j2tha0e

i was just wondering if there's a lot of strain on the antennas while driving at high speed. do they bend easily?

also, are the antenna's that are on the 96< ES300 better than the 97> glass mounted?

...random thought on my way to work today.

amrit50

i wouldn't worry about it breaking off. But i always listen to cds, so it guess it doesn't matter to me.

ESLex

I've got a 93 es that's antenna is bent forever just from driving a lot on the highway. It doesn't have any probs going up or retracting...but it's bent forever. Just an fyi.
-mike

CPerez100

on the highway is fine, but I did a big mistake of taking the car in one of those car washes in a gas station. One of those automatic took off my antenna

meZoom!

when i replaced my antenna a while ago, i noticed it was very noticeably bent back, especially toward the thinner top. that's from 6 or so years of driving, much of it on the freeway. next time you are speeding on the freeway, open your moonroof and stick your hand out. the force you feel against your hand is pretty much what the poor antenna goes through. eventually the plastic teeth of the gears in the antenna motor wore out and i had to replace it. weird thing is, with my old antenna, when i would listen to the radio, then switch over to CD, the antenna still stayed up while listening to the cd, but since i got the new antenna, if i am listening to the radio and decide to listen to a cd, it will automatically go down. what's everyone else's do? mines a 95

EGainer

mine goes down if i listen to a cd. well it did in my old car, my new car doesnt have the cd option, so im modulating, which means that my antenna is always up. the antenna on the new ones, that are wired into the glass are the same. an antenna doesnt matter the height into the air as much as it does the length of the antenna. on the IS, their antenna is really just the same length as ours, its just a wire coiled up instead of sticking into the air. if you ball the wire up, as long as it is the same length as usual, it will still work the same. it just cant be inside of the protective car metal which will block radio waves. mine doesnt seem to be bent that bad. maybe leaning a little. but i dont like my antenna anyway, but at least it is aimed backwards some instead of straight up...

lexusk8

That's pretty unusual for your new antenna to retract (normally) during change of media, even though I believe the antennae on most Lexus cars are supposed to do that. On my '96 ES300, my antenna closes up whenever I switch from the radio to CD or turn the radio off. Sometimes during the wintertime, the top part of the antenna would get stuck or jammed up when I turn it on, and that's simply because of the ice. Other than that, no problems on my antenna.

fog80

where can i get a cheap replacement antennae for my '96 es300?

i forgot to take it down in the car wash.

meZoom!

cheap ones could be had from the junk yards. i believe it uses the same unit as the camry, as well as the avalon?? better check before you buy...dealer price was almost $200....what's worse, i paid nearly $70 for an antenna from crutchfield that they swore would fit, but it didnt. i do give them credit for the easy return and refund though.

XenonES3

same deal here...when i am on FM/AM and switch to CD, antenna stays up until i turn the power off.

but now my antenna is messed...when i hit AM/FM it comes to the top then makes a grinding noise for about 10-15 sec. When I want it to go down it makes a grinding noise but stays in place until i tap the top and then it goes down.

j2tha0e

cheep replacement antenna? E-BAY. i've seen a lot there.

squarehat

I don't know if they're exactly the same, but I've seen very similar looking antennas on 1st Gen LS, SC, GS, and LX, current RX, many Celica, Avalon, Camry, there's more. Before they perfected the in-glass antennae in the mid 90s, all of Toyota's better vehicles used power antennas.

XenonES3

any way to convert to in-glass antennas? Probably very expensive.

My mom's 01 Sienna has the antenna in glass and it's perfect, never any distortion or static.

meZoom!

if you want to get rid of the annoying grinding noise (i know its embarassing at parking lots, i had it too), get to your trunk, remove the side wall carpeting stuff on the right side. i think there are 2-3 black plastic bolts holding it in, dont lose them. reach your hand when you get an opening wide enough, and try to unplug a socket that connects to the antenna motor. the socket, you probably cannot see unless you crane your neck real bad, but it feels like a set of wires with a connector at the end. just unplug it and no more grinding noise. you still will get moderate reception. just dont unplug the black radio to antenna wire, cuz that is what feeds the antenna signal to your radio.

fog80

i guess that explains my next question.

how to install anew one.