Mars

For those of you that identified the shoot location as Rivington / Belmont - Top marks and a big tick! It's actually Rivington Road. You may notice the location is simlar or should I say exact to that of the Foci :D The alloys have been refurbed by the previous owner and now have a shadow effect to them, which I really do like and suit the dark rear lights and tints on the car. Also Scotch guarded or something? I must admit they come up really well every time I wash her! The eyelids were purchased from an eBay seller called enurf, his shop is here: http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrpp...Q3aMEWNQ3aMESOI They took less than a week to arrive and were really well packed. and As for the first mod? The purchase process has already started with the afore mentioned TOMs style eyelids, rear cusco strut brace and a few grilles sat in the garage waiting to decide which: OEM sport grille, chrome altezza grille and possibly the LE grille soon. The first major mod will be the SuperCharger as I'm having one from Dave and having that fitted soon! :D Shortly after the S/C has been fitted, I'm either gonna start building on my "To Paint" pile with the TRD skirts or invest in some suspension bits 'n' bobs. I don't know if everyone oop North (or not necessarily from oop here) fancies an Owner's Club Meet up Rivington one weekend? If so, let me know here and I'll start a new topic to arrange attendees, dates, locations etc. Thanks for all the great comments, they're appreciated! Jamie Jamie, PM me your address I will definitely get the LE grille in the post to you this week

Yes my current dealership who are absolutely excellent is Woodford Green, James Cook (Service Manager) in particular. The other is also in London quite central. You can guess who that is.

15-16 mpg at present. Mainly short journeys (under 10 miles). In the summer I get about 20mpg.

Have you had the geo checked by Tony (wheels in motion)? I had awful brake judder too which Lexus couldn't fix, all got sorted after having the geo setup properly - sounds like its worth a shot if its handling so bad....... With regard to the warranty, I thought about it at the time, but approaching the end of what would have been the 2 years extra warranty, I'm glad I didn't as thankfully I haven't had anything go wrong (touch wood) All I did was before the original warranty expired, I had my dealer give the car an inspection and they picked off everything that needed replacing and got it all changed. It was quite a hefty bill as well so would highly recommend you do that :) Yes I also did this when the original three year warranty ended and they changed the water pump and bypass hose. Tony has dealt with my car before and after the original set up and two fine tunes everything appeared fine, however, the work carried out under an extra years warranty I bought may have compromised the geometry. Tony has set it up again and I will return in 2,000 miles. I like the car but too much has been annoying the hell out of me. Apart from brake judder there was a creaking to the front nearside of the vehicle which funny enough only appeared after they had changed the brake discs and front suspension under warranty. That has now been resolved. There was a harshness/grating feeling at the front when braking. They said they found clay in the hub bearings(??). I do not get this feeling anymore but the brakes are a tad soft. Almost wacked someone up the rear a few days after getting the car back. Generally the brakes are not great on the IS200. I am sure Tony will sort out my geometry. What I intend to do is to find the settings he did on the second fine tune and ask for that setting to be applied when he does the current fine tune. Finally I have this annoying sound coming from the rear of the vehicle. It is a sort of wow, wow, wow sound not too loud. Thought it might have something to do with my tyres, wheels or bearings. Tony had a look and says the tyres and wheels are fine and he cannot see a car of my age having bearing problems. His only concern was the "play" on the drive shaft leading to the rear diff(??). My warranty expires mid March 2007 and I intend getting it looked at prior to this for any outstanding issues. Think I may also lodge a complaint with Lexus (GB) about this car and the dealership I bought it from. The dealership has been an absolute disgrace to the Lexus brand name and totally the opposite to the current dealership I am using. That's my bit of whinging then.

I am just coming out of a one year extended warranty. Cost £660. I bought it as I was not happy with how the car was feeling. Have had all four discs and the two front shock absorbers changed under warranty as well as a full geometry. Countless hours have been spent trying to resolve the dreaded brake judder and a creaking noise. The creaking noise has gone but they nevertheless had to skim a new set of front discs so I am not confident that the brake judder issue has been resolved. This car is the worst handling car I have ever owned period.

Yeh I got one of each as well and I was the one who originally brought all you fellow IS200 owners the news of the deals being done on the sports grille. That was almost 18 months ago. Got one had it sprayed Stratcharon Blue and still have not fitted it a yet. I have used the standard and the LE grille must fit the ports grille this summer.

I bought mine in October 2005 and by July Aug 2006 some of the LED's on the nearide (left) had failed. I don't see the point in taking them to a garage. You will need to disassemble the lights to get to the LED's. Whether the lights have been fitted or not has got nothing to do with it. They are obviously not fit for purpose as they have failed so soon and you are not an isolated case. Fortunately we bought from a reputable dealer who as luck will have it was also a member here and did the right thing. I have not refitted mine as yet. I am waiting for the Spring/Summer season.

A few of us on here had the same problem, fortunately we bought them from a vendor who was also a LOC member and he replaced them for us. Who did you buy yours from as the manufacturer (DEPO) will only deal with complaints from the supplier.

please do, bushes normaly cause a knocking sound not a creaking but if there hard material they could creak, they do wear so even if you talked up the bolts they could still move enough to make a noise. could all be co-incidence to the warantee work. on my old car I was constantly chasing problems as one was fixed it brought or highlighted another but one day all was good with it so I do hope one day yours will be back to how it should be. Well I got my car back today and time will tell whether my creaking and juddering problems have been resolved. I have none of that at the moment, however, one interesting thing was that I also complained that when I braked it felt rough as if there was grating between the pads and discs. I am told that they found some minute amounts of clay in the wheel bearings. I no longer have the grating feel when I brake, so all in all everything is fine for the time being. And how is this for trust -: I turned up to return the courtesy car and to collect mine. The service paperwork had not been prepared as yet so I was allowed to take my car away and was told I would be contacted at a future date to arrange payment. I have never had such an experience before. Drove Honda's exclusively before and never would they allow me to take my car without paying for it. Anyway watch this space for updates.

Thanks Scorcher parcel received. A little surprised they were not in the original DEPO boxes but packaged well in any case. Have had only one bad experience on Ebay so far and have dealt with two really honest traders and you are one of them. Thanks to AJ for making contact with DEPO despite the negative response, I hope he finds a solution to his defective LED's. It is unlikely I will refit these until the spring. Once again a big thank you to Scorcher.

I hope you get it sorted and please keep us informed. Craig This was the work that was done to cure the creaking sound and the movement of the pads in the calipers -: We replaced 2 plates on the caster arm brackets, as discussed at the time these would not cause the creaking noise. We also greased the antiroll bar "D" bushes and retentioned the front brake pad clips applying grease to the backs of the pads to prevent movement. The creaking noise reappeared after about two weeks and it would seem that the "D" bushes on the antiroll bar is the culprit. Lexus Woodford Green will look at the car again and have promised that the problem will be resolved. I have booked the car in for its 40,000 miles service on the 10 January 2007 and another attempt will be made to resolve this issue then. The interesting thing is that I never had this problem until I had warranty works carried out to change all four discs and the two front shock absorbers. That work must have disturbed the antiroll bar somehow and I would have thought that after curing the problem first time round it would not return. Both myself and James Cook thinks that the proliferation of all these :tsktsk: road humps may be contributing to the return of the problem. However, surely if everything including the antiroll bar is torqued to the required setting road humps should not be a problem afterall as stated I never had this problem previously. Will keep all informed.

sorry to hear this,keep us informed. are you going to return it to the dealership as before what did they do to cure your problems last time good luck :) Not sure of the details but they put the creaking down to a dry rubber joint of some sort. I also assume that they regreased the points between the calipers and pads/shims etc and finally did a full geometry which I am still waiting to have the set up details of. The judder has been an ongoing problem, had the discs skimmed twice. The creaking only appeared after they changed all four discs and also the two front suspension struts. Woodford Green have been excellent really. I e-mail James Cook last night and I am awaiting a reply.

You have a pm

Im sorry to hear that. Well I am all sorted. No more creaking or knocking I am so more happy now Spoke too soon. It's back, the dreaded creaking when braking at relatively low speeds and if that was not enough lastnight when braking at motorway speeds the even more dreaded brake judder is back.

There were a lot of problems with these, that is why they were not available for almost two years. Lexus says they had a quality and reliability issue which they had to "iron out" before finding someone else to manufacture it. I believe TTE produced the first lot. I had mine renewed under warranty a couple of weeks ago after waiting 18 months. It transpired that a certain dealer :tsktsk: who shall remain nameless was siiting on my replacement part for 5 months without taking any steps to inform me. I much prefer these to the smaller ones they have fitted to the new models.

Im sorry to hear that. Well I am all sorted. No more creaking or knocking I am so more happy now

Well, I'm quite glad to hear that I'm not the only one and I've probably not done something terrible! I had wondered if it might be the pads moving; my bike has floating discs and you can hear them moving sometimes in similar circumstances... I'll double-check the bolts again this weekend and then learn to ignore it I guess! If I do find out anything more (the only thing I can think is the rubber bushes drying out a bit and making the creaking noises when strained sideways and under load from the brakes) I'll post it here. It's due a service in about 4k miles, so I'll ask the dealer if it's anything to worry about. Thanks guys Mike I have recently had the same experience after having all four discs and two front shock absorbers changed by Lexus Woodford Green. Pads are definitely moving in the calipers. Over rough terrain there is a clanking noise but more worrying is the creaking noise I get when I brake at relatively low speeds. There is also a grating sound from the front nearside brake as if the pads are not mating with the discs evenly. Had it checked this morning by the dealership and they could not hear what I have been hearing but said that the brake fixing kit might be a bit worn resulting in the movement of the discs in the calipers. Th funny thing is that as soon as I left the dealrship I could still hear the creaking and grating sound when braking at low speeds. I have been told that the pads have sufficient meat on them still. I will wait until the man (James Cook) returns from annual leave and get him to resolve this. It is driving me crazy, however the service from Woodford Green and Mr Cook in particular is excellent. Will update you all if and when I get this problem sorted. Well guys my problems have been sorted by Woodford Green. James Cook himself drove my car and towards the end of his drive luckily the creaking noise materialised. The tchnicians were told to go over the car with a fine toothcomb. No more creaking or knocking. They had my car for 4 days and gave me an RX400h as a courtesy vehicle. I am yet to receive the exact details but they said that the creaking was down to a dry rubber something and have been told that when I have my car hand washed that the use of the high powered water hoses tends to remove/displace the grease between the calipers and pads resulting in the pads moving in the calipers. They also did a geometry on the car and this has resolved any handling problems I had. I am awaiting the set up details so that I can run these past Tony Bones. Also had my illuminated scuff plates renewed at long last (I have been waiting almost 19 months). This of course had nothing to do with Woodford Green but with the original dealer I bought the vehicle from. Transpires that they were sitting on the scuff plates since June this year without informing me. Praise must go to Woodford Green and James Cook in particular. A very good Lexus dealership.

I had a grille posted to me from Hong Kong and was charged £20 postage.

I supplied Castrol GTX 5w-30w.

I don't know exactly how many litres you need, but I just paid for 4.2 litres on my 60000km service. I have an IS300 service manual from the internet. It says: 5.1 liters w/o oil filter change 5.4 liters w filter change 6.5 liters dry fill But maybe there is a difference between 200 and 300? I provided my own oil when I had my 30,000 mile service at Woodford Green and can confirm that I had to provide 4.5 litres.

I am glad you are happy but I am :tsktsk: with mine. The engine is fine but I am having loads of problems with the braking and handling. Goes back in soon to the dealership for further investigations. I would dearly love to be in your position. Enjoy.

Yep.. I had mine done after fitting lowering springs by the main man and He certainly knows his stuff.. Top guy is Tony :D Alas... I'm still awaiting him now to accommodate the 'lowriders' so I can get my new (much needed) geometry sorted from coilover fitting. Overheard at Lexus Woodford last week that the price is now £140. Don't know whether that includes VAT.

I did check with Tony beforehand and he said I should take it as the price I was being offered it for was very good.

where from?? Here -: Address Town Tyres & Brake Co Limited 296 - 300 Wightman Road Hornsey London N8 0LT map telephone # 0870 0117 412 Facsimile # 0870 0117 414 Email info@town-tyres.co.uk www.town-tyres.co.uk Don't know whether they post as well but anyone who is interested can phone. Ask for Tas and mention you are from the Lexus Owners Club

Yes 215/45/17's