wandawoods

UCF3, it seems that u are into racing stuffs. please comment on the following auction description from an eBay seller who sell only cross drilled, but not slotted Brembo: QUOTE: Why Cross Drilled ONLY ? Consider this - Porsche had been using cross drilled rotors on their 911 turbo since the late 70’s and they are still using them on their latest models. Mercedes Benz also putting cross drilled rotors on the newer S Class. WHY ? Maybe these 2 top auto manufactures doesn’t know much about performance (don’t they know slotted rotors are very hot in the market now) or will it be because under years of experiences and development, they still noticed that CROSS DRILLED ONLY is more suitable for everyday high performance sports cars and everyday driving. TRUTH : The slots on the slotted rotors acts like razor blade, it “sliced “ the brake pads everytime you step on the pads (thus, brake pads won’t last long) . They are only good for road course racing where brakes had been overheat and form a glazed on the pads, it will give a “ new “ surface everytime, that’s why, thye rae only good for racing only. As for gas disipation, don’t you think the gas will disipate faster through the drilled holes to the vents (for vented rotors which most car are using) than the little slots between between the rotors and the pads. Think….common sense.

indeed on the 94, 'brake system warning light' and 'brake pad wear limit warning light' are at separate locations. perhaps, lovlex should make clear about which warning light was referred? yes, there is a sensor wire physically attached to one of the brake component. according to my mechanic, it is very easy to break it if not careful, the result will be a constant-on pad-wear warning light.

are u using 'Supra TT Brake Upgrade' kit which uses a lot bigger (2" larger dia.) rotor than the stock size? standard stock size: Supra TT brake rotor: I also have 5-spoke rims, the grilled/slotted rotor will look real nice on the open-style rim like mine!

sorry fot the double posts

the rotors on my newly acquired 97 LS4 are approaching mininum thickness, I will want to change them soon, maybe in another 6000~7000 miles. any comment about cross drilled/slotted rotors? are they really better than traditional rotors?

it could be the pad-wear sensor is improperly installed or broken when your brake job was done. have your mechanic double check it. last year, midas did some brake works on a 94 LS that I used to own, and they broke one of the sensor wire, the result was brake-pad worn light stayed on. the sensor wire is about $90 and it's sold only at dealer.

KBB (private party) in excellent condition with standard equipments + CD changer is valued at about $11K for 97 LS4 225000 miles. so if you could get the price down to $10k or less, you would be doing very well!

my wrecked 94 did that every single time 30-seconds after car starts, regardless RPM, even idling. of course, every time I checked, oil level was always at proper level despite the 'oil level low' warning. I was kinda just live with it.... oil level sensor (a few hundreds bucks) and oil presure sensor (under $100) are different things with separate warning lights.

in my case of wrecked 94, I can't buy back the car from Allstate unless I enter bid in salvage auction like every1 else, no special treatment there! therefore I can't remove anything except personal belongings from the vehicle. essentially, Allstate 'bought' the wrecked car from me with full retail price, and I did need to sign over the title in exchange for the total-loss check. I assume all insurance work alike, therefore it ain't 'easy' to remove the any parts or accessories legally unless you 'win' the auction and buy the car back.

well, it's pretty bad alright! I would say it is very close to the $10500 damage on my old 94 (w/118K) if not over. if you had full coverage, insurance will certainly call it a total-loss based on a 91 w/171K. use KBB retail price (make sure all optional equipments are counted in) + local sales tax should be settlement offer for the total-loss. fight them if any offer less than that amount. any1 knows it matters to insurance settlement for single vehicle accident? good luck in searcking another LS!

well, I upload my pictures on my own website, then just add the picture link by clicking the 'IMG' button when you do a post or reply. if you don't have a site you can upload, then you can also post it to LOC's image gallery and use that picture link (right click the picture, 'property', and copy the ULR address, then paste it to the address box after clicking 'IMG' button.

mormally pictures from digital camera or scanner are to big a size (closed to 1-Meg if 1800x1200) to post. fire up your favorate photo editing program and reduce resolution to 800x600 or 600x800 and save the file as JPG format with 75% compresion, that usually can reduce a typical photo to around 100k which you will have no problem to post.

went to a locksmith, specialized in import cars, trying to get couple of spare keys cut, however, the inexperienced young man found out after the fact that the key for 97 LS has transpondent embeded! so, he wasted two just-cut keys which can only open doors/trunk, but can't start car at all! you should really see the face of his boss.... anyway, rather than going to dealer and being charged big buck, anywhere I can get key duplicated with transpondent?

folks, newly acquired 97 LS4 arrived this morning from Dallas! looks like my eBay luck continues! initial 'test drive' is great and pleasant! engine and throttle is very smooth, quiet and yet very responsive and powerful. tranny shifts very well and barely noticeable. all intrument stuffs, bottons, switches are working. AC is ice cold, and all fluids look fresh at proper level. no noise from steering, suspension, and brakes, overall, a well taken-care-of vehicle. got to say, it's in much better shape than my just-wrecked 94 LS. the only neg. thing is that the mitchelins are not at 75% as seller stated. I will say it's about 1/4~1/3 tread left, I would want to change them rather soon. neverthless, the wear are even, so there is no alignment needed, I do like how the 5-spokes rim looks! what will you guys recommend about new set of tires!?

please review this thread: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=8401& I was hit from behind by a nissan van which caused a $10500 estimated damages. insurance did pay me $11K for the total-loss. looked at the pictures I posted, maybe you can compare it to your damages and have a ideal how much it can cost to repair. hope your are physically all right, and a much better luck in dealing with insurance company.

skperformance, the hydraulic struts from Strutmaster are direct replacement of air straut, therefore no modificaton is required to the conversion. with all connecting pieces designed for air sus, do you need to do some structural modification in order to install the 'aftermarket sport suspension' ?

well, back in Sept/03, I changed the rear pair of air sus on my wrecked 94 LS to hydraulic struts by my 'personal' mechanic. it was siting very pretty at proper height. I recalled he went to a great length in adjusting the spring/strut to make them at right and proper height. I've no ideal how to do it, though! from lextreme article and pictures: http://www.lextreme.com/ascon.htm the height on his LS4 after conversion is quite good, so I would assume your problem could be caused by imporper installation. so, maybe it's time to bring it to professionals to make the proper adjustment. in term of ride, I am fine with the firmness of hydraulic struts. sorta more a sporty ride vs super soft on air sus.

try eBay motor. I bought total of 4 cars (including 2x LS4, 1x SC4) from eBay in last 12 month. any 5-day ebay listing can generate 500~1000+ traffic current listing: http://listings.ebaymotors.com/Lexus_LS_W0...ocustoverrideZ1

>> on and off sluggish performance. sometimes i feel the car is all mighty and powerful with good response. then later it just feels slow and sluggish its different each time << if not done yet, I would start with troddle body cleaning, and plugs/wires/distributor caps/rotors replacement could helps too! basically a tune-up job. how does the tranny shift? have you changed tranny fluid yet?

it's from an eBay dealer in Dallas with pretty good feedback rating. this will be the 4th car I bought from eBay. the 1st 3 cars all turned out be rather nice except the just-wrecked 94 LS4 did have brake problems. because the seller didn't want a negative feedback from me on his eBay file, so he did paid for the repair which is not heard of very often when buying 'as-is' either locally or remotely! anyway, I did have VIN checked, and had a friend in Dallas brought along the article 'Used LS400 Buyer Guide for Layman by Layman' that I wrote few months back to check the car out. I also had the seller faxed the Lexus service record to me, and it does indicate 90K service (including TB+water pump stuffs) was done. so, I have pretty good confidence going in. $13500 for eBay BIN price $150 documenation fee (junk fee) about $60 Taxas VIT tax $650 to ship it from Dallas to Atlanta KBB value is $14840 (private) or $18235 (retail). forget about Hotlanta, I could't found any good deals at all in Atlanta market for 97 or 98 LS4, not even remotely close to whole bunch of eBay listings. it seems that most LS4 listed on local papers are 15%~30% higher than KKB private party value!

got too caught out by 'mercedes' name few years back, and bought 2pcs S-class instead of LS which I truly wanted. must say, what a disasterous MB experience it has been! so, after I dumped the older 420SEL, it has been Lexus all the way for me, perhaps forever! I drive LS4, wife drives SC4, and I bought a ES3 for Mom (my parents' house is few doors away), and 'poor' Dad is driving my old 93 400sel MB which is still giving us tons of troubles, got to dump it too! perhaps another LS4 for my dad.

I did ask about 'buy back' option for my totaled LS. but it ain't so easy to do so. Allstate said I need to enter bid on the salvage auction like every1 else! it's just too much troubles for a busy guy like myself to spent time with. hmmm, to be honest, I am quite happy with the looks of new rims, perhaps even more so than the old rims.

acf, what's major thing with the 'coach edition'? 1UF-ZE, well, I am not picky about wheels, in fact, kinda like that 5-spokes chrome wheel... :D it does have 4 mitchelin with 75% tread left.....

well, we have sent a deposit for a black 97 w/97K, $13500. will report how it turns out when we get the car.

>> Buying a vehicle based on pictures and someone else's opinions is totally idiotic<< so, you've basically just wiped out the entire eBay motor.... 1stly, I have serveral 80~100hr/week work loads in front of me, don't have lots of time to shop. I do want to get this buying thing done ASAP 2ndly, local prices in newspaper ADs are largely 15~30% higher than KBB private party prices. only at eBay motor, we can find lots of cars normally 5~20% below book value. that's a 20~50% swing! I am willing to take a chance on that amount. 3rdly, I bought 3 cars (2 lex for myself, and 1 for relative) on eBay b4, they all turned out to be rather nice. some low-milleage eBay cars do come with 1-month/1000mile warranty by eBay affiliates. on top of high-price, local cars are mostly sold as-is and no warranty whatsoever, especially 'by-owners'. 4thly, eBay motor sellers have 'feedback' profile you can check agaist, and you can even email prior buyers for their experiences. in last 12-month, I bought over 1/4 million worth of computer parts from eBay, and I sold close to half of million worth of computer servers on eBay, so I have total confidence on the ebay stuffs. anyway, it's not very nice to call any1 'idiotic'....