Micah.Berry

1990 and Billy - I like both of those ideas (used car detail guy to do the respray and the SEM product). Billy, when you resprayed using the SEM product, did it match exactly? The PaintScratch.com touch up paint that I bought to cover nicks and scratches is too dark for the front bumper (that was repainted), but matches the OEM paint elsewhere on the car. Using the PaintScratch touch up makes the car appear to have large pimples or freckles. It'd be funny, but not quite the look I'm going after. Seems like every time I take a good sized road trip in the LS, another large (may be 1/4" square) comes flaking off. As I think about this and type it out, I'm still leaning more towards having the bumper professionally done. I looked at the bumper "ribs" (at the bottom of the air dam, supporting the lower bumper lip), and the paint is peeling there also, so it looks as though I would be continually either respraying myself or picking up the phone to call the used car detail guy). Thanks for everyone's input! Micah

I shopped for cars online last year, and when I came across the car that I would eventually buy, I noted that in the pictures, the bumper needed to be painted due to what I thought were caused by rock chips-the paint was missing in good sized chunks. Any way, before I picked up my car, the sales guy had "a buddy" of his respray the front bumper at no cost to me (we had already worked out the price). The problem is that the "buddy" resprayed just a hair lighter than the original color, which I discovered after I bought some some touch up paint from Paintscratch.com. So, the original problem didn't concern me too much-it didn't cost me anything more than I agreed to pay knowing that I was going to have to fix the paint. Now, the "buddy's" work is flaking off. I've taken it to a couple shops and have received quotes of about $600 to remove the bumper, remove all the old paint, and respray the proper color with a flex agent in the paint. Just looking for a little sanity check here-is this quote reasonable by anyone else's experience? Thanks! Micah

Intersecting note on spending time in new cars. As a function of my job, I sound a good deal of time in rental cars-some of them are pretty nice. For intance, the new Taurus Limited was a very quiet and smooth riding car when I rented it. My 99 is just as smooth or smoother than the nicer rental cars, but the road noise is more than what I experience from the rental cars. My thought is the tires, and once the current ones wear out, I'll stick the Primacys on. Thanks, Micah

My replacement is made by Pilkington. Micah

I'll also vouch for Sewell's service. The discount makes the OEM parts almost as inexpensive as off-brand parts. They have been reasonably quick to respond to my requests and questions. No complaints. Micah

My car has a replacement windshield from a previous owner. It's bronzed, like the rest of the glass, but I would say that that the OEM glass is nicer. I forget which brand it is right now, but I recall it's not Safelite. The bronze color is a little lighter than on the OEM glass. Make sure you understand the warranty. You don't want (obviously) leaks in the seals, but you also don't want additional wind noise due to a poor installation. I'll get the name of the glass and post it later. Micah

I know what you mean... The shoe thing gets to me too. What normally chaps me is having a freshly cleaned car and the passenger wants to point out something, so they touch the glass as they point out their interest. I'm then drawn to the smudge, every time I look to the passenger side. Oh yes, your example about lint definitely gets on my nerves, but it's usually on my nerves when my interior is spotless, and I have a two-year old thus it's not spotless all the time. (I do try to keep it tidy though). I'm much less OCD about this car than other cars I have had. That to me is strange considering I've wanted this generation car for years. It's probably because my car is not perfect to begin with. It has some imperfections, and it'll never be a 10 out of 10. In fact, when it's clean, it's probably a 6 or 7 out of 10. At the end of the day, it's just a car. Still, it's a nice one and certain passenger habits (as you noted above) get on my nerves too. Glad I'm not the only one. Micah

CEL stands for Check Engine Light. I have used fuel cleaner on occasion, but it's mostly to help me feel better. Arkansas used to have safety checks, but not any more. I don't remember if emissions was a part of the test honestly. Micah

You can take your car to Autozone or O'Reilly's or whatever auto parts store you have near you. They will plug their reader in for you and give you the codes for free. I have done that before with another vehicle. I recently purchased an inexpensive one on Amazon.com just for convenience. I would remove the cables from the battery as well for a few minutes, which resets the computers. I'm glad our cars aren't like Windows Vista (or 95 or 2000). We'd have to pull the battery terminals about once per week for a reset. Pretty inconvenient... Micah

While not quite the same issue, I used a little WD-40 to remove the dealer sticker glue from the rear trunk of my LS. (Really dislike giving the dealer free advertising for years on end). Just a little pressure with a microfiber towel took the glue off, and then I followed up with Meguire's quick detail spray to wipe off the WD-40 followed by car wax. Some of those badges may go into holes drilled into the metal (like the "L" badge on the trunk). I've not fooled around my my car's badges, but if I were switching the badges, I would call a body shop to get a quote. You might find it reasonable to have a pro do it if time is a little tight for you. Also, you may wish to look for a recording on Youtube. Surely someone has done this before. Good luck! Micah

Hammer and heat. He said he thought he'd destroy the camber bolts if he took them out. Thus he asked if I would order new ones to cover if he had to cut or destroy the ones he removed. He installed the new ones for me.

I wanted to report back that I had the mechanic install the new rods, after purchasing a couple new camber bolts from Sewell. The strut rods made a significant difference in the way the car rides. I'm impressed. I also had some outer tie rod ends that I had him install (a project that I wasn't getting around to) and the steering feel is noticeably "tighter". Overall, while I'm not too happy about shelling out money for the install, I'm very pleased with the outcome. I have a vibration in the rear of the car at 80 mph or so, so that is either a wheel balance or may be the rear carrier bushings. Thanks again for everyone's insight.

If I had to do it over again, I would have put my car on a lift and checked it out for rust. I took mine to a local indie mechanic near the dealer, who gave it a clean bill of health. When I did the first oil change, I was a little disheartened to see bits of rust here and there on the underside. Mine is a northern car, but living in the South, I'm used to not having any rust at all. I traveled north to Kansas City (3 hours) to purchase mine. The car was from Michigan. Look for a car that has had it's 90k timing belt and water pump service. This is a very expensive and not to be ignored service. If the owner has no documentation, I'd pass or negotiate a lower price because you'll want that service completed before you do any serious driving. Also factor in to the cost some of the consumables with this car. By consumables, I mean bushings and mounts. Those items wear out eventually, and need to be replaced. That's something I was sort of prepared for... My car isn't perfect, as much as I would like it to be. But if it were perfect, I'd be paranoid about the most petty things. So it's probably better that my LS isn't perfect. It drives nicely! I think the best advice I can offer you is to be patient. The right car will turn up. I was a little jumpy with mine when I saw it, but overall, I've been pleased with the car. While my strut rod replacement hopefully cures odd high speed vibrations, my car is just so dad-gum smooth at slower speeds! Oh yes, the other best piece of advice is do not take the transmission pan off by yourself. Ever. on a 98 - 00 LS400. I found my car with Autotrader.com. You have the right search methods noted above. I also purchased a CarFax subscription so that I could run VINs. Doing so saved me from a beautiful LS400, but CarFax reported the airbags had gone off. I passed. It's not foolproof, but another tool to help you zero in on the right car. You can also subscribe to Lexus' website, and see if it has had proper service, if it was done at a Lexus dealer. CarFax happened to report where one of the cars I was interested in was maintained, so I called the place and found out that the maintenance recorded by CarFax wasn't maintenance, but was actually body work. Passed on that one too. If I were to do it again, I'd buy from an individual who had maintenance records. I was prepared to pay a premium for a car that was well maintained than one without the service history. Read the posts on this site. Become as familiar as you can with the LS before you get serious about shopping for one. The more familiar you are, the better decision you can make. I put about 16,000 miles on my 1999 LS this year, my first year of ownership. It is an awesome car. In fact, as an aside, my wife got to drive an S430 several months ago, and she preferred our LS over the Mercedes. If you'll take the time to buy the right car, you'll be rewarded with an excellent ownership experience. Good luck! Micah

Dieselfitter64, Sounds like a good deal!

I'm going to soak the bolt again in penetrating oil per Landar's and Billy's suggestion. Then I'll probably whack it to see if I can help jar it loose. I'll keep you updated. Thanks for the wisdom and insight! Micah

Thanks very much, Billy. I've purchased from Sewell two new bolts, which will hopefully be shipped today. Forgive the silly question, but do you mean tapping the bolt from the stem side to give it a "push" out? Kids grow up quickly! Looks like the Harley can play nicely with the Yamaha! (I think the one on the left is a Yamaha Star 1600 or 1700 - can't remember which).

Billy, I would love to do that! My wife would jump at the chance to go to Covenant again, as would I. But I might be in :chairshot: if I took a 5 hour drive with her for car work. (Honestly, I'd rather pay you and your nephew though as I know the money would go to good causes). I truly appreciate the offer. I must confess that I misunderstood the original mechanic. I took the car to a machine shop, and they cracked the nuts - and they were on there TIGHT! I called the original mechanic, who said that he had no issue with the nuts, but that the bolt that goes through the bushing was siezed in the bushing and that he was going to have to cut it out. So my misunderstanding was not that he couldn't get the nut off the bolt, but that the bold isn't moving. Is there anything that I'm missing regarding getting the bolt out? The bushings in the rods are originals, as evidenced by all the little cracks in the rubber. I discovered this was a northern car after purchasing it, so I can see where there could be rust holding it in. Thanks, Micah

Don't know if he torched them. I'm takingnit somewhere else. Tonight I soaked them with some penetrating oil. They are corroded, but I wouldn't think they'd be that bad...

Well... The mechanic called to say that he couldn't get the cam bolts out! Looks like I'm going to have to order some cam bolts as it'll take cutting them to get them off. The saga continues... Micah

Well, I think that I'm going to throw in the towel on the strut rods. I used Landar's pictures, and purchased a long breaker bar (3 feet). The bolt behind the shock is in an awkward position. I wasn't sure how to pull that one off. I'm going to take it to a place for an estimate. If the estimate comes back unreasonable, then I'll have to come up with a more creative solution. Thanks, Micah

I suppose you're right... If it's more serious, then it'll let me know eventually. I'm traveling on business again, so hopefully when I arrive at my home airport, the car starts normally! :) If it does, then my highest priority is finding time to get those strut bars replaced.

Good evening! Sorry for the delayed response. Landar, the starter just stopped-no click. Just odd. All my readings on the famous starter issue have the starter making a single click, but no cranking of the engine. I got crank, but the cranking just stopped after about one second (if that). At this point, I'm beginning to doubt myself - I'm wondering if I relaxed enough (as I got home late with delayed flights) to let the key drift from the "start" position to the "on" position. That's possible. The car has started flawlessly since Thursday night. Thanks fir all the insight. Hopefully, I've got a year or two before I need to tear into the engine to replace the contacts! Micah

Also of note: This morning, I checked the battery terminals, and the cables appear tightly attached. Doesn't mean that's not the issue though. Thanks again, Micah

I got back to my home airport last night, having been gone for 4 days. I walked out to the car and inserted the key, then twisted to the "start" position. The starter cranked then engine for about 1 second, then quit. "Odd..." I thought. So I turned the key to the "off" position for a moment and then back to "start". The engine cranked as normal and started as normal-no delays or long cranking process this second time. Facts that could possibly influence this include: 1. The car, a 1999 LS, has approximately 130k miles 2. The car had a Wal-Mart battery that began failing to start the car the first crank. It was replaced under warranty in late February / early March. The warranty was for 3 years from the date of purchase. I didn't have the receipt as I purchased the car last year (364 days ago!), but Wal-Mart honored the manufactured-on sticker on the side of the battery. This sticker lists the month/year the battery was made. It had 2 months of warranty remaining. 3. The reason I replaced the battery in the first place is I was getting a click and then slow starting. I was concerned that the issue might be the dreaded starter issue, but I decided to go the easiest-to-replace route first. The car has performed flawlessly since the battery replacement. In fact, I was dumbfounded at how quickly the starter spun when I first started the car after the battery replacement. So, last night - the starter engaged and cranked the engine. No odd sounds or smells. It just stopped cranking after a second. This leads me to believe that it stopped getting electricity from the battery. While the battery is the correct type according to Wal-Mart, it's obvious that it doesn't take up the entire spot designed for it in the battery compartment - i.e., it's smaller than the metal plate upon which it sits. Cold cranking amps are 700 or 730, I forget which as I type this, but it is well above 650. It makes me wonder if the battery might have a damaged cell. Thoughts? Thanks! Micah

I'm more of a stock guy, but it looks pretty good! Enjoy it!