Crispy

You can find some info on a number of different 16" tyres fitted to an IS250 here. http://clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=314841

It is interesting that the average speed always manages to come up with a reasonably accurate speed. I also tried resetting it while the cruise was engaged and found that it was close to the GS reading. Now the speedo has been fixed they all agree.

I also checked my speedo against my GPS and found the speedo error to be at least 10%. So 110 kmph indicated was required to cruise at 100 kmph (or get run over by trucks on the freeway). I complained at the 30,000km service and was told "they all do it". I decided to leave that battle for another day but as luck would have it, the tacho started playing up soon after. This required a whole new instrument cluster. Lexus advised that a fix for the speedo error had been done and they will kill two birds with one stone. After the fix I compared the new speedo with my GPS and found it is now within a couple of kmph of actual speed. All I have to do now is remember not to travel at 10kmph above the posted speed anymore.

I have recently fitted Yokohama Aspec db tyres to my IS250. They are advertised as A500 Australia, but the tyres themselves only have Aspec db written on them. They don't come in 205 55 R 16 so had to go for 225 50 R16 , which has the same diameter. I figured the wider footprint couldn't hurt handling either. I decided to get rid of my Goodyear Excellence tyres I had initially bought to reduce noise, due to their poor ride and grip. 28 psi was required to give a reasonable ride and I was not happy with using the low pressure required, from a safety point of view. They also had poor grip and would often squeal in corners (even at normal pressures) with only moderate throttle openings. The Yokohamas, at 34psi, ride just as well as the Goodyears at 28psi. The Yokohamas also seem to reduce road surface vibration as well. Having recently had a week in a loan IS250 with Bridgestones on, I can confirm the Goodyears are marginally quieter than the standard Bridgestones and the Yokohamas are SIGNIFICANTLY QUIETER than either tyre. The Yokohamas certainly live up to the claims made on their website where they are promoted as "ultimate silence". The only other explanation for the dramatic reduction in road noise could be that all the roads had been resurfaced in the hour it took to have the tyres fitted. Unlikely! :D Road noise is now muted (or non existent) on all but coarse ship roads. The most road noise still comes from the driver's side front tyre (which only seems to afflict IS250s and was noticeable on all IS250 loan cars I have had) but it is much reduced on the Yokohamas. I am not sure what sort of black magic Yokohama use on these tyres, but the noise reduction is quite simply amazing. I hardly notice road texture changes now. They also claim to maintain this over the life of the tyre. Time will tell. The only downside is that you are now more likely to notice any cabin trim noises and rattles. http://www.yokohama.com.au/ourtyres/tyre.aspx?tyreid=65

I bought a Mio 310. $399 AUD after cash back. Great little unit, only weighs 150gms. Only downside is the white case, like an ipod, which makes it stand out inside the car. So you need to take it with you when you park the car. But is small and light so fits in your shirt pocket, so is no big problem. Very easy to use, easy to follow instructions, plenty of warning for turns etc. Auto zoom on LCD screen for corners and roundabouts compensates for 3.5" screen. http://www.mio-tech.com.au/products/gps/C310/default.asp

Got a refund from Lexus and was told it could be put towards any future service costs. "How much" I asked "is the 30,000 service?". After some tapping of computer keys they advised $583. So your service charge appears to be within the standard (but not cheap) service fee. Don't forget the 15,000 service was free and other manufacturers have already charged for the 10,000 and 20,000 services by the time they get around to a 30,000 service. So if you compared the service costs over 30,000kms with something like a Mazda 6 the Lexus costs are not that bad. Up to 60,000 and I think the Lexus costs will be much more expensive though.

In the 12 months I have owned my IS250, it has managed to have 4 different sets of tyres. I only paid for the last set though. Set 1 - OEM Bridgestone RE050A - nothing special about these tyres, were too noisy. Set 2 - Pirelli P7 - fitted by Lexus after road noise complaint - Awful tyres, rough ride and whine like a 4wd. Set 3 - Falken ST115 - claimed to be a very quiet tyre which is why I got them. Unfortunately while they were noticeably quieter than the Pirelli tyres, they did whine as you slowed below 60kmph, almost right down to a full stop. Was really starting to get on my nerves. This whine was also evident on the Bridgestones but not the Pirellis. However, if you are looking for a performance tyre then this one is for you. Sticks like glue. Once Lexus reimbursed me for the Falkens I gave them the Pirellis back. Was talking to the service guys yesterday and they said they put the Pirellis on the car of another IS250 customer who had complained about road noise. I asked if he was happy with the Pirellis, they said they thought not. No surprises there. Set 4 - Did more research and found that the newly released Goodyear Excellence was making claims about road noise suppression. Had considered the Bridgestone ER50 but the Goodyear was a much newer tyre so thought it should have better technology. Also being a much newer tyre that was claimed to meet new EUC noise regulations so I thought I would bite the bullet and give it a go. :) What a difference! If you want to reduce road noise then this is the tyre for you. Noticeably quieter on medium texture and smooth roads. Only noisy on coarse chip bitumen, but even then still quieter than the other 3 brands. They have a firm ride, but no more so than the other 3 brands, and seem to absorb road imperfections better. To top it all off they were the least expensive.

Did a little research and found of various Forums that the Falken Azensis tyres had a reputation for being a quieter performance tyre. Fitted a new set of Falkens and sent Lexus the bill (anything to get rid of those awful Pirellis). Interestingly Lexus paid up without quibble and threw in a set of reversing sensors as an apology. They also promised to retrofit any noise reduction solution if/when it becomes available from Lexus Japan. No word so far but I have their promise in writing (for what that is worth). The service staff told me that they have had a lot of customer complaints about road noise. The Falkens are much quieter than the Pirellis and marginally better than the original Bridgestones. They have got a little noisier on smooth surfaces with wear. However, the noise problem is still the car, not the tyres. I noticed the doors have virtually no noise insulation inside so am going to give that a go soon. The only problem with the Falkens is the have a very stiff sidewall. Great for corners but give a firm ride. You need to run then at lower pressures than the bridgestones. Doesn't seem to affect handling, fuel consumption but probably accelerates wear a little. Fair trade as far as I am concerned. A check of the sidewalls confirmed the lower pressures are not causing the tyre to lean over in corners (not even a little). Have had a couple of ES300s as loan cars when mine was in for rattle fixes (so many visits I lost count). They have much better road noise suppression but were noisier at highway speed due to increased wind noise. At 100kmph (62.5mph) the IS has virtually nil wind noise in still conditions. As a result any noise induced by a road surface change is more noticeable. Lexus really need to do some serious work in the noise suppression area. Get to drive a friend's Mazda 6 every couple of months. Here is a car that has a comfortable ride and still handles like it is on rails. Lexus take note. However on the noise front it is a marginally noisier on smooth surfaces but gives the impression as being quieter overall as it has better noise suppression on course road surfaces. Road noise suppression is something most manufacturers have made dramatic increases in lately and Lexus has been caught napping on their laurels.

The IS250 in Australia come with a pollution sensor as standard. This will set the A/C airflow on recirc if it detects any exhaust fumes. It is very sensitive and seemed to spend a lot of time on recirc and not much time of fresh. When using this feature I found the AC started to get smelly when the car was started each time. I manually set the AC to fresh, which disables the pollution sensor, and the smell went away. I later adjusted the sensitivity of the pollution sensor down and when used, it now uses fresh more often, also keeping the AC smell at bay. The IS250 aircon is strong enough to operate on fresh most of the time anyway even on a really hot day. Even when set on fresh, it will briefly select recirc when you start the car on a hot day, just to speed up the cool down. It automatically switches back to fresh once the car has cooled a little. Fresh is best. :D

Still have dash creaks in my IS250. The creaks come from the centre stack and seems to be temperature related as it appears to be an expansion noise. Can be quite loud sometimes and generally not activated by bumps (only sometimes). The dealer have had one go already with no improvement, but will get them to try again when the seatbelts get replaced. Problem also reported by a US owner on the club lexus site. Also have an occassion buzz from above the tacho. Used to occur all the time until Lexus had a go at it. Only comes back infrequently (usually at night) so haven't bothered to get Lexus to look at it again. Got a lift home in a friend's Hyundai Sonata the other day. Not a rattle or creak from the dashboard of what he calls his "throwaway car". Road noise also appeared more subdued as well! Problems I have had with rattles etc means that the IS250 is off his shopping list as a replacement for his family car. Front runner is a X class Jag. Yuk.

Jamboo - - the question of "reasonableness" - I would suggest it is unreasonable not to let the dealer try to fix the problem.

Hi RAP03 I believe that you should always take the reasonable approach. I think it is reasonable to follow the recommendation of the dealer and have the upholsterer give it a go. You have nothing to lose and it might fix the problem. If it doesn't, then you are only back where you started. A new new seat might introduce new problems. What if the colour isn't an exact match with the rest of the interior? Lexus are already up to visit 2 to fix some dash creaks with my IS (incidentially the creaks started after they fixed a dash rattle). They'll keep getting it back until they fix the problem. However, it is reasonable to allow them the opportunity to try and fix the problem. Also being reasonable can have its payoff if something else goes wrong where you really need their co-operation and goodwill. It isn't always the person who screams loudest who gets the most attention (just most of the time). C ya Crispy

Since delivery on 22/12. . 8 visits to Lexus service . 1 visit to Lexus showroom . 14 days at Lexus service (including one 7 day marathon which included a weekend) . Rattle in dash - solved . Rattle in driver's door - solved after 3 visits . Rattle in rear parcel shelf - solved . Road noise (Lexus replaced tyres but created another 2 tyre related problems) - unresolved and also left black marks over cream leather (brake dust), required extra visit to get cleaned. . Passenger's airbag fault - solved . Creak from both passenger side vents (appeared only after passenger side airbag part was replaced) - currently unsolved after 1 visit. . Original dash rattle came back (also only after passenger side airbag part was replaced) - solved.

Just press then release the black door button on the drivers door pillar (which is normally pressed in when the door shuts). This will stop the chime and you can leave the door open. Resets after you shut the door though.

I don't mean to be rude as well, that is what I used to think and had told many many people before. I have the latest model of IS200, probable the last on the production line but still built with plenty of rattles, noise and some little niggle that couple of them are not fixed yet after a few visits to the dealer ;) Guess you have been unlucky as I have had 3 or 4 IS200s as loan cars and all have been rattle free although a little noisy. Was surprised what a great little car the IS200 is. Instantly felt comfortable and was easy to drive, with great handling. Although it has only 4 gears always seems to be able to pick the right one while my IS250 is often in a gear too high.

I don't mean to be rude but anyone who complains to the manufacturer before they take delivery, should really rethink their purchase and perhaps cancel their order. The simple fact of life is, any new model will have problems. End of story. If you are not willing to take this risk and you really want an IS250, wait 12 months until all the initial teething problems have been sorted. We will have done all the hard work for you by then and Lexus will have incorporated all the fixes in their production line. The IS250 was a large purchase (for me anyway) and I realised that getting the first of a new model might be problematic (as it was on another "first model" I purchased). However I weighed this up with Lexus service reputation and figured if anything did go wrong then they would bend over backwards to try and fix it. And this has definately been the case (although a letter to Lexus head office was required to re-focus their attention on one matter). There have been various problems with the IS250 and just reading the posts on this forum indicates that Lexus certainly gets an A for effort for trying their best to fix these problems, sometimes successfully sometimes not. However every time Lexus is willing to give it a go, again and again. Try to get that sort of service from another make, believe me I have tried. My own IS250 has had a number of problems including 4 rattles (3 dash, 1 rear parcel shelf) and my Lexus dealer has been very co-operative. However, new model purchasers such as myelf and all the other early IS250 owners need to be willing to be persistent if something isn't right. If it is not fixed then back to the dealer until it is. Its a lot of hassle but then we choose to buy a new model because we didn't want to wait. So we have to take responsibility for our part in this process and make sure Lexus get it right.

One thing that has been mentioned in various posts on this forum is the road noise in the IS250. I took delivery of my IS250 in Dec 05 and found that the road noise was excessive, especially in light of Lexus' claims of class leading refinement. So I decided to report it to the Lexus dealer when it was in to have an airbag warning light diagnosed. I did a bit of investigation myself first and have listed below the findings I had reported to Lexus service. . Road noise is intrusive on driver’s side of car. Thought the IS was just poorly insulated from road noise until I rode as a passenger in my car for the first time just recently. Was surprised that road noise was not intrusive when riding as a passenger. . Occurs on any road with a textured surface, not just coarse chip roads. Worse on coarse chip roads. . Appears to only be coming from driver’s front wheel direction even though the driver’s head is closer to the rear wheel. . Noise is over and above normal road texture noise almost if it is being amplified by something on that side. . Gets louder when you brake, even lightly. . Found that if you lean over to the passenger’s side of car the road noise is still noticeable from the driver’s side and is not replaced with the same level of noise from the passenger side. . I got hold of a sound meter and found that the driver’s side is up to 4 decibels noisier than the passenger side of the car in the front. May not sound like much but every 10 decibel increase is double the noise level. . No noise level difference between passenger and driver’s side of the car in the back seat. . Registers higher difference as you go measure the noise lower in the car. When I collected the car in the afternoon the Lexus service centre advised "they all do it". After checking I hadn't accidentally wandered into a Ford or Dawoo service centre by mistake I said "thank you" and left. I then followed it up with a letter to Lexus head office citing all the Lexus claims of refinement and noise suppression for the IS250 (quite an extensive list). Interestingly, these claims made no mention that they didn't apply to road noise suppression. Lexus head office called a week later and another week after that it was booked in the Lexus service centre to have a look at the problem. They had it for 3 days and advised the following:- . confirmed the road noise is louder on the driver's side. . thought it might have something to do with the brake, accelerator or steering passing though the firewall. . had replaced the standard Bridgestone RE030 tyres with Pirelli P7s and advised that the road noise was now less. I have listed the changes noted with the Pirelli tyres. 1. The road noise generated on coarse chip roads appears to be less. 2. Unfortunately the Pirelli's are considerably noisier on smooth road surfaces and whine like a 4wd. This may be why they appear quieter on coarse surfaces as the noise jump from smooth to coarse roads is smaller than the noise jump with the Bridgestones. However the coarse chip road noise may actually be the same as the original Bridgestones. The Bridgstone were quiet on smooth surfaces. 3. The Pirelli's have much stiffer sidewalls resulting in a rougher ride, although letting some air out has reduced this a little. 4. Road noise doesn't increase under braking anymore. While it was nice of Lexus to replace the tyres they haven't fixed the problem only changed it. I was hoping that they would simply plug the noise path on the driver's side. Also thought it might just be the door seals. I am also hoping the Pirelli's will quieten down with a little with wear and hope Lexus haven't got rid of my original Bridgestones. Will give them some feedback soon. ps My car came back from the Lexus service with black marks on the cream leather on both front seats and the centre console (possibly brake dust). I couldn't get it all off and this required a trip to the sales centre for advice on how to get it cleaned off. They managed to get it clean with Metho.

Lexus recently replaced the Bridgestone RE030 16" tyres on my IS250 with Pirelli P7s. The Pirellis ride a lot harder than the Bridgestones. Dropping the pressure 2psi from the standard 34psi seems to have smoothed out the ride though.

Thanks for the information guys. The comments confirm that it does hold on hills on some cars. But it seems that on mine and chinny's, it doesn't work. Yep. I agree, you may not use it very much and I know you can just use the parking brake. But it is in the Lexus brochure as a feature fitted to the IS250 and as I have paid for it, it had better work. Otherwise Lexus need to give me a refund for that component. Ater why design (or advertise) a feature is it doesn't do anything. I guess I'll have to fight this one out with the dealer.

I have a IS250 automatic. One of the IS250 auto transmission’s features is hill start assist. The manual is a little vague about what this actually does so I called the salesman who sold me the car. Didn't know but said he would call back. Never did. Called the dealership that services the car and their salesman didn't know either but he put me through to the service department. I spoke to the service manager and he didn't know either but later phoned me back with the details below. He said it is "designed to hold the car on hills for 5 seconds after the brake is released to allow the driver to move his foot from the brake to the accelerator without rolling backwards. Only works with the transmission in D or S." So this would only occur on hills steep enough to overcome the natural hold caused by the torque converter. However on mine, it simply rolls backwards with the traction control light flashing. The brakes seem to grab and release slightly but not enough to even slow the car even a bit. I reported this to the dealer to investigate as a fault but they told me that it is working as designed. But the guy who gave me the keys back didn't know how it worked or what it was supposed to do. Has anyone ever used this feature? If so, how does it work on your car.

I also had a rattle from the dashboard of my Australia IS250. It started just a couple of days into my ownership. It sounded like a loose nut or bolt somwhere in behind the climate/radio stack or the glovebox (depending on where you were in the cabin). It was driving me up the wall as it was quite loud. The Lexus dealer had the car all day and the rattle turned out to be a bracket in between the battery and the firewall (under a cover on the firewall). Apparently it was coming into contact with the firewall transmitting the noise to the cabin as a rattle. The bent the bracket away form the firewall and, hey presto, the noise was gone. It might be worth mentioning this to the dealer. My dealer said they were to submit a report to Lexus about the fault but it may not have filtered through yet.

Good News Took my car to Lexus service centre at Kedron and they were finally able to fix the dash rattle. Turned out to be a bracket in the engine bay. It is hidden between the battery and the cabin, near the firewall, under a cover. Apparently the bracket was touching the firewall causing the noise to be heard inside the cabin. They bent it slightly, stopping contact with the fiewall and the noise disappeared. Bad News Unfortunatley on the drive home another noise has developed in the rear parcel shelf. The noise is just like someone rubbing two bits of polystyrene together, loudly. So back to Lexus at Kedron today. No Lexus staff present. Then over the the larger Lexus service centre at Indooropilly. A quick test drive confirmed the problem but they are unable to look at it until next week. As the noise really sets your teeth on edge, driving it is not much fun, so looks like I'll be without a car this long weekend. After shelling out $60,000 it is a bit tough to have to have 4 service visits in the first week and a half of ownership. This is something you might expect with a Daewoo (except they wouldn't fix the problem). Is it a co-incidence that Lexus and lemon both start with an L?

The tyres fitted on the 16" rims are Bridgestone RE030, 205/55R16.

Yep noticed the brake dust as well. As mine has only done about 500k I was hoping that they might just be bedding in and would settle down with more kms. Visited the Luxus service centre today. Very odd, the door marked Lexus Service just took me into someone's office. Backed out and wandered in to the Toyota service centre next door and they directed me back to the office. I guess with free pickup and delivery no-one comes into the service centre any more. They fixed the rear power window on the spot. Apparently just needed to be reintialised. They had a look at the driver's door rattle but when I got home found it was still present when you shut to door. Creak in driver's door gone. The service guy came for a ride and was able to clearly hear the dash rattle. Seems to be coming from somewhere near the passanger airbag. Have it booked in tomorrow to have this looked at. 2 out of 4 fixed - not bad for a short unannouced visit. They seemed to know about the Lexus owners website. Asked had anyone advised the solution for the dash rattle here.

Looks like Lexus quality is not all its cracked up to be. After 4 days:- 1. Passenger rear window doesn't work 2. Driver's door rattles when it is shut 3. Driver's door creaks as its opened 4. The dash rattle (mentioned in another thread) appears to have reared its ugly head. Noticed on rough roads after car had been parked in the sun all day after Christmas lunch. Seems to be coming from behind the stereo/climate stack. Obviously this problem is not just limited to the sat nav equiped vehicles. As the door trims have to be removed to fit the tinted windows it appears that 1 and 2 may be a result of sloppy work by the Lexus dealer. Guess I'll have to pay the Lexus service centre a visit when they re-open.