smooth1

I have a Lexus and a Mercedes and I would say that both are very high quality builds. The Lexus is tight fitting and very insulating from the outside. It's becoming much more Sony Playstation like. LOL!! The Mercedes to me is,,,,,,,,well, alot different. I have an Ml350 which is the 4 door mid-size SUV. So there's no comparison of course as they both have a very different set of goals. For everyday living, the ML is hands down, the best "life accommidating " vehicle I've owned so far. It's just the small things that seem to matter more often while owning one I guess, like I think MB has the absolute best cruise control operation of all the vehicles I've ever owned! May sound strange, and in the books, all car companies offer cruise control, but in my ML, on the really long drives to NC, I love how much control and how intuitive it is to operate in light traffic. Something I would have never really thought of before, but I've made that drive now 12 times and it's become a very cool feature to have. But when I want to jet around town and I need a change, the Lexus fits the bill perfectly.

I have a personal PDR tech! He's my guy for door dings and small rock chips and so on. Just find the right person you can trust is all.

I think Toyota/Lexus is going thru some internal changes right now. Honestly, I think they grew to fast and wound up biting off more than they can chew and have had to deal some pretty large set backs. The pendulum swings as usual. Staying on top is way harder than getting there.

I personally agree with the survey. And it's not the only one I've seen that says the same things. US News ranked Lexus #6! and MB is in the #1 slot there also. Not to mention a few other publications that all reflect the same things. The new E350 is just a beautiful car now, and the S-class is a rocket ship!!!! The new technologies in these cars aren't even available in any of the Japanese luxury cars! MB dumped 190 million dollars into the Alabama plant back in 2005-06. And the ML line has been ranked significantly higher since then as well. In fact it's even a Consumer reports recommended buy now!

2002 ES: The tail light idol light on the dash stays on. I have replaced every bulb and they are all functioning but the idol light stays on. Even the dealer couldn't figure it out. Ideas??

tx,

mot

You only need to post a topic once. I deleted the others.

Is it 100% +45 for both F&R?

I just read somewhere that F=+45 and R=+50

I just want to be 100% sure of the specs before I get tires and everything.

The stock 17's for my car are.. 17x7+40 on 225/55/17

I have to have some lug nuts cut, and center bore of the wheels opened up 6mm to make these fit, a buddy works at a machine shop and can get it all done cheap&easy. but just want to make sure of specs before I start cutting up wheels :D

The Is comes stock with a staggered set up. (wider rims on the rear than on the front). So the front and rears are different sets. I assumed you had two sets of the front rims? If so, they will all obviuosly be the same offset. If you have a set of fronts and rears, then they are different offsets to compensate for the wider rim. If you have 2 sets of rear IS rims, then yes, the offset is +50.

Is it 100% +45 for both F&R?

I just read somewhere that F=+45 and R=+50

I just want to be 100% sure of the specs before I get tires and everything.

The stock 17's for my car are.. 17x7+40 on 225/55/17

I have to have some lug nuts cut, and center bore of the wheels opened up 6mm to make these fit, a buddy works at a machine shop and can get it all done cheap&easy. but just want to make sure of specs before I start cutting up wheels :D

Are you sure you want to do this?

Sounds like you have a couple contributing factors and the result is the shaking you feel. Lexus, along with alot of other manufactures, are using softer materials in favor of the higher performance levels these cars are now demanding. So from all I can figure is that they must have just thought that as a daily driver, it would only mean the current owner would have to replace the brakes maybe 2 more times over the life of the car. While yes, increasing the ownership costs, the performance boost would be well worth it. On the chalk board this looks great. As they have the benefit of research and countless engineers and scientists testing and pushing the limits of performance all the time. Then we enter the real world. So follow along real quick. Different discs use different alloys and are constructed with different goals in mind. For example, large trucks have temp. hardened discs (cryogenically treated) that are super compressed steel alloys and milled. These discs are designed and sized for stopping heavy loads and enduring high friction heat levels. On race cars they design the discs to be light, dissipate huge levels of heat quickly and can be made of other exotic materials such as the new carbon ceramic materials. The pads that are used today range from metallic, semi-metallic, ceramic, and also come in all different levels of hardness, and friction levels to adjust initial bite, brake feel, and heat dissapation. So some consumer "mechanic" comes along and thinks that they can "boost" the brake performance by getting XXX superbrand brake and puts way to high a friction pad on a way to soft a disc and problems begin. The next issue is each of the brake system components are designed to work with each other. If you put new pads on a used disc, then you have just assigned the new parts to addtional and accelerated wear, as the new parts will "wear in" to match the used parts around it. The used disc doesn't become newer when you replace the pad. So, it sounds to me like the previous owner wrecked the discs by putting some mismatched brake pads on your car before you bought it. Then you put new brake pads on those previously damaged discs. And now when you hit your brakes you get a shake feel. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

is +45 offset right for F/R?

That's the stock offset for the rims. What offset spec is the Maxima? I was just curious what this is going to look like, and how far out or in the wheels will be.

Check in with Steve. He's the Admin. You can send him an email or PM here. I'll let him know your looking for him as well.

The problem with debadging this car is the two "guide" holes they drilled in the car behind them. To have those filled, then the entire back of the car painted and blended..........I don't know..seems like alot of money I could better spend on other things. I just wanted to go far enough to look custom and class, but stay real world daily driver friendly.

Doesn't anyone actually read things any more? LOL!! E-lectronically C-ontrolled T-ransmission has a "power" setting that moves some shift points from "fuel economy" priority to a "Power" priority for a more spirited feeling of acceleration. The motor still only makes the same amount of HP. and I don't believe the car is actually any faster. I could be wrong there. though. I know in my 350 when I go into the power setting on the transmission it just changes the attitude of the transmission so to speak. For example when I throttle through the gears and then let off it will hold the gears and give me a chance to downshift myself, or hold that rpm thru the corner and shift hard coming out and and staying right in the power band longer for some great exits. (This car does that very ,very well I might add.) LOL!!

We all remember that drama....Like better than reading a book...oh to be young... :whistles:

Yeah, that was better than any daytime soap opra or drama. LOL!

Congrats on the RX. It looks great!

I think that's how we find out the truth. We argue, fight and go to war over it, then I set up a government that teaches you what the truth is........

Crap tires

No I have a staggered set up. 19x8.5 on the front and 19x9.5 on the back.

Welcome to the LOC! If you do some forum searching here you'll find quite a few threads that will answer your modding questions.

I would box up some of our sunshine and send it to you to melt away your snow, but we need it, so too bad. LOL!

Those are all your cars?

Great stuff Army! Thanks! I come from "almost nothing" land! LOL!!

I didnt say there was anything wrong with it! LOL. Just said there wasnt alot there.

Nothin taken ...I thought it was funny! That's why we call Lambo Field "The Tundra".......Looks like one of your photos! LOL!

Great stuff Army! Thanks! I come from "almost nothing" land! LOL!!

I tried talking to the service adviser if I could have the valve cover removed but they can't because they said it's a 3.5hr job. My Toyota service adviser told me to check the dip stick. If it's black, then that means there's sludge even if it just got an oil change. If it's not, then it should be good and that he hardly ever saw sludge problems with that engine as long as the oil change was religious.

Can checking the dip stick be enough peace of mind? Obviously the dealer won't allow a 3.5 hr job to be done just for me to check the valves.

The only problem I have with that is I can easily clean the dipstick with some turpentine and make it look brand new again. Here's a link if you want more info about the class action lawsuit that was filed for the engine sludge issue. http://www.oilgelsettlement.com/summary_notice.pdf And for the record, Audi/VW, Dodge/Crysler, Toyota/Lexus, Saab and a few others all have the same issues in the same years. This isn't a Lexus only, RX issue.

I would ask that they allow you to have an independant tech do the inspection and ask that tech to specifically look for signs of sludging. Like I said, if the motor is clean, then just switch it to a high grade syhnthetic like Mobil 1, Amsoil, or wherever you post your flag in that minefield of an argument, and you should be great to go for many years. The RX is a great SUV, and will last well beyond 150K miles. So your looking at a car that still has 2/3's of it's life left atleast.

Yeah NC, right about the same time you bought your GTI, I got the wife a new Jetta 2.5 liter. (Not the new body style.) And she loves it! It's really is a great little car. I tried to talk her into the GTI, but she wouldn't even test drive it. She said she didn't like the "personality" of the GTI as much. We've had a couple TSB issues also. The headliner started seperating at the C pillars. Weird! They fixed it, but I'm going to keep a good eye on that as time goes by.

One of the observations I've made between Japanese cars and European cars is really "where" they focus their attention to details. It's almost always a trade. European cars are powerful, driver enspired suspensions and steering geometries, great exterior designs, not so good rubber and vinyl qualities though. For some reason they don't use enough silicone or something, and all thier rubber trim and hoses crack and deteriorate very quickly compared to the Japanese counterparts. Japanese cars are tight interior gauge layouts, and the "isolated cabin" feel must be something they desire and are trying to achieve in their cars, which I think we interpret as "bad steering feel" and lack of feedback. I do notice that quite a bit in the IS350, but when I switch to the MB, it's like a book for your hands and feet to read. Japanese has also kept much more reserved designs approaches, but I do think the tightening market will force car manufactures to design better looking cars. That's how Hyundai seems to be gaining market share.

It's funny though, I've always thought that Toyota and Haonda were "scooped" by the GTI design, and should have been one of thier cars instead. It just seems like a better fit. I bet the GTI would be a #1 seller for Honda or Toyota.

New to Lexus Owners Club and happy to say that I am the original owner of a 1992 Lexus SC400. Currently has 108,000 miles and no trouble. Will be checking the forums since I am looking for accessories: sun shades, floor mats, etc.

Welcome!

Welcome!

I would definatley open the top of the motor and look for yourself first. Or have a tech do it for you. In 1996, the Fed Emmissions counsil had raised the emmissions standards, along with higher MPG standards. So car mfgr's increased the engine temps, and increased the exhaust gas recirculation systems. (EGR). They also went to much lower viscosity oils. So right around 1997 on, we started seeing alot of engine sludge issues. The oil itself was just being torched inside the blocks. Some people I've talked to reccomend moving the oil filter location and adding an oil cooler as well. Most happen under 50k miles. But I've seen it happen at 80 and 100k miles as well. If the engine is sludged, just act like you've never seen this car and just move on. It's sooooooooooooo not worth it. The valvetrain mess alone is like trying to clean the ducks during the BP gulf spill. All you can do is shake your head the entire time.

If there's no sludge, and the motor really is clean, then I would say it's a keeper, and note to yourself to change the oil regularly, all the time. You should be good then.