bostonsnowboarder

Hi everyone,

on the 02-06 ES330's , how often are people finding that you need to replace OEM brake pads? and how often for rotors? does anyone bother to turn the rotors these days or is it just as easy/costly to replace them?

Nice choice blue.....keep us posted from time to time.....let us know how you find them. B)

Lexusfreak and Steve,

any updated comments now on the optimal all-season tire for the 04-06 ES in a snow-prone climate?

were there any good /similar replacements for the Turanza LS-Vs?

if not, which is "best" overall - MXV4's vs Triple treads? and someone mentioned comfort treads, but did'nt explain why comforttread vs Triple tread.

I need to replace my OEM ES tires this year I think. also will replace tires on our subaru outback, but for that likely will de finitely go with the tripletread.

Boston Snowboarder

Clean you windsheild and wiper blades ,then wax them with rainX or aquapel

wax the windshield? or the blades? or both?

I don't know whether it is because the wiper is pressing too hard on the windshield or somthing else. When the wiper swings past, there is somthing like a white film that remains on the windshield momentarily. The film affects visibility, but it goes away in 1-2 seconds after the wiper passes.

Do you have the same problem? Appreciate if you could give me some suggestions to sort out the problem.

Thanks

wax the windshield? or the blades? or both?

The Lexus blades and the Toyota ones are different.

Lexus has a Teflon coating the Toyota ones don't

So Steve, is it best to go in and ask for just new inserts, or replace the whole blade? I assume that it is easy to replace yourself eitherway.

My problem is that I have always had a thin film of water that is left briefly when the wipers sweep. I think that this has always been there, but seems to be getting worse. Not sure if replacing the blades is even the best thing to do or not.

Boston Snowboarder

05 ES330

Any recommendation on where to go in the BOston area?

Want to get a remote starter for my 05 ES330 without an alarm. I dont really want to go to Circuit City or Best Buy and risk having them screw up the electronics and key detection system.

thanks,

Boston Snowboarder

Steve,

Would you still recommend Lexus of Norwood?

I was at Watertown Lexus twice and am not thrilled with the service.

Also thinking about checking Toyota dealerships in the area (Lexington in paricular)...

Cheers,

Alex

Thanks for the feedback. Was your friends' bad experience at Watertown Lexus related to a particular mechanic or service advisor?

Cheers,

Alex

several service visits in general.

If you go to Lexus of Norwood, ask for one of two service advisors, Brandi or Ronni. Both very intelligent and adept women. Both of their service teams are top notch.

steviej

although I have never been to Watertown for service, I would second the recommendation for Norwood (now officially called Herb Chambers Lexus, and located now in Sharon, technically NOT in Norwood anymore but really close).

They are very professional and top notch. And I would agree that Ronni is very helpful as service advisor. However, service is NOT inexpensive here. But, the amenities are great - excellent computer work area, great widescreen TV in lounge, full time espresso bar and pastries, and nice playroom. But you pay for all of this indirectly. FOr me, it is well worth it though.

Boston SNowboarder

UPDATE:

I have monitored my fuel economy for a while with tires at both 30 PSI when cold and 35 PSI when cold. THere's only a slight difference in overall fuel economy, about 1 MPG better at 35 PSI (about 19 MPG vs 18 MPG). It is possible that if someone drove mostly highway miles the difference would be more, but I dont know as I dont get many highway miles.

However, I like the softer ride and better ride over potholes with 30 PSI. SO, I have compromised with keeping them about 32 PSI.

-BostonSnowboarder

My 05 ES330 has a door jam sticker that specifies the pressure for the 17 inch tire (P215 R17) EOM tire, which is what I have (bridgestone turanza EL42). The 05 ES came with two options, a 16 inch bridgestone or a 17 inch stock bridgestone (which is what I have). The owners manual has a seperate section for the 16 inch vs 17 inch stock tire and the recommended pressures are different. I dont know what happens if you buy another tire later.

I have new tires on order (New ES 350 alloys are in my basement) & will be selling my OE alloys & the Bridgestone Turanza EL42's......I will continue to keep the new rubber at the same 34 - 35 PSI (most tires in our stock 215 55 17 size have a max pressure of around 44 - 51 PSI). I have the adjustable suspension (AVS) option on my 05 ES so I can keep a good balance or ride, handling & fuel economy.

I wish I had the AVS. Since I dont, I'll just adjust my tire pressure up and down until I get it perfect!

The same size tires manufactured by different companies can have different Max PSI specifications. Tire pressure indicated on the door jam is most likely for the factory specific tires. I like my tires on the softer side, so I generally run them lower than specified. You can lose "power" through the tires (about 10 to 15%), so keeping them aired up is better for fuel mileage, but the trade-off is a rougher ride. However, with these UHP tires and softer compounds, I'm going to watch closely the wear factor and may alter the PSI based on how I see the tire wear patterns.

they might have different Max PSI specs, but do they have different minimum PSI specs?

Great question. Don't know. I don't recall ever seeing "minimum inflation PSI numbers". There may be some kind of weight front and rear, that is used in conjunction with the manufacturer's weight spec that the car manufacturers come up with for a PSI number for front and rear tires. B)

My understanding has been that the numbers on the door jam/owner's manual is their recommended pressure, but some also consider this number to be the MINIMUM pressure for cold inflation. Keep in mind you should always check your tire pressure cold (first thing in the morning or at least 3 hours after driving). When you drive, the pressure goes up at least 3-4 PSI.

SO, I have tended to keep my tires inflated (on any of my cars) at or slightly above the door jam PSI, and would not want to go much below it. They say that risk of premature tire failure dramatically increases if you go much below. On the other hand, I would agree that it is not a great idea to go right up to the max listed pressure on the tire side. I dont know if the max listed pressure on the tire represents a cold pressure. dont forget if you do inflate a cold pressure of the maximum number, it goes even higher when you drive!

My 05 ES330 has a door jam sticker that specifies the pressure for the 17 inch tire (P215 R17) EOM tire, which is what I have (bridgestone turanza EL42). The 05 ES came with two options, a 16 inch bridgestone or a 17 inch stock bridgestone (which is what I have). The owners manual has a seperate section for the 16 inch vs 17 inch stock tire and the recommended pressures are different. I dont know what happens if you buy another tire later.

The same size tires manufactured by different companies can have different Max PSI specifications. Tire pressure indicated on the door jam is most likely for the factory specific tires. I like my tires on the softer side, so I generally run them lower than specified. You can lose "power" through the tires (about 10 to 15%), so keeping them aired up is better for fuel mileage, but the trade-off is a rougher ride. However, with these UHP tires and softer compounds, I'm going to watch closely the wear factor and may alter the PSI based on how I see the tire wear patterns.

they might have different Max PSI specs, but do they have different minimum PSI specs?

Let us know your findings at 30 PSI.

with my bad back and all the pot holes we have in Boston in the spring, I like the softer ride at 30PSI better right now. The handling was more crisp at 35PSI but I can sacrifice that. Will report back on gas mileage at 30PSI after a few weeks! (just filled up my tank at $3.50/gallon - OUCH!!)

i try to keep mine at near 40...but then again im goin for pure gas mileage.

I have been doing the same. For me, the sticker on the door means jack <you know what>. THe sticker does not know what size tires you have.

I'll check again but I think the sticker on the door specified that this pressure was for the 17inch option tire (P215 R17 Bridgestone Turanza). also, I believe the owners manual specifies recommended pressure for 16 and 17 inch but I will check again.

I emailed my local dealer about why they set my tires in the winter at 35 but now the tire that the replaced for me was set at 30 (so I had 3 tires at 35 and one at 40 until I discovered it):

"The tire pressures were probably set a bit higher because of the temp. fluctuations during the cold months and the cars sit on the lot. During colder months the tires psi decrease and the tire pressure warning system goes off. So, even though the recommended pressure is 30 psi we do set the pressures a bit higher."

i try to keep mine at near 40...but then again im goin for pure gas mileage.

How much of a difference in gas mileage would it make going from say 30PSI to 40PSI?

At 35PSI i was getting about 18mpg city and 28mpg highway. I will now calculate it out at 30PSI for a while.

That's too low for me.....I keep mine at 34 PSI.....I find that gives a pretty good balance of ride, handling, fuel economy & even tire wear. 27 PSI is too soft imo. :)

I suppose there is quite a bit of personal preference involved here.

I have an 05 ES330 with 17 inch rims and my door jam tire pressure is listed at 30.

However, I just realized (after 2 months of owning the car) that the dealership had set my tire pressures at 35. I am going to ask them the rationale for that.

At 35 PSI, I found that the handling was nice and taught (usually people complain about the lexus ES handling as the biggest complaint) but yet there was more road noise than I expected and going over the Boston potholes this spring was occasionally painful.

SO, I have dropped the pressure down to 30 and I like it better. The ride is smoother, quieter, and going over potholes is more comfortable. The handling is a bit worse but that's ok with me.

I would never drop my pressure LOWER than the door jam pressure though. They say that doing that can put you at risk of premature failure. But you can go higher a bit if you want (but of course dont exceed maximum listed pressure)

Since I'm new to he club I'm not going to make any opinions based on pervious owned/makes and models. Having said that it does'nt seem feasble that it relearns the transmission shifts after every start up. I'm very experienced with resetting the ECU on vehicles, it &#33;Removed&#33; simple we all know. I'm the one who mentioned resetting my ECU not the dealer. It does appear from my paperwork that I got the flash update. Granted I have babied the heck out of it since I got it back it does seem that the 5-10MPH rolling jerk has diminished quite a bit. Well see, hopefully it's not worse in other places. Damn this is a great car though, wow. My 330 drove so much better than the 350 loaner IMO, anyway back on topic...

Glad to hear that the 5-10MPH jerk seems to have improved for you. Keep us posted and let us know if you notice any irregularites at shifting at higher speeds/gears, as some others have noticed after getting the flash.

*** If anyone can post or post link to some technical material about what REALLY happens with this ECU "learning" stuff and technical details about how it really works, that would be very interesting for us to read. Although, I still think that, other than trying the flash, there (now and forever more) will be nothing we can do to further improve these issues on the 05's and earlier cars.

Also, I'm glad to hear you liked the 330 better than 350. I bought my 05 330 a couple months ago. I considered getting a new 350 but after reading about it and some of the problems it has (as well as the reduced blind spot visibility with the new design), I opted against it, did'nt even test drive one, and voted to save $10,000 and get a certified pre-owned 05. I am very happy. everyone who sees it thinks it is a brand new car (despite having 32,000 miles on it).

Boston Snowboarder

My 05' is at the dealership right now. They are going to perform the transmission "fix" on mine. Of course I think it's just resetting the ECU so it can learn my driving style. I'll advise if I notice anything different. If it makes the ES crowd here feel any better my 03' Altima basically did the same thing as the ES issue. I'm thinking it's just a side effect of the DBW system.

Doesn't matter, the engine/transaxle ECU will still erase, FORGET, anything unique it "learned" about "your" driving style just as soon as you switch off the ignition. Otherwise the next driver (your better half..??) might get VERY PO'ed.

On the other hand it might take many "drive cycles" maybe as much as 500 miles, for the engine/management ECU to learn all the tolerances of the various sensors, servos, etc. The car will probably not "settle" down and drive in a consistent manner until those initial drive cycles are completed

wwest:

do you have a reference to quote that states that the "learning" that occurs takes place only during a single driving trip and then resets when you turn your ignition off? Not to doubt you by any means, and what you say could well be true, but the theory that you state above (I have read you say this before), goes against most of what has been discussed throughout these posts - which is that "semi-permanent" learning occurs and the only way to reset it is an unplugging of the battery. You may well be correct, but it would be good to get this firmly established before there is any further discussion on the issue.

Boston Snowboarder

Some years ago, 5 or 6 maybe, I ran across an engineering white paper that explained the then method of driver style/type learning.

And wouldn't cars in the rental fleets have to be somehow modified if the ECU didn't erase the "memory"?

The fallacy arose thus...

When you unplug the battery the ECU forgets many of the parameters it must learn to correctly run the engine and transaxle optimally. So of course drivers will "feel" as if their previously learned "style" has changed, but in reality it is just the engine management parameters being returned to the defaults, those approximate parameetrs "loaded" initially at the factory.

Interesting. I saw your post sometime ago about this. I wonder why Lexus does'nt visibly explain the "learning" ECU concept? I have combed various years of lexus brochures and it is never explained in any detail, other than that the ECU "learns" driving style. So perhaps it is really just a marketing gimmick. Your last paragraph is quite provocative. Maybe the "learning" is really just the ECU optimizing parameters that have to be optimized. But how much does it really vary driver to driver? how much variance is there?

My 05' is at the dealership right now. They are going to perform the transmission "fix" on mine. Of course I think it's just resetting the ECU so it can learn my driving style. I'll advise if I notice anything different. If it makes the ES crowd here feel any better my 03' Altima basically did the same thing as the ES issue. I'm thinking it's just a side effect of the DBW system.

If they are "just resetting the ECU so it can learn my driving style", then you should not pay them any money for it, because all this involves is (at most) unplugging your battery connections overnight (or perhaps, if wwest is correct below, just turning off your ignition!). However, if they are doing the Flash upgrade (as discussed earlier in this forum), then beware, because if you dont like how it turns out, it appears (by what numerous others have posted) to be irreversible.

My 05' is at the dealership right now. They are going to perform the transmission "fix" on mine. Of course I think it's just resetting the ECU so it can learn my driving style. I'll advise if I notice anything different. If it makes the ES crowd here feel any better my 03' Altima basically did the same thing as the ES issue. I'm thinking it's just a side effect of the DBW system.

Doesn't matter, the engine/transaxle ECU will still erase, FORGET, anything unique it "learned" about "your" driving style just as soon as you switch off the ignition. Otherwise the next driver (your better half..??) might get VERY PO'ed.

On the other hand it might take many "drive cycles" maybe as much as 500 miles, for the engine/management ECU to learn all the tolerances of the various sensors, servos, etc. The car will probably not "settle" down and drive in a consistent manner until those initial drive cycles are completed

wwest:

do you have a reference to quote that states that the "learning" that occurs takes place only during a single driving trip and then resets when you turn your ignition off? Not to doubt you by any means, and what you say could well be true, but the theory that you state above (I have read you say this before), goes against most of what has been discussed throughout these posts - which is that "semi-permanent" learning occurs and the only way to reset it is an unplugging of the battery. You may well be correct, but it would be good to get this firmly established before there is any further discussion on the issue.

Boston Snowboarder

Whats the final analysis for the 2003 ES 300. I went through some of the posts but their is around 45 pages now. I just bought the car last summer and realized their was a shifting issue, but figured it may just be age. However, it does occur around 40mph. Any help would be great. I'll have 110k on the car shortly. B)

Here is an update on my situation, as I now have about 2 months and 2500 miles on the 2005 ES330 that I bought. I test drove about 10 different 05's in my search, and I found considerable variability between models. I am not sure how much variability in the jerking and/or hesitation that occurs after a slowdown or with exceleration in general is due to differences in the car itself vs the learning that has occurred, but it could be some of both. There are two issues that seem to potentially occur: 1) if you slow down but then quickly try to re-accelerate before coming to a complete stop, there can be a noticable delay and then a jerk once the transmission decides what to do (this one I think is the most problematic) and 2) a general sluggishness on acceleration.

As far as #1, the car that I bought had essentially no noticeable problem with this when I bought it. THe dealer changed the battery for me prior to pickup, so when I got it, it had to go through the learning phase. It seemed to me that in the first few days there was some of this hesitation and jerk, but then it went away. I am not sure if my driving allowed it to learn a "smooth" shifting pattern, or if my right foot just learned and adapted to press the accelerator later and softer to avoid the jerk. BUt my theory is that it can "learn" to shift more smoothly. I will add that I am generally NOT an aggressive accelerator.

As far as #2, yes, the ES330 in general is a sluggish accelerating car. I think that this is a well known attribute of the car, described in most reviews and not a surprise. I dont think it is a big deal, and if people dont like it, they should'nt be driving the ES330! If you want a fast accelerating sporty car, go for a manual transmission BMW 3 or 5 series!!!! The ES330 accelerates slowly for 3 reasons in my mind: 1) V6 engine that is not that powerful 2) fairly heavy weight; and most important 3) gear shift pattern that is meant to focus on quietness rather than performance. So to me, it is not surprising that I can't do 0 to 60 very fast, and I am fine with that.

-I would be interested to hear what others think about the learning factor preventing the #1 issue. If the car "learns" from a smooth and slow accelerating driver, can the slow-down-then-step-on-the-gas hesitiation be minimized?

It may be that my car actually is still prone to the downshift hesitation thing but that I have unconsciously learned to drive so as not to trigger it. I know that this theory has been mentioned before in posts and may well be true.

93LSOwner, I have a black.

steviej, Derrick is helping me out with this! :D

Derrick said the wheels will fit without any probs and he will make sure before he ships it.

Do you think 20's are too big?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

good, Derrick knows his stuff and is a friend of mine.

personally, I think 20s on a pre-2002 ES will make it look like a mud-buggy or some kind of 4WD vehicle. Idefinately would not go with more than an 18 on the pre-2002 and 19 on a post-2002.

Here is mine on 18s

Keep in mind the damage issue. 20 inch rims will leave you little sidewall for the tires that you will be able to fit without flaring the fender. This means potholes and big iron road covers become you worst enemy and nightmare. Don't spend a lot of money for something that will be easily damaged.

Go with an 18, drop the car an inch and be careful when driving on them.

Lastly, I like the 5 spoke SEVAS the best of what you have showed.

steviej

If you accidently end up slamming your front wheel hard on a big pothole with 17 or 18's, how do you find out if any damage has been done? take the wheel in for a balance check?

as you know, in MA.....it is very easy for this to happen.....

Boston Snowboader

05 ES330 Silver with stock 17 inchers (looks like yours but wheels no where near as nice!)

I just bought a 2005 ES330 without Nav/ML, but I have a 30 day exchange policy at my dealership where I can go back and get a 100% trade in against another car if I want..... so now I am second guessing my descision to NOT get Nav/ML....

I dont have any desire in the Nav, but would consider getting it if only for the ML. Actually, in other ways, the Nav is a negative, as then you have to have the 6-disc changer in center console and so you lose the console. BUT, if the sound will be better with the Nav/ML, i will consider it.

I see that with the 2005 ES330, there seem to be 7 speakers, whether you get factory sound or the Nav/ML. Are the speakers the same factory speakers either way, or do you get upgraded speakers with the NAV/ML option? that might make a big difference in my opinion.

I know that with the 2008 ES350, the stock system gives you 7 speakers, but the ML system gives you 14 speakers, so the ML gives you speaker advantage too.

SO, in summary, how much difference would there be in sound quality between these 3 options:

1) 2005 ES330 with stock factory system with 7 speakers

2) 2005 ES330 with the Nav/ML system with 7 speakers

3) 2005 ES 330 without Nav/ML but upgrade the 7 speakers to dynaudio or others....

I have a feeling many would say #3 is the best. is it worth the additional cost for this mod?

As far as I know (depending on the equipment package on the ES 330 as the base & 'appearance' packages does not have TC or VSC) there is a VSC off button on the lower right drivers side of the dash.

It also explains things in detail in the owners manual.....if you don't have one, I highly suggest contacting Lexus to get one.....I think they are free. B)

Insofar as I know, have been able to learn, only a few of the '08 models have a Trac & VSC sequential "off" button. TC must be turned off first and only then can the same button be used to turn off VSC.

But more to the point I suspect that you would NEVER wish to turn off VSC whereas there have been many requests, posts, regarding the need, justifiable need IMMHO, to turn TC off.

TC, Traction Control, is the system that prevents wheelspin/slip resulting from too much engine torque being applied to the driven wheels fro current roadbed conditions. There are times when a slight bit of wheelspin can be of help, say in roacking the car back and forth to get unstuck.

My car does have the button to turn off TC on the lower right hand side of steering wheel, which I know about. The owners manual mentions only that this button would turn TC off, in the setting that you mention which is to rock car out of hole. It does not say anything about turning VSC off.

I have personally NO DESIRE to turn VSC off. I think that car and driver was implying that someone might want to turn it off if they purposely wanted wheel skid, say if they were going to go off road on a dirt track. Or kind of llike we did when I was a kid where we would take our cars into an empty snowy parking lot and try to skid and slide as much as we could! Would make more sense to do this with an IS than an ES. I dont think anyone in their right mind would want to take an ES off road on a dirt track! there are much better cars to do that with. However, in case anyone did have such a desire, this might be the way to turn off VSC....I think I will never try it or have any desire to!.......

I ran across this in a review of the IS250 in Car and Driver:

"And for that occasional run through the woods, when you’d rather not have the electronics interfere with your tire-sliding ambitions, here’s how to shut down the stability system. Start the car with the hand brake engaged. Press the brake pedal twice and hold. Engage the hand brake twice and hold. Repeat until the “skid lights” appear on the dash. The ABS does not shut off. When the engine is subsequently turned off and then switched back on, the stability control is reactivated. (Presumably, this trick works on all new Toyota and Lexus models, and it’s easier than it sounds.)"

I wonder if it would work on the 05 ES330 or later models? I am not bold enough to challenge my car to try to find out. Has anyone tried this?

Boston Snowboarder

05 ES330 Silver/Blk

99 Honda Civic LXBlk

04 Subaru Outback LTD Blue

Honestly? I would not try and install it myself. I've seen it installed, its not easy at all and the product needs to be heated and stretched over the contours of the vehicle's bodywork and lined up properly with the seams.

Plus you'll be missing out on the time of year you really need it most...now.

Call around to some automotive tint places and see what costs they have, make sure you get the whole package, the hood and the bumper, otherwise its not really worth doing IMHO.

True - the time that I really need it most is NOW. actually, I need to go ASAP to my car wash place and get them to hand wax it. I am getting tons of salt stuck on it.

Called a couple of places locally and they want similar to what the dealer's guy said: $700 for the complete package. But then again, prices in Boston seem to be way higher than anywhere else. I should drive up to New Hampshire or Vemont and get it done there instead.