oedipus

I took my page offline. You can still send me a PM if you need any of these documents.

You've got personal mail...

New occurrence here. Since 2 weeks, after car went to the garage for some suspension work, the FM stereo didn't work anymore. I hear mumbling & disturbed signal. MW & LW work fine, as does the 6CD unit. I tested without aerial and that is worse, so I presume antenna is not the problem. I do have a GROM ipod adapter installed, but there is no ipod connected. If I recap the options listed above, I can: - check the wiring - reset stereo Any other suggestions welcome!

When replacing the fluid, it makes a major difference for intensive brake users to replace it with high-end DOT5.1 fluid (not to be confused with DOT5, that's for special race braking systems!). That said, your garage probably has a device to measure the boiling point of your brake fluid. If that boiling point is still within tolerance, there is no real need to replace the brake fluid. That is of course if the fluid reservoir is full (at MAX sign). Consider the recommendation to replace your brake fluid every 2 years as best practice if you want to avoid all risks. It's not absolutely necessary.

My knocking noise under light braking & steering is gone since I had the front brakes & 4 dampers replaced by my Toyota garage. I asked them to verify all bushings to eliminate the knocking/cracking noise that drove me mad. They did eliminate it, but they didn't know why. No bushes were replaced, all were still in good nick. The stock dampers were replaced by Bilstein B6 dampers, the stock springs were already tossed for Eibachs some time back. They also replaced my stock rotors that were warped from trackday driving by treated Brembo Sport rotors and StopTech pads. Since this work was done, my car is again completely noisefree. What a relief. Hope this helps you guys.

TTE's marketing and sales department doesn't exist anymore. But the techhies and engineers are still working in Köln. Here's their new website: http://www.toyota-motorsport.com/. I contacted them and they explained they don't deal with end customers anymore. "3 Nov 2010 Dear Mr ..., Thank you for your email. However, I am sorry to say Toyota Motorsport GmbH cannot help you in this matter. We are no longer in a position to supply tuning products directly to customers. Please ask your Lexus dealer to contact Toyota Motorsport GmbH and order this part. Your Lexus dealer should call Toyota Motorsport GmbH on +49 2234 1823 0 in order to order the part. I hope that will solve your problem. Kind regards, Toyota Motorsport GmbH" You can't contact or deal with them directly unless you're a Lexus/Toyota dealer. I ordered a compressor bypass cable through the dealer (TeilNr. AM 27958 - cable, compressor bypass, spare - 36,34Eu). It arrived at my dealer a week later, price was only slightly higher. Still haven't fitted it though 'cause the old one isn't in too bad shape. So for who needs TTE parts, don't give up!

No, it's FWD and not sporty. Lexus marketeers don't know what they want. A little bit of BMW, some Mercedes and now some Audi. If this thing would have been some Subaru Impreza STI 4x4 or BMW 130i RWD with a hybrid system, I would have been interested. My IS 200 s/c doesn't have a worthy successor (IS-F being out of league). If I had to replace it, Lexus doesn't stand a chance. A pity. Next please.

If you feel the vibration clearly in your bottom/feet/footwell, it's coming from the rear axle. If you feel it more in your steering, it's probable on the front axle. All tyres should be balanced well of course. My experiences: I had vibrations on several occasions... - once at higher motorway speeds (just above 65mph) it proved to be one of my Conti's that had developed a big bump on the inner side on a rear wheel. That had to be sorted immediately, it can cause the tyre to blow, with all possible consequences. At lower speeds, it could almost not be felt, which seems rather strange to me. - a second time when I had vibrations, it was at lower speeds (20-30mph). That was caused by a warped rim. It was on the back side of the car. After having the rim repaired, it was gone. - the third time it was due to one of my P Zero Rosso's that was slightly misshaped and which couldn't be balanced out. There was nothing else wrong with the tyre and it still had a lot of rubber on it. The garage has done a rear/front change, with the misshaped tyre put on the front axle. There it could almost not be felt anymore. The reason seems to be that the further away the vibration is from the steering wheel, the more the vibrations are amplified through the chassis. They had clearly made me feel that when the inbalance is on the front axle, you feel it in the steering, when it's at the back, you feel it in the footrest or on the floor of the footwell. The tyre is still on btw. - the most recent vibration occasion was after my last trackday session at the Nordschleife: warped brakes. The vibrations can be felt under harder braking and increase with the brake force applied. Solution: new rotors. Hope this helps. I'd recommend you to go to a good tyre shop. Most of the time, they sort these kinds of things quickly.

I would definitely recommend you to go lower. Not only for the optical effect, but it also improves your roadholding dramatically. My Eibach Pro kit lowered my Lex by 30mm front & rear. Optically, it is still 5 to 10mm too high, but when driving it, the balance is excellent as it is now. Only with good quality coilovers, I would be able to adapt the ride height optically, but it would undeniably have it's effect on the handling (more understeer). My setup is almost complete, now I'm on Bilsteins B6 with the Eibachs (not in the pictures) and soon with an Eibach anti-roll kit. This first picture (black wheels) is from the day after I lowered the car. The one with the silver wheels is taken one year after. Go get yourself an Eibach Pro Kit. It's well worth the money (calculate a complete geometry in your budget!) and you can always sell them for a good price afterwards if still you want to upgrade to coilovers.

Technical leader in a big financial institution in Brussels. In charge of a team of of a 15p. managing configuration of corporate network components like switches, routers, loadbalancers, proxies, secure reverse proxies, dns-systems, dhcp systems, IPAM-systems, IPS systems, firewalls and load-balancers. I love it! :P

any news?

I have no idea. Why not give them a call? But to be honest, at £41,00 it actually is a bargain. I paid half more without postage for mine. Genuine articles like this with the L badge on it, are never going to be dirt cheap. If you want cheaper, try second hand or you'll have to stick to all these other aftermarket options available.

Well in a way I think I can understand her: personally I don't like cosmetic styling much either. Tuning is different though, you don't necessarily have to show all you've got. I rather go for understatement: compressor, suspension, ligher wheels, bigger brakes, ARB's, decat downpipe, ss catback, intake, TT Supra engine swap, little or no badges at all, certainly no spoilers, ok maybe a lip or a sports grille, but no wings, custom paint jobs, double wings, splitters, fake carbon hoods, air rides etc. That kind of West Coast Customs stuff is over the top for me, I gladly leave that to others. Nevertheless I very much appreciate some of the top jobs out there. :hocus-pokus:

For future reference: http://www.toyodiy.com/ This helped me out on many occasions.

Tell the missus that an RS4 is no where near an IS 200 Sport. It might have double the power, but when it comes to ride quality, comfort, sharpness, it is no match to this refined piece of Nippon engineering. I don't understand how people continue to consider buying Audi's. They reall can't make suspensions.