Normandg

I thought about doing the same for my IS 250 (2006). The price for the equipment off eBay is about 3 grand. My son could do the work, no problem. He installs audio and video equiment in cars for a living. He even said it would not be difficult. But the cost drove me away.

My son used "nail polish remover" with great success. I would exercise caution. Do this out of the sunlight. Also, wash off the area immediately when you are done. I would also recommend doing a small test area first to make sure you do not damage the paint. My son used this on his Audi A6 (4.2) and his paint still looks great.

I try not to let my tank get that low. If you start sucking fuel from the bottom of the tank that is when you can get what ever junk has collected in the bottom. Most likely your fuel filter would catch it. But then your fuel line can clog and you will need to change the filter. I try to never get below a quarter of a tank. Food for thought.

I too find the bass to be very good in my IS250. I have had my windows shaking a couple of times. I have my bass set at 2 (normally) and sometimes that is a little much for me. Normandg

I agree with Weardown. I would look at the maintenance costs. You can, in some cases, do this online. Look up some common items like an alternator, brake pads and rotors and other such common items like these. Call the dealer and ask what it would cost to have some sort of specific work done. My son owns an Audi A6 (4.2). The CV axel on that thing costs over 500 bucks. He is now seeing what the ownership costs are related to a nice car. Norman

Sometimes I want to start my car and walk back inside the house while it warms up. Most vehicles will allow you to lock the car with the remote. I am not able to do this with my 2006 IS250. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated. Normandg

I have seen the NAV system on eBay for around 3 grand. You would need to be sure to get all of the bits and pieces. If you get just the NAV unit you will not have everything you need. I too have a 2006 IS250 (non-NAV). I thought about doing the same thing. I did add a PARROT Bluetooth device to my stereo. That works great. The stereo cuts out when a call is coming in or going out. Pretty easy to install. As for the NAV I decided to use by Magallen GPS (a couple of hundred bucks beats 3000 bucks). Around town I do not need my GPS. However, when I need it I pop it in. I notice a lot of people keep their GPS in all the time. Many of them have built in bluetooth so that can be pretty handy. If I were to buy a new IS I would give serious consideration to the car with NAV installed. Normandg

I should have thought about that (DAH). I will call my local dealer to see if there is much of a difference in the price before I pay shipping. Thanks for the feedback. Norman

Has anyone changed their wiper blades lately? I have a 2006 IS250 AWD. I stopped by the local auto parts store and bought some Rain-X wiper blades (Latitude). I have them on a couple of other vehicles and I like how they perform. However, when I put them on the IS250 I really don't like how they look. I know that is a little crazy. They work great, they just don't look as good as the stock blades. I tried to find the Lexus blades online and the driver side wiper is between 30 and 40 bucks. Go figure for a Lexus. Has anyone found a good price on Lexus wiper blades? Thanks, Norman

My daughter bought them for my 2006 IS260 and my son (30 years old) installed them. It did not take very long. It seemed pretty easy. Norman

My son and a friend install remote starts, and other audio/video equipment, for a living. I have a 2006 IS250. They have a site they go to for information about different vehicles. I believe it is Direct Tech. I am not 100% sure. They showed me the other day where someone finally figured out how to make a viper remote start/alarm work on the IS250. There were many pictures posted. They were trying to talk me in to letting them do this to my car. I have no doubt they could do it. But I decided against it. There is a great deal of work that needs to be done and I don't want my car torn apart for that one feature. The installation in my Ford Ranger took only an hour or two. The IS250 would take many hours (I guess about 6 to 10 hours). Food for thought. Normandg

Has anyone replaced their Oil Filter Housing? I tried to remove the top cap (the bolt in the center) and it will not come off. I removed the entire housing and replaced the filter and drained the oil at the oil pan. It is my understanding that the bolt should come out. I tried, but nothing worked. Should I not worry about it or replace the housing? Thanks in advance. Norman p.s. I have a 2006 IS250 AWD.

I have a Valentine 1 and I love it. It does not have bluetooth. I live in Virginia where radar detectors are illegal. I have my V1 mounted in a pouch on the driver’s side visor. There is a small opening, facing the front, cut for the detector to pick up laser signals. Radar passes through the pouch material. I don’t need to see the detector to know when there is an issue down the road. I can tell you that, in my opinion, the V1 is the best detector sold. It has saved me more than once. Owning a detector does not keep you from getting caught. You still need to use the one that God gave you. If you get over confident then you will get burnt. Normandg

I have a 2006 IS250. I am considering doing an HID conversion on the headlights. Has anyone done this yet? I am curious if anyone has any particular recommendations. Obviously I can look on eBay and see a dozen or so different kits. One markets his product as being the "original Japanese HID kit" where the others are said to be Chinese knock offs. Kits range in price from 50 to 320 bucks. The average seems to be around 179.

There are several GPS models that offer bluetooth with the GPS. I bought one for my son-in-law for Christmas. I bought him the Magellan. I don't recall which model. I believe it was the 3140 that I bought him. He likes it. Norman

WOW, is all I can come up with to start this posting. I do some part time work for a local car dealership here in Virginia (not Lexus). I have been doing PC/Network support for them for about 6 years. I have learned a lot over the years. All salesmen know that if the customer leaves the chances of him/her coming back is very slim. They must do what it takes to close the deal the first time. Walking away is not as easy as it sounds. Like most men once I have made up my mind I want the car. It is tough to turn that off. When I bought my last two vehicles I decided when I went in that if I didn't like what I saw and heard I would walk away. That has to be your thought process before you walk in. I would recommend you file an issue with the BBB. That way it will be on record. I would bet the folks at the dealership have you listed as the local pain now. They put up with you. I do not disagree with what you did to try and resolve the issues. The squeeking wheel gets the grease. Thank you for posting your experience on here. I believe it might help someone with their buying of a car in the future. If you make only a 1% difference you , at least, made a difference. Norman

I added the factory XM to my car. Pretty easy to do. I ordered it from Sewell Lexus from their eBay site. It was 20 bucks cheaper than buying it from their online site. A lot cheaper than having the dealer do it. I put the XM antenna on the rear deck up next to the glass. This was the most work. To route the antenna cable correctly I decided to pull out the back seat. I pulled both the back and bottom. It just made it easier to run the cable through the access home already there. The unit works fine with no problem. I am very pleased with its operation. I have had XM for about 4 years now in another vehicle. I love my XM. Norman p.s. My only issue was with the windows after disconneting the battery. Once I learned I needed to re-program the windows all was right in the world again.

I bought my car used and it did not come with the nav package. I agree, I could have bought a GPS with built in bluetooth. I already have a GPS that is non-bluetooth. However, The GPS stands out and is a little more of a magnet for theft. The Parrot (I spelled it with an extra "T" in the previous post) is very small and will cut out the stereo when a call is being made or received. I really like that feature. Yes, it takes little to no effort to just turn down the stereo. Call me a gadget nut. Norman

Installed the Parrott MK6100 in my IS250 (non Nav) last night. I must say I am pretty impressed. Let me give you all some of the good and bad that we (my son and I) ran in to. My son does this kind of thing for a living. Still, when ever you install a piece of equipment for the first time there is a learning curve. Equipment: Parrott MK6100 (found on the web for 179.00). Harness for my IS250 was approx 70 bucks, with shipping, from www.quickharness.com. The harness was the QCJBL-1. Time: This took about 2.5 to 3 hours. There are a couple of options for the setup. You can hook the wires to the factory speakers or run a separate speaker. My son said if we decided to use the factory speakers we would need to run the wires back to the trunk and connect them to the wires going to the Amp. The other option was to hook up a speaker under the grill on the dash that wasn’t being used. We popped out the cover near the windshield and there was nothing in there. We were challenged to find a speaker small enough to fit (diameter wise). We had an old pair of Harman Karman computer speakers lying around and pulled a speaker out. It fit perfectly. The hole will accommodate a 2.5 to 3.0 speaker. I am not 100% sure of the size. Connected the wire harness to the stereo system, and connected the speaker to the Parrott. Pretty straight forward. Of course, we had to connect power. The biggest challenge came with where to put the display. The Parrott web site shows the display attached to the dash. There is no good place on the IS250 to do that. I recommended the steering column. If you look at your steering column you will notice it dips down just before it gets to the instrument cluster. The display, on its little stand, just barely blocks some of the odometer. One negative point. The tape to hold down the display is not very good. Even after cleaning the area with rubbing alcohol it does not sit well. I will need to redo this. I might take some 1000 grit sand paper and rough up a very tiny spot and redo the tape. You have the choice of two microphone setups. One is built in to the display. The unit also comes with a secondary microphone attachment. We tried both. The built in mic’s were awful. You sound like you are in a tin can. The secondary mic’s worked much better. The unit paired up to both my son’s phone and my phone. The Parrott also pulled the information from his and my phone books in our phones. I have a Pioneer Avic N4 in my truck with the Bluetooth adapter. The Parrott works better than the Pioneer! The remote on the steering wheel was a minor challenge. Placement was a concern. However, we mounted it down by the cruise control with no problem. Overall I am very pleased. The unit is small enough that it does not stand out. It works much better than I thought it would. If you want a good Bluetooth device for your IS250 (or any car) without sticking a device in your ear this is a good buy. Norman p.s. I might be able to post a picture here if anyone is interested.

I tried a couple of BT headsets. They have too much base for me. Also, if you enjoy music as much as I do I really don't want something stuck in my ear blocking the music. This is, obviously, not a priority. Just a nice to have feature. Norman

Has anyone added Bluetooth (aftermarket) to their vehicle? I have an IS250 (2006). My car does NOT have the Navigation package. I added the XM module and that was very easy. From what I have learned Lexus does not offer Bluetooth to cars without the NAV package. However, I came across a Lexus dealer in Australia that sells a Bluetooth package. It was posted on their web site. I emailed them and the cost for the package and shipping to the US is 550 (AU dollars). I could buy a portable GPS with bluetooth for that much. But, I am interested in a clean application without something mounted in the window. I am waiting to hear back from them again. I asked them if they have a PDF file for the installation that I can look at. I did the same thing with the XM and once I saw the instructions I knew it would be easy. I will include the AU website here so you can check out what they say. Norman http://www.citylexus.com.au/default.cfm?section=6.2

I agree the person who recommended the Valentine1. I have had this unit for some time now. It is EXCELLENT! I live in Virginia where we are not allowed to have Radar Dectectors. I have mine in a pouch on the drivers side visor. I don't need to see it to use it. This thing has saved me many times. Now remember, you need to be smart when you use it. Laser is quick and can be detected. Normally once you have detected them they have you. However, I have received the signal from their laser when I am just pulling away from a light or other cars. That gives me time to react. In states when dectors are legal you need to know that the police turn their units on and off. If you listen for that you then know to slow down. Sorry, I digress. Get the V1, you will not be disappointed. Norman