Buzzz

The supagard treatment is put on via in impregnated sponge, a little search on a well know auction site and you can pick them up, it's not hard to do (instructions are included with the sponge) I did my fathers car and it shines like a new pin, oh and by the way you will not pay the earth for them as most of the cost you pay is for labour.

Hope this helps.

Don't worry I have not turned into some grafitti artist looking for a quick fix!!

I have a small respray job to perform, one that is a simple DIY job but for the life of me I can't find Lexus colours in spray form anywhere, anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

Try your friendly Lexus Dealer. They certainly supply touch-up paints and I think they do spray cans as well. Also, paint suppliers will usually make up spray-cans to match most cars,

If not the dealer then Halfrauds will make you up a spraycan if you give them the colour code.

Thanks for your help.

Don't worry I have not turned into some grafitti artist looking for a quick fix!!

I have a small respray job to perform, one that is a simple DIY job but for the life of me I can't find Lexus colours in spray form anywhere, anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks.

Lexus will start fitting DRL's to their new and facelift cars soon anyway as it will be compulsary from 2011.

Sorry this doesn't help you with your problem now though!

Came across the DRL module that Lexus fit in the USA, have asked my local dealer to see if he can source it and fit it lets wait and see.

As for my current question, anyone know how to get through to the engine bay from the cabin without pullling the car to bits? Have had a fumble around but can't seem to see or find any simple routes.

Let me know if you can help?

Thanks.

ask lexus dealer for Mars modul, it will start your normal lights about 5sec after the start. I am using it for 2,5 years and no problem so far.

It costs about 200€ incl. fitting and you do not need to any wiring etc (what may cause problems, as the car uses can-bus)

Thanks for your reply. The Mars Module, does this give you DRL's then or does it switch all of the lights on, eg dash lights and rear lights?

I have wired these to a socket that plugs into the 12v socket in the armrest, the socket has resistors fitted and I have an in line breaker fuse so if there are any problems any of this should blow before enything else. I was not too happy about hard wiring them in as my car is still under warranty.

Tell me more about this module, do you have a website I could take a look at for it.

Thanks.

I'm sure someone will know and be along to help.

I'm looking at fitting some DRL's soon ready for when it comes in for all new cars. Seen the Audi's, BM's and now the Insignia, Renault and VW have them on their latest cars.

Thanks, have got them working via the socket in the arm rest, just need to find a hole that is accessable to push the cable through from the cabin to the engine bay, currently have the cable coming up the passenger side and externally between the door and the a-pillar, then into the enigine bay, you can only see it when the passenger door is open but it is not the finished result yet, just need to find where to push the cable through.

Anyone got any idea and maybe somewhere were I do not have to take the car to pieces.

Thanks.

I've got something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/White-24cm-Strip-24-...%3A1|240%3A1318

Across the top of my headlights mate and i love them.

To work as DRL's its pretty simple, you can just use the switched live from the stereo.

Do make sure you use a small inline fuse with them though,

Stav

Thanks for that, as I said though Mr. Idiot here, so how do I identify that switched live wire, is it colour coded and is this colour shared throught the loom, in other words can I pick this up under the bonnet rather than pulling the sat nav unit out (in my case).

The simpler the instructions the better for me, I am by no means a mechanic!!

Thanks.

Can anyone else help me, alternatively if I took it to a mechanic what would he charge me to connect them up to a switched live?

Could I wire them into the wires that feed the cigarette lighter, they go off when the ignition is switched off?

Come on, someone must be able to help me? What do you have to do to get some help on here?

I've got something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/White-24cm-Strip-24-...%3A1|240%3A1318

Across the top of my headlights mate and i love them.

To work as DRL's its pretty simple, you can just use the switched live from the stereo.

Do make sure you use a small inline fuse with them though,

Stav

Thanks for that, as I said though Mr. Idiot here, so how do I identify that switched live wire, is it colour coded and is this colour shared throught the loom, in other words can I pick this up under the bonnet rather than pulling the sat nav unit out (in my case).

The simpler the instructions the better for me, I am by no means a mechanic!!

Thanks.

Can anyone else help me, alternatively if I took it to a mechanc what would he charge me to connect them up to a switched live?

I've got something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/White-24cm-Strip-24-...%3A1|240%3A1318

Across the top of my headlights mate and i love them.

To work as DRL's its pretty simple, you can just use the switched live from the stereo.

Do make sure you use a small inline fuse with them though,

Stav

Thanks for that, as I said though Mr. Idiot here, so how do I identify that switched live wire, is it colour coded and is this colour shared throught the loom, in other words can I pick this up under the bonnet rather than pulling the sat nav unit out (in my case).

The simpler the instructions the better for me, I am by no means a mechanic!!

Thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...T&viewitem=

Have been thinking about buying the above and fitting them as DRL's (daytime running lights). Please no comments about whether you feel these are good, bad or indifferent as I know everyone has their views about defacing the Lexus!!

Anyhow, I would like them to come on when I switch the ignition on and go off when I switch the ignition off, not a huge ask I think you would agree but let me tell you I am no expert so I am hoping some kind sole will take pity on me and give me some very clear (idiot proof, that's me!!!) instructions to follow.

Come on guys, it's red nose day tomorrow, I thought I would give you a laugh early!!

Any help though would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance

Has anybody priced up the bits needed to replace the hideous wood effect console on my is250 sel mm with the more modern looking carbon fibre dash/console IS F parts?

It would not be an easy job but I think worth.

Anyone else had the same idea?

If you go to the sewell website I think you can buy the kit, just prepare yourself for the price, plus delivery, plus import duty!!

http://www.sewellpartsonline.com/parts_detail.asp?id=203157

Good luck.

Did you manage to find out which one you had? Thanks.

Yeah I did, it's a Hilka one, like THIS

When the weather warms up I'm going to put it to the test as my car's got quite swirly so it'll be interesting to see how much of it it can remove :)

Just found this which is a much more recent review, which places the Halfords one at the top of the pile.......... LINK

Hey, thanks very much! Looks like a trip to Halfords is in order.

Thanks very much, which one have you got, hoping to get some recomendataions and then off I go and get one?

I honestly have absolutely no idea, I'll have a look in the garage tomorrow and see what it says on it - literally just went into Halfords and bought one for around £30 I think..........

This link may help with your decision though.......... LINK

Did you manage to find out which one you had? Thanks.

Thanks very much, which one have you got, hoping to get some recomendataions and then off I go and get one?

I honestly have absolutely no idea, I'll have a look in the garage tomorrow and see what it says on it - literally just went into Halfords and bought one for around £30 I think..........

This link may help with your decision though.......... LINK

Thanks for this, yep stumbled across this when doing my reseach and went to find a Kinzo 8E925EP, only to find this product test from Auto Express was done a little while ago and the model is no longer available, so back to the drawing board and why I am trying the forum.

Thanks for helping though.

Claying is a crucial first step to cleanse the paint before you polish; you will get a much better finish, and its worth learning how to do it- its not difficult, you just need to be patient.

I have the Meguiars DA polisher- its great because you are very unlikely to burn the paint with it as you may with a professional style rotary polisher, which would mean a respray... you need to be very wary of swirls and polisher trails with anything that doesn't have a random motion.

What the polisher does is do what you would do by hand, except many times over and over per second and more consistently- thus you won't save time using a DA polisher, but it will give a much better finish in the same amount of time.

Time spent preparing the finish i.e. wash, clay, polish is what gives the mirror finish- the top layer of wax seals it in and won't, in itself, provide a mirror finish for long.

If your finish is already good, then I'd invest in some high quality glaze, e.g. Zaino; its not hard to apply, and there would be no particular benefit in using a DA polisher to apply.

Thanks for the advice. The car already has a good finish (had Supagard applied, yes I know the jury is out re this application). However, having this applied does mean I am slightly concerned about claying the car as I guess it will remove this protection. Re polishing, I do use the suggested polish from Supagard and get a really good finish, however, by then end of it I am knackered, reason for asking the question about the buffer.

The car is washed by hand every week, so the paint work is in excellent condition, in fact many comments about how I keep it looking so good, hard work is what I say!!!

So, this is just me being lazy but I don't want to buy a machine that ends up on eBay, like many of them, there are so many adds there for units that have been 'used once', this normally translates into, bought it and it wasn't very good!

Thanks.

If that's all you want from it the expensive ones are probably a bit of overkill. One of the cheaper ones will be fine, the one I've got has a random orbit and goes pretty slow so there's no real risk of doing damage to the paintwork.

It essentially does what I'd do with my hands without killing my arms so might be all you need. The polishing bonnets are easily available from halfords or on the net :)

Thanks very much, which one have you got, hoping to get some recomendataions and then off I go and get one?

buzz,the key question is,what do you want too acheive from the machine.post that up then you will get a more specific answer.

Thanks, yep I agree.

The paint work on the car is in very good condition, I just want something that is going to help polish the car, I am not looking to clay the car, apply numerous coats of polish and then a top coat, just something that is going to take the hard work out of getting the mirror like finish, I can and have been doing this by hand. there are loads of machines around for £20 - £30 but many of these just spin around, where as the more expensive machines seem to have an offset motion that I guess means minimal swirl marks. I would also want something that has a variable speed and slow start up, as again I have read these are kinder to the car. One final thing, would be a unit that has the pads readily available.

Does this help, or do I need to tell you a little more.

Cheers.

Hi there,

I am considering purchasing a powered polisher / buffer, don't really want to pay the earth for one, just something to take the hard work out of the job. Have been looking around for a while at things like the Meguiars G220 but as I said don't really want to pay out this money if the unit is going to be more than I need. Have looked at the, let's say cheap alternatives from Halfords, Kent etc but can't find anything anywhere that would encourage me to buy this type of polisher / buffer.

Just wondered if you guys have any experience in these or whether I should stick to good old elbow grease.

Thanks.

Hi everyone.

Just returned to the UK after living in the US for the last three years.

While I was over there I bought an IS350- top car I must say.

On my return to the UK I had my IS350 shipped back over here, I had only been back here for a week when I went out to my car one morning to find that some ***** had stolen the badges off my IS.

I duly went to my local dealer & they were really helpful- supplying me with a 'LEXUS' & a 'L' badge for the boot, but they said that they were unable to supply me with a 'IS350' badge as this model is not available in the UK.

I have contacted both LEXUS GB & LEXUS US but have had no response from either.

Please can anyone help, many thanks in advance

try http://www.lexus-parts.com/ once the site is up and running again, they seem to have a problem at the moment but don't be put off by that I have used them loads of times and they are very reliable, just watch out for the postage costs and the fact you have to pay import duty as they do everything above board. However, with the dollar being so weak againt the pound you will get a decent price.

Hope this helps.

Hi Guys I hate this forum I've just got it into my head what i want 220D SE-L now after reading lots of comments like fuel economy etc i wonder if I might as well go for the 250 SE-L Auto

I'm used to 26 MPG in my Audi TT so do you think I would get about the same with the 250 or what?

Things that are putting me off the 220D are comments about the stiff clutch , bad MPG, and problems with some gear changing, not to mention rattles and squeaks.

Can anyone help I'm getting close to making up my mind should i go for the Lexus at all or my 2nd choice at the moment the new Freelander2 2.2 SE

HELLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP

Cheers Leddy

P.s Thanks in advance for any reply I'm about to spend alot of Money so any advice is most welcome :D :D

I have to say, 250 se-l, auto and MM, funny that's what I have. Seriously though my car only has 3,000 miles on the clock, currently averaging 27.3 mpg, will get better over time. The look, 2 nice shinny exhausts at the back compared to that single one tucked away. Automatic box, currently not available on the diesel.

The Lexus 220D does not give a very good return on MPG, not compared to some of the others. And please LOC this is only my opinion so apologies to all those 220D owners in advance.

I have had the car since October. I have had the rear tinted by 35%, however this is not as dark as the RX400H I had as a loan car whilst mine was in the garage. When I was driving this I noticed that the door mirrors went very dark when cars behind tried to blind me with their lights.

Since then I have been trying to work out whether my door mirrors are in fact dipping? And yes before you ask I have an Se-l so they are standard fit.

My first thought was that I guess they use the sensor on the rear view mirror, this is on Auto (the green light is on). Due to the additional tint being put on I thought maybe this was causing the sensor to throw a bit of a wobbly, but as I said the RX400H had much darker tints applied and they still dimmed.

So, is this another thing to get Lexus to look at or am I expecting too much. If I switch it off I really do struggle to notice a difference.

Let me have your thoughts and cheers in advance

I'm looking to burn my mp3 collection to 1 or more DVD's to stick in the MM multi-changer, does anyone know which DVD disk types to use ie. DVD-RW, DVD+RW etc.

I've struggled finding it in the destruction manual and so far tried a 'data DVD' ie. .mp3's written in a folder structure which should be ok but had no joy with DVD-RW.

If anyone has it sussed I would greatly apreciate the answer

John

You CANNOT burn DVD's to use for MP3's, you can only use CD-R, CD RW. It is buried somewhere in the manual.

The unit plays DVD, CD etc but when it come to playing MP3 you are restricted to CD-R and CD RW.

Hope this helps?

Hi Guys can anyone give me advice on whether or not to pay the extra and go for the MM option on my pending purchase of the 220D SE-L

Reading comment's in here the sat nav is completely NAFF but the ML sound is excellent. Does anyone know if Lexus will be updating the sat nav or what? It’s seems like a lot of money to pay for something that’s not up to the job. Sounds like my £160 Garmin Sat nav will do a better job

Cheers

Leddy

Go for the MM, if you don't you will regret it! I had a loan car for 2 weeks which only had the standard stereo system installed, I missed everything, sat nav, parking camera, The sound!!, the integrated telephone, had to wear an ear piece for a week to answer the telephone legally. All in all, I would say spend the money and enjoy the investment.

Two quick questions.

First, in the current brochure (at least here in Ireland) Lexus features include something along the lines of "Windshield de-icer". I don't have the brochure to hand, so don't have the exact wording.

I assumed that this was the heated wipers.......meaning that the wipers get heated up, and then melt the ice on the windscreen. I see it is described rather differently in the manual, saying that the, windscreen located, heating pads are simply to stop the wiper blades freezing on to the windscreen.

So we had a light frost the other night, and I got to try out the heated wiper blades that morning. The ice on the windscreen was pretty light. The heating of the windscreen wipers didn't seem to make any difference whatsoever. After a few minutes, I revered, and simply turned the heater to the windscreen, and it cleared it in less than a minute (so was very light).

Now my question is does the heated wipers make any difference on other IS250's? At least then I'll know if mine aren't working right, or if they are simply useless

Second question relates to radio reception.

The reception on my radio often becomes crackly when I'm in an area that should be well covered by the transmission. In my previous Toyota, I'd no problem in these areas (I know because it's on the route I drive to work/home again each day, and never had a problem before). I'm wondering is this simply a product of the antenna being built into the rear windscreen rather than a normal rooftop antenna, or is there something wrong?

Has anyone else noticed a lower quality radio reception?

(AF & REG are both turned on, so it's not as if there is a better frequency available.)

Colm

That switch heats the edge of the screen, not the wipers. If you look closely at the bottom of the front screen, in the black area you can see the element. It is there to melt the ice so that you can then use the wipers. It does not heat the blades directly, only transfers the heat from the bottom of the creen to anything that is touching it.

as for your radio reception, is it worse if you, for example depress the heated rear window switch, or is it generally poor? I don't think the radios are great in weak signal areas anyway but I had a fault with mine that when I depressed the aforementioned switch the radio turned to static, if you know what I mean. Mine was a fautly rear screen, had to have the whole thing replaced!!

Hope this helps?

I'm sorry to hear what I hope is an isolated and unfortunate incident.

As a proud Lexus owner for nearly three years now I'm extremely suprised at this poor level of service.

Both the service and quality of products for me have been nothing but 110%.

I hope your luck increases.

I will not name and shame because I don't think these forums should be used for that. However, if anyone does know who I could contact at Lexus GB as I would like to let them know how I have been let down by one of their authorised dealers. So, has anyone got any contacts?