New RX 400h owner saying hello!

[rich1068]

More goodies arrived today.

[rich1068]

[ChrisM]

I don't understand their use. I rarely drive with my windows open and rely on my climate control to keep the temperature at a comfortable level.

Oh I see you are in Yorkshire, so you probably don't run your AC as it is too expensive. 

 

[rich1068]

They have no use that I'm aware of. I just like them 

Get you southern nancys with your AC. Windows open in all weathers up here.

[rich1068]

Gratuitous underground car park shot

[julian1969]

On 6/8/2018 at 8:21 AM, ChrisM said:

I don't understand their use. I rarely drive with my windows open and rely on my climate control to keep the temperature at a comfortable level.

Oh I see you are in Yorkshire, so you probably don't run your AC as it is too expensive. 

 

As an ex smoker i can see the use for when you want the window open to flick your ash out of but it's teaming down with rain and doing so will make you soaked. As I no longer smoke I don't feel the need but I can see the use.

Interested in the Bluetooth cassette thing. Is there any conflict between the built in BT phone answering on the car and this for audio or does it 'just work' if so what phone are you using?  

[rich1068]

Just ordered a load of new bulbs from ABD 

Already got the reverse LEDs as suggested by @sorcerer (I've just got to be brave enough to pull off the trim around the tailgate) and also went for LEDs the boot, regular whiter main beams, whiter sidelights and yellow fogs like the IS.

Excellent stuff!

[sorcerer]

They do indeed make an amazing difference as you'll see from the photos of our old RX300 below. There's no camera flash used here, just the LED lights in the car:

 

[rich1068]

I came across those photos while I was looking into the LEDs 

[rich1068]

Took a brave tablet and pulled the cover off to get at the reverse lights. I haven't bothered with the little plastic shroud thing because you shouldn't take more than one brave tablet in 24 hours. I'll see how it goes. Can't really tell from the picture but already it looks better. NS original. OS LED.

[rich1068]

Hmm. Seems to be a problem with the Google Photos links. Are they down for everyone?

[Farqui]

46 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

Hmm. Seems to be a problem with the Google Photos links. Are they down for everyone?

Broken for me too 

[rich1068]

Hmm. That'll teach me to use Google Photos rather than Imgur.

The pictures are still there but I reset my Android phone last night and for some reason it's buggered the links up.

[rich1068]

On 6/11/2018 at 2:30 PM, julian1969 said:

Interested in the bluetooth cassette thing. Is there any conflict between the built in BT phone answering on the car and this for audio or does it 'just work' if so what phone are you using?  

Sorry. Missed this.

No, no conflict at all. Once you have your phone and the cassette adapter connected to Bluetooth go in to your phone's BT settings and edit the permissions. The phone for calls etc and the cassette for media audio.

[rich1068]

Fixed the links. It was annoying me too much.

[rich1068]

A couple of jobs done over the weekend. Sorry, no pics as yet for all the bulb stuff.

I swapped out the standard side/parking light and full beam bulbs for something a little whiter. Specifically these and these. They don't quite live up to the "Intense White Xenon Effect" blurb but they do look a little better. Everything looks so yellow next to the standard HIDs something had to be done but I didn't want to start messing with LEDs even if it is possible to use them. Or those ones that blind everyone.

On the subject of LEDs, I did put some in the boot. These just fitted with a little bending of the holder a la @sorcerer I think the standard fit is about 28mm, these are about 31mm. I used one either side and one in the tailgate and that's really improved things no end.

Now as mentioned, yellow lights are bad. But sometimes yellow lights are good  I've always like the yellow fog/Euro look (too long on VAG forums) and intend to fit these next time I'm under the front of the car. My IS300 has them as OEM which always surprised me but I'd like to fit the same on the RX.

Another little job inspired by @mrdoofa and @Haylands We'd got some of those cheap "magic sponge" things kicking around and I decided to give the steering wheel a bit of a clean. Oh my goodness! The ******* that came off! And the difference in finish. After 10 minutes the wheel matched the airbag cover. Pictures aren't great but hopefully you can see I've done the bottom section but not moved on to the sides.

I then put some cleaner/conditioner on which put a little of the gloss back but very impressed with the results.

[sorcerer]

One thing I've just noticed Richard - you've gone for halogen bulbs with "Xenon effect". Were your bulbs not Xenon originally anyway? My 2005 RX300 had OEM xenons so I'd be very surprised if yours didn't. You've also got the headlight washers which is usually a sign of xenons (and an MOT fail if they don't work). Did your original lights do a little 'dance' when switched on and have a bluish tinge for a second or two as they warmed up? If so, they were indeed xenons.

[rich1068]

Sorry. My mistake/mis-type. It's the side/parking lights and full beam bulbs I've changed. I'll alter the original post.

[sorcerer]

41 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

Sorry. My mistake/mis-type. It's the side/parking lights and full beam bulbs I've changed. I'll alter the original post.

No, no, my fault mate. I clicked on the link to see which bulbs you'd got, saw the word "halogen" and dived in with both feet  

By the way, sometime recently you asked if the RX450h had the shrouds on the reversing lights like the 300/400h and I said that I didn't think so. I also thought that they were already LEDs, but on inspection I found out that they are wedge-type halogens with no shrouds, so yesterday I swapped them for the trusty LEDs and again, they've made a big difference. Even as halogens, the reversing lights on the 450h were a gazillion times better than the 300/400h, but as LEDs they are a whole lot better again.

[royoftherovers]

1 hour ago, sorcerer said:

No, no, my fault mate. I clicked on the link to see which bulbs you'd got, saw the word "halogen" and dived in with both feet  

Well, if that is the height of Lexus Road Rage, I am much comforted.:):):)

[sorcerer]

Just to give others a choice or an alternative if the ones Richard linked to are out of stock, he went for the Ring festoon bulbs from ABD but these are the ones I got from Auto Lighting. I'm not saying these are better/worse/longer-lived or anything, just giving an alternative.

[mrdoofa]

On 6/20/2018 at 9:06 AM, rich1068 said:

A couple of jobs done over the weekend. Sorry, no pics as yet for all the bulb stuff.

I swapped out the standard side/parking light and full beam bulbs for something a little whiter. Specifically these and these. They don't quite live up to the "Intense White Xenon Effect" blurb but they do look a little better. Everything looks so yellow next to the standard HIDs something had to be done but I didn't want to start messing with LEDs even if it is possible to use them. Or those ones that blind everyone.

On the subject of LEDs, I did put some in the boot. These just fitted with a little bending of the holder a la @sorcerer I think the standard fit is about 28mm, these are about 31mm. I used one either side and one in the tailgate and that's really improved things no end.

Now as mentioned, yellow lights are bad. But sometimes yellow lights are good  I've always like the yellow fog/Euro look (too long on VAG forums) and intend to fit these next time I'm under the front of the car. My IS300 has them as OEM which always surprised me but I'd like to fit the same on the RX.

Another little job inspired by @mrdoofa and @Haylands We'd got some of those cheap "magic sponge" things kicking around and I decided to give the steering wheel a bit of a clean. Oh my goodness! The ******* that came off! And the difference in finish. After 10 minutes the wheel matched the airbag cover. Pictures aren't great but hopefully you can see I've done the bottom section but not moved on to the sides.

I then put some cleaner/conditioner on which put a little of the gloss back but very impressed with the results.

I did my steering wheel which had become very slick and shiny with a magic eraser and the difference is unbelievable!!! It now looks and feels like a brand new steering wheel and would recommend everybody to give it a go, you’ll be amazed!!! Of course there are many people who speak against them saying it’s like taking sandpaper to your steering wheel and it does more harm than good, I’d agree that if done too often and if you scrub too hard you could start to remove the dye from the leather but done gently and sparingly the results are fantastic and I’m so pleased with mine, I should’ve done a before and after. As with any DIY advice though, I cannot be held responsible for any damage caused and it is done at your own risk!!!

[rich1068]

On 6/16/2018 at 12:42 PM, rich1068 said:

Fixed the links. It was annoying me too much.

Broken again. Apologies. Heaven knows why it keeps doing that.

Anyhoo, new carpet mats from the always excellent carmats.co.uk

Pictures courtesy of imgur this time...

Lexus stitching would have been nice but hey ho. Went for dark grey rather than black because it's a better match with the dash top. The grubby beige ones were annoying me too much.

[sorcerer]

Nice carpets Richard.

On the links to the pictures - why not just upload the pictures directly to the forum instead of linking from a third-party hosting site?

[rich1068]

Habit. Used Photobucket for donkey's years before that went Pete Tong so moved over to imgur. Then someone on here said you could just use "Copy image address" on Google Photos but that appears to be flakey too. Actually I think it's when I make changes to my phone that somehow the link between it and cloud storage at Google is somehow altered. I re-installed LineageOS the other week and that's when it first happened.