SW03ES

You got your car back with 140 miles on it and someone smoked in it and you're not mad? I'd clear the whole dealership out if that happened to me.

Have you been actively advertising the car or are you just trying to sell it on here?

LOL, I'm a realtor also and you're absolutely right, people love the car. I took a whole group from my office including my office manager (who has a Lincoln) out on tour yesterday and they all loved the car. My manager actually wants one to replace her Lincoln. When you pull up in a Lexus clients and colleagues seem to take you more seriously. I personally learned from owning now two businesses that when you're young like I am you need to compensate with a nice car, a quality watch, and good suits. That coupled with my more mature demeanor have never caused anyone to ask me how old I am or how long I've been doing what I've been doing etc. My next purchase in a couple years will be an LS430, clients will really love riding in that.

Yeah they definately could. The tires are very important on a Lexus. I havent heard a lot of complaints about those tires being loud though.

It really shouldn't be, my guess is its a function of age, hardening of plastics and seals etc. You should go ride in a newer one sometime. Theres nothing on the road quieter than the LS.

Just wait and see what Verizon will do to you...

No offense but thats pretty ignorant. Basically what you have to understand is this, nobody wants to be a traffic cop. People become police officers to do more exciting things, stopping you for speeding is one step above writing parking tickets, its the bottom of the ladder. Most police departments REQUIRE that new officers spend a certain amount of time on traffic before they can graduate to do what they WANT to do. So what you have is a whole bunch of people that hate what they do. People have sympathy for nasty busboys because its a dirty job nobody wants to do, but cops are "bloodsucking leeches" like I said before thats ignorant, and its not fair. Sure they get a rise, but not for stopping you in a crowd of people. They get a rise for picking off the the guy blasting down the road at 90 weaving in and out. Don't be that guy, you'll be fine. All the police officer is trying to do is begin a rewarding career and feed his family. If he has to stop you for breaking the law in order to do that he will, you would too. If you say you wouldn't then you're lying. My favorite statement here is "then they send you down to your insurance companies etc etc" thats just hilarious, what does a cop have to do with that? Like I said, they don't write the laws, they just enforce them. They don't write insurance regulations, your insurance company does. The cop doesn't get rich off of any of this, he makes $20k a year and gets spit on by people. Its a means to an end for him, thats all. I will ask you in the future however to not talk about any group of people in a derogatory manner. We have members from all professions and walks of life here. You can express your dislike for speed enforcement, but calling anyone a "bloodsucking leech" and "detestable" is innapropriate for this forum.

You dont want to use water because water doesnt have much lubricity. Using SOAPY water is fine.

LSP stands for Last Step Product. Sorry, detailer jargon ;) If you wanted to use a sealant the place to use it would have been beneath the #16.

At 5 gallons you'd still only be at 5-10 capfulls. I usually only use 2 capfulls for a 3 gallon bucket. Thats a lot less than 3/4 of a cup. You'll have to get the waffle weaves online. The best source is www.pakshak.com

Good to hear from you again, sorry about the repair! Did you look into paintless dent repair or were there just too many? Thats a tough one, I can't think of one shop in our area that I would reccomend. We don't have a lot of good detailers around here. I dont really have the time to detail nowadays like I did back when we first met but I do have some people that I refer to that do a good job for my past customers. Let me dig up some contact info, do you have an email I can reach you at?

I personally don't like the way the TC rides. I've explained this in other threads but here goes. Lincolns float over road irregularities while a Lexus feels heavy and solid and seems to "pound down" and smooth out the bumps in the road as it drives over them. I vastly vastly prefer the ride of the Lexus. As for price, The LS is much more expensive than the Town Car, MUCH especially when you realize you can buy a TC for 10k off the list price. The LS comparitavely equipped is probably $25-30,000 more. They're just totally different cars. As for the Explorer I had an Explorer before my Lexus, in fact my parents still have it. Simply no comparison, I will never buy another Ford again. We're also talking about an LS not an RX, there's worlds of difference between the two. blake- the fact that the TC sounded quieter than your LS is troubling, it shouldnt. The LS has the lowest 70MPH decibel reading in the industry, tied with the Rolls Royce Silver Seraph. You may need to replace some weatherstripping or something. The LS should be almost errily silent at 70MPH. For instance, my ES is extremely quiet, but the LS is MUCH quieter.

I dont think it can be done. If I remember that was one thing my dad really disliked about his 98 LS. His new 430 has the option as does my ES.

I've been driving some LS430s as incentive to get my new business venture up and running and I've noticed a couple things: The 17s don't have much effect on the ride of a new LS430 vs an older LS400, the LS430 is overall slightly tauter in feel though. Oddly enough, theres VERY little difference between the 17s on the LS430 and the 18s on the LS430. I thought there would be, but there isn't. I've never driven an older LS430 with 16s though. Now realize that I'm sure the 430 has had suspension changes to accomodate the 17s and now the 18s as being standard equipment to preserve the ride so I have no idea how your 400 would react. Personally? I'd keep the 16s, or look at new 16s. You can put wheels from any RWD Lexus on your LS, GS wheels, SC wheels, there are several options if you want a little flair. To me the most important asset of a Lexus is the ride, and I wouldnt risk it for a little flash.

I'm 23 and bought my ES new in 03. Like you I also look much older, people think I'm in my low thirties. The national average for the ES is 55. The reason you see younger people driving older ES is simply because they can afford them. Don't worry about it, we're just weird ;)

You have to click the little box to make it send to your sent box, saves on bandwidth.

Actually its a sealant, not a polish. A polish is something that smoothes and cleans the paints surface either with oils, light abrasives, chemicals or a combination of the three. Zaino's description of their product as a "polish" is not accurate. Its a synthetic polymer sealant. P21S Gloss Enhancing Paintwork Cleanser, Meguiars #7, #9, #80 etc are all polishes.

LexusCarCare has been taken down unfortunately, you can buy the same products at www.autopia-carcare.com

Yeah thats WAAAY too much soap. Gold Class is a really harsh soap and really all you need is 1-2 capfulls per gallon. The #1 reason people don't get good durability out of their waxes is that they use soap thats just too harsh. As for nap, I mean the chamois has no fibres to trap dirt up away from the paint so you basically drag any dust across the surface. What you need is a good waffle weave MF towel to use for drying.

I just did a quick search, I'm seeing Light Prarie Tan as a clearcoated color... Ford does have a few colors that aren't clearcoated though. They do a single stage black, red, white.

Clearcoat can be applied at the dealer? You sure? Clearcoat is jusr paint with no pigment. Adding a clearcoat at the dealer would be as involved as repainting the whole car and would cost a lot of money. You sure it wasn't just some crappy paint sealant they added at the dealer?

You should compare the Town Car to an LS of its similar age. There's no comparing the interiors, Lexus uses MUCH higher grade products, Lincoln uses cheap plastic and fake wood. There's no comparison between the two to me. Like Jim I've driven them as rentals when I travel and they do ride well, but its not a Lexus.

There are companies that paint the antennas now too, www.colormatchantenna.com

voji LOL, loved your post. You're absolutely right, a lot of times its the customers that make buying a car so difficult.

NXT doesn't last very long. How much soap did you use? They may be smears, try an MF towel and some QD and see what you get. My guess is its hazing from the chamois and will need to be polished. I dont use chamois because they have no nap, any particles on the paint will scratch.