2008 ML radio upgrade
 

Hey all, first post here. Before you ask, yes I did search this specific question and couldn't find anything.

My dad just bought an 08 LS460 with 12k miles on it. There are no words to describe how beautiful and smooth the car is.

The stereo sounds great, no need for an upgrade on that, but the radio is confusing me.
It is capable of bluetooth, so why not HD radio? On his old car we could go through certain channels with multicast. For example 98.7 was taken over by mainstream and rap music, before that it was Jazz. The Jazz 98.7 was moved to multicast channel 2.
How can we get the radio to use multicast? If it is a stupid question then delete, I am new to forums in general but I know the basics of searching, and found nothing when I searched "2008 Lexus LS460 multicast"

My first thought was if there was a way to update the radio software through OB2 or USB, but I am not sure.

Any help or input is appreciated.

*Edit*: need to keep stock head unit, unless there are aftermarket ones that look just as nice and aren't flashy

The 2010 LS460's were the first models to offer bluetooth audio. If you would like to add features to an already fantastic sounding ML system: http://www.vaistech.com/site/home.php

The ML system is flat out amazing. Never heard any vehicle audio setup as good as this. I just miss the HD radio and multicast. Whenever I start the car the display always says "Bluetooth connection failed" so I assume it had bluetooth. Just one more thing to add!

Thanks for the link man

I'm pretty sure that message is only referring to not being able to pair with a cell phone. My guess is it is still trying to connect to the previous owner's cell phone. Check the manual and you can go in and delete that cell phone. Then you won't get that message any more.

Please tell your Dad congrats and good luck with the new LS. And don't be a stranger here!

Don't be a stranger?

The car is amazing in every way. It's faster than the Taurus SHO, and better in every way. That's all I can think of to say is that it is better in every way. I don't like American cars much other than to go in a straight line fast, but this thing does it wicked fast.


Rather than starting a new thread, anybody know how much sound deadener is in the car stock? All previous vehicles in our driveway would be taken apart and stacked full of dynamat (or other varient of CLV) and MLV to get the quiet.
This car is pretty silent factory, but if at all possible we'd like to get even more silence!

Fixing the triangle thing on the window seems easy, thanks to the awesome community, and getting comfort tires too.


Love the car, when I drive it feels like a lizard gliding on ice!

ML is about the best factory system there is and its awesome. HD radio is available on newer LS.

Hey pcls, what I meant by the "stranger" comment was sometimes we have new people sign up to ask a question and then never hear from them again. That's OK, but I was just encouraging you and/or your Dad to be regular contributors.

As far as the "lizard gliding on ice", I've never heard the LS described that way, but I like it! :thumbup:

Ah I see. Well the car is exceptionally smooth, so I figured i'd say that rather than just plain old smooth.

Any idea on the doors though?

I'm sorry, I read your posts again but I'm not sure what you are asking about the doors?

If you or anybody has taken the door panels off. All my other vehicles have added CLV and MLV and they're as quiet as the Lexus, but you hear different noise. So I figured I'd add some to this car.

SO, the question is: how much sound deadener is on the car?

I do the trunk, floor, headliner, and doors.

Yikes, I'll defer to Ricknee on this one. He knows way more than me.

http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/products

Was looking at investing a couple uno's on this.

We had some air plane sound absorbing material, stuff like CLV, MLV, and some 3M sheet that was almost an inch thick.

Also, is there a way to swap in a radio from a newer LS?
I could always stock the HDD full capacity, but I would really like to set the car up with multicast

Alright sweet. Who is Don btw?

I was going to do the A pillars too. If I could see what it is like behind the panel then I'd have a better idea.

Thanks for all the input guys!