SW03ES

Buy both sides ;)

This is definately true...but nobody should be expecting to find someone to do this job for $100...

The only tire I would put on that car is the Michelin Primacy MXV4...especially since the dealer is paying. I'm in the market for the same car and have driven a bunch of them, and the wrong set of tires really puts a lot of road noise into the cabin. Thats the tire ;) I have them on my ES and they are very smooth and quiet.

You can believe this if you want, but 4WD does not correct a skid. It may kick on to respond to wheelspin caused by throttle input...but its not going to "get you back on the straightaway". The yaw control is doing that...not the 4WD. Good for you...that will be better in the snow I'm sure...but you must have gotten killed in depreciation on the deal...I would have at least tried new tires before I lost several thousand dollars in a trade. Please though, don't be one of those drivers that thinks he is invincible in bad weather because he has AWD. Your Audi will not steer through a corner better because it has AWD.

I think $40,000 is a great deal for a 2007 with 36,000 miles on it...especially one that you know the service and use history of...since it was yours to begin with. To me thats a no-brainer. I was at Lexus of Rockville today looking at LS430s and they had a 2008 on the floor for $56k. You can negotiate it too... However, I am heavy in the market for these cars and they just plain are selling for around that price...nice cars with low miles. It is true leasing then buying isn't a great idea, but buying that overall will be cheaper than leasing another car of the LS' caliber. Ad to me walking away from a good deal on your own car and buying a used car you don't know anything about makes no sense...even if you save a few bucks. I'd buy it. In fact if you don't want it I will buy it.

Have they taken a picture of the "glowing brakes"? I'm just saying all this stuff in the news makes people overanalyze things they experience.

I have no interest in sales worldwide. I live in the United States. Likes & dislikes in the US are very different than in Europe.

No offense, but I think you may need to learn to drive in the snow a little better... 4WD doesn't give you any benefit in the situation you describe. 4WD helps you to get going from a stop and to power through deep snow. Its not going to help you turn or stop, physics takes over. 4WD will not "switch on to correct a slide" and it doesn't "switch on". Its a constant process of detecting wheelspin in the front and engaging the rear wheels to compensate for it. 4WD...FWD...RWD...all the same when you turn and stop. What you are describing happening in your Mercedes is the skid control activating and correcting a slide. Your RX has this feature too, and it works well but it can't compensate for poor tires which many have felt the RX comes with from the factory. Mercedes' yaw correction system may be better...but 4WD isn't your issue here. Thats a RWD biased AWD system with a transfer case though...whole nother animal from the RXh...I would expect it to be better. How do you know that the AWD system was not functioning?

Yeah thats total bullsh!t. The belt needs to be replaced.

I can comment about my screen after 7 years and 140,000 miles. No to everything, the screen is just as it was when it was new. LCD screens don't burn in. I have never turned the screen off.

I would ask that the dealer replace the bulb under warranty. Thats way too short a lifespan. You'll want to replace them in pairs...

Try a different dealer tim...

This is short sighted though, only replacing the timing belt is only doing half the job. If the water pump seizes then the effect is the same as the timing belt failing. You might as well just do niether and take your chances. IMHO the water pump failing is more likely than the timing belt failing. $100 to do the timing belt? I wouldn't trust that shop but thats just me.

Yeah it sounds to me like it could be an engine mount or something...if it only happens when coasting. Poor balance should be a regular throbbing vibration between certain freeway speeds...such as 65-70MPH.

I don't think the vehicle sucks in the snow, but it is definately not as sure footed in the snow as something with an actual transfer case...

They were balanced when they were new I'm sure. But...they do need to be re-balanced over time and they may have been balanced poorly. Some cars will let you get away with the wheels being slightly out of balance, but not the Lexus. I have almost always had to take a new set of tires back and have them re-balanced because the shop did a poor job. Probably the balance hasn't had anything to do with the wear, but it is likely the culprit with your vibrations. As for tires...I would just go with the Michelins. Kumho...I'm a little leery of and if you look at the tires side by side the Michelin is just significantly higher rated in every category. The Kumhos however are almost half the price... Use www.tirerack.com to compare.

No, not "out of control" but it is definately a higher rate of acceleration than I am comfortable letting the car do on its own. Steady all the way up to the set speed then it lets off. If someone was unfamiliar to the car I could see them overreacting and hitting the brake to bring the car back "under control". For instance if you're set at 65 and slow down to 50 and hit resume, it will downshift and take off like a rocket. I simply accelerate myself slowly and then hit resume. I never brought it to the attention of the dealer because every Toyota I have owned is/was that way. I simply choose to not use the resume function unless I'm already around the set speed or within 5MPH or so. I just look at it as a characteristic of their system. 98 LS400, 04 LS430, 03 ES300, and 04 Prius all the same way. The Prius obviously doesn't downshift but it still accelerates back very quickly.

I agree 100%... Depends on the person, for me the balance is just right. Right for a lot of other people too seeing that the ES and LS are top sellers in their classes. When I drive something like a Cadillac CTS or an Acura TL...or a BMW 3 series, or an Infiniti G, those cars just really don't appeal to me at all. Yes, I actually think its kind of a shame... But it was a LOT of Explorers, and the Explorer was the main profit center for Ford at the time as well as being the best selling SUV and the benchmark for the class. They sold 400,000 Explorers a year for like 18 years...thats a lot of Explorers. It was easier on Ford though because a lot of the blame was put on Firestone. Toyota tried to do that with CTS, but nobody knows what CTS is like they knew what Firestone was. I think the Explorer debacle was worse for Firestone than it was for Ford.

Have you ever tried any other tires on the vehicle? I bet if you did you'd find those tires aren't so great in the snow-traction department.

My guess is skyfish's explanation is pretty on the nose...

Oh I agree 100%, which is what they should do.

I've felt all of my Toyota products have had a strong acceleration under resume, I've had 4...

I remember the Ford Explorer fiasco because I had an Explorer...it wasn't this bad. I too saw that chart, the "numbers" don't show you the actual situation though...plus that was with the GS which I have never thought was nearly as nice as the ES or LS. I've just simply never driven another car that I wasn't surprised by how nice my old ES was when I got back into it, and I've driven many of the luxury vehicles out there today. Its not that they are even going for the same thing, just for me the ES & LS are about the perfect car. The Buick Lacrosse is pretty close, they bought 100 ES350s and reverse engineered them to build the LaCrosse but its not quite the same, and the interior is a sea of weird shapes and fake wood...the ES is much nicer IMHO.

Are you certain that the vehicle ACTUALLY speeds up, or does it just feel that way?

I bet you replaced them with the Primacy MXV4, much better than the OEM MXV4 S8