SW03ES

LOL, I think its remained civil and respectful though.

No, I do my own replying. If my fiance cares to reply, she can get her own account. Why do you assume she must be replying, because I feel that this is an example of men treating women unfairly? Because I'm a man? First off I said I dont believe you are a chauvanist, I just said you're coming across that way. I was very careful to make sure you realized that. Magazine articles aren't unbiased information. I want DATA. I want data that says this many accidents were caused by men in 2001, this many by women. There were this many licenced male drivers in 2001, there were this many licenced female. Anyhting other than that, from a legitimate credible source doesn't prove anything. Magazine articles are written as entertainment, their factual truth is maginal at best. That article from Rush Magazine is total bullbleep. For one, over 50% of nascar and other motorsport fans are women. Women aren't mechanically inclined? What? Women are just as inherintly mechanically inclined as men. Just because there are more male mechanics doesn't mean men are inherintly better at it. There are more female teachers out there, are women better teachers? No way, some of my favorite teachers as a kid were guys. Women aren't as physically aggressive? WHAT? That makes them SAFER drivers! Road Rage is safe? I think not. Regardless of what this stupid article says I took several defensive and race driving courses, and any driving instructor will tell you aggression gets you killed, calm rationality saves the day. That article is nothing but another example of entertainment for men who are intimidated by women. Wonder why it has no facts or data to support itself? Because its an editorial, it is an opinion, and it is meaningless. You have to like car racing to drive a car well? Laughably rediculous. As for the other article? means nothing I can find you 10 newspaper articles where a man did something stupid and caused a major accident. How about the guy who plowed through the farmers market in CA? A man. I dont get your inability to concede to the fact that you dont know enough women or male drivers to make an accurate assessment of the driving skills of the population as a whole, because you don't. There were tens of millions of accidents last year alone. You've been in 4 your whole life and that makes you an expert? HAHA. You're really that blind and arrogant? You actually think that you know enough to make an assessment that even the NHTSA won't touch and they have all the data? Wow you should go work for them. My father's a salesman, top in his field, I'm a salesman and a business owner, there's a difference between confidence and arrogance. Anyways you're not trying to sell me anything now anyways ;) I'm not even arguing the point anymore, you can't argue with someone who'se mind isn't open to other possibilities. You've made up your mind the way most Americans do, with little to no information, so there's no point in continuing. My mind is open to the fact that possibly women cause more accidents, I dont have any evidence to refute that, but there's no evidence out there to prove it either. You however think you know all there is to know because of your experience with .0000000000000001% of the female population has showed you how they all are. 4 people man, how many women on earth? 20 Billion? You're not open to the possibility that you're wrong, so this is just all a waste of time for both os us. No point in continuing this. No hard feelings? I'd hate to see a stupid debate like this roll over and change how we post to each other. Everyone has their feelings and opinions I suppose, I'm willing to put this behind me if you are. You said if I'd known you for a long time I'd like ya, well I like ya anyways. Dont have to agree with someone to like and respect them.

The experiences of this man are a perfect example: Now, you're saying "dont you think eventually the law of averages would catch up if men caused accidents at the same rate" What about this guy? If women cause MORE accidents, then he's REALLY cheating the law of averages huh? The answer is, his experiences are just as valid as yours, even moreso depending on the relationship in legnths of time as drivers. Niether one of the experiences can be attributed to the ACTUALITY of the situation because of their statistical insignificance. According to his experience, men cause upwards of 90% of the accidents. And we know thats not true, right? See, there are just so many people living in this country, and on this planet. They all live in different places, around different demographics. Some have families, some dont, some drive all day, some dont. They all live in areas with vastly different traffic patterns. Your experiences, his experiences, my experiences can not even BEGIN to be the statistical truth? To say that yours are is to say that you've experienced every type of driving and living and situation out there. Is that what you're saying?

No, niether one of our opinions is really valid because niether of us have had enough experiences to say either way. You can say "Most women I know can't drive" but saying "most women on earth can't drive" is arrogant, chauvanist and rude. You have no proof of that whatsoever, and If I were a woman I would be extremely offended by that comment, and it would make me think you were some sort of male chauvanist prick. Now bear in mind, I realize that you aren't a male chauvanist prick at all, we've chatted for quite a while on this site and I've never had any reason to think that you're a bad guy, quite the opposite I enjoy chatting with you. I'm just trying to make you realize how your argument is coming across. Not favorable at all. As for the poll, that too isn't an accurate assessment, just in another thread I read the feelings of two members that were the same as mine, and their opinions aren't expressed in the poll because they didn't care enough to vote. Self report assessments are very unreliable. Not at all actually. Your 4 accidents are so statistically insignificant when compared to all accidents as a whole, it doesn't prove anything either way who hit you. The law of averages doesn't even begin to come into play. In all honesty, being hit 4 times is somewhat of a anomaly. How long have you been driving? Still wouldn't be statistically significant, but better. The fact is, the personal experiences of one man, or even of every member of this board cannot be attributed to a statistical truth. There's just far too many people out there. Thats what starts a prejudice, the experiences of one man that he arrogantly attrinutes to the experiences of everyone. One man gets mugged by a black man, he thinks that all white men have been mugged by only black men, therefore all black men are muggers. Now he's a racist. One man gets treated badly by a cop, so all cops must be abusive, now he's a cop hater. Its not meant to be an insult, its human (and especially American) arrogance. We all do it, we all assume that our own experiences are the norm, because of course who would live differently than us? Most people are almost entirely incapable of putting themselves in someone else's shoes. As someone trained in Psychology I just find it fascinating. If it weren't for the money and the schooling, I'd do it for a living in a heartbeat.

Luckily the pearl white is one of the easiest Lexus colors to take care of. I'm sure it does have some swirls (most cars do) but you just can't see them as easily on the white. Basically, if you're happy with the way the car is now, and feel no real need to get rid of the scratches that are on there you can do this: 1. Wash the car with dawn dishwashing liquid, this gets rid of any old wax. 2. Clay the car, using the carwash as a lube, soap a panel, clay it, and rinse. Claying removes ground in dirt and will make the surface glass smooth. 3. Use some sort of scratch remover, 3m or Meguiars Swirl mark Remover to spot remove any larger scratches on the surface that bother you. 4. Polish with a high grade polish by hand. P21S polish, Poorboys Polish 5. Seal the car as opposed to waxing it. A Sealant will last a really long time, 6 months at least, whereas wax degrades quickly. I reccomend Poorboys EX sealant because its easy to use, foolproof, and it gives a great shine with great durability. Its also layerable so you can add more until you get it just like you like it. Check out www.premiumautocare.com for the wash supplies and the clay, i reccomend the Clay Magic bar. And www.poorboysproducts.com for the Poorboys Polish and the Poorboys EX Sealant. Now, if you really want to get down and dirty and get the car 100% better than new looking its probably going to require investment of $200 or so into an orbital polisher and some pads. With the right abrasive and the polisher you can remove damn near all of the imperfections in the paint. Your color hides them well though. You do all this every 6 months, and the car will look great for years to come. Its really not hard. Wash with a good sheepskin mitt, and dry with good Microfiber towels.

Of course there's a fix, they can replace the windshield. Call Lexus corporate and tell them you want a new windshield. It should definately be covered by your warranty. Distortions come from a defect in the glass pressing process, so its a manufacturer's defect and THEIR problem.

About 550 miles from you.

And WHY didn't you post in the other thread SRK? LOL I could have used the support, its not every day I (a man) must defend the entire female gender :D

I will say one more thing, you just said EXACTLY what I've been trying to say. My fiance isn't representative of the entire female gender as a whole, and niether are the women that you've met, you haven't met nearly enough to have a representative sample. You've never met the "majority of her gender" so your statement is meaningless, and your opinion is groundless. You can believe what you want to believe.

She's a good driver, I don't know about better than most men, but then again I have not meant enough men in my life to make that judgement. I honestly dont think about it that way, it never would have occured to me to compare her driving to that of a man. I'm just content to say she's a good driver. I'd thought that the debate was over, we both have our views on the subject and we're obviously not going to change each other's minds ;) VMF/acf, You wont be able to inspect the bumper for damage without removing the bumper cover. Yes there's a "big bar" back there but its mounted to the frame with impact absorbing mounts. These mounts are easily broken, in fact they're designed to break to save damage to the vehicles superstructure. The bumpers on the 95-97 LS are poor because for some reason they don't do a good job of protecting the rest of the vehicle from damage. The job of a 5MPH bumper is to restrain the vehicle from sustaining damage to anything but the bumper in that type of accident. Evidence, VMF's taillight should have never been broken. The bumper was redesigned in 1998 and the problem went away. Check out www.nhtsa.gov you can actually see film of the bumper tests. The 97 LS400 was backed into a poll at 5 MPH and the impact was bad enough to dent the trunk lid and destroy its latch. It failed the test.

Just remember, it sells 25% better than the old one did ;)

LOL, better watch out or I'll tell you how I really feel about car washes ;)

Its possible, but extremely difficult and costly.

Here's the changes for 04:

Usually wax gives the depth to the shine, sealants give the gloss. A glaze is a product that coats the surface and temporarily fills in minor swirls or blemishes.

Haven't tried it yet. What you can do though is try applying the Poorboys to the windows and see what kind of results you get, should yield an effect like Rain X.

Check out www.autopia.com and www.premiumautocare.com for all the products you'd need.

You have to upload the picture to the gallery and link it into the post.

Look in the phone book under paintless dent removal.

Less rare than you'd think lol.

The 04's going to look exactly the same. It took me a while to warm up to the new one, but I like it more every day now.

Think of it this way though, the new ES sells way better than the old one did, it recaptured the best selling luxury car title from Acura. The focus group must have done a fairly good job. No reason for Lexus to look at the site, the new ES is a huge success. Also keep in mind that our members here are not neccisarily the same demographic as the focus group, they're younger, and they aren't the first owners of the cars typically. In theory they wouldnt have even been invited to the focus group in the first place.

probably not, but you can get a touchup pen from www.autosharppen.com that will make it look a whole lot better. Any swirl marks or anything like that in the paint when the light hits it?

NuFinish is total crap, trust us on this one LOL. Look around here in the detailing forum, there are a lot of good ideas out there. Did you buy it new? Does it require any prepwork before waxing?

No problemo ;) Do you know if your chrome wheels are aftermarket or not? If they're aftermarket then they may not be clearcoated. You can tell by the Lexus symbol, it wont be quite a Lexus symbol...