SW03ES

I actually think they do sell the door sill lights aftermarket...

Total BS. Threaten to retain a lawyer. Or better yet, go see one and send them a letter saying that you have retained an attorney for this matter and all further correspondance should be sent to them. That will shut em up real quick. Made a mistake in a 3 month old contract and they want money, thats the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. Call 1-800-25-LEXUS and clue them in about these crooks. A contract is binding, they can't just say "oops we messed up, pay us". Maybe you messed up too and they should pay you...

Have you tried changing the screen color? The nav screen changes color based on season, when it does this some people think the screen dims.

Yeah the bottles say the number right on the front of them. Thing is you won't be able to find the pro line series like DACP in a store like PepBoys, you'll probably have to order it online. Megs does it by part number which is usually the number of the product followed by two 0's. The cutting pad is for polishing out swirls by machine. That buffer sounds like a rotary buffer, if it is then you don't want to use it. A rotary is a very effective tool but its not for the novice. You can perminantly damage the paint with that if you aren't skilled in its use. I really think a PC is a worthwhile investment if you're planning on doing swirl removal, its more effective then by hand but its much safer than a rotary.

Alan- We'll find out tomorrow LOL Steve- I believe the TSB is for the 02 and the 03.

Naa the craftsman buffer isn't going to have enough power to do anything but apply waxes. As for the cutting pad, I'm not quite sure what your question is about that... For purchasing the products I wouldn't buy them from Meguiars, you can find all the products listed there through www.lexuscarcare.com or www.properautocare.com

I have to agree with SK. Having seperate forums for each generation of a model creates several problems that I can see: 1. It discourages cross posting and keeps knowledgable members from chiming in across generations. The 300 and the 330 have a lot of differences but they have a lot of similarities too and people that own each model have insights to bring to the other. 2. It opens up a pandora's box of potential subforums that would litter the site, make information harder to find, and become endlessly increasing as the models go through successive redesigns. 3. It creates a moderating nightmare. Its a big job making sure everything gets posted where it belongs and that every post is within the posting guidelines. Adding a new forum for every generation of a model triples and even quadruples the difficulty of the task. People already post in the wrong forums consistently and need to have their threads moved. So, while there are good points I think that the bad points outwiegh the good.

On the RX model and the SC model the "LEXUS" lights up ;)

The technology for these voice independent recog. systems is simply not there yet. Everybody would be much better off using the older adaptive systems that have to be trained.

Its the black plastic pan at the bottom of the windshield, on the outside where the air intake is, where the wipers pop up out of.

Thats great, glad to hear it went well. Honestly, a lot of times these remanufactured trannies wind up being better and longer lasting than their OEM counterparts depending on who does the rebuild. I had the tranny go out on my explorer at 70k and had a remanufactured one put in that was built by one of the "best in the business" and its now lasted me nearly 100k and shows no signs of slippage.

LOL, all fixed today. But now its at Lexus for service, they PROMISED not to wash it. We'll see.

ECU- Yep, should cost about the same for an 02. The bulbs are supposed to last the life of the vehicle under normal circumstances.

Get used to problems with the voice nav, it doesn't work well ;)

That time is different for everyone. For me when it stops riding good and looking good its time to say bye bye. As long as you have a good mechanic and a quality automobile that has been maintained well its whole life it remains pretty worthwhile to put money and work into repairing things down the road that may go bad. When the leather and the paint get thin and it starts to creak and rattle a lot its time to move on to greener pastures though. 5-6 years, 150,000 miles or so from new is the max for me really.

Being a cop is tough man, get ragged on and called !Removed! for doing their jobs. If you don't like the speeding regulations then work to change them, its not the cop's fault they're just doing their jobs. If you're doing 72 in a 35 on a country road at night you deserve to be in jail, you got off easy. Thats inexcusably reckless. What an ignorant thing for her to say. What did that ticket cost? $150? That $150 isn't going to make a dent in her christmas budget, thats rediculous. If its true then shame on her for ruining christmas for her family by running the light, she should have been more careful. It is possible to run a yellow light, you know. If the cop sees that you go through the yellow when you could have easily stopped they can ticket you lawfully. Yellow means clear the intersection, not floor it and hope you make it through. An ignorant response to an ignorant comment... Its a common misconception that police officers recieve kickbacks or pay raises based on the amount of tickets they write, they don't. Thats something made up by speeders to attempt to shift responsibility from where it belongs, on their shoulders. The only truth from that statement can possibly be that the local government set the speed limit where it is to generate revenue, which happens but the cops have nothing to do with it. I speed, but when I get a ticket (and I rarely get tickets as I'm accomplished at reading the road to look for cops) I take my ticket like a man, I chose to speed and I got busted. Nobody's fault but mine.

The Armor All will hide the yellowing but it won't last, next time its washed it'll be back.

But those are materials not parts. It stands to reason that they would use the same materials throughout the line as its the same company. Most of the dash on my dad's LS430 is leather but I know what you mean. I've driven a lot of the Toyota models and the dash quality is DEFINATELY not the same as on the Lexus models. It is on the higher line cars like the Avalon (and I can't remember the Camry but I'll pound one this week when my fiance's Prius goes in) but the plastics on our Prius are terribly cheap. Same way with the Corollas, the 4 Runner, the trucks and the Sequoia. They all definately do not use the same dash material. Lexus actually changed their dash material in 2001. The dash of the LS430 and my ES is very different from the LS400s and even the current GS. Lexuses are rebadged Toyotas in the sense that they are made by the same company, not in the way people mean it when they say that. People who say "Lexus is just a rebadged Toyota" think an LS is an Avalon with an L and thats just simply not true of any Lexus vehicle, save maybe the LX.

I just *stupidly* let a detail shop wash my car. I figured its getting cold and its hard for me to do it at home when its cold. They came highly reccomended and they've removed some dings for me in the past and did a great job. Huge mistake, car is swirled all to hell. Now I get to spend tomorrow polishing and waxing it again to get rid of the swirls in the 40 degree temps. Never again will anyone but me wash my car.

Well mechanically a Lexus IS a mostly a rebadged Toyota. Just like a Scion is a mostly a rebadged Toyota Echo. Most of the differences are in body styling and interior furnishings. But even there a considerable number of parts carryover. Lexus does tend to use more durable paints. Same deal at Infiniti. In fact, at a recent car show I noted the front door panel of the $55,000 Infiniti QX56 was absolutely identical to a base model $22,000 Nissan Titan pickup except for a few wood inserts and small details like that. ← Thats not true of the LS at all. What American Lexus does the LS share any substantial parts with? They share some things like filters and belts with the V8 Toyota trucks, some switchgear like the cruise control stalks but thats all. The LS, GS, SC, and IS are almost entirely Lexus specific. I think the LS 95-00 shares a steering wheel rim design with the Land Cruiser. The similarities are they are designed and built by the same company so everything has a similar look but they don't just re-use and carry over parts. Even when you get into the ES, RX, and GX where you get closer to their Toyota platform mates they don't share any visible parts like door panels or body panels. I think the only Lexus you could make that argument for is the LX.

I'm 23 and I like driving my sofa ;) At least trade it on a BMW sedan! Why an X5? I might be cajoled into trying a BMW next time, we'll see.

The windshield cowl is a slight ticking coming from the base of the windshield when cold, they replace the entire plastic cowl with an upgraded unit. The steering clunk comes at low speeds in parking garages and such, it feels sort of like theres something loose in the steering rack. There've been some posts about it and someone had their secondary steering shaft replaced and it solved the problem. Mine has done it since new. They replaced the belts in mine too because of a slight squeal at idle but this is much louder, a definite slip. It can be heard in the house when I start the car enough to have people inquire as to: "What the hell is wrong with your car?"...

Very nice!

Yeah I don't think we can host it, but I'll just pretend that I didn't see it posted ;)

Hmm...that is a problem... But at least you'll have clear headlights!