Check at Club Lexus and Lexus Owners Club. Everything you need to know about Lexus is on those two sites.
Too funny. Last Thursday I instructed at a track day put on by my race team. My race car is mid engine-swap due to a stupid twin-rotor distributor being held up in Customs, so my only alternative was to track my 1990 BMW 325 daily driver. EVERY other car at the track was some form of Porsche, or Ferrari, or M3. Hell, there were 7 Porsche GT3 RS's alone. My entire car cost less than a set of tires for any other car at the track, and was on average 300+ HP down. And it was a fucking blast. No shocks, p195/65/r14 tires, and more often than not I had a passenger in the car. And try as we might, we could NOT get the ass end to step out. At all. Most understeering car I've ever driven. Ever. Our team driver, an ex Porsche factory driver, tried for 10 laps to get it to oversteer, and couldn't. It was nuts. Turns out a friend of mine was behind me for part of a lap with his in-car camera going when I was taking my crew chief for a few laps. To say that the BMW handles a bit differently than my race car is an understatement. One nice thing about the 325 was how well it took some big curbs, like near the end of the footage. Doing that in the Porsche or the race car would rip off some suspension bits and probably cause enough instability to spin the car, but in the 325, it was just another trip to the corner store. Ooompa Looompa suspension setup has some advantages, it seems.
I have an '08 Escape and absolutely love it. It gets about 28 mpg on the highway, and around 20 just running around time. It has 30k miles on it currently, and nothing has gone wrong with it yet. I haven't had any problems with it in the Winter yet. I would reccomend getting atleast a V6 model. The 4 cylinder doesn't have any power at all.
I've finally put the wheels in motion to mod my G37s. In addition to getting some wider tires, I'm going to drop the car about an inch on some sport springs and get some 15mm spacers to flush out the wheels with the body. After they settle, I'm gonna re-align the wheels as necessary. Soon after, I'm going to powdercoat my rims to a gunmetal-ish color. In the near future, I'm gonna get a cold air intake system, some high flow cat's, and a new exhaust. It'll probably need a new tune with the new gear, so that's on the list too. Can't wait.
BMW 325 running in the Maine Forest Rally. These guys bought this car for $500 from Mexico to start rally racing and now they're doing a live build at SEMA this year. Crazy. BMW footage starts around 2:40. Video is of the 2WD subcategory of the rally America tour.
So I go through tires on my car like a hooker goes through crack; I've put 45k miles on the car since I bought it and I just replaced the 6th tire due to damage. Every time I bring the car in because of a flat or leaking tire I'm told it can't be repaired because of sidewall damage and end up getting a new tire. The first few times I was suspecious so I asked to see the tire that couldn't be repaired and when they showed me I'd see long cracks on the sidewall of the tire, so I assumed it was a legit issue and they weren't just ripping me off. Does this sound right? Also if memory serves me right it's almost always the front steering tires which need replacing. If these replacements are in fact necessary could my driving style be a contributing factor? I don't think I drive my car that hard but maybe it's my fault. I've tried different brands of tires but still had the same problems; I've been told that it's just a problem with low-profile tires. That just seems odd to me because I have factory rims on my car. I've never had so many problems with tires before on any car I've owned.
So here's a couple of pics of the damaged tire: Spoiler This is the outside of the tire, I was told that this tear in the sidewall was not repairable. Spoiler This is the inside of the tire: it appears to be some kind of wear ring around the inner sidewall. It was unclear how it could've formed, but was told it was a bad sign. So, do these look like legitimate reasons to replace a tire?
Any deep cuts or nicks on the sidewall are bad news. Where are you buying your tires? Why aren't you buying road hazard replacement if you're buying expensive tires and going through them quickly? Around here the majority of the roads are shitty so I've gone through my fair share of performance tires. Also you should check your tire pressure every so often. Looks like some of the damage might have been caused by driving on under inflated tires. Also I'd get your rims checked for sharp edges or dents. If you've hit a pothole or curb or anything hard enough it could fuck up your wheel and eat tires nonstop till fixed.
Oh, believe me, after the 2nd tire needed replacement I started getting getting road hazard replacement on my tires, which is why I hadn't been scrutinizing the constant claims of irrepairable tires as hard as I would have otherwise. Speaking of rims, I've also had to had to have one of them repaired for a crack, and was told today that the rim one which I replaced the tire today had a hairline crack along the inner edge, although it's not leaking any air. I think I might buy an extra rim or two just in case I need to start replacing those too. Next time I change the oil on my car I'll inspect the rims for edges and dents.
As of Sunday, I am the proud owner of a brand new 2010 Mazda CX7. I really appreciate everyone's feedback through rep and PM, and all-in-all, it wasn't an unpleasant car-buying experience. We test drove the Tucson, the Rav-4, the Honda CRX, and the CX7, and hated the Rav4 and the CRX, loved the Tucson and the CX7. In the end, we could get a CX7 with a bunch of options for less than the base Tucson, and here we are. Bonus: My first ever new car.
Do you do a lot of parallel parking, hit a lot of curbs, or hit a lot of potholes? For damage to show up on your sidewall like that so many times, you have to be hitting something, or driving on tires that are so underinflated that the sidewall is hitting things when it shouldn't. It doesn't take much of a hit on a curb to damage low profile tires and rims. Also, what size rims and tires are you putting together? If low profile tires are at the narrow side of what the rim can hold, it's even easier to damage the sidewalls and rims.
I hit more potholes than anything else; the streets around where I work always seem to have new ones appear as fast as the city can fill them. Occasionally when I'm parallel parking I'll lightly rub up against a curb but nothing hard enough to leave any scratches on my tires. I have 17" rims (factory) and am putting 215/50R17 tires on my car, which again are the same size as the factory tires that are standard with those rims.
Pulled the trigger and bought some stuff for my car: A set of Long Tube Cold Air Intake. A set of lowering springs dropping the car about an inch all around. And 4 wheel spacers to flush out the wheels when dropped. Can't wait for it all to get here so I can put it on. So pumped.
And I just dropped another grand on some new wheels for my car...I'm getting her a whole new makeover!! New shoe's, dropping her skirt a little, and some new pipes...I'm turning her into such a slooter!!
Considering options for my car. I have a Saab 900SE right now, it has a sport exhaust and am considering getting lowering springs and stiffer strut inserts. I just dropped the oil pan yesterday to clean out, major pain in the ass. The upgrades might not be an issue though, looking at a Viggen tomorrow, here's to hoping the guy likes my offer.
What kind of car is it, and/or how wide are those 17" rims? Even if it's factory rims and tire size, they could have chosen a combination to maximize handling or something else that leaves the sidewalls more vulnerable. I had factory rims and tires on a Grand Prix GXP that, combined with the shape of the wheel, virtually guaranteed I would damage my aluminum rims on any curb I came close to.
Well, after working on the Saab 900SE for about 10 hours on Sunday, I ended up buying the Viggen I was looking at today. I can't wait to get better acquainted.
Get the Viggen, you'll love it. But I'd go with some frame braces, a steering rack brace, and stiffer shocks for either the Viggen or SE.
Yeah, I'm in love with the Viggen already. It has an open air intake, silicone vacuum lines, slotted Brembo rotors and hawk pads, ASA rims, and the Taliaferro Imports anti-roll bar. I'm planning on getting the steering rack brace once I sell the 900 and then frame braces and suspension soon after. What year is yours?