I was also sick of cleaning off the dust so I inquired about the new break pads. The service guy said there was a notice posted stating it was ok to replace the pads for free on both the 250/350. I am all for it and will be getting them replaced this week!

I agree that even if you sold it to a place where a front plate wasn't needed that you would have to replace the front bumper anyway and thus you don't have much of an argument there. However, I don't think that you should drop the issue because they were in fact at fault and did damage your car. I would try and get a free service or two out of it instead of having them fix the scratch, depending on how deep it is I would have them put some touchup paint on it though so that it doesn't get any worse w/ the moisture and weather in MD. Two stories from my personal experience my car was damaged at the dealership when someone opened a door and put a nice dent in it. They fixed it at no cost. I also left another time and went to pull out of the dealership and my hood open warning sign came on. I just closed it and went on my way but called to let them know what happened (as to make sure it didn't happen to others). They gave me a credit for my next appointment because of the mistake.

My Fiance has the same issue with her Mazda 6. One "solution" could be to get the transmission re-flashed. If both of you drive the car w/ dif driving styles (ie. you gun it and she doesn't) than the "learning curve" of the transmission could be affected causing it to shift improper. Also, check the fluid levels, sometimes in a new car it will burn up more fluid in the first few thousand miles than the average 5,000 mile service span. On a side note, I haven't had any issues with my IS250 awd trany. The only dif is when I have it on the ext power and don't drive it hard (while in auto shifting) the gear shifting is more noticeable. Which should be expected.

Yes, I am running 18 inch on 2007 IS250AWD and doing great! See photo attached. I am interested in getting 18's for my AWD - Anyone have suggestions?? Although I like the chrome I would rather not get them because I use my car for work purposes as well. So a machine faced might be a good option. I'd also like to keep the price reasonable due to the extra $500 for the TPM sensors. Thanks!