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I'm looking at getting the top of the line Maytag Bravos washer and dryer. Consumer reports rates it high. On line I see some negatives but maybe that is from only the one that have had problems with them. This is the machine I want. Anyone have any personal experiences with this model? Maytag Bravos MVWB800V[Q] Thanks Rodney

I tend to think it is not good for the battery. Rodney

I've given my 98 LS400 to my girlfriend as I have just bought a 2006 MB S500 4matic. Miss that Lexus. What a great car it still is. I always used the auto headlight option. At night I always turned the knob to off then switched it to auto again. That shut off the timed off headlights. Is there a way to make that do it without having to turn the switch? Rodney

Bummer. Oh well. At least I know my thermostat is OK. Just bought a 2006 S500 Mercedes Benz 4matic in silver with 18,000 miles on it. I will store it until spring and drive my LS400 until then. Maybe begining/middle of March or so. I will not find out how long that one warms up till next winter. Interesting that my 98 LS400 with 94,000 miles drives and feels just like the low mileage S500. I'll be sad to see my LS400 go. :( What a great car. Bought the S500 for my soon to move in girlfriend and soon wife. It is our daily driver. I drive my truck everyday and she will drive the MB. That way I have a man's car when we go somewhere and not some girly car! Rodney

My 1998 LS400 takes a long time to warm up on a cold day. By cold I mean around 0ish-10ish or so F. Is this typical on a LS400? It seems to take 3-4 miles (maybe 2 1/2-3ish even) before the needle even starts moving up off the bottom and a few more miles to get resonably warm and then maybe a mile or so till fully warm. Is this normal or possibly do I need a new thermostat. I hate to put in a new thermosat if this is normal. When driving my 2002 5.3 Silverado the temp needle starts moving up within a mile or less and it is very warm in 2 or so miles. My LS400 has 93,000 miles. I would think the thermostat is probably still original. That may or not mean it should be replaced though. Thanks! Rodney

She knows how I got it and how much I paid for it. She knows what local jewelers want for a comparable diamond. The seller told me originally he is selling it because of financial reasons. He later told me he upgraded his wife's ring. All I have told her is the first one. He sold it for financial reasons. I told her I did not try to pry for more information from the seller. She knows me and is happy I try to make my money go as far as possible. I think she would not care too much knowing the truth. I'm just looking for some opinions from others. I may or may not ever tell her the rest of the story. Time will tell. Rodney

I found and bought a very nice "used" diamond for my girlfriends wedding ring. Long story short it is a 2.01 carat, E color, excellent cut and SI2 for $13,500. GIA certified. Quite a bargain. The seller upgraded his wife's wedding ring to a larger diamond so he had this loose diamond. I was in the right place at the right time and bought it. Had it checked again by a GG and it is the diamond listed on the GIA report that came with the diamond. Local jewelers would want well over $20,000 for this same diamond. List price on the original package the seller included was $24,000+. When pushed on price and with references to Blue Nile some local jewelers get into the $18,500 range or so for a comparable diamond. Should I tell my girlfriend the origin of this diamond. When you buy any diamond you never know if it is virgin or used. Would telling her the truth be a problem in anyone's opinion? All I have told her is the guy was selling it for financial reasons which is what he originally told me. He later told me he upgraded his wife's ring to larger diamond. In talking to local jewelers I was surprised to find their cost on this type of diamond is in the $11,000 or so range. What a nice profit margin if they can sell it for $24,000+!! Rodney

My LS400 seem to dance around a little lately. It is not my daily driver and sometimes it sits for weeks. I have new OEM rims and new tires going on soon. Thought I would do the shocks at the same time. I guess I'll wait and see how it drives with the new tires first. Possibly that feeling will go away with the new tires. Thanks for the advice Rodney

I am looking to replace the shocks in my 2000 LS400. I tend to think the only ones to get are OEM lexus. Anyone have any advice? Hard to change? Rodney

Interesting to see a positive remark about the S class MB. I had thought all I would see is negatives. I sat in a LS430. I thought the MB was much more posh and advanced than the Lexus interior wise. The MB had so many buttons. I sat in a new LS 460 and it had many more buttons than the LS430. I looks like Lexus stepped it up a notch with the LS460's. Rodney

308 GTS and 348 TS. Rodney

I'm self employed and generally drive my truck everyday. My Lexus LS400 only gets driven occasionally. It still looks like a new car. I can wash and wax it and detail it and take it places and many people that do not know Lexus cars think it is a new car. It still looks and drives excellent. I have no need to buy a newer car at this time. I am picky when it comes to the look of a car and this car still makes me very happy. :) Rodney

Stopped at a few dealers yesterday. One option I have is to buy an Acura RL. Not quite the car I would like to be seen in but a good compromise as it has all wheel drive. I would probably buy a used one (2-3 years old) and in 3-4 years look for a used all wheel drive LS460. Rodney

I'm on the fence. I tend to think it will be a bad choice. I have 2 reasons to get one. All wheel drive and the look. I think I'll probably get cold feet when the time comes. Hopefully Lexus comes out with a all wheel drive large sedan. Thanks for the input both positive and negative. They are great looking cars and have so many buttons and stuff. I would just like to own one once. Rodney

Looks like I will be selling my 98 LS 400 in a year or so and buying a Mercedes Benz S500 4matic. Hopefully a 2006 as it is the last year of that body style. The 2007's and up do not look that nice. This will be my girlfriend's daily driver and my occasional driver. She will be moving in with me in a year or so once her kids move out. It will be good for her in the winter being AWD and nice enough for me to drive when we go out etc. Since I have 2 Ferrari's and my truck I find no need to have a car I drive only occasionally while she would have a SUV as a daily driver. Too many cars, SUV and a truck. So to remedy that I have decided on a Mercedes Benz S500 AWD. My LS400 has been an excellent car and I expect the Mercedes will not be as reliable. Maybe one day I'll be back. :) Rodney

I bought the reproduction aluminum rims off ebay. I'll buy 4 new OEM center caps plus 4 new tires. That way I can put them on and drive it anytime I like and sell it with newer factory rims. I'm too old to change rims winter/summer. :) I did that for many many year on other daily drivers I owned thru the years. Rodney

Chromed aluminum rims do not hold up to the salt in WI.

Just one more post so I can use the email reply option. My fault for not clicking on it.

My other concern is the clear coat on the rims. My original rims were degraded because of the previous owners going thru car washers. The brushes scratched the clear coat over time. I tend to think the factory clear coat is the best and any aftermarket finish will not be as good. I do want to take my Lexus thru car washes. So I wonder that if I buy these new reproduction rims will they hold up to car washes. Rodney Dickman 1998 LS 400

I am looking at my options for new rims for my 98 LS400. When I bought my 98 LS400 maybe 4 years ago the factory rims were somewhat degraded. I happened to look on ebay and found some factory rims that were chrome plated. So I bought them. Little did I know that running these in the north with road salt that these would pit quickly. Bummer. So I am looking at my options. I really like the look of the factory rims on my 98. I have looked at other year 400's and 430's and still think my factory rims are the best looking rims for the 400's. Having the factory rims chromed makes my 98 LS400 look absolutely stunning. So I wonder what to do next. I see they now make new reproduction rims. Go on ebay and you will find them. They are the clear coated spun aluminum like OEM. They say the finish will match the factory center caps. Price is nice. Around $375 for 4 plus $65 shipping. But I would still want all new center caps. I have not searched to see what new OEM Lexus center caps cost. Anyone know? Another option is to send my original rims out and have them chromed. I do have a truck that I drive most of the time. Knowing that the salt ruins these chromed rims I would just not drive it when there is slushy snow on the roads. Other options are to send my original rims out to have them refinished. Anyone ever done that? Where? I found one place that does a powder coat type finish that looks close to chrome. Around $200+ per rim and center cap. Expensive and to me powder coat will not hold up also. It will crack just a little and them moisture gets in and the powder coat starts to lift and flake off. Anyone have any advice?? I tend to not want to do the chrome again because if my girlfriend happens to need to use my Lexus on a snowy day then I am in the same boat with pitting. Plus when I sell this car in a few years the new owner will not want to have it as a nice weather car only. But the chrome looks so good! Rodney Dickman 1998 LS 400

When I bought my 98 LS400 my drivers side heated mirror was cracked and all foggy. I bought a new glass piece from a Lexus dealer on line. Sewell maybe. It looked to be very difficult to remove the mirror from the car door so I broke out the glass piece by piece and slowly broke out the plastic pieces behind the glass until the whole glass assembly was removed. The glass assembly is held in by some fingers. The mirror just snaps into these fingers to the motor system. The problem is that the piece the glass snaps into is too weak to just push the mirror into without damaging the motor stuff. This is no problem if you take the mirror apart. To get around this I took a piece of maybe 1/8" by 3/4" steel and made a tool to curve around top the back side of the mirror. I put some silicone grease on the pins on the mirror and put the mirror in place. I reached the tool around the mirror to support the fingers the mirror snapped into and then pushed the mirror to get the mirror to snap into these fingers. With out the tool the motor assembly most likely would have broken from this pressure. Worked great. Rodney Dickman 1998 LS400 First post. :)