silver305

iTrader: (1)

nah, dont push it with the whole accord thing... However, if i wanted a big body, i would just get a big cadillac dts and call it a day. I wonder what lexus was thinking about when they made this LS460?
So, did they remove the tires or not? lol because i want to go get it done and not wait to find these wheel lock key..

CJITTY

they take them off and do a hunter road force balance first, then fine tune the balance with the high speed on the car. Ok, maybe not an Accord..how about a TL lol...just sell the car already..all your posts whether it is the wheels, expectations of the Vossen Warranty, the car, the headlights have all been negative..def your right to do so..but sounds like you need to craigslist the LS and get that Cadillac and be happy. Most of us LS owners would disagree and love our LSs...keep us posted and I'll look for your build thread on the Caddy forums haha

silver305

iTrader: (1)

Actually, you know where i think i went wrong with this car???? i bought a car with 64k miles and zero warranty.. That was MY MISTAKE.. i should have never bought a car with this many miles and no warranty otherwise i would have it in the dealer for a full month while i drive a loaner and not care because everything is being worked on. I am OCD with cars and i notice things most people WOULD NEVER notice at all. I probably would be happier if i had bought a newer GS with full warranty and zero bs issues, but it is what it is. I thought the LS would be MUCH MORE SOLID overall and so i went with it. Frankly, i didn't do my damn research regarding this car because i was coming from an IS250 that was sturdy as hell. Most of the issues are more TOYOTA ISSUES with this car such as control arms that wear out fast, brakes that are decent, but dont really last long. Wind noise during highway accelaration/cruising etc. I probably wouldnt have bought the car if i had known these issues were present when i test drove it, but like i said, no informing yourself with the necessary things to understand what known problems are is something i can only blame myself for.
So far, i have owned 3 lexus and the IS250 was BY FAR the most reliable, trouble free, camry-like reliability vehicle i have ever owned. I would buy an is250 with my eyes closed, but the reason why i came to this car was because i m 6'1 252 lbs ( i bodybuild) and so the car was getting smaller and smaller which lead me to buying the bigger brother. Could i trade this car back in? possibly, but i am not going to lose the $5000.00 down payment just like that.
**** poor purchase which makes me angry as hell because this is the first time this has ever happened to me, but i guess it happens to us all at some point when playing this whole car game...

CJITTY

Just an observation so take it for what it is worth. I think you are taking this issue too far in your analysis. All of us stated we had our tire balance issues..especially with 22s and 30/25 series tires. Imperfections in the road and tire are magnified because the tires simply cannot absorb as a pillow thick 45 or 50 series tire. This car is heavy and the braking system is adequate. New rotors and pads should last you plenty of miles. Jmcraney Wind noise fix has been clearly documented and in most cases greatly reduces or even eliminates the noise..search for the DIY..very easy. We have members that are over 6ft 5in and much heavier than you and they do just fine. Save some money and bring it to a lexus trained mechanic at a smaller shop. Narrow down the cause (I suspect low budget tires and bad balance)...give it a chance man..I think you are having inadvertent buyers remorse

FLYCT

Wasn't it you who posted that you had a special relationship with a mechanic at a local Lexus dealer? What happened with that relationship?

I'm 6' 242# and my LS460 drives like a dream. Of course it has Stock wheels, suspension, brakes Michelin tires. The only mod I made is to add Bluetooth Audio so I can listen to Pandora via my iPhone through the stock ML radio.

The only issue I had was rotors needed to be turned to eliminate a slight steering wheel shake when light brake pressure was applied at highway speeds.

Once you decided to modify your LS's suspension with after market, wheels, low profile tires etc, you became a test pilot.

Reading your negative postings, they make me think that I'm not sure you will ever be satisfied with your LS. Perhaps it's time to dump it and lease an Acura RL. Seriously. If you have issues that aren't resolved there is always Florida Lemon Law. The dealer gets 3 attempts to resolve an issue then you file.

With the cheap money out there and with your financial skills why did you put $5000 down? I financed my last Used Lexus purchase through PedFed at 1.74%. Had i purchased through a local dealer the rate would have been only 0.74%. PenFed financed 100% including taxes, tag and title without question.

Another thing that puzzles me is why would a down payment of $5000 have anything to do with the Cash Value of your LS? The value is the same, is it not? If you bought it right, as I believe you did, you would just have more equity value. I once traded in my 2000 Ford Expedition on a new 2004 Expedition. They were offering 0% financing on the new car. I financed 100% and received a check for $15,000, the equity in my trade. I like free money.

JR

ssrfenton

I had my Cadi in the shop more than I want to admit. Go into ANY Cadi dealership and you will find nearly all hoists loaded. 97% of the market are GM Retirees. A good lease car but thats it. It will burn your wallet. Purchased a new Impala hoping this DD would hold up but at only 60K Miles, 3 sets of rotors and pads, 3 evap solenoid valves, new transmission main body valve, new steering rack, new right and left hub assy.....Interior plastic panels just falling off. Rear suspension arms need replacing but I ran out of cash to fix those..OH , two sets of tires..

Now the LS is reported at many dealerships to run over 400,000 miles where they log the owners. Very few issues but I'm sure the warranty fixed them too....That's incredible value. You buy, drive until it dies and that's why you buy Lexus. Sure they are boring because they do just most things right. Too be sure just go for a long test drive in the 2013 LS 460 and compare that to what you have...never hurts. except if you buy

silver305

iTrader: (1)

I put down $5000.00 so my payments could be decent. I got a 4% APR and if i was to trade my car in (which i have already thought about), i would get around $6000.00 less than what i owe so trading it in isnt really smart. However, the entire selling it to a person is an option, but the last time i tried selling a vehicle it was a nightmare because you mostly get tire kickers and people who want to lowball you anyhow. I work long hours and have zero time to be showing the car to people who don't have the money or financial capabilities of buying this type of car. Lets face it, an IS250 sells MUCH EASIER and faster than the LS. Everytime i see the boards i notice that there are around 900 people viewing the IS forums compared to the 300 that view the LS forum. My point is that i would love to get this car to ride and feel like it is supposed it. OF COURSE when i first test drove it i felt a smoother car than my last car, but now that i have owned it for longer, i noticed that it doesn't ride like it is supposed to. This does not mean it feels worse than some cheaper cars out there, but it certainly does not feel like it was designed to be.
I have priced out a warranty and might look into pulling the trigger and have a list of things i want done to it. I want to replace all control arms and see if that solves something. I also will probably try to see if i can get all 4 brake calipers replaced to see if this helps with the weird "grabbing" of the brakes i feel as i come to a stop. I still feel it EVEN AFTER replacing the front rotors and pads only 300 miles ago.

silver305

iTrader: (1)

I hope it is the bad tires/balance. The brakes are better, but why in the world do they still feel like they "grab" a little when i am coming to a slow stop? It was worse before i replaced the front rotors/pads, but didnt do anything to the rears. Could the rears possibly cause this even though they hardly do any work when compared to the fronts?

CJITTY

when i replaced all 4 of my rotors for the first time at 60k miles (warped), i never had an issue again. OEM fronts and Raybestos Advanced Technology rear rotors. the new owner of my 460 is still on the same brakes and he drives like a beast..car has about 110K on it now..you in the big league now..gotta pay to play

silver305

iTrader: (1)

i got the EBC fronts with akebono pads. The rears are probably still 60k old so i will probably get the stock rear rotors and the akebono rears and see how it feels after that.

FLYCT

In a prior posting you wrote that you were a Financial Analyst yet your math doesn't seem to make sense. You said that you paid $33,500 for the car. If you put down $5000 then the payoff is something like $28,500. If you think you will get $6,000 less on a trade than what you owe that equates to a trade in value of only $22,500. I think your trade in value would be closer to $30k.

On top of that your girlfriend bought you the wheels and tires so they didn't cost you anything. I'm sure you also made a profit selling your LS600hl headlights. What happened to your original wheels and tires? did you sell those also? Your not in a bad position if you want to dump the car.

Take it to CarMax one evening and see what they will give you. I'll bet it will be close to $30k.

If you decide to keep it refinance it with PenFed at current rate of 2.49%. Last month the rate was 1.79% and the month before it was 1.49%. Even at 2.49% a PenFed refinance should save you a few dollars. You can join and apply online and get an immediate approval.

JR

silver305

iTrader: (1)

ok, let me explain to you how it works:
when you buy a vehicle, the sale price plus tax and fees is NOT how much you owe at the end of the loan. You have to add interest to that which is what brings my total to 34k because i had 1900 dollars negative equity on my IS250. However, i made that back by selling the headlights in the vehicle two weeks ago so that was offset. That being said, i did try KELLY BLUE BOOK to get an estimated vehicle trade in value and it said $28500 if it is in excellent condition. This could potentially mean if i was going to get $30k for it, i would STILL have a negative equity of $4000.00. Loans don't work like goin to the grocery store and buying something and then selling it. There is a payoff amount that is what you paid for the car PLUS accrued interest.
At this point, from a financial perspective, it DOES NOT make sense to trade it in and LITERALLY give away all of the down payment plus the new brakes, pads, etc for someone else to come and drive off with. I will probably just buy the extended warranty from Costco for 36k miles and own it for three years. It makes me SICK to my stomach how fast these cars depreciate. i mean, by the time i hit 80k miles it will probably be worth 20k dollars!! that is nuts..but it is what it is..

FLYCT

I have a little knowledge of how car purchases work. In just the last 9 months i bought and currently own 4 Lexus cars. 3 from Lexus dealers and one from an independent dealer. These deals were a mixture of trades and clean purchases, new, used and CPO cars. Some were financed but dealer could not match rates that I obtained either through USAA or PenFed.

So you paid $33,500 for the car + $1,900 negative equity on trade, + ~ $200 tag transfer, + ~ $700 dealer fee, + ~ $2,300 sales tax, + $6.50 tire fee, - $5,000 down payment for about $33,600 financed. One month accrued interest runs a little over $100. The quoted sales tax assumes the ACV on the trade was zero. Whatever they gave you on the trade would reduce the sales tax by 6% in Florida. All Florida counties charge 6% plus $50 sales tax for car purchases.

So even with $5,000 down you think your at least $4,000 upside down already. That's not good.

Do yourself a favor, look into refinancing through Penfed.com to drop your interest rate so when you trade in next time you won't be as upside down.

JR

CJITTY

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

silver305

iTrader: (1)

i just did that and unfortunately they only finance used vehicles for 5 years, not 6. This would increase my monthly payment by nearly $100 dollars...