RX400h

I can generally feel whether the outer or middle treads are wearing faster, but other than using a penny to gauge tread depth, a great way to do this accurately is to buy a digital tire depth gauge. MSC industrial supply has a Fowler unit at a reasonable price. What I'm getting at is that if your tires are wearing evenly, there is no reason to change the pressure in each. I am certain, however, that the 30 psi listed on the door jamb sticker is too low, especially for the OEM Goodyears. Dave

My Corvette had runflat tires from the factory but when it came time to replace them, I went with non-runflats, a tire repair kit, small 12V compressor, some pliers and an aluminum lift jack. The difference in ride quality was staggering - much smoother. Runflat tires typically weigh 6 lbs more than non-runflat tires (18" size), so that explains some of the ride quality improvements. The other reason for the ride change is that the sidewalls of most runflat tires is much stiffer than that of non-runflat tires. And since I hadn't had a catastrophic blowout in 20 years, odds are in my favor. Most tire leaks are slow enough so that you can get to a tire shop. Often, the nail that punctures the tire provides adequate sealing. Now, there is the "peace-of-mind" factor that ecourages many folks to keep buying runflat tires. Those who take long trips or are female are typically included within that crowd. As for brand of tires, I'd stay away from the OEM model but not necessarily the brand. Both Michelin and Goodyear make some excellent aftermarket tires and there are plenty of other manufacturers who produce very good ones as well. I generally use Consumer Reports as a quide to which ones represent the best value.

And THAT'S the beauty of regenerative braking!

She saw too many movies where the vehicle would plow into another and the two would explode in a huge fireball!

Ah, that makes perfect sense. It was below zero when this happened. And the day before all this started I had gone to the car wash and I swear that everything started after that. Thanks to all for the good advice, Josie I guess you're better off than I was when I lived in CT. If I washed my car during cold Winter months, on the following morning, I couldn't unlock the door. I had to pour hot water on it and quickly insert and turn the key. Those were the days!

I totaled my first car (a Mazda RX4) at age 20, so don't feel so bad. Of course, I was racing a BMW 2002tii and the crash made the "Naugy Daily News", but that's besides the point. I've had a few back up mishaps as well, but the first accident in the RX400h was when it was less than one three months old. Some guy in a pickup decided to try to back out of a crowded gas station parking lot and put a big dent in the bumper. If I recall correctly, the damage was about $1200. Luckily, it came out of the truck guy's insurance. My advice, pull a Tony Stark and install a scanning laser in the bumper. Include a digital readout of scanned object distances, along with a bar graph for quick reference. This should prevent such occurances from rearing their ugly heads again.

Josie, I answered your IM but essentially, your vehicle "brain" will sense slip and back off power until traction is gained, often by the transfer of motion to the opposite wheel. We know for certain that having good snow tires makes a huge difference when it comes to traction on snow, especially for vehicles that employ a type of traction control that cannot be switched off. I'd say that what you are experiencing is perfectly normal, especially if you have all-season tires from the factory. Dave

Hello, Josie and congratulations on joining the hybrid club. When you do this, are you on an incline? Is there snow or gravel underneath the tires. If the answer to question number two is "no", then I would recommend that you mention this to your service advisor, the next time you bring your vehicle to the dealership. I've never experienced this with my 400h, but then again it never gets colder than 40F here in San Diego. Still, this type of behavior should not happen on dry ground, IMO. Dave

Deep cycle batteries are best suited for vehicles with powerful audio systems, as the heavy drain from big amps will kill a normal battery, very early. Costco Kirkland batteries are inexpensive but last quite a long time. I haven't checked to see whether they have the right size, but I'll bet they do. The Walmart MAXX battery is also a very good battery for the price. The best starting battery may well be the Sears Platinum AGM battery but it costs $180 and weighs as much as a boat anchor.

That's gotta be a Lexus record (780,000 miles in less than 5 years) if I ever saw one! How far is your commute, 300 miles????

If those guys can do it, so can you! Thanks, Rey for coming up with this qiuick and easy mod, Thanks, Lemon for proving Rey correct, and last but not least, thanks, cduluk for starting this whole thing!

The baffle plates may be an attempt to allow simple impaction to separate oil from blowby air. Still, it is certainly not common among other vehicle manufacturers. Our oil fill hole is so deep in the engine bay that I honestly never noticed that textured surface. Your engine doesn't look too bad, Lemon. My daughter's Mazda Protege lived a couple years of its life in New York and I almost didn't buy it because of the rust that seems to be everywhere. However, after spending over an hour cleaning it up, it is okay for now. I guess we are spoiled here in San Diego. Even my 89 Mazda MX6 GT's engine bay looks great compared to those of cars from inclement weather states.

Hey, Rey, It took you 5 minutes to do that? That's incredible!

False alarm! Lemon is absolutely correct. I just examined this area in our RX and there IS a textured surface, facing the oil fill hole opening. I have attached a pic.

Let me ask you this: Did anyone check this before the vehicle was purchased? Apparently, it was overlooked and the previous owner was negligent when it came to following the correct oil change intervals. Here's a good article on engine oil sludge: http://www.yotarepair.com/sludge%20article.html It is far safer to get rid of existing sludge, slowly vs all at once (via engine flush), so my advice would be to use a good anti-sludge oil (Castrol and Pennzoil are two companies that sell anti-sludge oils) and have the oil changed maybe every 2000 miles for 2 or 3 changes. Then you may be able to go back to the normal change interval of 5 months or 5000 miles. Fe experts recommend having oil flushes performed, so I would rule that out as an acceptable solution.

I think we have the next Chuck Foose right here in this forum. Seriously, good money can be had in custom work for the wealthy. Last year I put together a fiber optic demo system for high school students. It's not nearly as neat at Cduluk's creations, but I wanted to be able to trace wires to troubleshoot, occasionally. You can see what was involved here: http://www.sme044.org/technology_for_students.htm I like doing this type of stuff, but spare time seems to be getting more scarce as I get older!

Well, my son is 19 and has approx 4 different operating systems on his HTC Touch Pro phone, as well. He now has a backup computer; I told him he can use that for his experiments. I rely too much on my computer, so I tend to be conservative when it comes to trying out "uncommon" things.

Wow, this scenario reminds me of what happens to my son with his computer. He loves to experiment with different operating systems running in virtual environments and when something weird happens, we all get a headache, trying to figure it out!

Certainly, when the ambient temps dip, tire pressure should be checked and adjusted. Setting your pressure to 34 in a garage may mean that the pressure in the tires while driving on a 0 degree day is 30. According to Tire Rack,

RX, I am assuming that someone who drives a much lighter vehicle would know that they shouldn't mimic the tire pressure maintained in tires on a vehicle that weighs quite a bit more. An RX330 is not an RX400h; I guess I have to spell that out before you assume otherwise. Of course, the average tire temperature will also make a difference, but we've driven our RX in 38 degree through 85(F) degree temps which, while not as wide a range as is experienced by some forum members, it is still wide enough for me to recommend that 33 psi is a good starting point. By the way, I maintain each tire's pressure very consistently and am assuming that others know that a 33 psi max recommendation does not mean that 27 - 39 psi would produce the same results. I did add a comment, just in case others are not the least bit knowledgeable about tires.

I think you'll find that there will always be a newer/better feature in newer models. Otherwise, why would anyone want to trade up? I would ask the dealership service manager, first. Also, I'm a bit surprised that you call yourself a techie and yet don't have a real keyboard in your phone! I have both real and virtual in my Wing and I have to admit that the real one feels so much better to use.

They are truly, excellent tires, CD.

What does the door sticker list for your car?

As many of you have discovered, the factory-recommended tire pressure for RX400hs has been 30 psi for each tire. (At least it is specified as such for our 2006) Unfortunately, keeping the OEM Goodyear tires pressurized to this number often resulted in excessive wearing of the inner and outer tread areas, indicating that 30 psi was just not enough. Upon having Bridgestone Alenzas (factory size) tires installed, I adjusted the air pressure up to 35 psi. Well, that appears to be too high, as I am seeing more wear in the center area of tread than is evident at the inner and outer areas. Thus, I have lowered each tires's pressure to 32 psi. The tires now have over 25,000 miles on them. So, to those of you who are running Alenzas, I recommend no more than 33 psi air pressure. Oh, I forgot to mention that I rotated the tires the other day and was pleasantly surprised that the brake pads looked almost new. The fact that the RX has more than 45,000 miles on it makes it astonishing. The RX330 or 350 owner would have spent over $200 for new pads, quite some time ago, I would assume. Dave

I believe you are correct in that there is a sensor that energizes the airbag only if a certain weight is exceeded. Most experts recommend that a child below that weight be secured in the back seat. My Corvette has a switch (in the glove box) that will turn off the passenger side air bag, but this car is a 2001. At some time after that year, weight sensors became the norm.