calijapan

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but for a 2013 ES350:
1. Can I top off my windshield washer fluid with a generic brand? Any recommendations on brand? I did see a $5 "Rain-X RX11806D Washer Fluid Additive" on Amazon.
2. Is rotating the tires every 10K miles instead of 5K okay? Note that it takes me 1.5~2 years to drive 10K miles.

PS: Sorry if I don't reply to your thread. Since my account is new, it doesn't let me post replies sometimes, but if I can't, I will hit the "Thanks" button!

lesz

You can use any windshield washer fluid that you want.

The Lexus recommendation for 5000 mile tire rotation intervals is purely motivated by wanting to get customers into the dealership to spend money more frequently for service. With 10,000 mile tire rotation intervals, there will be no adverse effects with regard to tire wear. With an ES, the front tires will wear a bit more than the rear during a 10,000 mile interval, but that will even out nicely during the next 10,000 miles after a rotation at 10,000 miles.

calijapan

Awesome, thank you lesz!!

SW17LS

I actually disagree on the rotation. If you want to get as much mileage out of your tires as you can, I would rotate them every 5k miles, especially on a FWD ES.

lesz

When I did the first rotation of my tires on my 2013 ES at 10,000 miles, the front tires had 7.5/32" of tread left, and the rears were at 8.5/32". When I did the next rotation at 20,000 miles, all of the tires were at 7/32". So, after two rotations, the wear had evened out on all 4 tires. Average wear of 1/32" per 10,000 miles on all 4 tires is, I think, very good for the MXV4 tires that came with the car.

My experience has been that, as long as there are no alignment issues, any difference in wear between rotating at 5000 miles or at 10,000 miles is negligible.

SW17LS

My experience has been with problems specifically at the outside shoulder of the tire, not overall tread depth. 5k rotations in my experience reduce the likelihood of having tires that are still okay depth in the center, but really worn at the outside shoulder.

dchar

You don't need to take the car to the dealer every 5K miles...you can get the tires rotated for a small fee or free at many tire shops. I agree with having your tires rotated every 5K miles to get the most out of your tires.

calijapan

Hmm, thanks for bringing that up SW15LS!

For now, I think I'll stick with every 10k cause I'm busy, but maybe every 5k in future if I start seeing my tires get bad.

lesz

That sounds like a reasonable plan.

For me, I have to drive 70 miles whenever I need any work done on my vehicles. That means that, for even an oil change or tire rotation, I need to spend 1/2 a day. So, I try to minimize those trips, and I sync my tire rotations with oil changes, which means 10,000 mile (or 1 year intervals). I do periodically, though, inspect the tires and look for unusual tire wear, cupping, uneven wear across the tread, etc. If I were to notice anything unusual, I would, instead of waiting for the 10,000 mile interval, deal with it immediately. Up to now, I've seen no reason to do rotations more frequently, and I'm guessing that you will have a similar experience.

LexBob2

70 miles certainly is a long drive for service. Do you live in the central or western part of the state? I don't have a Lexus right now but my preferred BMW dealer is 35 miles each way. There is one much closer (10 miles) that I can use in a pinch. Fortunately I haven't had to go to either one much, just routine service.

lesz

I'm in the northwest corner of the state. I'm 35 miles from the Toyota dealer that I use to service my Lexus vehicles in Dubuque, Iowa (hence the 70 mile round trip). The two closest Lexus dealers to me are both about 100 miles (200 mile round trip) from me in Madison, Wisconsin and in Davenport, Iowa.

LexBob2

I'm very familiar with that area. We lived in Cedar Rapids and then Davenport before moving to the Chicago area. I've travelled to Dubuque many times. Last fall we stayed at the Hampton Inn right in front of the Dubuque Toyota dealer (had dinner at Timmermans). It's a small world. I'm surprised there isn't a Lexus dealer in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area.

lesz

Other than the Lexus dealer in the Quad Cities, I believe that the only other Lexus dealer in Iowa is in Des Moines. Also, Timmerman's is one of my favorites in the area. After having lived a good part of my life in suburban Chicago, one of my few complaints with this part of the state is that no one here knows how to make a good pizza.

LexBob2

How far are you from Rockford? The Lexus dealer there looks pretty big. Are you in the Galena area? I'm retired so a drive to the dealer is doable but sometimes I just don't feel like it. Timmerman's is great. We've been going there for decades although not too much these days. Agreed on the pizza.

lesz

I'm about the same 100 miles from the Lexus dealer in Rockford as I am to the dealers in Madison and Davenport, but the drive to Madison and to Quad Cities puts me on roads for which the driving is less stressful than the ones I'd have to use to get to Rockford.

I'm out in the country about 10 miles east of Galena. My house is on about 30 acres of secluded timber. I've come to really enjoy the lack of noise, the complete darkness at night, etc. Even after having lived much of my life in the Chicago area, I can't deal, at this point, with crowds of people, urban traffic, or urban noise.

I've never been to the Rockford dealer, but I don't think that it is a large dealer. When I check their website, I always see inventories of the various models that are only about 1/3 the size of the inventories of the Madison and Quad Cities dealers and a much smaller fraction of the size of the inventories of the bigger dealers in the Chicago area.