mikesands

I normally leave my winter tyres on all year, but if I take them off in April they could go back on in November and last me another winter. So I am looking for some really really quiet tyres for a 400H. Anybody know which are the quietest? Mike

I have just driven the latest RX450H back to back with the last incarnation and then drove home in my RX400H. In summary - the latest one is very quiet in comparison, they have done a good job on insulating us from road noise and thumps. The 2015 one was OK (it was the Premier with air suspension). Bit quieter than mine but I thought the ride was still more jiggly than my 400H which is pretty noisy - particularly coming up over the back seat. Mind it does have winter tyres fitted. Mike

I have been using Nankang winter tyres since they transformed my LS430 into an almost 4wd car in the snow. They have been brilliant on the RX400h and they are cheap (about £70 a corner). I was swapping tyres every april and November but these days I leave them on all year and they still seem to have enough tread to get through a second winter. Am I right in thinking my 400H has no 'snow' button or anything like it. I found on here some weird button and key sequence that might allow me to turn off the traction control which I haven't tried yet - but which might have helped me get out of a muddy field with a caravan? Mike

Wow - I didn't know there were no models with air suspension on the latest version. You've gotta think that has to be a reliability decision by Lexus haven't you. My 400H was and is a bit disconcerting if I really put my foot down hard. Not so much at high speed (although how would I know :-) more hard acceleration. I think the 450H was more stable when I tried the same procedure - does it have a wider wheelbase? Or it may just be that Lexus changed the map so that you don't get that instant hit that the 400H provides. Mike

Yeah I'm talking about the RX. I realise that Lexus changed it to handle more sportingly and there will be people who want that, but what got me was the head wobble. Surely this must be because the RX can theoretically be made to handle like a GS but the 'leverage' on your head due to the extra height above the road makes it simply tiring. The Lexus salesman assured me that none of the 450H's had air suspension. I pointed out that people on these forums seem to think some models have air. I got the 'you shouldn't believe everything you read on forums' treatment. I subsequently asked them to contact me if they get a Premier in and I will see if it feels any better - but after 4 or 5 sensors failed on my LS430, I am a bit nervous about Lexus' air suspension. Yes the wheels are bigger than my 400H but the tyre size/depth at 55 is the same. I noticed the sensors were showing 2.4,2.4, 2.6 and 2.7 bar but haven't yet done the conversion to see if they were overinflated. And No - my 4ooH doesn't handle as 'well' as my pal's RX450H if we were both to throw them around country roads, but mine is like $hit off a stick compared to his when you want to overtake. Mike

Yesterday I had two test drives of a 2015 450H with just 22k miles on it. Two tests because I couldn;t believe how bad the ride was. This reminded me why I didn;t trade in my 400H when the 450 came out. Lexus just cannot seriously provide that kind of ride quality on what was a 55k car - but they did. I then drove the new 450h demonstrator and they have it sorted on the latest model. At motorway speeds it was quiet and smooth and felt like a luxury saloon. My 400H has ordinary springs which even after 132k miles provide a much better ride than did the 2015 450H. My Lexus extended warranty has another 13 months to run - hopefully at that point there will be 3 year old latest versions for me to buy at reasonable prices. Oh and by the way the extended warranty has been a complete waste of money as nothing whatsoever has gone wrong with the car in 5 years - very annoyed !!! ) Mike

Thanks Steve - that worked. first it made all the other windows functional but only from their own switches (and not on auto). so I did the reset on each window and eventually control came back to the driver door switch (I think I had to do another 5 second push though to complete it). And I have no little lights illuminated on any of the switches (tried putting the headlights on but no luck) Thanks anyway - very useable now. Is this documented in the manual and I just missed it? Mike

Hmmmm .... I have the same problem as the OP but it's not the lock switch - or rather it may be that the lock switch is faulty, but whether in or out I can't get any reaction on the passnger windows either from their own switches or the drivers door switch. This happened after I did a battery change. Is there a fuse that might have blown somewhere (user manual is very unhelpful about fuses) Thanks Mike

I had the same experience a couple of weeks ago when I was watching my mirror for too long and found my wife grabbing my arm because someone had pulled out in front of us. I anticipated doing a rear end shunt but the brakes on the RX400H turned the whole thing into a non-drama - except for the mini driver behind me who got quite a shock. Mike

It does bake off in no time from hot surfaces yes it does leave a very slightly sticky coating when the carrier evaporates and this collects dust and dirt - just like WD40 does IMHO unless you apply it to a new or nearly new vehicle you are probably wasting your time. Motorcyclists' frame and engine are on constant display so most of us work hard from the outset to stop layers of rust getting a hold. But underneath a car nobody really sees it unless they look, and the layer of rust is probably as good as a layer of ACF50 at preventing further corrosion. Don't get it on your brake pads in any quantity as you will have no brakes for quite a while until it burns off (and you might need new pads). Mike

Even though I had terrible reliability problems with my LS430 I have been idly considering swapping my current RX400H for another big Lexus saloon. Imagine my surprise therefore to discover that Lexus don't seem to sell them anymore. At least I cannot find one on their website. (Not that I would have bought a new one mind you) Mike (hmmm ... strike that - the main lexus site does list the 600 as being available but strangely lexusteesside does not. I wonder if any other dealers have dropped the 600 from their promotions) Even more weird - Lexus' official used car site does not list any LS cars for sale anywhere and the whole LS category is missing.

I use it on my bikes and it works but you do have to reapply if you have been using the machine in prolonged wet salty conditions. It's very expensive if you only buy the spray cans but you can buy it in 2 litre (or maybe it's one litre) bottles and this lasts forever if you paint it on thinly with a brush (I use a radiator brush). It needs only the thinnest of coats and according to the manufacturer it will 'creep' into the crevices. Mike

interesting idea Chris. I did notice that the sound seemed to be coming from only one channel (right hand side) so probably wouldn't work very well. But it is irritating that there is this incompatibility between the bluetooth implementations. I wonder if there is an iphone app that can fool the somewhat older car bt implementations into playing music? Mike

.... But its not really I discovered by accident today that if i run a video clip that has been sent to me in a text message then the sound plays through the car's audio system via bluetooth It thinks a call is being made, interrupts the radio and when the video finishes it ends the 'call' Mike

hmmmm .... when I bought my 400H the dealer told me there is no way the car can be driven on battery power alone - which I would have thought would have been very useful in the situation you describe (running out of fuel). Mike

:D I think that's a bit like saying 'I could have taken out life insurance 10 years ago but since I didn't die I think the saving was worthwhile' Mike

Roger - I could have written that first post myself today. Mine too has recently had a 100k service and there's now this tinkling metallic sort of rattle. Don't think it was there though immediately after the 100k. Mike

...... nor is there an ect snow button (on my 2009 RX 400H). The only element of control over what the engines and gearbox are doing to the drive is a position on the gearbox called 'B' which is for holding the car in a lower gear when for instance towing a caravan downhill. Mike

Not likely with mine Colin as all 4 have gone the yucky green underneath. Also Mine are much more evenly coloured green than the pics above. Mike

can you disable traction control/vsc on the 400H - I can't remember seeing a button for it Mike

I assumed the awd of my rx400H would get me out of most situations when pulling my caravan - which is why I bought it. But that wasn't true last year when the field was only a bit slippery, and one front wheel lost traction. It didn't look to me like any power was applied to the rear wheels once one front wheel was slipping. The only solution was to pack lots of gravel under the slipping front wheel. Mike

Thanks Chris - glad to hear it's not just me, and I will relay your comments to Lexus Teesside - they are quite good at getting feedback toLexus. Mike

I haven't tried cleaning the greenish area, but you can see that it's not something that's likely to come off - every fibre of the carpet is this different colour. Normally you would assume that the colour of the carpets underneath the mats is the original true colour and all the rest has faded through 6 years of UV. But there's now way all the other greay materials (the armrests and the leather and the steering wheel and the mats themselves, would have all faded in exactly the same way and be a 'nice' colour. In other words I don't think anyone would have been happy picking up their new RX with the grey interior this greenish grey. Interesting to hear about the merc. I am wondering if these mats are genuine Lexus ones. The logos don't look brilliant and one of them has started unravelling. They were in the car when Lexus Teesside sold me it (second hand), but I wonder whether the backing on fake mats somehow reacts with the carpet. I will point it out to Lexus when I am next in. Mike

I have the pale grey interior and of course it has the loose Lexus mats to match. All the materials match (plastic, leather and the carpets and rugs) which is pretty good for 6 years old. However when I took the mats out to pound and hoover them, the carpet underneath is a greenish grey colour whereas everything else is a warm to neutral grey. I can only assume that it's some reaction to the back of the loose mats. Has anyone else noticed this on theirs? Thanks Mike

I can't help with the original question but can I ask if RX owners do experience substantial problems with air suspension. It cost me a fortune on my LS430 so I went for a standard sprung RX400H Mike