SW03ES

Not neccisarily, if its cosmoline residue he'll need a glass polish or something stronger like the P21S TBW tog mentioned.

Then you haven't been using the right synthetics ;) As heavy waxes go #26 isn't especially durable. Meg's #16 is more so as are the suite of Collinite Waxes. Almost all synthetics are much more durable than NXT and most synthetics outlast even the longest lasting carnuaba waxes...

No the Gen IV nav came out in 04, but about the first 1/4 of the 04 RX330 model run, because the RX came out early as a new model, has the Gen III. What color are the buttons inside the map system, beige or blue?

They may look better in snow but they won't be. The issue is that your RX as it is is only designed to handle snow to a certain degree. Its basically just an AWD car, there's no low range or locking differential and its front drive biased without a lot of ground clearance. Thats why Lexus sells it with passenger car tires instead of light truck tires, to maximize the ride and handling knowing that an exclusively SUV tire is going to be wasted on the car because it doesn't have the mechanicals to back it up. So what I'm saying is its not worth it to tradeoff the ride and smoothness of a relatively benign SUV tire like the Michelin LTX M/S or even a good all season car/van radial for something more aggressive because the RX is incapable of exploiting the extra traction. Unless you're going to go to snow tires I think forward of something like the LTX M/S isn't going to give you any added traction.

Less space. Look around the engine bay of your LS and your ES. The engine on the ES is really shoehorned in there...

You dont want to lease an 04, you would want to lease an 05. Carryover cars are good for purchasing but not for leasing because a lease is figured on the residual value of the car, 04s already have a year of depreciation. Lexus has some AWESOME lease deals right now during the December to Remember. Check out the calculators on www.lexus.com. I drove all 3 of those cars you mentioned and REALLY didn't like the C class. Its really not comparable to the ES, its much smaller, feels cheaper, rides harder, less features. It compares pretty well to the IS. The ES is kinda odd because its sized and proportioned like say a mid optioned E320 but priced closer to the C class. The IS is okay but not what I was looking for. I think you'll like the ES, its an extraordinary bargain for the price.

LF- As far as I know both TSBs only apply to the 2002, 2003, and SOME 2004 ES'. Steve- Probably worth talking to your service rep, I know he levelled with you about the tranny reprogramming, he'll steer you right here also. As my service rep explained to me the sulfer smell comes from the "improved" catalytic converters as a part of the ULEV certification. The cats are so good they remove a larger portion of the sulfer from the exhaust, but that sulfer doesn't entirely get negated and you get that smell.

My dad sold the paper to print this book. I've had one for a long time, since before they were availiable ;)

I need to buy a couple new pairs of shoes to wear with suits, I've worn Bostonian and Johnston and Murphy in the past but I'm thinking I might want to move up to something a little more interesting, black and bordeaux. So brings me to my question, anybody have any shoe expertise?

it would DEFINATELY be cheaper to find a used motor tranny combo...

All good points... Mine reeks though depending on the type of gas I use. Pretty much only BP doesn't smell and I have to drive out of my way to get it vs. the Exxon right down the road on the way to everywhere I go (Exxon makes it smell the worst). I'll be thrilled to have it done just so I can use Exxon again.

Man that things in good shape. A new bumper cover and a good going over with a buffer and it'd be a real gem. What have you decided to do about the repairs?

The best site is www.alldata.com. For $24 a year you can even download the whole TSBs which includes all the information the dealer has, instructions, part numbers etc.

Thats maturity showing through, I hear that from a lot of people that they aren't as concerned about the car as they always figured they would be. A car is just a thing and things can be repaired or replaced.

The tread may look more aggressive, but the Cross Terrain is supposedly a smoother tire. If you look at the TireRack surveys they reflect that for the most part. I'd stick with the LTX though, they're great tires. Toyo is a good tire, I have Toyos on my car. Toyo has a good customer service reputation and is the only tire rated higher than Michelin in quality. They're also about 10-20% cheaper. All the Toyo SUV tires I saw though looked pretty aggressive. No reason to have anything aggressive on the RX.

I agree, really shop this and make sure you get it done right. Polyurethane bumpers and mouldings like this are tricky to paint. The paint has to be mixed with flex additives, too little and the paint will chip and flake, too much and the paint will bubble off. Its really a science. I've had a lot of bumpers repainted, and its usually a 50/50 shot whether the repaint lasts more than a couple years. Then there's the whole issue of paint matching. Matching the paint is more than just making the color match, they need to make the peel and look of the new paint match the original paint too. You don't want to have bodywork done on the cheap on a nice car like the Lexus, you're better off just leaving it like it is. I had someone back into my car and got a whole lot of estimates. The estimate I chose was $800 just to repaint the rear bumper...alone. I chose the shop that I felt the most comfortable with, had the highest number of expensive car clients, had the nicest facilities, was the most comfortable with me touring their facility and had the estimator that spent a whole hour with me discussing the intricacies of doing a repaint on a polyeurethane bumper like this.

In my experience in the SUV world you really can't go wrong with the Michelin LTX M/S. The RX doesn't come with SUV tires but these are very ride and comfort biased, I've had two sets on my Explorer. The first set went 100,000 miles and they could have gone longer before needing replacement. Nice smooth and quiet tire with good looks (they come with outlined white letters which you can mount inside or out depending on your preference) at not too nasty a price. I don't know what tires the car has on it now but the stock Goodyear Integritys that come on the RX300s are pathetic, same tire that they put on Toyota Corrolas and its totally unsuited to the RX. That said there are some new more advanced highway SUV tires out there such as the Michelin Cross Terrain that would be well suited to the car but they're a little costlier. TireRack has the LTX M/S in stock for the RX at $119 a peice which is a good price.

Its free, might as well give it a shot. Plus its a 2 year newer catalytic converter again, for free. Catalytic converters don't last forever.

These are from the LS forum: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...3&hl=hesitation http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...6&hl=hesitation http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...4&hl=hesitation http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...8&hl=hesitation And the GS forum: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...1&hl=hesitation http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...8&hl=hesitation http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...0&hl=hesitation And the SC forum: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...1&hl=hesitation

Ownership, my dad has had two and both have the hesitation. A 98 and now an 04 LS. If you look around in the LS forum there are several threads about the throttle lag. The GS has it too, it was apparent from the first second I drove one. For some reason its DISCUSSED more in the RX and ES circles, I think because more RXs and ESs are sold. Any Lexus service advisor will tell you every Lexus has this hesitation. Its a function of the particular driver whether they notice it or not.

The major problem that faces SUV drivers is overconfidence. I see it all the time around here, it snows 5 inches and everybody has their SUVs out doing 50MPH on unplowed roads when realistically I can't even imagine needing an SUV here in the first place as it very rarely snows over 6 inches and everything basically closes down at an inch. There's nowhere to go, and I don't have any more problems getting around in the Lexus than I did in my Explorer. Now if you live somewhere that it does routinely snow over 6 inches thats another story, but even then those areas are much much better at clearing the roads than my area. Around here it can take days to get plows off the main streets and into neighborhood streets even when its just a small snow.

I don't think the Nanowax is going to hide them. He'd need something like a heavy glaze to hide marring like that, and even that might not be perfect and would only last until it was washed again. I've used NXT and Nanowax back to back and the NXT actually hides swirls a little better than the Nanowax. He said that picture already had more than one coat of NXT, so I think its pretty much unhideable.

Hey guys, I just made the appointment for maintenance on my ES and I was poking around Alldata because I wanted the moonroof TSB Steviej had done to be performed. I found something interesting. Lexus dealers have always written the sulfer odor off as being the way the gas is nowadays, but I've always said that was rediculous it had to be something with the catalytic converter or all cars would reek of sulfer like these cars do. Well, apparently I was right. Lexus has released a TSB for the ES (and I assume there is a similar TSB for all Lexuses) to replace the catalytic converter with an updated one. The TSB is EG 005-04 and it is covered under the emissions warranty. Its being installed on the 15th.

The older ES' have cupholders they're just useless LOL

Army- Thats surface marring, what that is is the abrasives in the rubbing compound cutting too roughly. Run your fingernail over it, can you feel your nail "hang" in the scratches? If not then they can be removed. Honestly though you need some sort of buffer for that, you're not going to be able to do that by hand. In all honesty that may require a rotary, that might even be too much for the PC to handle.