SW03ES

Sure, uses engine braking to slow the car, safer in bad weather.

Keep in mind that the LS-V is a totally different tire than his. His is the ER33 Summer tire.

What year is the car?

Well, actually the upshifting isn't going to do anything for you except hold the gear that it is in longer. Thats not going to help economy, it will hamper it. For instance, putting the car in "2" wont put the car in second gear from a start. When you start the transmission will start in first, upshift to 2nd just where it always would, and then hold in second. Same is true of selecting 3 or 4 on the shifter. Its not a manumatic. The purpose of adding those lower gears is for downshifting. For instance if you're going down a highway grade you can shift from D to 4 to 3 to use engine braking to slow the car and save on the service brakes. Its actually not possible to shift the car in the way you're thinking.

Easily fixed with a little white lithium grease on the moonroof seal, you can even do it yourself. The rattles in the doors will be worse when its cold. Only my right rear door has the rattle and it goes away when the car warms up. I'll have it taken care of at the next service stop.

I have a good dealer and a good service guy, but Lexus service isn't across the board as great as everyone thinks it is. The dealerships are just as variable as any other carmaker. The guys at my dealer are real nice, nice loaners (ESs, RXs and ISs) theres a nice inside area you pull into so you dont have to transfer stuff to the loaner in the rain. Nice office where every servicewriter has his own office with a guest chair. Reasonable labor rates, $89 an hour is VERY low for a Lexus dealer. Parts are astronomical like everywhere so I take my own oil and such. They dont mind at all. I only had to correct them one time about the wash, and I caught them before they washed it.

Check out Autopia Matt there are several professional detailers in the UK ;) Scott's pictures are one of the best parts of Autopia. He posts them every time he finishes a roll.

This is a half dirty half QEW'ed Tahoe Here's the same Tahoe all done Here's a couple of his pictures. The guy does awesome awesome work This is an LX470 he QEW'ed and I believe he used Clearkote Vanilla Moose polish and Platinum Ultimate Paint Protection. Does all work (including swirl removal) by hand. This 50th Anniversary Vette was QEW'ed Klasse All In One and the Platinum. All photos courtesy of Scottwax on Autopia and reflect HIS work and no one elses.

I just got it tonight, I'll wash the car with it tomorrow. I trust the guy who reccomended it to me on Autopia. He's a professional that has been using the stuff for 15 years and has never damaged a car with it. He does a lot of high line details like S55s, Lambos, Bentleys. He has it down to where he can wash and trim out an entire normal sized car in 20 minutes. Everyone on Autopia was skeptical at first but everyone that has tried it over there loves it. The trick is you dont have to rinse it. You wipe the panel down with a cloth or mitt soaked in the solution then just wipe it off the panel. The product emusifies and encapsulates the dirt so as long as you dont push hard it wont scratch. He says you can use it on some pretty dirty cars (he has lots of before, after and during photos, I'll cross post some) but at least at first I'm going to take the car to the touchless wash first. If it works as promised it should be great, a QEW 2 or so times a week in the garage should keep the car looking good during the winter. My car is almost swirl free too so we'll definately know if it scratches.

Doesn't have to be totally perfect. Ride it around a couple days and see what you think.

Okay I think I've figured it out now. Those are SUMMER tires, they must be an alternate to the Toyos in snow free areas. Where do you live? I looked up the specs, and they're not spectacular they're rated almost identically to the Potenzas which are mediocre performing in every aspect at best. Here are the breakdowns All figures are from owner comments, rated out of 10 in every aspect Turanza ER33 All performance Summer Handling: 6.9 Dry Traction: 7.4 Wet Traction: 5.5 Snow Traction N/A Ride Comfort: 6.8 Noise Comfort: 6.4 Wear: 4.4 Treadwear Rating 140 Bridgestone Potenza RE92 (this is what I have) Handling: 6.6 Dry Traction: 7.1 Wet Traction: 5.6 Snow Traction: 4.6 Ride Comfort: 6.7 Noise Comfort: 6.6 Wear: 5.7 Treadwear Rating 160 Michelin Energy MXV4Plus (these are the good tires) Handling: 7.1 Dry Traction: 7.8 Wet Traction: 6.8 Snow Traction: 4.6 Ride Comfort: 7.9 Noise Comfort: 7.7 Wear: 7.3 Treadwear Rating 400 So as you can see the Michelins aren't spectacular either, but they're much quieter smoother and longer lasting than the two Bridgestones. My advice is once you get them inflated properly see how it rides then, If it still seems rougher than it should be then its probably worth throwing a set of better tires on the car. I wouldnt pay for the Michelins, they're pretty good but for $150 a tire pretty good isn't good enough. I'l look at something like these: Continental Conti Extreme Contact Handling: 8.2 Dry Traction: 8.7 Wet Traction: 8.8 Snow Traction: 8.2 Ride Comfort: 8.6 Noise Comfort: 8.5 Wear: 8.7 Treadwear Rating 400 And at only $85 a peice they wont break the bank.

Great I'll get the info and get back to you

Naa at this point they aren't going to do anything about the tires, definately make them work on those rattles again. How many miles on the car? I'd inflate the tires properly and drive it around for a couple days and see what you think. It should drive MUCH better at the proper pressure and equalized pressure on all sides. With the pressures like they are I'm surprised you're not drifitng all over the road! If you give me the exact model name of the tires (it should be listed on the sidewall) I can figure out what they're supposed to ride like for you.

I think you'd probably be happier in the RX since its car based. Only way to know for sure though is to drive them back to back.

My guess is the car had Michelins and the dealer swiped them for someone who didnt want the Bridgestones, then replaced them with the Turanzas. As far as I know the ES never came shipped with the Turanzas. They're not great tires, but much better than the Potenzas.

Eh, I never could get happy behind the wheel of the GS. Louder and not as smooth as the LS or ES, uncomfortable seats. Its a great car I'm sure but not one I'd want to drive. As for the LS, Lexus has never had any problems selling the LS. The GS430 is now mostly not stocked at dealers for one reason, they don't sell. There is extremely little demand for the GS430, not a lot more for the GS300. Its sales figures are way, way down. Makes sense since its the end of the design cycle and the new one comes out next year. The GS is afterall is 6 model years old with no real significant change. Its a beautiful car and it has worn very well, but with the new offerings by BMW with the new 5, Jaguar with the hopped up S Types, Mercedes with the new E Class, the GS is simply no longer competitive. I'm sure that will change next year though. As for the choice in question, I'm a little confused as to why you're looking at brand new ES and a 92 SC? Why not look into as new an SC as you can get similar in price to what you'd pay for the ES? IMHO They're extremely different cars and they're rarely cross shopped among buyers. It comes down to what you want, a rear drive V8 coupe or a front drive V6 sedan. A new car or a used car.

The picture in your signature is of a 96 not a 97 ;) And as for batteries, no point in paying Lexus for the battery. Plenty of aftermarket ones that are as good or better.

Oh no the Legend is a very reliable car. I was talking about the newer Acuras.

Oh yeah, those are WAY out of whack! The car came with Turanzas new? You sure? Thats a rarity there... The dealers not going to swap them, you wouldnt want Goodyears anyways. Go on www.tirerack.com and read the survey reponses for the tires. I'm probably going to replace mine with Continental ContiExtremeContacts.

Check it out at www.protectall.com and I ordered it from www.campingworld.com

Not quite. Acura has some serious reliability issues in their transmission, and also have squeaks and rattle problems. Almost 20% of all TL transmissions fail within 30,000 miles.

I hang a big sign on the rearview mirror when its in for service, "DO NOT WASH THIS CAR" they know I mean business about it too.

$250 for the timing belt isn't bad at all...

The Turanzas should be fine tires, however they are characteristically notoriously hard. As for the dealership, they just did a crappy job. Try taking it to another dealer. Lexus dealers aren't created equal and some of them just do crappy work...

Sure, the Camry evolves just like any other vehicle, however the ES rides and drives better than it ever has too ;) Salespeople are dumb lol. Somewhere in there is the truth. As far as I know, now the engine is EXACTLY the same (the 3.3). It used to be that they shared a block but they were different in specs, for instance the Toyotas never used to have VVT-i. Salespeople are supposed to learn all about the vehicles when they come onboard, but depending on the dealership as long as they know how to turn the map lights on they don't care. I remember when I was shopping for the ES one sales guy didnt know how to work the navigation system. Now, this navigation system is the same one thats on EVERY Lexus sold. I had to show him!