Pumped up to 38 lbs, tried driving & it seems OK. This guy here says it's OK:However, it's still losing around 1 lb pressure per day.

 

Sounds like a slow leak to me. Might be time to replace, or it might be fixable. Best to take it to a shop unless you are handy with tire repair.

 

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There's you answer. Where do you suppose the leak is? Easy answer. Now tread punctures can be patched or plugged on a car tire, done that a lot of times over the years. I would not trust a damaged sidewall on a car--an ATV, sure, but they don't go 70 mph on the freeway.

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Yes, I would say I thought about this more later and came back here just to post something to this effect. If you hit a pothole or other obstacle in the road, your damaged tire is much less likely to shrug off the impact like a healthy tire. If your tire pops and you spin out, it could be a very bad day.

 

I was driving my wife's '20 IS350 FSport the other day and noticed that when you floor it, the pedal stops about 99% to the floor and if you push a little harder, it goes an extra little amount. Does any one else's have basically 2 levels of bottoming out and if so, what's the purpose of it doing this?

 

It sounds like you discovered the kick-down switch!

The kick-down switch simply tells the ECU that, in addition to full-throttle, it should also request the lowest possible transmission gear ratio. For example, let's say you're traveling 50 MPH. If you push the pedal all the way down, past this kick-down switch, the transmission will select second gear, as that's the lowest gear allowed by the vehicle speed. If you stop short of the kick-down switch, on the other hand, it will most likely select third gear.

The interesting thing about the kick-down switch is that it also works in Manual shift mode. If you were in Manual shift mode with third gear selected in the above scenario, it would downshift to second.

 

That is very interesting... thank you.

 

Hi all, replaced my factory HID bulbs with Osram CBB's, love the look on the road but after two years the housing on one side burned and stopped working. 1) Is this a common problem with aftermarket HID bulbs? 2) Ive seen videos on replacing HID's with LED's but it it possible to replace them even though the ballast is acting as a dust cap? 3) Is there a reputable company making headlight assemblies for the 3is to house LED's? Just looking for options for a bright 5k-6k output without having to worry about anything burning up again and going out, I know bulbs go out eventually but mine are actually fine, just the housing burned up. Sorry if I may have missed a thread with any info on this, I searched I promise!

 

Anybody knows if the es 350 f sport headrest fits in the 2021 is 350 f sport seats? I love that f sport logo on them.

 

I love this car, but there are just so many weird, illogical design decisions made for this car that I will never understand. Some more hypothetical than others, but here's a few of my thoughts:

1. Went from a 2018 IS 300 to a 2018 AWD 350. I understand it's full-time AWD, but how is the ONLY indication of this merely the letters "AWD" on the trunk? Are there really NO options or information related to AWD in the infotainment screen OR gauges? No settings to distribute X% of power to the front or rear? No dash light to indicate the system is working or that a wheel is slipping (excluding the traction light)?

2. Drive Modes. The infotainment screen allows you to change drive mode settings. But there are multiple drive modes. Which one am I changing? Sport? Sport+? And what is "Customize" when I press the drive mode button? Am I customizing that mode? What's the difference between Sport and Sport+? (I know this, but that the screen provides no details is stupid.)

3. Economy Display is not intuitive. Why does it act like a power meter? The more gas I give it, the more dots it shows. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Why not more dots to show better economy? Why is it backwards?

4. Why no additional sound system settings with the Mark Levinson system vs the standard stereo? Infotainment options are identical between the two.

5. Two separate sunroof buttons doesn't bother me, but why make them work separately of each other? If the sunroof is open and I want to vent it instead, why can't I just push the vent open button and the roof closes then vents? Why do I have to push the close button on the slider, then the vent button on the other switch? Or visa versa from vented to open? Stupid.

6. I can start the car, so why can't I close the sunroof or windows via the app if any are left open?

I don't expect answers, but this thread is litterally called "Dumb questions", and I have a lot of those. Mostly just expressing my thoughts as I get to know this car.

 

None whatsoever, my guess is that they didn't want to give the driver any impression that the AWD is doing anything other than its job. All I know (from brochures and the like) is that the system is full-time with a Torsen T3 center diff (supposedly?) with a 30% front / 70% rear default distribution. There's a clutch pack that is open at 30/70, and progressively closes to bring it up to 50/50 as needed.

The manual explains further but isn't too helpful. Basically, the infotainment settings allow for drive mode customization. This only affects the Customize setting (when you press the drive mode button). Selecting the sportiest settings for everything makes Customize a copy of Sport S+. I set Customize to a sport suspension (which also changes steering feel) and leave everything else normal.

By the way if you set Customize's climate to eco, the car will not go back to normal climate even if you turn off Customize and go back to normal / Sport S / Sport S+. You have to go into the infotainment climate screen and manually turn that eco thing off. I'd rather rely on the built in eco mode when the car is cold and it's freezing outside, just to keep it from artificially raising the revs in order to generate heat faster.

• Eco mode: dulls throttle response and sets the hvac into eco mode (when you select heat from the hvac, it doesn't rev the engine up when the ambient temps are cold)
• Normal: normal mode
• Sport S: remaps throttle response and allows the transmission to hold onto gears for longer (the latter is quite noticeable when you're driving hard)
• Sport S+: Sport S but with firmer suspension and firmer steering wheel feel. You can feel it firm up noticeably, especially if you're moving the wheel slightly back and forth on a straight road and switch between Sport S and Sport S+

Yeah, this one is dumb. It should start off with a full green bar, then as you drive harder, the bar dips down. I never use it, I'd rather have the gear position indicator anyway.

Why not have just one button to open and vent? Push up to vent, pull back to open. Hold it in those positions for a couple of seconds and it'll do what you suggested above (ie. reset itself to a starting position then either vent or open) Push the forward-most part of the button to reset the moonroof and close it completely. My guess is that the two button approach is for symmetry, which is kind of dumb.

 

It's definitely not the best, but since I leased a Fusion Energi a while back I guess Lexus' eco display doesn't seem all that confusing to me.

Basically, it's an eco-range meter. If you keep your acceleration low and within the blue zone, then you're being more fuel efficient. If you accelerate outside of the blue, you're not being fuel efficient.

The Empower gauge pictured is from a Ford Fusion for comparison sake.

 

Thank you @GNS and @Racer00J !

And now for my next round of dumb questions. Why do some screens have a more updated feel to them for the same year vehicle? Did Lexus make a different system for different models?

Here's mine (2018 IS350):



And here's a 2018 NX300h:


Why does the NX seem more updated and have a different layout using the same icons?
In mine is the map the only thing that can ever be displayed in full screen?
Can the small map displayed on the right side of the split screen ever be shown in the direction of travel?

I have my Vline2 to install when I get home, but I'm just generally curious about Lexus/Toyota's software and options.

 

Hello everyone, I just purchased my first Lexus. A 2021 is350 F Sport with 4 miles off the lot. I now have around 150 miles on the car and while I love it, I noticed a noise every time I went from park to drive or drive to park. As this is my first Lexus, I’m not sure if this is something normal or not. Attached is a video in which you can hear me start the car, and put into drive. It sounds like a whine. Please let me know if anyone has any information on this or if I should take it in to get it looked at.

 

I don't see the video, but I think I know what it is. This "whine" is the electric parking brake. If you want to test this yourself and confirm, you can individually operate the electric parking brake using its switch located in the location circled below. I've heard this sound on other newer Toyota models, including a Toyota Sienna recently.