SeanTX

The battery in my '02 SC430 needs a jump if I leave the car for more than a couple of days. Actually, the other night it needed a jump after sitting in the rain for a few hours. I'm assuming that it's just met the end of its career, unless you all have a different opinion. That being said, I need a new battery. I tried searching around forums first to see any recommendations, but this doesn't seem to come up much. Any suggestions? I'm not against buying online or at a store and installing it myself if it's easy enough, but I also don't have much experience under the hood. I'm looking for recommendations on type / brand / stores / just about anything. I know climate matters, so at the moment I'm living in NYC (yeah, not a great city for my car, which also needs new rims b/c of the potholes, but that's for another post!). Thanks! Sean

I took my car to a new car wash near my office 2 weeks ago, right before flying out of the country. The car wash has conveyor belts to carry your car through the brushless wash, to accomodate low-riding cars, rather than those regular guides. Apparently, when the employee (actually the manager of the place) got out of my car after driving it onto the belt, he either left the car in drive or accidentally knocked it out of neutral. The car drove right over the 1" guides and into the wall of the car wash. All of this with me watching through the window, which I have to say, was pretty disheartening. The owner of the car wash also owns a body shop, and they say they want to totally fix up my car, not just the damage done by the crash (there is some bumper damage in the back and highway rock nicks/scratches since I live in NYC and this town beats up cars). They have admitted fault, and say continually that they want to do right by me, although he also seems to be trying to subtly threaten that it will be more of a hassle for me to try to fix it elsewhere. I gave them an estimate from a body shop my friend knows, that I know deals with higher-ed cars. They felt that estimate was too high and I think may give me a hard time paying it. On the other hand, I went by their shop today, and although the guy seemed really nice, they didn't appear to work on many higher-end cars. They had a suburban, pathfinder, and I think a Hyundai in the repair area. They did have a large drive-in 'hut' looking thing in which they were baking the paint onto the pathfinder, I think. Not sure what that was. So my question is - if I let them repair it, they said they would show me all the receipts that they purchased the parts from Lexus, and they will take care to every little detail. But I'm not sure if there is a way for me to really know right away whether or not it was a good job. I just have limited knowledge of body work. Any advice??? Thanks! Sean

Hi everyone - it's been a while since my last post, but my original warranty on my 2002 SC 430 is about to expire, and I've been wondering if I should purchase an extended warranty, either through Lexus or one of those outside vendors (the ones that mail me every week or so now). I have around 30k miles on the vehicle and purchased it preowned about a year ago with 15K miles. I'm now living in NY (drove it up from Houston a few months ago), so there is quite a bit more wear and tear on the car going on, but I'm not sure how to deal with the warranty world. Any advice? Thanks! Sean

So general consensus seems to be to opt for the regular tires for performance, except for the NYC comment about hitting a pothole.... So the one thing that was not addressed, and a concern I have, is the risk I run messing up my rims if I use the regular tires. I have custom rims, so it would kind of suck if I hit those holes. Just thought I'd throw another loop into the mix :-) _Sean

Now, I know we've been around on the whole 'run flat vs. regular tires' situation with the 430, and I haven't posted in a while, but I was wondering if anyone out there had some tire advice for me. I need to replace my tires - they're pretty much done - and really don't know much about the different options (brand, rating, etc). I think I'm going to need to stick with the run flats b/c I'm going to be driving my car up to NYC (I'm moving sometime over the next few months) and don't know that simply having AAA will help me much if I get a flat, not to mention not wanting to bust up my rims and/or air pressure sensors. So any advice? I still do go back and forth about run flat vs. regular, and I know it would be a much nicer ride, but I worry about the trip up north as well as just normal NY driving. The other big question is whether I even take my 430 up there or sell it down here since it may not really be quite the NYC car, but for now I think I'm going to keep it. Thanks everyone! Sean

Perhaps not the best solution - but I found keeping a chamois in the trunk and just wiping down the top and back window quickly can eliminate any concern about putting the top down with the water on it.

I'm in Houston - I drive a 2002 SC430. I've never done a meet though - what would we do?

Hi Shelley & Arnie! Sorry for the delay, I haven't been back on this site in a while. My SC430 only had 15,000 miles on it. When I had the car checked out, the folks at the shop said that you can only expect 10-15k miles out of the low profiles. I've heard other assessments from elsewhere, it all apparently depends on (obviously) the type of driving and road conditions/bumps. Unfortunately I live in inner-Houston where there is a ton of construction, so my tires probably won't last long. I have not yet had any luck with the spare tire concept, although I have had some suggestion to just get regular tires and run without a spare, but instead sign up with AAA or some other service. The negatives of that are the inconvenience of waiting for the service, plus the guys at the previously mentioned shop said I could ruin my rims if I do get a flat since the profile of the tires is so low. Anyway, let me know if you come up with any ideas either. Thanks! Sean

What is the best way to go about updating the Nav software for a 2002 SC430? I called a dealer and they said the software was $381.10 - that just seems expensive. I noticed another post somewhere that referenced upgrades free under warranty, but this parts guy didn't know anything about that and thought that since 2000 they haven't warrantied any of the navigation upgrades. Any ideas? Thanks! Sean Note- I suppose an additional question would be whether or not an upgrade is worthwhile; the system seems not to know many destinations I have tried to enter, but I'm not sure that the upgrade would fix this.

What is the best way to go about updating the Nav software for a 2002 SC430? I called a dealer and they said the software was $381.10 - that just seems expensive. I noticed another post somewhere that referenced upgrades free under warranty, but this parts guy didn't know anything about that and thought that since 2000 they don't warranty any of the navigation upgrades. Any ideas? Thanks! Sean

Hello everyone! I recently bought a 2002 SC430 with runflats. The car is pretty much in perfect condition, except that one of the tires has uneven wear and needs to be replaced. I've been debating between replacing all 4 with regular tires (with or without getting the spare) or just putting on another run flat. I know that performance would be much better without the run flats, however putting the spare tire back there seems to elminate a good portion of the trunk space. I'm also a bit concerned about riding without a spare in the event I do get a flat. Any advice? Thanks! Sean