SW03ES

Welcome to the club! All I can tell ya is, dont expect more life then that out of the brakes on a heavy car like the LS430. You're doing well sitting at the mileage you're at. The pads are designed to be smooth, not shed a lot of dust, and the car is heavy, equals short brake life.

www.lexus.com will give you a listing of all Lexus dealerships by state. As for the timing belt, you had a Celica that had a perfect timing chain after 150k. Thats a timing chain, timing chains last MUCH longer then timing belts. Lexus uses belts, not chains. Belts need to be periodically replaced, chains don't. If the engine is an interferance engine (I'm not sure about the ES) then if the timing chain breaks, it can destroy the valves and piston heads, rendering the engine ready for replacement or rebuild. At the very least it leaves you stranded, needing a tow to the shop, and replacement of the belt anyway, so why not change it out earlier and save the cost of the tow and the frustration of the whole situation? The timing belt doesn't show wear (they can't look at it without doing 3/4ths of the replacement job) it just snaps, no warning, destroying the engine if its interferance, or at the very least stranding you wherever you are if its not. Not worth putting the money off until the last minute. Lexus reccomends anywhere form 60k miles for this, which is extreme, but certainly every 100k the timing belt should be replaced. The argument that a car runs better when preventative maintenance is not done is rediculous. Not only will it void your Lexus warranty, it will just condemn the car to an early grave. Yes the Lexus is a reliable car, but a car can only be so reliable when the preventative maintenance isnt done. In the case of those transmissions, not changing thge oil destroyed the transmssion, not changing it. Follow the reccomended service intervals for the car, at least the big things.

They just call that "food" in Japan ;)

The Crown is a really nice car, had satellite navigation in 1988, 1988. Slightly larger then the LS. Funny thing though, I had always thought that the Crown was a more expensive vehicle in Toyota's Japan lineup than the Celsior (LS) but when I was poking around on the Toyota of Japan website, the Celsior is a lot more expensive. The Crown is the price of an ES (Windom) Whats your take on that Chris?

Yes! Listen to him too Amanda, looka round he knows more about cars then a lot of people on here, including me.

No, but Toyota is taking responsibility for !Removed! up, Cadillac doesn't care. Thats the difference.

Thanks Alan! LOL The color for you is "Black Cherry" then piggy, mine is Black Garnet Pearl, but Black Cherry is about two shades lighter, more purple like. Only comes on the LS and GS. I prefer mine though... I know what you mean about the garage LOL. We're looking to relocate somewhere closer to the shore and we're thinking probably a nice little townhouse would be good. My thinking is we should try and find one with a one car garage, because in general the smaller townhouses with one car garages look better and have more usable space then the two cars. My fiance didn't like this idea much, that she'd have to park out in the rain lol. I gotta have a garage.

The changer is the same, its always Pioneer even on the cars with Nakamichi. On my car the CD Changer is in the armrest as opposed to in the glove compartment, so they had to get a different brand of Pioneer changer so it would fit, and it takes a different magazine. My dad's LS400 with Nakamichi takes the same cartridge yours does. The new cars generally dont have magazine changers anyway. The ES has one because the nav screen takes up too mcuh space, non nav 02-04 ES3's have a stacker in the headunit, as does the LS430, RX330, IS300, SC430, LX470 and GX470. I prefer the magazine changer because I like to have different cartridges for different types of music. I suppose I'll buy it from lexus-parts for the $30.

There are three Lexus dealers in NC. Hendrick Lexus 6025 East Independence Charlotte, NC 28212 Phone: (704) 568-4122 Flow Lexus 611 Edgewood Street Kernersville, NC 27284 Phone: (336) 993-0105 Johnson Lexus of Raleigh 5839 Capital Blvd. Raleigh, NC 27616 Phone: (919) 877-1800 I suggest you try another dealer Piggy. Although, NC is a big state and I dont know how far away other dealers are. Most Lexus dealers will do pickup and delivery for a certian distance though (matter of hours). The majority of Lexus dealers are great, expensive, but great.

The air pressure wont make a difference in the alignment. 40s still too high for me... Basically use the manufacturer's number as a lower bound. Thats the least pressure you can put in the tires. The maximum inflation of the tire is the upper bound, thats the most you can put in, basically anything in between is going to be fine. The more air the more rolling resistance and the better the fuel economy. However, higher pressure causes more noise and a harsher ride. So its a balancing act. I run mine at the manufacturer's stated pressure, 29PSI to maximise quietness and ride. Its worth it to me to pay more for gas.

One of them is like a proving ground "It was smart, we made it smarter" "It was fast, we made it faster" etc etc and the car is running around through water, around turns, skidding etc. The other is the factory and Lexus having to "let go" of the perfect finished products. Great ads. Being in markting myself I always love a good ad lol.

See, new ES aint so bad after all huh? ;) Thats actually our driveway, there's a garage ahead of it that the car is parked in, I just backed it out to take the picture. Lots of trees and stuff around and this time of year its almost impossible to keep the driveway or the walks clear. You blow them off, 24 hours later they look like that again lol. Oh yes, I dont do parking outside lol. We're looking to move into a townhouse and one of my requirements is it MUST have a garage.

I dont think they use the higher priced cars as taxis, they cost there what they cost here. They use the smaller and cheaper Toyotas.

Hey guys, here's some more pictures of my car. The lighting is less direct so its a better representation of the true color, its really dark. I originally didnt like this photo because of the flash, but the flash makes for interesting lighting. Enjoy,whats everyone think?

There arent any signs, the timing belt replacement is a maintenance item, it should be replaced at least every 100k miles.

Whats everyone think? I'm going to play around with some thinner paints, maybe model paint would work the best I dont know. The key is thin, the paints gotta be thin. When they're on you can't tell they're not just normal bulbs. Really cleans it up back there I think.

Silvervision

Stock

Silvervision

Okay guys, I was bored today and installed the homemade silvervision turnsignal bulbs steviej so kindly sent me (I still owe you that cup of coffee Steve!). I like them. I see very little degredation in brightness, and they seem fairly even among the two of them (these were problems Steve originally had. Check em out, this is stock

I agree that thats also better, I'll see what I can do ;)

There are much better leather conditioners out there than Lexus' Think about it this way, if you're going to steam clean your carpet in your house would you contact the builder who built the house and have them sell you their cleaning solution? No that would be silly because they just bought the carpet like you would have, they didnt create it. Lexus didnt create the leather in your car, they bought it. They have no more insight on what a good conditioner is then Zymol or Lexol or Meguiars, in fact they have less because Lexus is in the business of selling cars, not selling leather conditioner. Use a good creme conditioner like Zymol or Meguiars and you'll be fine, these people do this for a living. The Lexus cleaner is just probably something else rebadged anyways. I've always been afraid to try the coco butter.

Glad you're happy Blake! Yes the #26 is the High Tech Yellow wax. A very good wax. Because its a wax and not a sealant all that means is you're going to have to plan on putting another coat of wax on there every 2-4 weeks. Being in LA you dont have bone chilling winters to concern yourself with so thats not really an issue. #20 is Meguiars Polymer Sealant if you can every find it anywhere. If you ever do and decide you want to swap just dawn wash first to remove the #28.

I've still always heard that it is an interferance engine... As for the wheels, the LS430 wheels will bolt right on.

I hate it when the grizzly bears get ahold of my wash mitt. You just know you wont be able to salvage it.