The Mod-ing Bug!

[FiZiX]

Hey guys,

After reading several posts on the forum about cheap and cheerful mods... i've been looking at few items and wondered if anyone could suggest a good place to buy them from or a better product for similar money??

Panel filter: Looked at the K&N filter on fleabay K&N Panel Air Filter

or are Pipercross better?

Front upper Strut Brace: Again eBay however if anyone knows any other sources that are worth recommending please do...

Firstly i found this on eBay,

Cheaper FUSB £39

Or is it worth splashing out abit more??

Slightly more expensive FUSB £79

I really have no idea, so some guidance and your suggestions would be great!!

Cheers

[sparkystav]

Personally, unless you just want the noise i'd go for the K&N panel filter.

and personally i'd go for some uprated ARB's over an upper strut brace. slightly more expensive but so much better handling and feeling.

[Steviewevie]

I second the recommendations for ARBs. IMHO the best value-for-money mod that you can get, such is the transformation of the car's handling.

Don't think you'll notice any difference from a strut brace unless you're going on a race track.

The K&N filter is great, I've got one myself.

[reganlives]

how much do ARBs cost and how about fitting them?

[edeath]

yeah do the ARBs before a strut brace. Intake mods really don't up the performance much and the K&N panel filter is probs best bet if you dont care about the noise. ARBs cost quite a lot atm as the exchanged rates are poor. The C-ONE arbs are about £400 and budget about £100 - 150 for fitting. I know it sounds like a lot but it's worth it. Might be worth waiting untill there is a meet near you and going for a drive in someones with it done.

You could always fit them yourself if your handy with a spanner. There's a guide somewhere on here.

[FiZiX]

Thank you for the input guys... :)

Yeah i was looking into ARBs but there seems to be only 2 types, Cusco and C-One both being on the dear side. Are these the only two types available? How easy is it to fit them yourself, i'm quite comfortable with a spanner... any special tools required?

Actually thinking about it is it worth up-rating your ARBs before WIM-ing the car? Or is the wheel alignment not affected?

Is it normal for up-rated (mod-ing) parts to be so thin on the ground and expensive for Lexus?

[aido]

Yeah pretty much mate, they're not the most modified type of car these so the majority of stuff is brought in from Japan and a lot of stuff that used to be readily available has now all dried up due to items being discontinued and so on.

I think I read somewhere that TDi had a set of the TTE red bars available still?

Try contacting your local dealer and see what price they'll give you for PZ439-C0722-00

[FiZiX]

Cheers for the heads up Aido, please excuse my ignorance... what do you mean by TDi?? Is PZ439-C0722-00 the code for the TTE bars?? Slightly confused mate

[Yeldarb]

TTE ARBS are still available through your local friendly Lexus dealer at £350ish + Vat

I bought mine only a month ago!! But also get new bushes to go with them, only a couple of pounds and well worth it.

[sparkystav]

Cheers for the heads up Aido, please excuse my ignorance... what do you mean by TDi?? Is PZ439-C0722-00 the code for the TTE bars?? Slightly confused mate

there a company down south who sell some mods for the IS200.

try www.tdi-plc.com

Personally id get the ones from your dealer rather than TDi. but thats just me.

Stav

[Steviewevie]

Yeah i was looking into ARBs but there seems to be only 2 types, Cusco and C-One both being on the dear side. Are these the only two types available? How easy is it to fit them yourself, i'm quite comfortable with a spanner... any special tools required?

Actually thinking about it is it worth up-rating your ARBs before WIM-ing the car? Or is the wheel alignment not affected?

Is it normal for up-rated (mod-ing) parts to be so thin on the ground and expensive for Lexus?

There are lots of different uprated ARBs, though some are easier to get than others. See this thread for some info on different types.

They are relatively straightforward to fit yourself, there's an article here on the subject. I got ToyotaGT to fit mine though.

You may want to budget for new drop links to be on the safe side. Unfortunately it is a common problem that the existing drop links can't be removed except by cutting them off (due to a bolt that ends up spinning rather than actually unscrewing).

I decided on the C-One ARBs myself. They do come complete with new bushes (not all ARBs do, and new bushes will help you get the most out of them). Another advantage of the C-Ones is that they come with a much stronger mounting bracket for the ARBs themselves (compared to the OEM bracket). Again this helps you get more out of the new ARBs (i.e. stiffer bracket combined with stiffer ARBs).

The ARBs aren't cheap, but if you compare them with the price of coilovers, they start to look a lot more attractive.

[aido]

Cheers for the heads up Aido, please excuse my ignorance... what do you mean by TDi?? Is PZ439-C0722-00 the code for the TTE bars?? Slightly confused mate

Sorry mate that is the code to get the TTE antirolls from the dealer :)

What I did notice though is that in the pic on the TTE website they are black, which ones did you get in the end Yeldarb, where they the black or red ones?

They're £316.28 at TDI here:

http://www.tdi-plc.com/catalog/product_inf...oducts_id=13949

Personally I'd go wherever is cheapest and if that's TDi I'd use them for it :)

[Steviewevie]

They're £316.28 at TDI here:

http://www.tdi-plc.com/catalog/product_inf...oducts_id=13949

Personally I'd go wherever is cheapest and if that's TDi I'd use them for it :)

Don't forget to add VAT on to TDi's prices :winky: (and delivery too)

[sparkystav]

And they'll possibly demand they fit them on top or they wont sell you them.

[aido]

Oh didn't realise that was +VAT, doesn't say on that page and I could be bothered to register - saying that still looks cheaper than Lexus - FiZix, give either Lexus Notts a call or Sean at Lexus Derby a call and see what price he'll do them for :)

[Steviewevie]

Oh didn't realise that was +VAT, doesn't say on that page and I could be bothered to register -

Yeah, they don't exactly go out of their way to make it clear that VAT needs adding on. Bit naughty IMHO.

[edeath]

Yeah i saw that price when I was looking for ARBs, rang them up to check and they confirmed all prices are plus vat. Couldn't seem to find that info on the site when I looked.

[Steviewevie]

They mention it on this page but IMHO it should be highlighted on every page with prices !

[FiZiX]

Its all becoming slowly clearer now, thanks for the advice guys ;) Got my K&N panel filter en-route and reading around on the ARBs

I read the ARBs thread (thanks Stevewevie) and it mentioned (by edeath) that WIM could fit them is that still true??

Also had a quick look online and yet again Fleabay came up with these beauties or do my eyes deceive me... Cusco Bars for £299

The ARBs thread also mentioned replacing your drop links both front and rear and new bushes... would i be able to get a decent set from the Lexus dealership?.. or do i need to shop around for those too??

Sorry to be asking so many questions, i'd just like to know i'm getting the best out of my money as ARBs aren't cheap... Cheers

[aido]

What milage is your car mate?

I actually had my TRD yellow bars installed at Lexus Nottingham! At the time the car had around 65k on the clock and didn't need any droplinks or anything, it's hit and miss, Chris on here had to replace his when he changed them recently, maybe you'll get lucky :)

[FiZiX]

Haha winner, you seem to know quite alot about the dealerships round my way... i take it you used to live round here?

Its done just over 60K, and recently had its service which hurt my wallet... alot!!

I hear new bushes are a good idea?? I'm very tempted to go for the Cusco Bar on Fleabay, seems a tad too good to be true tho....

[aido]

Yeah dude, moved a bit further North a few years ago now but still lurking around these parts! Might be coming back too at some point!

You may get away with it to be honest, think it cost me an hours labour to get them fitted at the dealer, think a lad called Graham did mine but he works down at Lexus Derby now.

That eBay auction is pukka though as it's Dave off here :)

The garage had a look at my balljoints and bushes when they put my coilovers on - this is nearing 100k and is coming up to ten years old and they're still ok yet so no need to replace!

Actually just realised looking at that eBay ad they come with bushes anyway, get the dealer to do em mate and they'll do a full VSR at the same time too :)

[FiZiX]

Kool, Nottingham is still a live and kicking place!! Haha...

Well was thinking as my missis lives near Sheffield so was gonna drop it into Russell to fit them... as i'm sure he'll do a good job.

[aido]

Yeah Gary and Chris will sort you out no problems up there mate, had a lot of work done there too :D

[Steviewevie]

Yep, WIM can fit your ARBs if you want. Or most places really, it's not a big job.

The drop link thing is pretty much luck, as Aido said. My car had done just over 50K (and was 9 years old) and two out of the four drop links were seized and needed cutting off. The problem you may find is that you go to get them fitted, then if any of them are seized and need replacing you obviously need to get hold of the parts. What I did was buy four new drop links from Lexus/Toyota and I checked that they were happy for me to return them for a refund if I didn't use them (and if I didn't open the packets). In the end I decided to use them all, drop links are something that wear out in time anyway, so since I was putting a couple of new drop links on through necessity I thought I'd go for the whole hog.

Back to one of your earlier questions, I had my car WIM'd before doing the ARBs. But when I went back to WIM yesterday (due to suspecting I had knocked the geo out through a slight mishap), Tony thought that my new ARBs had indeed affected the geo slightly via the increased stiffness (not greatly, but affected nonetheless).

Regarding the Cuscos, I was slightly concerned (when I was looking around and trying to decide) that unlike most of the uprated ARBs, the fronts have an even greater increased stiffness compared to the rears, so it might alter the handling characteristics (oversteer vs understeer etc) rather than just making things flatter when cornering. I thought it seemed like the C-Ones would be better. Also I didn't find anyone who actually had the Cuscos and could therefore comment on what they were like. I'm not trying to say that the Cuscos are a "bad" choice, just explaining why I went for the C-Ones.