Barry14UK

Metal Polish is another possibility. Bluebell and Brasso used to be best known brands.(still available?) I have also used Solvol Autosol. This is only suitable for light scratch and you need to remove residue thoroughly. Be aware if you have to resort to repair and spray that rattle cans don't always provide a very good match even when supplied by car makers and appearance can change again when clear coat applied. In some cases you have to bite the bullitt and get repair done professionally where location makes it obvious.

Thank you for your suggestion Luigi but back and knee probs mean I will go with another suv when the time comes. I also like the higher driving position an SUV provides. With all the major players producing suv full electric models or in the process of doing so, I would have thought that Lexus would have been further down the road than they are. I don't think they can just develop a Hydrogen range which will takes ages to set up and become accepted as an alternative, without losing a useful market share. So interesting to see what new models are becoming available and importantly how these perform and how reliable BEV models prove to be.

There is a sense of pleasure in surveying the market and considering your next ride. I am not contemplating parting with my RX for two or three years time but when I do so, I will include all electric models. As I passed my local Skoda dealer yesterday, I took the opportunity to have a close look and sit in the Enyak model which was in an attractive 'Artic Ice' (very pale metallic silver green.) I liked the the shape and overall dimensions but noted there was no spare wheel, not even a space saver. I was told the tyres were filled with a sealant, which is OK if the nail or whatever is in the tread rather than the side wall. However once punctured a tyre was scrap! The salesman said some people had bought a spare wheel but this just takes up room in a pretty average size boot. Inside the car was functional and although it had the larger 80 battery pack, it was several levels down so lacked many of the electric features HUD and sunshine roof etc. These could be added by moving up trim or various packages. I liked the large central screen although this looked like it had been stuck on as an afterthought just like on other marques nowadays. This is an inferior design to my 3rd gen Lexus where the screen is shielded and looks properly integrated. Unfortunately, I found the seats hard and nowhere near as comfortable as on my RX. There was plenty of room in both the front and the rear. Generally speaking, I found the interior to be more utilitarian than my RX which I was glad to get into for the drive home. There is no doubt that Skoda has improved enormously over the last 15 or so years but they are not a premium car even where some the higher trims are equipped with goodies found on more up market marques. There are quite a number of other offerings available now or before long to consider. I would like to experience an all electric Lexus SUV of NX size. For me a BEV vehicle would make sense with my solar panels providing power for my short journeys and only very occasionally needing a top up when making a long journey. Hopefully, this would also reduce service cost over the RX

Good you found cause of problem which demonstrated alarm works.

Presume a small number of the 4th Generation with 20inch rims are sold in Nordic and other European Countries that have snow each year. Might be worth asking Lexus if they can advise what is done in such countries to meet the conditions. or what about these https://www.giga-tyres.co.uk/product/GI-R-378826GA?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjaeO3qKQ8wIVcIBQBh1g7gmmEAQYBSABEgLsBfD_BwE&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMIjaeO3qKQ8wIVcIBQBh1g7gmmEAQYBSABEgLsBfD_BwE:G:s&Country=AUK&ID=sea_rda_uk_Froogle_Shopping You might find elsewhere cheaper. Nokian tyres are often heavily discounted. I run a model of Nokian tyres on my BMW saloon all year round as an all season tyre and find them good and not noisy. The ones I linked to are more SUV related.

On reflection, I think the likely explanation is that the metal plates originate in China and the friction material is applied in the USA. Anyway, this is rather academic now as the pads are the wrong ones and I will be returning them. I did correctly enter my details but it appears that my car was made in Japan from where cars are supplied to Europe and ROCKAUTO are catering for the model produced in Canada. The significance of this is that the front discs on my car are 34mm thick whereas on the other side of the pond theirs are 28mm thick. So the moral of the story is to very carefully check for disparity before ordering, even for parts the appear to be correct. OK, some would say best to have gone to Lexus in the UK in the first place, but parts are usually less expensive in the USA and some members have benefitted on ordering where parts are identical.

Your efforts well worthwhile then! Thanks for updating - useful to learn how resolved as others may well have similar problem at some point.

Got supposedly correct Akebono ceramic brake pads from ROCKAUTO for my RX, ordered on 10th September and received today, so excellent service considering they came from USA. Also, they come with associated hardware and lube sachet, something a UK dealer said the Lexus boxed ones didn't include. Furthermore, these came at a saving over those quoted by a UK Lexus dealer even after postage and VAT added. However, one of the selling points on the ROCKAUTO site says they are made in the USA and on the box is also shows made in USA. There is also a printed label stuck on the box which shows ACT1324A Ceramic Disc Brake Pads Manufactured in the USA. But on the accompanying Packing List under Country of Origin, it says China. The feint printing on the backplate shims attached to the pads does not show were they were made but reads AK AS487 FF N21 I have seen ROCKAUTO mentioned several times on this forum and they seem to sell a wide range of pads (and I believe other car parts), so I assume the ones I have received are genuine. However, I wonder whether the Packing List is correct and gives the game away or maybe it was incorrect. Incidentally, the pads which are said to be ceramic, look as though the pad material contains some small metallic like inclusions. Think I will ask ROCKAUTO about this but would be interested to learn view of members before doing so.

Insects are likely to enter a car and set up home at any time and every false alarm undermines their effectiveness in real intrusion as people can assume it's just another false alarm. You would have though that by now alarm systems could differentiate between an insect and a fist coming through a window. My neighbour's alarm on his X40 had gone off twice on consecutive days this week - he has yet to discover why and I have had it happen on two other marques, so it seems a pretty general problem.

If the brake slide pins are not removed an greased as appropriate by Lexus in at least a major service, you could do a better job yourself. I asked whilst having a recent major service if the spark plugs could be left and the cost of this deducted as the car had only just done over 40K miles and could be left until the car had covered 60K which will be at least in a couple of years time. I was told that the spark plugs change (expensive on the 6 cylinder RX), was part of the service and if I wanted the service book stamped, the plugs would have to be changed. So over a barrel you could say!

I had my annual service at Lexus Cheltenham and asked whether my Gold membership would still provide a discount. Unfortunately not. (I don't know whether this is the case with all dealers who participated but I question I will find out before the next annual service. I have only used Halfords once so the Gold card seemingly offers little advantage for me. However, I appreciate there are costs associated with running a forum and was a 'site supporter'. when an activate member of a BMW forum for this reason. I did think about this when I was asked to agree to extend my Gold Member membership HERE recently. I did renew but feel the cost is rather higher than on other forums, perhaps deterring some members from participating, particularly in view of the forgoing lost advantages. I do wonder if consideration could be given to say members becoming 'Silver Members' (or whatever), without discount or other advantages as Site Supporters for say an annual fee of £15 whilst KEEPING 'Gold' status and perhaps some other advantage for those wishing to retain and pay for 'Gold Status'. I think this matter needs to be reviewed if lost advantages of 'Gold Membership' is going to lead to fewer members participating, possibly resulting in an embarrassing situation in respect running the forum,

Like everything else in a free market, fluctuations will depend on supply and demand. Some people are prepared to offer more than the book price to achieve what they desire immediately. If there are enough of them the price will increase. Conversely, in situations where the demand falls and new cars have to be heavily discounted to sell, this is going to cause a downfall in what sellers will get for used. There are of course a number of reasons why models appreciate or lose relative value. Generally, when production picks up again to the extent that pent up demand has been met, second hand values will begin to slide more extensively. When this is likely to happen is the question.

To the best of my recollection additives (not including those in petrol already) were added by individuals when petrol became lead free. The formulation with lead helped cushion valves/seats. Some owners had affected cars modified using harder seats whilst others helped alleviate the loss of lead by adding additives. The present situation has been brought about by the introduction of ethanol, firstly as a 5% ratio but more recently as 10%. The ethanol tends to cause premature degrading of rubber hoses and gaskets etc. (Some cars are affected more than others). I am not convinced that by adding an additive to E10 fuel you are going to stop potential damage to these vehicles. By opting for the high octane fuel ethanol is either not included or remains at the 5% ratio. Furthermore, the E10 petrol gives fewer MPG than for the same grade previously with 5% ethanol. The higher Octane does include better additives but what is important is that is has no ethanol or only 5%. Changing up to the high octane also provides slightly more power and more MPG whereas with standard lower octane fuel the increased amount of ethanol will result in slightly lower MPG.

When I presented my Gold card when purchasing a Halfords recently, there was a similar situation in that the initial counter person was unaware of the discount scheme. He then referred it to an older person who said in my hearing that it was in order in the same way they have an arrangement with Mazda. As regards politics, any views expressed are likely to be contentious, so perhaps generally best avoided on a car forum. I am biting my tongue as I am a member of a discussion group and the ramifications of political decisions figure quite often!

I am sure others will be able to advise from experience. and other pitfalls. It seems to me that you are taking a bold step in considering an RX as your first car, particularly an old one. Whilst Lexus deserve their widely recognised reputation for reliability, when something does need replacing, the cost of replacement won't be cheap. So without an official Lexus dealer warranty, ideally you need to be in a position to fork out as the need arises. You mention air suspension and this is indeed one area of potentially considerable expense. In fact, some members who have had a problem with air suspension have converted to steel springs due to high cost of making good the air suspension. Furthermore, whilst some members have not had a problem in many miles, my 2015 RX450h needed two new air struts with circa 40K miles which cost about £2,000. So you need to be lucky. I would also check for underbody rust on any possible acquisition.

Certainly a long gap. I did try to shorten it by editing. I will have to turn to my grandson (again) to help or perhaps mods could shorten. Have to face it, I was better with older cars and simple electrics and systems. In my day it was possible to take components apart, replace bits as necessary often using available repair kits. Nowadays, many components are sealed, require more sophisticated tools/instruments to replace/adjust even where this is possible. So you now often have to replace with a complete new unit. Of course sophisticated electronics and management systems may have led to greater reliability but when there is a problem, the cost of replacement can be exorbitant. So maybe repair manuals for DIY owners are of less use now other than in doing simple jobs like renewing brake pads and discs, although even here we are needing digital application for bleeding the RX. Also, there are now so many videos an owner can refer to which can be helpful although owners should only attempt jobs that are within their capabilities and will be done properly.

Well, I have gone through the manual quickly. Actually, it's more like a glorified hand book that largely shows where things are plus how they can be used and general advice, much of which an owner will be aware of or work out. It does not really go into how things that go wrong can be rectified, expecting you refer just about any problem to a dealer. I remember I bought the 3 Toyota workshop paper manuals covering my V6 Camry in the nineteen eighties when I wanted to do some work on the car. I doubt this would be available in a paper format for todays' cars. Haynes used to do a workshop manual for the most largely produced cars and I found this helpful when working on my E39. Times change and ever increasing complexity has played a major part.

and none for any RX variant after the 3rd generation.

I find the satnav is one of the few disappointments with my RX and it is clear that many others feel the same. Some of us have abandoned the clunky and as I experienced unreliable Lexus effort. For what you pay for an update to the standard system you can buy a TomTom that will be more reliable with regular and free map updates and speed cameras. Alternatively, you can use Google maps or Waze. A suitable phone holder is quite cheap. But chacun à son goût.

The 'memory saver' I mentioned a few posts back which I didn't use for the battery change having been warned it might cause problems , has a secondary function which when plugged into the OBD shows the voltage. It also shows something else which I have forgotten. Unfortunately, the read out on the particular one I bought displays the figures on the underside when in place so I have to use a mirror to read it, LOL. Anyway, it saves me carrying my scan tool for the purpose. Actually, Herbs had the best solution which he showed some months ago in a post. I think you may be right Colin, I wonder how long it will be before they follow most other brands and drop the space saver wheel thereby saving cost and weight.

There is a voltage point to which even the Panasonic AGM should not fall below. If this is allowed to keep happening it will shorten the life of it. As regards mobility batteries, I did consider this for my RX but if I correctly recall, these may have been 'gel' type and or lacked the valve and release tube connection which Lexus have in the RX so any release of gas caused by overcharging is carried away outside the car. I have not looked at this for the NX.

Welcome back! Await pics and report on your new car in due course

Pretty poor if they have now dropped the printed owners manual - glad I got one included with my car along with a 'Quick Guide' together with other booklets all contained within a leather or simulated leather holder.

Air suspension was dropped for the 4Gen RX450h. I have it on my 3rd Gen Premier and believe it was also available on other variant(s). I have not noticed a sideways lean as when you describe. Some marques models benefit considerably from having air suspension but the general view on this forum is that it makes little difference between this and the steel sprung models when it comes to the RX. Indeed we have had owners change to steel springs when their expensive to repair air suspension needs attention.

Tongue in cheek of course, it's not a BMW.