dk63

I have an '08 IS250 with the factory Sirius radio option. I'm having issues with signal loss and want to find out how the unit is installed in others cars. My antenna is placed inside the windshield just beside the rearview mirror. I have had both the antenna and the radio unit replaced due to this issue and now I'm convinced it's due to the placement of the antenna. The dealer said it was possible to incorporate the antenna into the shark fin in the roof and I'm not sure why it wasn't done that way in the first place. My neighbor's is installed this way and he said he has no issues. Does anyone else have their's on the windshield? If so do you have signal problems? I understand the tunnel/buildings/trees issues associated with satellite radio, but when I had a plug and play unit in my old car I almost never had a dropped signal. I'm just trying to understand others experiences.

Should I get a car cover for my IS 250 '09?

Pretty much I will only use the car on the weekends and it will be parked in a garage full of junk. I probably will try to resist driving in the Winter. They put too much salt on the roads where I live!

Also, how often would you suggest that I wash my car? I got sort of lazy on my old car (98 nissan altima) and its rusting. I don't want that to happen again. But I didn't really care so much about my altima because it was degrading in so many ways.

I bought a California Car Cover Stormweave cover for mine and use it whenever the car is in the garage (as long as the car is clean). I ride my motorcycle during the week so the car only gets driven on the weekends. This time of year I keep the cover on it mostly to keep the pollen off the car when the garage door is open. I don't put the cover on when the car is dirty to avoid any potential scratching. The cover I have is somewhat bulky and there are others that are lighter, but I bought that one because it is somewhat padded in case I have to park at the airport or some other place where some !Removed! is just waiting to ding my doors.

As far as washing it, do it when it's dirty. You aren't going to hurt the car by washing it unless you use something harsh. Also, since I use Zaino polish on my car I use their wash product to help enhance the shine. Your preferences may vary, of course.

I have an '08 IS250 with the factory installed Sirius radio and I'm have trouble with dropping the signal too frequently. I understand that the signal will be lost when going thru tunnels and such, but my signal drops whenever I go under a freeway underpass or a large tree. I had the antenna replaced after only a month or so because the problem was constant, even out in the open. Now I still have the problem but not out in the open. In my old Nissan I had a Sirius Sportster radio in it and that unit had a memory buffer to prevent such signal drops. Apparently this unit does not have that feature. Anyone else have this problem?

Why do you feel you need to replace the rotors? At 20k you shouldn't have to replace the rotors, only get them turned. And yes, you should always get them turned when replacing the pads.

I don't understand why the music volume matters. My music mutes when the nav voice gives a prompt and then unmutes. There is a volume adjustment on the nav voice in the settings menu.

I just purchased a factory style spoiler from M and S performance. I didn't consult my wife first and she doesn't want a spoiler on the car.It has adhesive tape along the bottom with two holes for mounting. Anyway it is Glacier Frost Mica if anyone would be interested in purchasing it. If I dont sell it I'll just wait a while then eventually install it .If I can talk my wife into it. It is fiberglass and the quality looks good.

Is it her car or yours?

The bolt pattern is the same, but a 16" wheel will require a larger profile (higher sidewall) tire in order to keep the speedometer readings correct. That size tire will also negatively affect the handling IMO.

I use the Zaino Z2 Pro product with the ZFX Accelerator and love it. It's true that some people don't care for it but I think that's true for just about any product on the market. It's a lot of work to do it right with Zaino but I think the results are fantastic. My IS250 is Smoky Granite color and looks like it's wet due to the shine.

I bought the extended warranty and the service plan for my 2008 IS250 when I bought the car last month. I agree that I could have gotten a warranty plan cheaper somewhere else, but past experience has taught me that those plans are not always honored. (I experienced nothing but heartache with an "outside" extended warranty on a previous vehicle) As far as the service plan it's true that you can get service done cheaper than the dealer and do some yourself. However, my wife has bought the plan on both Lexus' that she has owned and we found that the dealer will perform work for her outside the typical service and still not charge her. She had brakes, carpet, trim pieces and other items replaced at not cost and not under warranty. Friends that own Lexus do not have the service plan and have not experienced the extra effort that we have. I don't know if it's coincidence, luck or Karma, but I am a believer in the service plan.

I just got a 2007 IS 250 AWD and want to move my Sirius subscription over to this car. What exactly would I need to get to have it run thru the navigation interface? I defintely do not want to get a separare receiver and clutter up the inside.

Keep in mind I'm an idiot and possess very little technical knowledge, so don't be shy about dumbing it down.

Please help.

I put Sirius in my 2008 IS 250 from the factory and you are going to have to install the factory unit. I don't believe there is an aftermarket unit that will interface with the Nav system but I could be wrong. Honestly I'm not sure where the unit was installed in the car as I have not seen it. I believe it is behind the dash somewhere.

Any recommendations for what to use to dust off exterior of dark car (smoky granite) between washing without scratching? My first dark in a while. A few days after washing, the car gets a layer of dirt/dust even in the garage.

Thanks much.

I just discovered that using a Swiffer duster will do a great job of removing the dust and pollen from mine (which is the same color as yours). Of course, I keep the car cover as much as possible when not driving, even when it's in the garage.

I've been wondering about the accuracy, but I haven't checked it yet. I usually set the trip odometer to 00000 then fill up the tank. The next time I fill up, I just look at how much fuel went in, and what the odometer says, and do the math.

How are you doing the "manual" calculations?

I calculate it based on the number of miles since my last fill-up divided by the number of gallons pumped. In the case this morning it was 409 miles and 14.63 gallons.

I've had my IS250 for a month now and the first time I had to fill it up the computer readout said my average MPG for the tank was 27.9 MPG. When I did the manual calculation of miles driven/gallons filled I came up with 25.5. This morning I filled up for the second time and the readout was 30.5 MPG, but the actual calculation came to 27.9. I'm not complaining about the MPG I'm getting since the Pathfinder I got rid of only got 17-18 MPG, but it seems the computer does a lousy job of calculating since it's 2.5 MPG off. Anyone else have this same issue?

has anyone ever overided the system to drive with ur fogs on by itself w/o low beams on. i got 10000k fogs just wanted to show them off lol

Are you aware that lights with that high of a temp rating are VERY blue and don't actually put out as much usable light as something around 5000k? If you are after just the look then fine, but many people are under the assumption that a higher temp rating means more light.

He's not playing burned discs, he's playing store-bought CDs.

Do they have the CD-TEXT emblem on them? If not you won't see text even if you press the text button.

You can see the logo you're looking for here-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:CDTXlogo.svg

Thanks, that's the information I was looking for. I knoew that burned discs would show the info but was confused as to why store-bought ones would not. Seems like for $14 every one should have that text embedded in them.

Since the lens on the camera is wide-angle I would not attempt to use it alone. I know that if I tried to use it alone when backing into my garage then I would hit the house. It's cheaper for me to look over my shoulder. :)

Some CD's are coded and some aren't. I have some that show title and track and some that don't.

Yeah but these CD's in question show the information when I play them on my PC at home so they must be coded unless there's something I don't understand about that.

I have an '08 IS250 with the Navigation system and when I am listening to a CD there is no artist or track info showing. This is for CD's that I've bought in a store. I haven't tried any that I've burned myself. Is this common and is there a fix?

I've read all of the above and I can't believe what you all are going through. I just bought my IS250 from Hendrick Lexus in Charlotte, NC. My wife bought her first Lexus from them (a '98 ES300) and now has an '04 RX330. I cannot tell you how pleased I am with the service she has gotten both from sales and the service department with her two cars. For example, when she owned the ES and took it in for service at the 25,000 mile mark, Hendrick replaced the brakes for her free of charge because they felt they should not have worn out that quickly. They have also replaced carpet in both vehicles that was discolored even though it wasn't technically a warranty issue.

My sales experience was great. When I stopped by the first time the sales lady spent about 45 minutes with me even though I told her I wanted just to look at the car and not drive it. When I went back to drive it 6 weeks later she spent over an hour with me. My point is, especially to Tweety, that not all Lexus dealerships are bad. In fact, the sale is the least profitable part of the relationship for them. Take your car to another dealer, tell them what you are going through and explain that you are looking for a dealer that you can have a long-term positive relationship with. Good luck.

I got the Sirius option installed on my IS250 and yes it was about $500. The reason I did that was because I had an aftermarket Sirius unit in my previous vehicle ( a Sportster Replay model mounted in my Pathfinder) and was less than pleased with the sound quality. The factory installed version sounds great and I like that the information is displayed on the Navigation unit screen. If you install an aftermarket unit make sure that it is hardwired into the Lexus factory radio and not using the FM modulator. Since the satellite signal is compressed so much it degrades the sound quality tremendously when played thru the FM band.