SW03ES

The brakes glazing is very common, mine did it too and they replaced them. 2k miles later they're glazed AGAIN! The dealer says they'll keep on replacing them, at the end of the warranty I'll just buy better pads. If the loaner didn't rattle then there is definately something wrong with yours. How many miles were on the loaner? Loaners get abused and if they can rattle they will. Do me a favor, look on the drivers door of yours at the registration sticker and tell me the build date. I'm thinking its an early production car and thats your problem. Aside from the rattle in the windshield that's going to be fixed at the next service stop mine rides totally silent and it has almost 25,000 miles on it, many of them city miles. If the shield is loose then yes you could check it yourself. Go to Pep Boys or somewhere and buy some cheap front wheel ramps and drive the car up on them. Once under the car you'll see the shield basically covers the entire front end. Check it to see if its loose. A lot of times shops even dealers loose some of the fasteners or don't tighten them. I've even seen the shields come off. Can you feel that rattle or just hear it? If you can feel it then it might be something more serious. Lastly, go see another dealer. The dealer should investigate all your concerns without giving you trouble. My dealer replaced by front brakes without ever "feeling" the glazing in the rain for themselves, they trusted me that it was there. Thats how the dealer SHOULD react to your concerns.

One thing I can suggest to both of you is go to a dealership and drive another ES for comparison. Take a tire pressure gauge and make sure the tires are aired just like your car. If your car doesn't ride the same, then something is wrong with it though. This is just my opinion, and I've mentioned it to ES14 before but I think you both are a little too sensitive about the way the cars behave. If you're always looking for trouble then trouble is always going to be there for you to find. Any car is a machine, and machines make noises. Thats just the nature of the beast. In Nancy's case it appears to me (and has for some time) that she's convinced herself that her previous Avalon was the best car she's ever had (she's made that statement numerous time about the ride, the powertrain and the stereo). Well when you're convinced that something is the best you've ever had then you're never going to allow yourself to be satisfied with something else. Thats just human nature. I've driven both the Avalon and obviously the ES and to be honest, I don't see a lot of difference. The Avalon is a little bigger and a little boatier but the Lexus is a little smoother and a little quieter (mostly in wind noise which is to be expected as the ES is more aerodynamic). Everything in life is a tradeoff and nothing is perfect. In ES14's case it seems that he is hypersensitive to every little noise or shimmy the car makes. I remember you posting about a grinding noise starting from a start on a wet road once, you were completely convinced that something was horribly wrong with the car. I suggested that it was probably the VSC system kicking in to control wheel slippage. As for the ride I've suggested several times that a new set of tires, balanced properly with a fresh alignment would help. It helped my car a great deal. It rides so well now I didn't realize truly how poor the other tires were. As for the rattles I always ask if you've taken it into Lexus. Durring the warranty they investigate and fix all rattles for free. I've had two rattles, the rear door rattle which they fixed under warranty and an upper windshield rattle which they'll fix at the next stop (there's a TSB). Have you tried to have Lexus look at the car? If there's a rattle underneath there are a couple things that could be wrong that are common. It could be a loose heat shield or a loose front end shield. Not meaning to be rude or say there ISN'T something wrong with your cars, I'm just providing my admittedly very outside view on the situation.

One coat of the Poorboys EX sealant? You need at least two. Definately look over what David said above as he's 100% on the money (which is to be expected as he's one of the authorities in the field ;) ). The Natty wax probably is a skippable step on a light color... If you want to give Poorboys another whirl, try adding two coats of the EX, or maybe try their EX=P. It focuses a little more on gloss than depth which is what you need. Which Meguiar's shampoo do you use and how much? IMHO a lot of Meg's soaps are pretty harsh, that could explain it too.

Oh sure, you can apply them as many times as you wish, swap them all around etc. How many coats of the EX did you lay down? I find it needs at least 2 to look its best. What kind of wash do you use?

Hey Nancy. What PSI are the tires inflated to? Like I've mentioned before Lexus are very VERY sensitive to the inflation of the tires, and dealerships ALWAYS over inflate the tires. My guess is if the tires haven't been checked they're somewhere like 40 right now. Try playing with the pressure to get it right, anywhere from 26-32 is going to be the ride you're looking for. Start by inflating the tires to 32 and carrying a tire pressure gauge. Drive it one day at 32, deflate to 31, drive a day, deflate to 30 all the way until you find a ride you like. On my new tires it seems to be 29, whereas on the Bridgestones it was 31 or so. Different tires are different. Has the vibration at least calmed down? The Lexus IS going to ride different from the Avalon. The Avalon is designed to ride more like a Buick or a Lincoln, floaty and boaty. The Lexus rides tighter and more controlled but you shouldn't feel all the bumps in the road. Somethings definately wrong. In the Avalon you should have felt like you were kind of floating down the road. The Lexus should feel like you're always driving on a perfectly smooth road. We got a new Prius about 2 months ago and it has the same JBL system as the Avalon. One isn't neccisarily better than the other but they are different. The JBL is a louder more "rock and roll" system while the ML is more refined and more suited to instrumental and classical music. Its really an opinion thing. The speakers can definately be changed in the ML system as can the amp to change the way the music sounds. It sounds to me though like you're kind of focused in on this car being exactly like the Avalon. Its not, they're two different cars designed for two different buyers. If I may ask, why didn't you buy another Avalon?

The voice activation doesn't work worth a damn anyways so don't worry LOL. My dad has it on his 04 and my fiance does on her Prius, its useless and always misunderstands the commands. At the very least all the commands that control functions other than the radio will work. No idea about the bluetooth working with the new stereo system. My guess would be as long as you keep the stock head unit you cold swap out all the speakers and amps and be able to keep all the functionality. Swapping out the H/U is going to run you into problems though. Ask a good high end stereo shop, they should know. My guess is there's a H/U somewhere designed to accept all these functions. As for colors, my ES is Black Garnet Pearl which is very similar to the Black Cherry, but the Cherry is more purple. I haven't seen an 04 LS in Cherry. My dad's 04 LS is the Flint Mica and its gorgeous.

Now you need new tires ;)

I wouldn't wait until 20k to change it. It costs so little to change the oil why take a chance on waiting? As for time, my rule of thumb is one month for every 1k miles. So if you don't drive 5,000 miles within 5 months, change it anyways. Definately keep the oil changed in your ES300 as the 3.0 V6 has a gelling problem.

I don't remember did you ever have your shocks replaced? Shocks wear so gradually that really its hard to tell when they're worn out. You may not want a firmer shock, you may just need new shocks. The Lexus shouldn't float, if its floating then something is worn. In my experience they need new struts around 60k or so. Here's one for your noodle to fry over actually, your LS doesn't have shocks, it has struts! Maybe if you're real nice we'll tell you the difference :D

Its going to be fairly difficult to make modifications to the system anyways, I don't think having the nav will make it harder or easier. If anything an aftermarket head unit would fit better underneath the nav... This is what it looks like with no nav: I don't know how easy it would be to find a 04 without nav...

If you want to stay in the Poorboys line you can order some SSR1, or you can order Iz's line of polishes from us that work well by hand. You need to get the paint looking its best before you wax.

When I trade my car in like, 7 years LOL the LS will definately be its replacement.

I change mine every 5k

I've been sick the past few days (have this horrible pain right behind my eyes, must be allergies) o I haven't had a chance to get them re-balanced. I have lifetime balancing though. Its settled a bit but its still there 70-80, one of them's just a hair out in the front.

I definately reccomend letting a pro do it.

The problem is in the prep. The only "real" prep you did was the claying, no product is going to make the paint look significantly better, the prep you do beforehand will.

I believe they're all rebadged Zymol products which aren't spectacular.

Aside from measuring them really the only way to know is to wait for the wear indicators to squeal...

Cool!

No problem, I've never had the Michies so I wouldn't have been able to answer.

No, I know they had it! Lemme see if I can find an alternative

Rain gutters make wind noise ;) All Lexus are this way.

I thought the same thing, it sounded like the way a dealership would have handled the situation...

DEFINATELY a wise investment! Have it done now before the paint gets damaged.

SK- Members under 20 posts can't PM, and my LOC email isn't working. He didn't have much choice but to start this thread ;) I will email you now Mike.