iolmaster

About a month ago I went through the same process. I tried leaning the MAF with no luck. I have 130,000 miles on mine and I decided to just buy a new MAF. I got a reconditioned one at Advance and installed it and cleared the code and the light has not come back on. The new MAF did the trick. I know it is popular to clean these things and that should be the first try. However, they do go bad. The reconditioned MAF is a Denso and it cost $79.00 at Advance with a $50.00 core charge.

Amazing how good the ride is without the RFTs. I am surprised that any new car maker puts these on if they want to sell cars. The SC is great with regular tires.

Not normal. The ride should not be harsh. It isn't like other Lexus models though. The tires make a big difference.

I have been riding on DWS tires now for about 3 weeks and I can say they are everything you have heard they are. Very quiet and very smooth ride. You also may have heard that the initial steering response is a little slow. This is also correct, but I don't drive my SC hard and the one drawback is minimal. If they hold up to near the 50000 mile guarantee, they will be a bargain. I did not get them early enough to try them in the snow so that will have to wait. We have had a couple of downpours and they are fine in the rain. Much better than the Dunlop runflats that they replaced. Although almost anything would be. Yes, they are still very hard to find. I found mine at onlinetires.com. $131.74 each and $70.00 to ship. They were very helpful.

I also had P0171 and no others. I had already replaced the two A/F and oxygen sensors. Car has 122,000 miles on it so these are going at about the right time. I had read that the MAF sensor was common with P0171 so I thought I would give it a try since I could get a remanufactured sensor from Advance auto for $80.00. I changed it about a week ago and cleared the codes and the light has not come back on in about 200 miles. The engine is idling a bit slower also. It went from about 900 RPM to about 600 RPM. Seems to have done the trick.

Just bought new tires, Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus, for my 02 SC 430 and so far they are GREAT. So glad to be off the run flats… Question, I have heard when changed from RF to regular tires that a wheel alignment and checking the toe on the rear tire is a must? Has anyone else heard/done this?

Pat,

I did the same thing took off the Run Flats (got tired of paying $478. per tire for the Dunlop DSST's and replaced them with the Continental DSW's, what a difference, it's amazing on how sweet the ride is. I did take my Lexus to my local garage repair guy and had him take the negative toe out of the rear end tires. (the dealer won't do this for you) These were wearing very heavily on the Run Flat inner edges - but not anymore, but before I did that I had him give me a printout of the alignment before and then after he removed the negative toe in the rear. He said it was a !Removed! to move the passenger side though. Anyway these tires haven't show a bit of wear on the edges now or even across the whole tire! Hope this help, I know you will love the new tires to put on! :D

Regards,

Blaise

I just had the Conti. DSWs put on also. The alignment tech had a tough job getting the negative camber out of the rear passenger side also. I wonder what is going on with that. In fact he couldn't get all of it out so he left it a -1.27 degrees. This is well within specs, but he couldn't get it any closer to zero than that. My original was -2.3. Way out of spec.

The ones I have bought off ebay have been OEM and are identical to the originals.

I didn't think there was a caster adjustment on the rear. I thought that had to do with the pivot point on the front wheels only.

I tried to PM you with no luck. I will have a set of stock 06 wheels for sale soon. Excellent condition. If you are interested give me your email and I will contact you.

I am in need of new tires after a pothole decimated one of my RFTs. The price is right on these and the reviews are pretty favorable but I didn't see too many Lexus owners in the reviews I have read.

Any feedback?

thx

Deb

I doubt that you will find anyone at this point since they are very new. I know I am planning on those exact tires when I replace my RFTs in a couple of months. I should have gotten them earlier with the bad winter we have had here in Virginia. Here we go again tonight.

If there have been many discussions I would like to be able to find them. I searched with a number of different key words and could find nothing specific to this question. I too would like to know the answer. I have Dunlop 5000 RFTs that are wearing pretty well except the rear inside tread. It is not bad and probably will not contribute to early wear out, but if it can be eliminated, I would like to know how. The front tires have none of the pattern. The tires have about 6000 miles on them.

The switch in the glove box has nothing to do with run flat vs. conventional. It is for having a second set of wheels that have different sensors.

They also went from a 5 speed to 6 speed transmission with nicer stock wheels. All the SCs are nice. Just decide if these few changes are worth 5K to you.

What do you mean by turn it off. On my 06 there is no off, just cycles through the types of programing.

I just purchased a 2006 and Lexus and the dealer is telling me there is no front end mask for the 2006 and up. Does anyone know of an alternative?

I am considering purchasing an 02 with the navigation system. When I turn the key to on the navigation door opens and when I turn it off it closes. The dash has an open and close button that does work. Is there a way to tell it to stay closed until I tell it to open? I don't want it open all the time. The LCD screen on this model controls only the navigation nothing else. There must be a way or they wouldn't have the buttons.

My Es 300 has a pretty good sound system. Is this going to be worse in a $60,000.00 car?

I currently have a 2000 ES300 and no longer need the sedan. It has been a great car. I currently have 135,000 miles on it and I am thinking about getting a 2002 SC430 that has about 50,000. Do these cars have any quirks that I need to be aware of? Any maintenance issues? Any input will be appreciated.

NO, it is not common practice to bend anything out to make it fit in the suspension. You must have ordered the wrong part.

http://www.autoaccessorystore.com/home_n.a...amp;s=&mid=

I was told by a body shop that those pieces are not easily removed. You can tape them off and paint them or buy pillar covers as I did. The link is above. I have not gotten them yet. I should have them by the end of next week. I can let you know at that time what I think.

Why does jacking up the front make a difference in the fix?

Is there anyway to replace the plastic pillar molding that is between the windows. Mine has deteriorated and it would be nice to have it look like new again. I found the parts but am not sure if it can be removed without disassembly of the interior pillar. I also found some stick on plastic pieces on ebay that claim to cover up the OEM pillar. Any ideas?

This is for an ES 300.

I replaced the two front struts with Monroe sensi-trac and all of the associated mounting hardware. I had had a slight noise in the right front that was confirmed as a worn lower spring isolator. So I replaced everything but the springs. All went well and I have confirmed everything is tight, but I get a dull thud from both sides when I hit a sharp bump. It does not have to be a big bump. Most of the time the front end is silent and I feel nothing in the wheel. Does anyone have any experience with these struts? They do feel very stiff as compared to the OEM. The car had about 125,000 miles at replacement. And yes, I do know that comparing new struts to struts that have 125,000 miles on them is not valid. They just seem stiffer than the OEM when they were new.

Any thoughts?

Is it called a idle air control valve or idle air control motor?

?\My sons 1992 Lexus es 300 is doing the same thing. I've read you can clean them and that helps a lot of the time because they are expensive to replace. I called Lexus today (of course thats the highest place!) and it was going to be over $500. Could someone send me a link or a picture so that I know exactly where its located.

The IACV is under the two large black hoses that feed the air into the intake manifold. It is very easy to see. I just paid $216 for the part an $59 for installation. I got the part from partsamerica.com. I had it cleaned but the problem came back in about 2 months. I suggest replacement.

That is very interesting. I have a 2000 that for the last couple years has had a slight clunk on the right side going over small bumps. It does it only when it is cold outside. Now that it is warm, it goes away. That would lead me to believe that it is a rubber part. How do you tell if your front bar is 18mm or 19mm? I don't think you can measure with any kind of confidence.