ahdoman

My brakes (Front) were squeeking too. They were also making a grinding noise! I set aside a couple of hours, bought the ceramic pads (They are worth the money)(not from Lexus but from the local auto store) and went to work. First let me say KUDOS! to the Lexus engineers. Changing the pads was a snap! Two bolts and the whole caliper slides off. Took me a quarter the time I expected. When I pulled the stock pads off there were 3 shims that were placed between the pads and the caliper. My new pads came with none so I didn't re-use them. I haven't noticed a problem and the squeek and grind is gone. The strange thing is the pads I replaced were still probably 60% so I don't know where the grinding sound was coming from. Also discs are fine. No wear marks. Conclusion; buy the ceramis pads, do it yourself and save a bunch.

Just thought I'd post a few tips I've run into to help keep the wind noise down on the RX300. In Southern Cal we can drive around with the sunroof opened much of the time. Here are some tips to make it a quieter ride. 1. Remove the roof racks. (How often do you really put something up there?) This made a HUGE difference even with the sunroof closed! Just be careful. After unscrewing the "knob bolt", lift the back of rack very slightly and pull back to release front. If you don't do this right you will break the retaining tabs. I also recommend spraying something to lubricate the joints before trying this. I used a window cleaner so that it wouldn't affect the finish on the car. 2. When you open up the sunroof the "deflector" pops up and makes a tremendous amount of wind noise. If you reach up and pull it back down while driving faster than 40 mph you will find that the cabin gets a lot quieter. However, DON'T REMOVE THE DEFLECTOR! I found that if I bent the spring tabs down so that it only sticks up about half as high it works a lot better. You may get some slight buffeting at low speeds. If you do simply bend it back up a little or I just close the sunroof an inch or two.

I love my RX300 but would like a bit better performance and/or better mileage. Does anybody make a "chip" or other off the shelf bolt on performance parts (air intake manifold, etc)? Also what about suspension kits (anti-sway bar, stiffener, etc)?

I am a new owner of a 1999 RX300 4wd. I do about the same kind of driving and I get about 17 to 20 mpg. The tank on the RX300 is rather small compared to other vehicles that I have owned.