HubJunky1

I had white scratches appear on my car soon after I purchased my 07 rx350-the dealer had done a great job detailing, but what happens is that wax will accumulate in rough spots or scratches and as wax hardens and gets rained on, it turns wet. So the scratches may only appear white because they are full of wax, not because they are that deep. These cars supposedly have an extra hard clear coat that is harder to scratch, but in my experience, it only makes it harder to remove scratches. If the body shop sanded parts of your car, a good body shop (not the people you went to) can use a finer wet sand procedure to buff it out. It sounds terrifying to fix a scratch with sandpaper, but my good friend is a body shop mechanic, and he's done this to repair clear coat imperfections on my cars in the past and the rx. As for your problems, its madness that the dealer has wiped their hands of the problem-I would be writing as many letters to as many people at lexus corporate as I could. You shouldn't be on the hook for any of this.

My front bumper got maimed in a parking lot and as a result, I'm going to have to replace the bumper cover and have it painted to match. My question is, has anyone ever put an 01 bumper on a 97 ES? I think it would probably fit the same, but I'd like to know if anyone has done it before I go ahead and have the body shop order the new cover (And yes, I know I will have to replace the fog lights too if I do this)

I did this on my 97 ES300 when I bought all the wood trim parts from a 2001 Coach Edition. I looked at the circuit boards on each radio and transposed the wires accordingly (Sorry, I don't have a record anywhere of what it was) and spliced in the 2001 wire harness to the wiring in my 97. So with a little work, yes, it can be done, and I've had this setup for a few years now, without any trouble or malfunction.

The lenses are different from 97-99 and 00-01. Each will fit on any year, but the lens looks different. In 00, they went to a "jeweled" look, which in my opinion is much nicer looking. If you have one of each model year on your front end, it will be noticeable and strange.

My old radio finally crapped out after nearly two years of service. I'm planning on getting a new radio next month anyway (You didn't hear this from me, but the Sirius radios with the recording/pause features are coming out very soon) so I just got this cheap little starmate radio for the meantime. Used one of those cell phone / radio install kits from Circuit City for 20 bucks, bent it around a little bit and it fit quite nicely above the console. Using the built in FM Modulator for now, it doesnt sound too bad, as I am still waiting for my soundgate adapter to get exchanged (First they send me the wrong thing, then the second package is defective.....)

I may have finally found my holy grail! After two years of pain with the tape adapter to use my Sirius radio, it seems Soundgate has made a reasonably priced aux input for our cars. http://www.soundgate.com/index.php?request...9&usereferrer=1 The best part is, it allows you to keep the factory CD changer, and gives you two RCA hookups for inputs, with a switch that allows you to choose between the three options. I'm going to run one input as a headphone cable in the armrest for an ipod or something else if I feel like it. I got it for about $60 with shipping from audiooutfitter.com. Should hopefully arrive in a few days. I'll post pics and results when it comes!

I kinda like the drawing, much more exciting than the present ES IMO. One thing that is for sure, The next gen ES will be the last lexus vehicle to share a platform/styling with a toyota car. From here on out, Lexus will be designing totally independent of Toyota.

When I put on my wood wheel, it was a !Removed! getting the old one off even after the bolt had been undone, i'd say its probably next to impossible for it to come off while you're driving, unless you went ahead and removed the airbag and bolt yourself, and are trying to pull it off. In which case, you're an idiot :)

97 ES300 (Upgraded all trim inside and out to 2001 Coach edition + Factory HID) 88 BMW 325i convertible for summer days (Restored myself this past summer, new cloth top and everything)

One of my neighbors has a 99 ES300 that has had.. lets just say.. cheap bodywork. It says 300 ES on the back, and it looks bizarre.. stick with ES300 kids!

http://techinfo.lexus.com/ should have the info you're looking for!

My 97 has the original mirror, and sadly enough it is a plain old black mirror, doesn't match the interior, doesnt sing or dance, or anything in between. Tell the guy to do HIS research better in the future.

It's a big filter because it goes in as two pieces (Well, really 4 pieces, but pairs are stuck together) You slide the first two in and then push them up into the slot, then once it is all the way up inside you can slide in the other half underneath it and close it all up.

I think in the newer model es300/330s it's behind the glove box, but I actually just installed mine in my 97 ES. When I opened the compartment (Not a day in the park to get to) there were no filters in there! I was hoping for some instant gratification seeing the old dirty part, but this seemed to be the first time one was installed there.

To get the wood shifter trim off, you need to pry it gently at the four corners. Cover the edge of a flathead screw driver with electrical tape so there are no sharp edges, and pry off each corner of the shift plate, it will just pop out.

I get this catalog from Bavarian Autosport since I ordered parts for my BMW from them (Great company, by the way) and in this month's feature it talked about the importance of the gas cap and how it seals off the pressure in the fuel system. They said that if you had a poor seal, it would effect the performance of the car and greatly decrease gas mileage. Now, my car is pushing 86k on the odometer and I doubt this has ever been changed before (Lexus recommends ever 40k i believe) so I ordered the part for about 10 bucks, changed it in about 30 seconds, and I can't believe how different my engine feels! The engine is coasting more smoothly at highway speeds, it feels peppier, and oddly enough the shifting feels smoother. So far, the gas needle isnt so dramatic either! Anyone else had this part changed? I'm almost sure the improvement isnt all in my head ;)

First of all, I dont advise undoing the whole armrest area, it wont help you much in this task and its just a pain in the !Removed! to put back together properly. Secondly, you should have gotten a Sirius :chairshot: But we're all friends here, and I'll help you anyway! I've attached some pictures to the bottom that should help you out, they include running the antenna wire from the back glass to the console and how to deal with the power situation. You can see in my pictures, I removed the center trim plate around the shift, and the trim inside the deep armrest. With those open, you'll have no problem routing the wires through. Plug in the 12v plug into the lighter in the armrest, and route the power through the hole, then you can just close the panel back up, you should be able to snap it on even with the wire through, I had no problem on mine. Then once it's in there, just route it past the shifter and up to the ashtray area where you have yours. I also showed a picture of my antenna wire and how it gets into the console, I just fed it up between the carpet and the center console and then snaked it through the shift area. Since the pics were taken at night with a flash and close up, the antenna wiring looks like it's really obvious, but in person you hardly see it, it's just in that shadowy area between the seat and the armrest. Good luck!

Good suggestion to try them out online before you choose one. Sirius subscribers can listen online for free with their subscription (With XM you need to buy more hardware and it costs an additional monthly fee to listen on a computer). With the sirius online there are even applications to listen to it on a smartphone or a PDA with wifi. And as far as the units themselves, there are a lot of great new units that were just released to rival the footprint of the various xm products. As far as the wood faced radio, you can get a wood overlay for the 97-99. If you want to have the face from the 00-01 you need to wire the 00 harness into your car to plug it in. Sadly, despite my various attempts, you can't just swap off the faces like you can with the A/C controls.

and one more thing... Sirius' programming is MILES ahead of XM's :) Just a word of advice.

I've had my Sirius Kenwood Here2Anywhere plug and play mounted on my dash in the center above the vents for about 2 years now, a little tired of how it looks there and thinking of getting a new unit and making it look a little more integrated. But as far as antennas and wiring goes, its pretty easy in the ES (I have a 97) I have the antenna perched centered on the roof right at the back edge above the rear windshield. The rubber molding around the window is perfect for running the wire, use a pin to pull it slightly, then roll the wire under, very easy process. I ran the wire around the back window under that molding, it then comes out into the trunk where it just snakes along the top of the trunk, then through the ski hatch, and then its tucked under the rear bench seat. From there it goes under the door edge trim and the only place you can see the wire is where it comes out of the molding near the front seat belt anchor, under the seat, then it goes up into the base of the armrest/center console. The rest of the wiring is all hidden in the console too. The lighter adapter goes into the armrest power source, then through the little hatch in the bottom of the armrest storage. Pull the wood trim off of the shifter area carefully and you will be able to route the power and the antenna through that spot and up to the console, and up to wherever you mount the unit. On mine, I sent them along behind the radio and A/C unit and up out the top above the vents, no drilling or holes or anything needed, the wires are thin enough to squeeze through. I put the tape adapter into the same spot with the other wires, and the tape adapter stays permanently in the radio and just about an inch or two of wire runs from that spot to the edge. Sorry for being so wordy, I'd take a picture but my camera isnt charged, perhaps tomorrow when the sun comes back out and i've had it plugged in for a while! PS, the picture you posted of the es interior... is that yours? If so, how did you retrofit a woodfaced nakamachi radio from an 00 into a 98? I've been trying to do that myself :)

I guess Lexus wasnt really anticipating use in 9 degree weather! None of my windows will open up!! They make a quick sound and a very slight motion and then stop and are frozen in place. Anyone else having this happen? Or is my car just weak? It's a 97

It could be a regional thing... here in the northeast there are a lot more 00-01 coach/platinum edition cars than I have seen in california, and a lot of them have had the nakamichi. The 00-01 ES300's here in the northeast however didnt come with chrome wheels or HID headlights, which both seem to have been included in many of the cars in southern california.. good luck in your pursuit!

Well, against my better judgement, 6 months ago I had my front struts replaced by a mechanic who is friends with my father (Claimed he would do it for cheap and the day i needed it, turns out he charged as much as the dealership wanted!) For the past month my car has been pitching and rolling like crazy, couldnt even drive smoothly on fresh paved road. So I got it into lexus and they changed the strut mounts. They told me that they wore out because the mechanic installed the struts improperly!! So, thanks to bad workmanship, I was out $450 in parts and labor to have new strut mounts put in the front. Moral of the story: Dont cheap out with your lexus :( Ended up costing me twice as much, and a huge pain in the !Removed!!

By Feb 05 Sirius will be a dealer and post-production option in the LS430, ES330, and LX470 as well as Toyota and Scion models http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServe...d=1101254447546 Its about time we had a better option than xm :D

I dont see any level on the 01 hid housings, or a bolt to adjust, since there is the levelling motor?