IS250_rookie

I just have a few questions. Why did you go to a dealer when your Tire Pressure Light came on? I would've checked the tire pressure first. Also, $420 for one tire sounds like a complete rip off. The stock Bridgestone tire is $244 on Tire Rack and with service it should not be any higher than $300 and that's already overpriced. I never heard of any car company insuring their tires for road hazard, so I can't help you with that.

They look great, but unfortunetly they make the brakes look a bit small.

I was drifting in the snow all night today. Nice safe empty parking lots with as little obstruction as possible is all you need. Just watch out for the curbs and start slow. First time for me, very fun! :)

That's a huge downgrade. The power difference is gonna noticable - since there isn't any power in the IS. The IS250 is not something you would race in. I made a guide on the oil change and it's very simple(link in my signature). The reliability seems to be excellent. Oh and the depreciation is very minimal.

Yeah the sticker on the door says 35/38

Will somebody please leave a comment for me?:cries:

My son just bought a 07 IS250 AWD and I told him I would change his oil as I do with my LS400 and RX330. He is reluctant because of warranty issues, but the dealer says as long as we keep track and use Toyota filters it shouldn't be a problem.If it wasn't for your description and pictures, I would be completely screwed. I wouldn't even know where to find the filter! At $150. for a synthetic change at the lexus dealer, my son is ready for me to take a crack at it. Without your help I wouldn't be able to do it.

My many thanks!

Good to hear, always nice to know that it was worth the effort. ;)

Just got the first snow up here in Chicago, about 3-4 inches, with 5-6 inches coming tommorrow. Been hearing good things about the Bridgestone Blizzaks, and I needed snow tires, so I had Discount Tire put four on my IS350($1067.00, with the tire pressure monitors). The difference is like night and day. On the way up to Discount I was slipping and sliding like crazy. It was pretty bad, especially pulling in or out of a gas station for example, with those downslopes. I didn't neccessarily want to go with Bridgestone's again, since I can't stand the road noise on my Potenzas, but I heard these were soft tires.

After I had them installed I noticed right away the grip on the road, and how quiet the ride became. I recommend them to anyone doing winter driving, especially with a rear-wheel drive 350. They really do a good job in snow and sleet, and they should last for a good 3 seasons.

The other thing I noticed is these tires don't let my car pull to the right or left because of road crowning. My Bridgestone Potenzas will catch a spot on the road and pull my car to one direction. That and the road noise is annoying with Potenzas.

But the Blizzaks are really nice for the winter.

Does anyone know of a good, softer summer tire that make the ride more comfortable? Michelin's maybe?

Good to know. I have yet to experience something like that. I always wanted to get some winter tires but I think the AWD with all seasons will workout fine. If not, I will definitely look into this.

From "myIS" Web site, this is the recommended oil filter cannister wrench (AST TOY640). I am looking to buy one soon to do the first oil and filter change on my '08 IS 250 AWD. I also understand that the torque on reinstallation is 25nm or 18.5 foot pounds. This is the same as my BMW 325xi and Mercedes E320 oil cannisters which can be accessed from the top of the engine. Too bad Toyota did not put the filter in the same spot.

http://www.denlorstools.com/home/dt1/page_..._asttoy640.html

http://www.toolsource.com/toyota-lexus-fil...m-p-100298.html

Great step by step article!

Thanks, yeah that filter will work, I just used the one I found and it worked. I was actually thinking of getting one of those filter wrenches from the dealer but then I realized that I didn't need one.

the manual andustment thing is a bit off center... but if you've ever had one, you know what you're looking for.

That looks terrible

Smells like BS to me.... way to early to do a complete brake job. Just look at them yourself. Also go over the rotor with your finger nail, it should run smoothly.

That's not paint lol... It's definitely the bumper, but I wouldn't worry about it, just leave it for now. Unless you really care about it, it'll cost you a pretty penny. Bumpers are usually pretty expensive.

I have a 05 SC430 Pebble Beach with 6,750 miles. It will be 48 months old and thus out of warranty December 30, 2008. So far, all I have done is annual oil change and a rotation of tires at 5,000 miles. The car is like new, never run hard and always garaged, hand washed.

1. What service does it REALLY need at this time?

2. Is it worth the approximate $800 per year for a Lexus Platinum extended warranty? (This is my wife's good weather convertible, which she plans to keep for several years)

Wow four years and only 6800 miles... I never knew people drove that little.

Well it's very similar to the 2008 model. Can you tell us what your preferences are in a car, like speed, comfort, handling, noise...etc..?

The PWR mode actually sets the shift points lower than in standard mode. You can test it out by flooring it, it'll shift way before the red line. The only difference is that it reacts to the throttle input much faster, and it also holds a gear more often. Basically it's a more agressive mode for spirited driving - if that's even possible in the 250.

The snow mode just doesn't allow you to accelerate too fast, and I'm pretty sure there is a big limit to how much you can rev up(lower shift point).

The S mode is very useless, except for downshifting - but there is no way to blip the throttle...as far as I know. The car will shift faster in Drive, if you want to go 0-60 for example.

I've heard rattles from that area too, but they don't happen very often. I just remember that disappeared the next day and I haven't heard it in a while. If it comes back, what should I do? Is this covered under warranty and would I have to prove to the dealer that I heard it?

I thought you couldn't shift the car into Drive without the key next to the car...

It reminds me of the Toyota Solara... that huge !Removed! just makes it look like crap

I'm trying to change my oil on an RX350, which has a lot of the same pieces as the IS250awd. I got all the way to getting to the oil filter case, and I can't get it off. In your description, you say "so you'll just need to open it like a door" however I have no idea what that means. No amount of twisting, turning, tapping or anything will losen it or get it open.

I have a socket wrench with a square head which I fits into the square hole. I realize that there are actually two pieces there, both of which I need to unscrew, but I was hoping to at least get one of them open. I'm not the strongest guy around, but even with the correct head in there, I turned it with enough to force to break the socket wrench, and the case still didn't come off.

Unfortunately, I had already dreained all the oil out of the car, and since I can't replace the filter, I had to replace all of the oil. So now when I do get the fitler replaced, they (or hopefully I, if I get a response here :) ) will just have to drain the oil again.

Please let me know if you have any tips for opening the oil filter case for the rx 350.

Dan

Just to clarify, I'm trying to get from the first picture below, to the second:

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh236/m...filter_case.jpg

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh236/m.../open_case3.jpg

Good question. What I meant by the "opening a door" is the plastic undercover that comes with the car - the black part with IS4WD written on it, not the filter housing. My first oil change was on my dad's RX350 so I know exactly what you mean. I had no clue on how to open it so we just kind of used a hammer to to turn it a bit so we could spin it off. But what you really need to do is use the socket wrench and that black filter housing cup thing, from this picture.

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh236/m...ter_wrench2.jpg

They come in different sizes. When I bought it, I needed it for another car's "spin-on" oil filter and I expected it to work only on that car. But fortunately, it was the same size as both the IS and the RX. And the way I decided on the size was by secretly opening a new Mobil 1 filter, that fit on that car, and trying it on. I could measure it and give you the exact size of the thing if you want. Oh and it costs about 10 bucks at Walmart - where I got it.

Also, one more thing I would suggest is the extension arm for the socket wrench, like a 3-4" one. Because when you put the cup thing on with the socket wrench, it gets really hard to turn it.

Yeah 3k is too soon, and I'm sure the dealer uses synthetic - at least I hope so. 5-7K is good.

I dunno what Turanza's are but I've heard that the stock all season Potenza's are complete crap and wear out very fast, and as they do - start to make a lot of road noise. I noticed this on my dad's RX350, cuz he never rotated them for a while and the fronts went almost bold.

wow that looks really ugly.

TSB stands for Technical Service Bulletin. or TSIB which is Technical Service Information Bulletin. Both are the same.

Building a car is a very complex process. So it's inevitable that there are some small bugs to work out or adjust during the life of the model years. So to address these, car mfgr's post service bulletins for the dealers to fix if the issue becomes a concern to the customer. It's not a recall. But more of an acknowledgement by the mfgr. that alot of customers have this same issue.

I took my car to the Lexus dealership in Toronto. They changed the brake pads and also a "shim kit". The brake pad spare part no. was 04465-63030, different from the one you indicated in your earlier replies. Does this make a difference? Also what is a "shim kit"?

Anyhow, the dust has gone and so is the squeak. When Iasked to repalce the brake pad the people at lexus warned me that the brake efficiency could be different but they did not speculate on "what is the difference". So far I did not notice any difference from the past.

Yeah the brake effectiveness is stated in the TSB but people say that there is hardly any difference at all.

well considering that an exhaust is just a pipe for a waste product, it wouldn't matter what kind you have.

You can trust whoever you want, all I'm saying is that the oil change interval is made to be short so that you're always on the safe side. If you know the basic car maintenance and can check your car's fluids, you'll realize that at 5k, synthetic oil is still fresh looking. Maintenance from a dealer will help you in the long run when you go to sell your car, but I didn't buy mine - it's a lease. Most people who lease don't give a *BLEEP* about their cars: redline them when they're not broken in, use regular gas, and barely do any service. But I'm not like that, I'm taking care of my car, I just don't feel like getting ripped off by the dealer. No offense to dealer mechanics.