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The Firestones were cheap, temperature grade "C", low-bid, low-end rubber that offered marginal safety on older-gen Explorers IF they were inflated to 30-32 psi.
The pre-2002 Explorers, with a chassis little changed from the Ranger, had a high center of gravity because Ford wanted to avoid the re-engineering and retooling costs required to update the package - and also because the Explorer sold so well from the day it was first produced what was the justification to change it?
Put that package of losers together...then underinflate the Firestones well below 30 psi to increase heat build-up...add summertime's external heat...especially in the southwest...hours of high-speed driving...overloading the vehicle with passengers + freight + roofrack items...plus making the combo more top-heavy...Presto!
You wind-up with tread separation, rollovers, and thousands of serious accidents and quite a few dead people.
But go ahead, ignore the facts as usual, Willard.
Ford wanted to ship Explorers with their tires under-inflated in order to achieve a better rollover "rating".
I ran Michelins on my 99 996 and have CT's on my 01 RX AWD, and if Continental can't fix the noise problem on my 01 C4 I'll be switching back to Michelins.
By the way, we have 27k miles on our RX's Cross-Terrains and I would guess they have worn down about 50%.
Most of us are going to rationalize our own purchases, and Michelin does LOTS more advertising than Bridgestone, so you'll hear much more about Cross Terrains. You have at least two reasonable choices.
Congratulations Jeanne - that sounds like a fairly good price. Got my 2001 similarly equipped with spoiler and wheel locks included for $37K or thereabouts. Your price seems to be taking into account the August Lexus Golden Opportunity sale - that's when I got mine as well (in August).
Wheel locks are a good idea - cheap insurance against thieves stealing your wheels. Basically there is one "lock" for each wheel. The lock is a lug nut that has a unique pattern and can only be *easily* opened using the corresponding *key*. This deters theives by making it very difficult for them to remove that particular nut. Can't say impossible ... we know thieves are resourceful.
As for your dealer saying they get a sales tax break, like you don't pay taxes at all ... I'd be weary of that statement. I can't think of any state letting anyone get away with not paying.
Maintenance is pricey if you take the RX to the dealership. They tend to overcharge. But if you negotiate with them and refuse extraneous services, and instruct them to perform ONLY the manual-recommended services, you will get a price break. Also, you can take the RX to any Toyota dealership, who can perform the same services and they have much better pricing. Toyota dealerships also often run specials - sign up for your local dealership's mailing list and you will get them.
If you have a reliable local mechanic, aho has a good reputation, they can take care of your RX very well also. You can always take the RX in to Lexus every once in a while for the odd oil change so they can address all Technical Service Bulletins, etc.
I'll leave it to better-informed persons to address the issue of sales taxes and items to pay. I also recommend you visit the leaseing forum and speak with Car_man. He is awesome - he works in the industry and is also a very helpful advocate for buyers on Edmunds' forums.
Best of luck - hope you will enjoy your RX!
I actually insisted that I would not take the car with the Integrity's. They swapped them for Bridgestone's before I picked up the car.
Assuming you buy from a different state (with lower taxes) you might have to pay "Use Tax" in your state. This is the difference in the taxes. You can avoid it if you register it in your state after a certain period. I bought mine from AZ and then I moved within a month to WA. AZ has lower taxes than WA and WA stipulates payment of Use Tax if I move within 90 days. So I registered my RX in WA after about 100 days.
I take my RX to toyota dealerships for paid services so maintenance is never expensive.
Apart from Taxes you pay for Title and Licensing fees to Uncle Sam
"Killing two birds with one stone"
I added a simple single-pole/single-throw relay.
At DRL relay #3 I opened the standard DRL circuit between pin 4 of the relay and the voltage dropping resistor and spliced the relay coil in series. This circuit is comprised of:
15A fuse (H-LP L UPR), LH highbeam bulb, RH highbeam bulb, NC (Normally Closed) contact (pins 2,4) of DRL relay #3, RELAY COIL, voltage dropping resistor, Grnd.
The relay coil is 66 ohms so the voltage dropped by the resistor and headlamp bulbs isn't enough to have any detrimental affect.
One side of the NO relay contact is spliced into the 15A fuse (H-LP R UPR) which normally supplies 12 volts to the right high beam, and the other side is spliced into the fog lamp voltage supply wire.
ALL connections are available, readily accessible, at the main wiring juncture for the DRL relay set mounted above the radiator just to the left of the battery.
My fog lamps now come on, as DRLs, instead of the high beams at reduced voltage. This also solves the problem of wishing to operate the fog lamps in adverse weather conditions (Fog, snow, etc.) without incurring the glare from the HID low beams.
The relay is ONLY energized when the factory DRL circuit is energized. During that time the 15A fuse for the right high beam is used.
The factory fog lamp circuit still operates in the same way it was shipped.
Compromising..
There are those that will say that the fog lamps are aimed too low to be adequate for DRL use. That's likely true but I'm sure some of that deficiency is overcome by the fogs being operated at full voltage vs reduced voltage for the factory DRLs. Most of you know I reluctantly disconnected my DRLs months ago when I discovered that operating Halogen bulbs at reduced voltage caused them to fail very prematurely.
So, overall, I think the above circuit is a very GOOD compromise.
Now off to buy some 9006AW bulbs....
Thanks
The Bridgestones are also a good choice and some of the more sporty individuals like the Pirelli Scorpions. I've got my L-Tuned GS430 to fling around when I feel "sporty"; its not a role that I think the RX is comfortable playing.
Radio Shack relay # 275-226, "Auto Relay", 12 volt 66 ohm coil, 30 amp N.O. contacts.
DRL #3 relay is in an enclosure mounted to cross structure above radiator. Wire of interest, Red/Blue, is on terminal 4 of this relay. Terminal 4 is middle one of three across on the bottom of this relay. I made all of my connections at the juncture of the main wiring harness before it splits off going to the DRL relay enclosure.
I opened the DRL circuit, red/blue wire, and (butt-)spliced in two 8" extensions, one to each newly opened end of the red/blue wire, which I then connected to the two ends of the relay coil. That places the relay coil in series with the high beam DRL circuit.
Now find the (larger) light green wire coming from DRL #3 relay terminal 1 and T-splice in an 8" extension and connect this one to one end of the relay contacts. Light green wire is 12 volt, 15A fuse, full voltage source for right high beam.
Within the main harness "bundle" is the Red/Black(with silver marker dots every inch or so) wire suppling the right fog light, since they are in parallel, supplying both actually. Wire size is the same as the red/blue on terminal 4 of the DRL #3 relay, "small".
You might want to confirm that you have the right wire by checking that it has 12V only when the fog lights are on.
Now T-splice an 8" extension to this wire and connect the opposite end to the other side of relay N.O. contact.
The new relay has a mounting tab so it can be firmly mounted near the DRL relay enclosure.
You're DONE!
Check that the fog lights are energized when the engine is started with the parking brake released and no headlamps on. With the fog lamp switch off the fogs should now go off automatically with either headlamp mode on.
Note: The new Fog/DRL relay will not energize if either high beam bulb has failed, the left high beam fuse is open/blown, or the DRL voltage dropping resistor (US only) under the battery plate is open. Also, the Fog lamps will not work in DRL mode if the 15A fuse for the right high beam is open/blown.
I have just a single question:
If the foglights are now the DRLs but there's still some burnt stuff within the main headlight bulb that Lexus knows nothing about and you have to pump-up the 18" Cross Terrains to 35 psi (on rims that still can't use chains; see "defective AWD system", below) on their custom wide track to compensate for the 75# limit on the roof rack to prevent rollovers when you can't see out the fogged windshield because there's too much poison CO2 in the cabin and the defective AWD system is good-for-nothin' not to mention the Nav that can't find it's way out of a Wal-Mart parking lot...who's got time to watch out for that deer in the headlights?
I can hardly wait.
And those sarcastic folks may call others names which would apply as much or more to themselves.
But those sarcastic folks just need to do those kinds of things to get their jollies. Which says a lot about them.
wwest, press on regardless.
Does anyone know?
No, you're not alone. I had a similar problem with my 2001 IS300. I apparently removed the key while it was between Off and Accessory. I was unable to get the key back in to turn the car off. The car was towed to the dealer and the key lock cylinder was replaced.
While you're in a re-wiring mode.....have you ever looked into re-wiring the auto dim mirrors so that they are initiated by the driver when he/she needs them instead of just going off when the car starts? It should just be a simple NO relay vs the NC operation that it ships with. That thing drives me nuts! Of course - the Lexus "expert" who takes my $ for service has no idea how to make the change (IOW he's not gonna waste one calorie of energy to even try to find out). If you think of how to do this let us know.
Oh - and I'm still looking for a good (yeah - and cheap) HID retrofit for my RX. If you have any info on that subject it too would be greatly appreciated. I have seen equipemt from various mfgrs and with very wide price ranges. Can't see why this can get so pricey!
Wasn't introduced on the RX until the 01 model year. I suspect confusion between the Trac available on FWD but not available on AWD back in 99.
Actually I think long term safety of vehicles with VSC and Trac vs without will be proven to be a toss up statistically just as has now happened with ABS.
Since the operation of VSC and Trac are virtually invisible to the operator you might think of them as just wider tires with more contact patch.
So just drive your 99 Rx as if you didn't buy those wider tires.
If it is AWD and the price is right I think I would buy it rather than the FWD.
Now I'm going to catch it for recommending an AWD RX when I've said so much against them in the past.
But the bottom line is I would trust any level of AWD over a FWD even with Trac.
Pete
In your experience does it modulate, apply, the front brake(s) to do this or does it simply dethrottle the engine? Or both?
No need for rewiring something that's already executed perfectly.
Thanks.
Brake Actuator Function - "Operates each solenoid according to the output signal from the ABS (or ABS & TRAC) ECU to control the wheel cylinder fluid pressure in each of the four wheels."
ABS (or ABS & TRAC) ECU Function - "Outputs the operation signal to the ABS actuator (operation signal to the ABS & TRAC actuator and fuel cut and ECT control signals to the ECM) for appropriate operation matching the road surface condition according to the wheel speed signal from each speed sensor."
ABS (TRAC) Relay Function - "Supplies power to the ABS actuator solenoid according to the signal from the ABS (ABS & TRAC) ECU."
Some of the translations from the original Japanese in the service publications are obviously a little rough. All I know is that it works!
Pete
Since the relay coil is 66 ohms the current flow in the factory DRL circuit is limited to about 1/6 amp, not enough to provide even a soft glow in the high beam bulbs.
I only measured about 1/2 volt difference between the battery voltage and the relay coil voltage, so only about 1/2 volt, total, is dropped across the series circuit of the two high beam bulbs and the DRL voltage dropping resistor.
The fog lamps, otherwise, operate just as the factory design dictates.
But I stand corrected on the DRLs, sorry.
Or better, dissconnect the DRL resistor and if possible, make the fog lights work independently so you can use them anytime not just with the headlights on only.
"Xenon low-beam headlights with auto-leveling".
The only SUVs on the market with optional Bi-Xenons are the MB M-class (first SUV on the market with Bi-Xenons), '03 Range Rover, and the Volvo XC90.
And no, you definitely cannot operate the foglamps independent of the headlamps.
Just purchase a 99 rx 300, oil changed for the first time and noticed the performance seems to be sluggish. Any advice or comments would be helpful.
Thanks