NeoN

The 18" OEM tires came in two flavors. The Michelin (which are low rolling resistance) and the Goodyear RS (whcih were not so low). My opinion is that they used the Goodyear instead of the Michilen because it improved the handling somewhat at the expsense of fuel economy (probably about a 1mpg hit). Now I have the Goodyear ResponseEdge in a slightly wider than stock size because I wanted the best handling on the 400 I could get with only new tires. It made a huge difference over the OEM Goodyears and I'll never go back to the OEM tires. But I did suffer another 2mpg hit in fuel economy( now at 21 mpg on average insted of the 24 mpg that others with my driving style claim to get). You pays your money, and you makes your choice... I'm still waiting for an afermarket anti-sway bar for the 400 that will improve the handling even more... not holding my breath tho. I second this, Dump the Michilen's ASAP. Get a good set of 18's. I run 18" Pirelli Scorpion Snow/ICE tires, 22 MPG in the winter, love these tires, they actually handle just as well as my 20" Hankook 275/40/20's or the Toyo Proxes 4 255/45/20 I used to have. Can buy the Pirelli's used on Ebay for $60 a tire, last quite a long time. No problems in rain/snow and they grip like none other on the dry. I get 24.2 mpg during the summer on my 20's just an FYI

thanks for posting. helpful stuff.

thks, even my wife did not notice any difference in the driving so I'm okay... ;-)) those are 20s or 22s? I have 20s on my car, love the better handling and better traction. what tires do u have on there? what have you noticed as far as a decrease in gas mileage?

ive stretched the limits of what the rx400h can fit, i run a 255/50/18 Pirelli Scorpion Ice/Snow in the Winter, Absolutely Love that tire. Great in the Snow, Ice, Dry, Rain, amazing all around tire, just a bit noisy on the highway. I run a 275/40/20 on my summer wheels, this is probably the max size you can do on the RX400h, maybe .5" taller but I wouldn't push it. Anything wider is tough since it rubs the inner sidewalls, I run a 5mm spacer / extended lugs (from an is300). you could probably get away with running a 10mm wheel adapter and your wheels won't stick out past the fender. I can probably bump my wheels out another 5-10 mm without any issues, running a 15mm wheel adapter would be probably the max I would run on a +25 offset wheel. I want to widen these wheels or get wider ones, but that's really not necessary now, 20x8.5 is fine but 20x9.5 would be sweet.

you'll love the lockpick 3, i have the basic and it makes all the difference in the world! sad to hear the rx450h was a disappointment, oh well

anyone know what the engine / hp will be like? longer electric only capabilities?? it looks ugly and has !Removed!-drive..not a fan

i run 255/55/18 Pirelli P-Zero Scorpion Ice/Snow tires on my stock wheels now, ABSOLUTELY love them, got them used on ebay and I couldn't be happier ,10k miles this winter and still going strong, ALOT stiffer than the stock michieln garbage, handle MUCH BETTER In the dry as well, not to mention the RX400h actually handles decently in the snow now, highly reccomend these tires, NO PROBLEM with fitiment either. I run 255/45/20 Toyo Proxes 4 for the summer, im not sure if these are SUV tires but they are awesome for the rain/dry, i can corner much better but i actually like the Pirelli's much better.. looking to go 275/40/20 this summer... i'll fill you guys in if they fit or not, probably a matter of spacer size lol since i run a 5mm spacer on my 20" wheels :) stock tires suck, get rid of them ASAP!@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went back in and hooked up the sub to the wires running directly from the head unit to the ---> amp, basically a line out level. It's unfiltered sound, nice and clear, but the issue is the bass is the same regardlress of volume level, so i can crank up the volume and the bass stays the same, not exactly what i had hoped for, but its clear and i can adjust with my bass knob I installed up front. The problem is the bass is too loud with the knob turned all the way down, which isn't idea when you have passengers. I might go back and re-tap the speaker outs from the amp. I'll give this setup a week or so, to see if i can tolerate the sub boom levels from the line-out.. ps, i bypassed my hi-low converter as well, running straight RCAs from my amp to the speaker inputs from the head unit ---> amp... pics to come, and a conclusion

you dont have to take out the seats, side upholstery, you could easily do without taking out, but you would have to wiggle out the carpet piece held down by it. you dont have to drop the engine, but i didn take out that metal piece ontop of the amp to get better access to it. made things much easier, I took apart everything mainly because i didn't know what i was doing. Hope my documentation helps, pm me for questions, im still not done though, tongiht im going to try and tap into the smaller harness coming from the head unit to the factory amp.

ps. incase anyone didn't see, if you want the best sound for your sub, tap into the factory amp. wires are front driver: +pink/-black front passenger: +purple / -white

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my soundsystem is working perfect now, i might mess around some more but its good for me for now, its funny how easy it was to rip apart the interior though, im not sure about a clean sweep everything seems fine

ok well to sum things up... I ripped everything out last night..literally all of my trunk, i shall post pictures later i did the 9v test with the speakers and located all front/rear/tweeters on the harnesses, found there are 2 tweeters up front on each side, but i need to test them again to make sure they are wired together. it said on the test that you can watch the speaker with the 9v battery and if it pops out that wire is positive and if it goes inward its negative. they are both like 1 ft from each other on my dashboard. last night and i hooked up 3 wires (coming from the front speakers going into my Line Output Converter) not the 4th though, somehow its louder than with all 4 hooked up into the LOC. Dunno why but it is. maybe its not as clean or clear. with 4 wires hooked up it sounded the same as before, when i had the LOC running from both of the rear speakers, i figured that it might pull more bass up top from those since they aren't 6x9s. maybe its a a little louder than the 5" in the rear but not noticiable. I have a feeling that even if i were to get a clean sweep it might sound the same, its worth a try though i guess. as far as ripping out the stock head unit and tapping the wires back there, but if its amped internally then it wouldn't matter where i tap the wires right? I just realized that the speaker wires going from the head unit to the amp are extremely thin, you think that could be a reason there is no bass? even though the output wires for the speakers are thick would it matter at all? if I tapped into the head unit, the wires are still going to be razor thin going from the head unit to the amp, which isn't good. there isn't really anywhere we can tap into then if the wires are tiny leaving the head unit itself, its not like its aftermarket with a pre-out for subs already made. the best thing might be to run a clean sweep and try and raise the gain on the subwoofer itself i might try and tap into the wires leading into the amp even though they are really tiny it can't hurt. maybe that amp filters out some bass?! ill find out tonight. i might just use my own amp for the door speakers and bypass the factory garbage, well see.

Yes! Get a set of Pirellis Scoprion Ice/Snow in 255/50/18 size, you can even get them used on ebay for $50 a tire. You will notice a world of difference. the factory micilens are GARBAGE!! they should be rated as low rolling resistance luxury cruising tires that serve no purpose in the rain/snow. they are on tire rack for around $150 a tire if all else fails, a wise investment! Our AWD system leaves much to be desired - no center diff lockup, no full time awd, basically a FWD card 99% of the time!!!!!

Hi i'm trying to tap into the leads that hook up to the stock amp for my subwoofer and I need to know where the stock amplifier is, anyone have any suggestions? i checked under both front seats and the rears, I didn't see anythng, I checked ontop of the wheel wells and the panneling from the rear seats to the wheel wells, nothing!? could it be in the walls towards the trunk? please help! ps. I have na RX400h by the way, but i believe both cars are wired the same.