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Thanks,
cn
bob
The Bridgetone Blizzaks have been highly recommended by some on this forum, they have the siping designed into the tread.
What is siping? Please?
According to the literature, "The tread surface on your tire is made up of many smaller surfaces known as 'tread blocks'. These surfaces are especially important when it comes to icy or wet road conditions. The Tread Blocks get their grippping power not from their many smooth surfaces but from the even more numerous sharp surrounding edges. SIPING improves the job started by your tire manufactuerer by providing more of these gripping surfaces. SIPING is done by placing your tires (new or used) on a specially designed machine that rotates your tires while making small vitually invisible 90 degree cuts in your tread. Don't be alarmed. Although the process is actually cutting your tread, it doesn't harm your tire in any way, it improves on it. Only under very close inspection can the SIPES even be seen, and you're more likely to tell by your improved driving experience than by visual inspection. SIPING gives your tires a Micro-Flexibility, reducing the wear on your tires' carcasses and sidewalls. This effect not only inceases tire life but will result in a smoother ride. To SIPE in mass production after the molding process would be too expensive and time consuming for the manufacturer. A molded SIPE (becoming more popular) would leave vacant gapss in the tread. Siping creates edges without gaps. Repeated tests proved that SIPING increased starting, stopping and driving traction by as much as 200%."
Hope this helps. I don't work for Discount Tire. I am retired from 40 years at Ford, VW, Porsche, and Audi. Sincerely,
Bob
I am enjoying this car much more than I did my '86 911. Of course, at age 70 I don't have the need to run a car through its paces at redlights. So, what was the speed rating on your Camry tires?
bob
Bob
Anyway, I think I know what you mean about the 6in. slide. I've heard that Toyota's traction control has issues before. Not likely to get me in trouble, so I'm not angry, but I'm learning.....
I also am a former Ford guy, who has migrated over to Lexus. They are amazing, as are the dealers, as you say.
What do you use to clean the interior windows? Any tips or
recommendations?
Bob
Best regards,
Bob
Perhaps a weak vinegar & water solution would work. Beats me why all the accumulated film goes streaky. The windows on our '05 LS do seem to have a 'finish' on them, inside and out, almost like Rain-X was put on at the factory. I'll dig out the owner's manual.
Thank you again, everyone, for your input.
I believe there is a mode to condition your tonal inflections into the system, it has you say certain words, and that conditions the responses better.
I have read all the postings over the last few days and have learned a lot. Thank you.
I would like to add my personal experiences to this growing data base.
My first LS was a 3-year-old '94 CPO with about 35K on it. No remarkable problems and I traded it in at 85K to acquire my present Lexus.
I purchased my '99 LS in April '02 as a CPO with 25K miles from Superior Lexus in Kansas City. It currently has 80K on it.
At the 60K dealer service, they replaced the PS pump and idle-up valve under warranty ("leaking"). Obviously, Lexus still has not corrected the flaws in this unit. However, I intend to take the Forum's advice and have the fluid changed and screens cleaned at the big 90K tear-down.
At 60K, they also replaced the starter with a re-man unit after I told them it had failed just once to turn over in my garage (apparently an issue with a dead spot).
And they also replaced front strut rods ("torn")at 60K. All told, this warranty work was worth $1600 and I paid zero.
Other minor things replaced under warranty was the driver's door stop (made creaking noise when fully opening door; unbefitting this machine), new fog lamp switch (fogs kept blinking off and on), new TPS (limped two miles home in first gear with no throttle response; but it reset itself after setting for half hour in my garage, allowing me to get up to KC for repair) and new steering wheel tilt motor (just failed one day).
All in all, Superior Lexus treated me great during the CPO period, which, alas, has now expired.
My local Firestone handles all my 5K and 15K services (they use a flushing machine on the tranny) and I let Superior Lexus handle the 30K, 60K and soon to be 90K services.
Knock on wood, I have not had any of the electrical glitches and horror stories I have read on the Forum (other than the TPS, which was really spooky, and NOT covered under the Owner's Manual. When I called the dealer and described what happened, he knew exactly what was wrong.
Anyway, sorry for the length of this posting - I just wanted to add my two cents to the database.
I have a tire question which I will ask in a separate posting (but I think I already know the answer).
Happy motoring! :shades:
Mike
I kept them aired, balanced and rotated and managed to get 46K out of them. They were grippy and quiet.
At replacement, Firestone quoted me $780 for identical new Dunlops and, as an alternate, $500 for Bridgestone Fuzion ZRi, P225/60R16 98W tires with 320 treadwear and A's on traction and temperature.
Both prices included mounting, balancing and 4-wheel alignment. Looks like a no-brainer, right? WRONG!
First of all, there is no M&S rating - none whatsoever. I discovered this after a two-inch snowfall where the car fishtailed and the ABS, TRAC and VSC lit up the dashboard.
Well, I guess I can live with that - it doesn't snow much anymore around SE Missouri and being retired, there is no place I absolutely have to be.
A larger problem in the road noise. After 6K, I had Firestone rotate them (uni-directional) and over the ensuing 4K miles, the road noise just keeps getting louder and louder. It starts building at 5mph and really starts to sing at 25-45mph. Sounds like I have aggressive snow tires on all 4 corners. And the smoother the black-top, the more pronounced is the hummmmm, or whirrrr.
It got so bad that I had Superior Lexus do a thorough inspection of brakes, bearings, bushings; the entire underside, just to be sure it wasn't something mechanical.
They said everything underneath was to spec and it was just the aggressive tread. And they didn't charge me a dime for the underside inspection.
This will be an issue between me and the local Firestone. Apparently they had an incentive to push this product and totally missed the tread noise and lack of M&S rating.
From studying the Fuzion ZRi website (after the fact), I learned that this tire is aimed at the tuner market and in fact, the 225/60-16 is the highest profile tire they make - most of the line is wider, lower profile and probably noiser tires.
I think I know the answer; Michelin MXV4+. But meanwhile, the 320 tread Fuzions are going to take FOREVER to wear out.
Oh, well; live and learn. Thanks for listening.
Mike
A couple of summers ago, I came out to the car at a friend's, started it, backed it up a few feet, put it in drive and nothing happened. I pressed the gas and the car just sat there, idling smoothly at the usual 800-900 rpm.
I threw it in neutral and pressed the gas and nothing happened. I pressed further and further until at the far end of the pedal travel, I finally got the RPM up to maybe 1200.
At that time, I also noticed the CHECK ENGINE light was lit (duh!) as was the TRAC/VSC OFF light (because the ECU turned it off as a precaution).
Anyway, since I was able to coax the engine to 1200 using full travel, I swallowed hard and shifted it into drive and crept 6 blocks home and put it in the garage - it never went above 1200rpm and never shifted out of first (thankfully, I was in a residential area near my home and had no major streets or freeways to contend with).
I turned the car off and went inside to consider what I was going to do. After fuming for half-an-hour, I went out and restarted the car (or re-booted, as they say).
All was normal and I took it around the block - A-OK. I parked it, turned it off, re-started it again in 60 seconds and repeated my trip around the block - still A-OK.
When I called my man at Superior Lexus, he knew exactly what it was - a soon-to-fail TPS (throttle position switch). Lexus must have already had a TSB circulating.
He said bring it to KC as soon as possible for CPO warranty repair.
I told him about how I discovered the "limp-home-mode" using full throttle to get enough RPM to move home in first and he said he thought that procedure was covered in the Owner's Manual.
I told him it most definitely WAS NOT, nor do I think the two-volume mechanical Shop Manuals had that information (I don't own the third Shop Manual - which is devoted to electrical systems; maybe it's in there?).
I drove the car around town for the rest of the week with no problems and then made the 225 mile trek to Superior Lexus in KC with no problems.
The CPO warranty covered the $225 part and the $100 labor and two years have elapsed with nary a problem.
As anyone else had an experience with this "limp-home-mode" (which is obviously designed to protect the car from damage.....but would be SO useless far from home)?
I know we pay a fortune for this machine, but I also appreciate the complexity of today's modern cars, especially the good ones from the Asians.
If this had happened in my '68 Cutlass, I would have coat-hangered and duct-taped the problem together and then probably not bothered fixing it properly until I was good and ready.
Thanks for tolerating another long-winded posting.
Happy cruising, everyone!
Mike
One more posting and I'll stop!
I use a good pair of $200 polarized sunglasses for driving in the sun. I can drive 10 hours from MO to TX in the blazing sun with no eyestrain; they are great glasses, courtesy of my local optometrist (but give the LS the bigger credit for allowing me to drive that far with just one gas/potty break).
While wearing them, I can barely see the phosphorus color touch screen for NAV/AC/Radio etc. I have to remove or tilt the glasses so I can see.
The black LCD time and temp displays in the center column are the same way; hidden from view by my sunglasses.
Fortunately, the whole Speedo/Odo driver's display is easily visible wearing these glasses.
Seems to me I eMailed Torrance about this problem back when I first bought this CPO car in 2001 with my comments and a suggestion but I never heard back..........sigh.
Question: Does anyone know if they have finally corrected this problem in the new flagship LS600?
I also wear a good pair of yellow lens "blue-blockers" when driving in dark, rainy weather. I'd have to check again, but I believe they DO allow all displays to be seen clearly (not sure if they are polarized or not).
Anyway.....just trying to share experiences and enrich the data base.
Happy motoring, everyone..... :shades:
Mike
CPO, by the way is Certified Pre-Owned, and they come with an extended warranty.
Txs so much for your timely responses - after 12 hours, I was concerned that this chat post was "dead."
Maybe I am just too anxious for a reply to my "niggling" problems.
(But always remember this - we are Lexus owners, the proudest group in the world - and for good reason; we are privledged to own and drive the finest automobile ever built - [even tho it requires 93 octane and a horrible premium at the Dealer Service Bays...!!!])
rgsw, CPO is Certified Pre-Owned; It comes with a 3-year from date-of-purchase, maximum overall mileage of 100K, warranty. Covers most everything, as you can see from my 4 previous posts this date. It has treated me very well through two cars.
And (plug, plug,) Superior Lexus (south) in KC MO has been been my preferred dealer of choice and they have actually manipulated the Lexus "system" in my favor during this CPO time. (can I say this on Edmunds? Hope no one at S.L.-KCMO gets in trouble!).
Alas, it has expired.....sigh....so now I am on my own.........
What a marketing scheme, though. Brilliant!
Keeps the re-sale of used Lexus cars high......and you know it probably keeps the used Avalons and Camrys high, too.
And it allows Lexus to jack their newer cars up to stratospheric levels...!!!
And EVERYBODY in the chase after Lexus is playing ME TOO and CATCH UP. Bimmer, MB, Acura, Infinity; all the usual wanna-be's.
(But would I buy a used Ford or Chevy with a 3-yr, unlimited mileage after it has been used?....Ummmmm, I think not).
(Goodness, I wouldn't buy a NEW Ford...., not even with a ridiculous 8-yr, 100K new-car warranty like Korean Hundai is offering...........).
In fact, I wouldn't accept by dear Mom's low-mileage, newer Buick Lesabre in her will (sorry, Mom; it IS a brilliant Lipstick-Red but, still.....no thanks).
But I digress.....(sorry!)
Back to the Lexus CPO and the pricing lug it takes to get one:
I paid approx. 66% of sticker for my first, 3-year old LX ('94 model bought in '97 at 35K miles in KCMO).
And then again, I paid almost exactly 66% of sticker for my present 3-year old '99 LX (which was bought in '02 at 25K miles; a real bargain at the time with such low mileage - again in KCMO).
Both were basically fully loaded, and both a WONDERFUL joy to own.
Being retired, the '99 may be the last one I buy - they will probably want $70-90K sticker for a loaded '07 LS600 (and even MORE for a tricked out LS600h) and the 70% 3-year math on THAT model is becoming prohibitive for my meager capital budget....lol....)
(Though I guess I could wait 5-8 years and pick up a 150-200K mileage car for around 30-40K - or MORE?).
But that's not important at this point in my life. I have been privledged to be able to own and drive two LX's ('94 and '99) and that is enuff for me.
And the little doggies I have owned and transported in style and safety (black cocker "Sheila", rest her soul, and the present 30-lb "mutt" named "Buster") have loved the long trips we have taken, grinning at me from the back seat as we drove hundreds of miles with the backseat A/C aimed directly at them.
Anyway, thanks for responding, rgsw and nybanker .
I discovered this Edmund's site after I Googled "Lexus LS 400 - bad tires" or some such nonsense and here I am.
Glad you like my writing, grsw.
And, I DO have to ask an awful question of "nybanker," just because of your screen name:
This last week we commerated 9/11 - 5 yrs now and even tho I live "safely" (I think) in a little university town in SE MO, I SO FEEL the heartache of NYC.
Sir, were you involved? What did you see, what did you do, were you able to go home and kiss loved ones at 6PM?
I so hope you were.......and God bless the people who air TV shows like NYPD Blue, Saturday Night Live and all the other TV shows that give us Midwesterner's a perhaps somewhat distorted view of NYC.
Make no mistake...........we feel your pain here in the Heartland....and we so love you all.
Happy motoring, everybody. Enjoy this beautiful country...especially as 93 octane is dipping to below two bucks and a half.
Mike
As for Fords, I understand the new CEO of Ford arrived with an LS430 and he had some good words for Lexus. I suppose he will be driving a Ford/Lincoln soon.
As for cost of Lexus ownership, I read in the media that "new" cars depreciate about 30% the first year. My experience on "one year" trades on LS430 is nearer 15%. My rationale, is you get a new warranty, new tires, new car for the 15% depreciation. When I traded for my first LS, I traded a 3 year old Yukon and a Chevy S-10. The few problems that I have had have been corrected by the dealer on a timely basis. As you point out in your posts, they sometimes bend over backwards to provide customer satisfaction. That's been my experience. On my most recent purchase, the dealer also threw in a cupon/voucher for a free 10K inspection and switched the XM Radio from the old LS to the new one as part of the deal.
If you have not seen the "search" feature at the top of the forum page, it is very useful in researching comments on specific subjects. Happy Motoring.
I was not there, and had no relatives there, so I was left undamaged as were you. I have not forgotten it.
I don't have NAV system but know exactly what you're talking about. I also wear polarized sunglasses and when I used to wear a beloved pair of Revo$ (loved those glasses!), I could not read the digital screen on some of the gas pumps.
Or, pick up a wonderful '99 LS400 as I did for less than $18k, one owner, 85,000 miles, a super car.
Best regards,
Bob
Lexus LS 400/LS 430 - Navigation System
Lexus LS 400/LS 430 - Instrument Panel Questions
Lexus LS 400/LS 430 - Headlights
And I also moved a few posts to the existing Lexus LS: Dealers & Service
Feel free to create a discussion on any topic of interest.
I recently purchased a 1996 LS400—67K and in very good condition. The owner says he had the 65K done but I have no receipt for it. He said it cost $750. The records I did receive indicate the car has been driven about 2,000 miles a year the last several years. How can I check if the service has been done?