This morning I took my newly-acquired IS 200 to Wheels in Motion to get the geometry set properly and the wheels balanced. I'd noticed a lot of vibration at motorway speeds which wasn't there when I test drove it. The wheels had been refurbished in between my original test drive and purchase, so I suspected the wheels hadn't been balanced (especially because I couldn't see any weights on 3 out of the 4 wheels !).

Anyway, it was great. Tony and his guys seemed highly professional and the service was excellent. Tony kindly answered all my stupid questions about the whole thing and obviously has very in-depth knowledge about this sort of thing.

Turns out that all my wheels were badly unbalanced. I was impressed by WIM's balancing machine, which tells the operator exactly where to put the weights as well as how much it should be. It even gives you a printout afterwards. I'd say that if you are popping to WIM for a geometry set-up, then if you've got any doubts about the balance of your wheels it might be worthwhile getting them checked there too.

There was a huge transformation just from the wheel balancing. A much smoother ride at high speed and a pleasure to drive.

The fact that the balancing made such an improvement made it difficult to judge any improvement from the geometry. The geometry settings were some way out from WIM's proper settings, as expected. It did seem to track better on the motorway, and a slight pull to the left had disappeared. Haven't taken it down any twisties yet to see how it handles down there.

Overall, a great experience and money well spent. I highly recommend Tony's service to any other IS 200 owners out there. Even if it's quite a trip that you have to make, I am sure you'll be glad you did.

I totally agree, improves the way the car handles and in time saves you money on the premature excessive inner tyre wear!

Excellent write up on a great service Steve. You will deffo notice the difference 'in the twisties'

btw hope you can join other members at some meets, maybe JAE or Grasshopper (nr Oxted).
(if you are interested see the Club Meets Section [b][url="http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showforum=25"]HERE[/url][/b] )

[quote name='DJ Wozza' post='571050' date='Aug 12 2008, 01:53 PM']btw hope you can join other members at some meets, maybe JAE or Grasshopper (nr Oxted).
(if you are interested see the Club Meets Section [b][url="http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showforum=25"]HERE[/url][/b] )[/quote]
Thanks Wozza. I was having a look at the JAE thread yesterday actually, I'm giving some thoughts to that ! Hadn't heard about Grasshopper so will look that up now

Can I be so bold as to ask how much a check costs? (also if any work needs doing?)

[quote name='Dan_Harris' post='571068' date='Aug 12 2008, 02:48 PM']Can I be so bold as to ask how much a check costs? (also if any work needs doing?)[/quote]
If you PM Tony (username "wheels-inmotion.co.uk") then I'm sure he can help you out with that.

I just went out for a drive down the "twisties". Wow what a difference ! I wasn't sure if I'd notice a big change since having the wheels balanced was such a big improvement on its own, but I was amazed, it handles so much better now !

One very satisfied WIM customer

Think i was charged £85 or there abouts for full geo setup, well worth it IMO, as it costed me 4 tyres (each at £130 and lasted just over 10k before geo setup), So hopfully these Good Year F1s new all round i now have should last well over 17k+ miles.

yeh well mine was done as one of the original research cars and the 2nd car to get WIM'd , but was curious about getting it checked to make sure wheels are balanced as since it was done new wheels were put on and i don't think they were balanced.

I must say the balance figures were awful, how they thought they would get away with that is beyond me

[quote name='Steviewevie' post='571042' date='Aug 12 2008, 01:29 PM']This morning I took my newly-acquired IS 200 to Wheels in Motion to get the geometry set properly and the wheels balanced. I'd noticed a lot of vibration at motorway speeds which wasn't there when I test drove it. The wheels had been refurbished in between my original test drive and purchase, so I suspected the wheels hadn't been balanced (especially because I couldn't see any weights on 3 out of the 4 wheels !).

Anyway, it was great. Tony and his guys seemed highly professional and the service was excellent. Tony kindly answered all my stupid questions about the whole thing and obviously has very in-depth knowledge about this sort of thing.

Turns out that all my wheels were badly unbalanced. I was impressed by WIM's balancing machine, which tells the operator exactly where to put the weights as well as how much it should be. It even gives you a printout afterwards. I'd say that if you are popping to WIM for a geometry set-up, then if you've got any doubts about the balance of your wheels it might be worthwhile getting them checked there too.

There was a huge transformation just from the wheel balancing. A much smoother ride at high speed and a pleasure to drive.

The fact that the balancing made such an improvement made it difficult to judge any improvement from the geometry. The geometry settings were some way out from WIM's proper settings, as expected. It did seem to track better on the motorway, and a slight pull to the left had disappeared. Haven't taken it down any twisties yet to see how it handles down there.

Overall, a great experience and money well spent. I highly recommend Tony's service to any other IS 200 owners out there. Even if it's quite a trip that you have to make, I am sure you'll be glad you did.[/quote]
Hi Stevie, how much was it to get your geomtry setting done, Tommy

[quote name='tommy20165' post='571776' date='Aug 14 2008, 04:16 PM']Hi Stevie, how much was it to get your geomtry setting done, Tommy[/quote]
Tommy, it'll probably be about £100 or so. If you PM Tony Bones (username on here is "wheels-inmotion.co.uk" then he'll be able to give you a quote). It'll be money well spent, I'm sure