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I deal with spider corrosion on diamond cut alloys through work. For anyone that doesn't know the effect is created by painting the rim black then putting it on a lathe and milling the outer surface with a diamond bit which gives you that cool grooved silver finish. To save us all the maintenance required (imagine how much work is involved in polishing every week) the whole rim is then given a clear coat of lacquer to protect it. This layer allows a more lenient cleaning process. If for any reason the clear coat is compromised moisture can creep in below the lacquer and it gives a white, milky spidering effect which generally only gets worse the longer you leave it. Whilst external influences (impacts/environment/handling/lack of maintenance) can cause this, a poorly applied clear coat can also be at work (hence all the warranty claims). Remember that the wheels of a car get possibly the roughest time when you consider what they are subjected to. In my own opinion I don't think these finishes are worth it. A regular silver or gun metal painted coating will weather the same punishment for longer. Anyway, to remedy this sort of corrosion properly the alloy must first be stripped of it's lacquer layer and paint then the wheel surface machined again. As this milling removes material it's worth noting that alloys should only be milled a certain amount before you weaken the overall structure of the rim. It's not surprising the manufacturer has put the onus on the retailer, vehicles should be put right before being sold, they should have allowed for the costs as part of the resale process. I'd certainly expect the seller to have them refurbished for you. Locally I'd be working with around £130 plus vat a wheel so your quote looks in the right ballpark for a proper job. Good luck with getting it sorted 👍

According to the website section for the RC (you are looking to change the speakers in the RC-F not an ML?) "An eco-friendly technology initiative, GreenEdge™ improves sonic performance while reducing power consumption, weight, and heat generation." It also states - "Mark Levinson engineers have spent thousands of man-hours collaborating with Lexus engineers to achieve the precise Mark Levinson Sonic Signature for each vehicle. That means determining the optimal system architecture and placing speakers so that each passenger hears the full concert—a three-dimensional orchestra from the front to the back of the car." Clearly if their solution doesn't fit with your ears you should embark on a journey of experimentation. I love auditioning source/pre-amp/power amp/speakers, usually in store first to narrow down the selection, then at home to hear how it interacts with my room. Hours of fun. Shame the number of retailers willing to indulge is rapidly declining ...

Lexus replaced my alloys under warranty, no questions asked, a few months from new on an IS200, because of discolouration due to incipient corrosion, and on each of two IS250s (MYs 2008 and 2011), because of corrosion-related bubbling and flaking. I had no such issues with the 18" rims on an IS300h (MY2013) and the diamond-cuts on my 2013 RC are also still looking like new. Regardless of whether or not they were to blame and despite claims of harmlessness I stopped using specific wheel-cleaning products (I latterly favoured Meguiars Ultimate) after my experiences with the 250s, and have since used normal shampoo or sometimes just plain water over protective wax applied every three months or so.

It's on the screen for you, top left, under the word 'Consumption' E = 50Wh regenerated.

I would be amazed / genuinely astonished if I could do anything to make the ML in my RCF sound any better. Aftermarket car speakers are pretty much across the board terrible sounding. The drive units that ML specified were sourced via their sister company Revel so you’re in good hands. A direct Lexus sourced replacement will be best way to keep the sound quality of the ML spec’d unit. Then again beauty is in the eye (or in this case ear) of the beholder...after all some people think Bose and Sonos sound good - each to their own I guess.

I recently noticed that all 4 of my wheels had signs of corrosion (lacquer bubbling) around the centre caps . When the car was serviced in Cheltenham last week they photographed the damage and presented a case to Lexus for rectification. Today I was informed that Lexus UK decided that as I only bought the car in June that the supplying dealer (Derby) should have rectified the wheels before sale. I spoke Lexus UK myself and they confirmed that the wheels should have been sorted before sale and that the issue should be directed to the retail. They transferred my call to Derby who are going to decide on a course of action. I wonder if anyone else here has an issue with wheels on such a new car.

Pic taken on our recent holiday to the Lot region in France. She does look good in that setting, way nicer than beside my 3 bed red brick semi in Essex 😃

Having had a good listen to the sound system in my car I've decided to look into speaker upgrading. Being a hi-fi fanatic myself I doubt there is much wrong with the Mark Levinson CD player as it is a single play unit which I consider to be about right as far as I can tell. But the speakers are perhaps the weak link.

I use a very good local tyre place Denmead Tyre Services, the care they took over my Vossen wheels a while back and again in the past on many occasions has been excellent. I buy mail order and pay them £20 per wheel to fit and worth every penny. They are also used by specialist car restorers Jim Stokes the guy told me the other day he fitted tyres to the wheels of an old Alfa that were £20K to get made.

Do Lexus dealers match tyre shop prices? Mercedes used to, even online, just not special offers etc.. I always had MB fit new tyres. One of my pet hates/worries is how well and carefully the fitters remove the old balance weights.

I have used Dexos2 but have recently switched to Exol Optima LSG which I buy in a 20 litre drum for £60 - I service several cars (about 5) and use it in all of them. But £24 for Toyota oil is a good price - just buy 2 cans and keep the extra 3 litres for next time! Any good 5W30 is fine. Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

I'm not a great fan of whisky so I've decided to experiment with Rioja, and sure enough it works. This week I saw two Lexus IS sportcross near my house!

Re sump plug washers - the green ones are what I use - they are the superior ones. Sent from my PSP7551DUO using Tapatalk

Check out Costco if you are a member. They usually have good deals on for tyres.

Lol now why didn't I see that?

I used RS*R springs on my old GS300 Sport and put the badge onto the car as a result.

I had Michelin PS4S on the back for 420 fitted last year. 275/30/19 and that was via black circle. Just booked in to get fronts fitted on Wednesday on black circle for 376 fitted for the pair. They have an offer of 15 off for 2 or 40 off for 4. So mine will be 361 for the pair fitted. 245/35/19. So may be worth having a look on black circle and seeing what they come out as including the 40 off if you're getting 4?

RS-R are just an aftermarket suspension brand, have been around many years.A lot of the guys in the US use their springs on their RCF's. I'm not sure if they are used in competition anywhere, which in my mind is always the sign of a good suspension brand.

Cheque's in the post

Grab them Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good plan holding on, I generally try Camskill for tyre prices although they have messed me about in the past with very cheap prices then failed to deliver. I was pretty pi**ed off a few times but I think they are just the middle-man and rely on other suppliers to deliver the goods. I generally buy from Camskill and get my local tyre place to fit at £20 per wheel. PS4S are supposed to be a step up from PSS by all accounts so I'll be replacing my current tyres with them. Just checked that's a good deal Camskill £996 to just supply

I seem to recall that Harman group swallowed up JBL and a few others in the past.

There were some press releases at the time of release that mentioned Revel, not that I can find them now of course...in any case the lineage we benefit from is more Madrigal than Harman (or Samsung!) admittedly they’ve been swallowed up, but back in the day when they developed the drivers and amps for Lexus they were part of a hifi group along with ML that made unbelievable hifi. The teams that designed and made that stuff are still with both companies (except for Mr Levinson himself - too busy making s*x-help books with Kim Cattrall at the time...true story look it up). Point is the hifi’s we have in our cars are VERY special. This is Revel, they were part of Madrigal too. https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/96/index.html They’re still making pairs of speakers that cost £30k+!

All part of the Harman group.

That`s what Malt Whisky does for you pal !

I've religiously avoided diamond cut wheels because of worrying about lacquer issues. Sadly every manufacturer seems currently to feel the need to fit them. The only other car I had them on was a 2012 fiat punto, but I bought it 9 months old with 1500 miles and sold it for an Alfa 9 months later with 20000 +miles on it. Very little depreciation too. No wheel issues either.

I wonder how much people get paid for posting such inaccurate drivel?

Great car! Beats a MK1 Merc B class hands down!

I think that the issue is the car wasn't properly prepared for sale and you don't expect a car 3 months out of warranty to have wheel corrosion (especially one that cost £50k new). Lets face it my wife's £12k fiat 500 has perfect alloys. The other crazy thing is that if I'd spent less on a Toyota it would still be under warranty for another 18 months. Oh Cheltenham Lexus reckon £120 corner plus vat to refurbish properly...

Yes, audio is very much a personal thing. That said I'd imagine ML have researched speakers to put together a matched in car system? https://www.marklevinson.com/in-lexus.html I'd be more tempted to add sound deadening to the doors/panels before changing speakers. Give them to best opportunity to reproduce what's being fed to them? I don't have ML in my battery RC and find the sound perfectly adequate for listening to speech/music in a moving tin box... I saved the extra £1k it cost to spec in my car and added it to my home system budget, where I can control the room acoustics . Yes, as said, audio is very much a personal thing.

It’s a straight six alright! Nice colour... full of dents and scratches... just look at the tape that is holding the front bumper together 🤣🤣🤣

Same Supra engine on this one 😃

I always used to see a black Ls600 driving on the A40 Western Avenue going out of London when I was driving in. Almost every single time I would pass that exact same car! Anyone on here? Despite having not seen any LS for probably over a year, all of a sudden recently I have seen loads- the other day whilst out driving I saw three LS400s within half an hour and the next day was in my driveway and a blue LS400 came wafting past! Unbelievable after having seen none for ages. Have seen two ls430s in the last two or so weeks which is a very rare occurrence but neither was in v good condition the second was so dirty that I could barely make out the colour and it was missing all the Lexus logos on the wheel plates 😮 Probably the most memorable sighting some years ago was of a blue 2001 ls430 (also on A40) which had two enormous scrapes like something enormous had hit the side and had a chunk of the front grill missing almost like a bullet hole. The fact that as the driver came down the slip road he proceeded to slam through and around the heavy traffic like a rally car probably explains the damage! Have seen that exact car numerous times for sale on eBay and each time it has been more and more cannibalised to look like a boy racer machine. Except for these have barely ever seen any LS on the road.

Yes I agree audio in a car has it's restrictions and the RCF isn't that bad, ideally I'd like to be able to just replace the existing speakers with better quality ones.

I quite often have to do longish trips in my car like a 400 mile round trip to see a client. My previous car an AMG CL65 did that so well as the sound system was pretty good. My last trip up to Donington Park Raceway was a pleasant one. Lets face it with speed cameras and unmarked Police cars these sort of trips can be a nightmare so you might as well leave plenty of time, load up some CD's set up the cruise control to save your licence and enjoy some sounds. Hence my plan to improve it if I can.

I have to say my ISF speakers are the worst I have ever heard in a car 😂 honestly they just don't cut it for me and regularly find myself maxing out the volume and still not satisfied. Having said that, No I haven't bothered upgrading the speakers, especially ever since installing my Ti exhaust 😝, just looooove hearing the car now and don't really care about the speakers, I'm sure I'll blow them soon enough. I would have thought they would have upgraded the speakers on the RCFs

its been a few years since I have done audio stuff, but for components I always used Focal for subs and amps I prefer Rockford Fosgate

Thanks, I've spent a few hours buggering about with settings, the CD player plays HDCD's very well indeed and the system does liven up quite significantly so I'm going down the speaker replacing route. Call me old fashioned but I like sticking in a CD and listening right through.

Thanks, I've found Focal speakers to be a good upgrade so I'll have a word with our local car hifi set up for a bit of their advice.

I looked to replace my blown sub and it seemed a nightmare. No one makes a sub that fits. Taking advixe i found the system in the ISF seemed to be complex and not simple to upgrade. In the end I had Lexus fit a replacement sub. Ouch. Not cheap but it sounds much better now. But the system is still not great, If you do find replacement speakers that are a worth while upgrade I am interested.

Moving on......... Look at this lovely photo of a dog in a Lexus

I agree with other comments, you don't have to pay anything like that. As Neil says, O2 sensors are available for much less. When I had a GS I bought a Denso sensor for a third of the main dealer price, the identical part.

quite frankly I would take your car to an independent MOT station and an indy mechanic .............. from a recommendation from someone on here in your area. Lexus Bolton are probably taking you for a very expensive ride....... it's so unfair Malc

I imagine it's more a description of the type of paint rather than a positional reference?

Rumours are that TGR are developing a super car so LFA could be best next thing to test tyres on from a power/weight ratio maybe.

Hang on... are they relaunching the lfa??? I love the potential of the rcf gt. Good clip.

My father used to own an MK2 Supra back in the day. It was black and i thought the fact that it had the retractable headlights made it the coolest car at the time.

If headlights are on auto, they go off as soon as you switch off the ignition. If you have them on manual, then as one opens the driver's door the dash will ping at you. At least on my '16 hybrid.

And all the better for it too I really don't like the new style.