Sagitar

The first one looks like a Bond minicar - haven't seen one of those in a long time . . . B)

Just a thought but if you do use different rims and winter tyres do you have to tell your insurer (i mean are you supposed to?) dont have them but may well think about looking throughout the year for a cheap set of rims and then go for the tyres ready for if there is more of the white stuff towards the end of the year or next year

I certainly cleared it with mine and they sent me an amended schedule. There was no extra charge, but since the change reduces the chance of an accident there should if anything be a reduction in the premium. Fat chance?

I had the anti-theft spinning valve caps on my LS460 for a while. Worst thing I ever did as they were metal and corroded onto the valve themselves. The key wouldn't undo them as it just broke when trying to loosen them.

The local tyre fitter spent a good 20 minutes removing them with mole grips - if they get stuck, you can't even let the air out of the tyres to allow you to change the tyre.

Since then I stick to plastic valve caps

Sounds like you have tyre pressure monitoring and are not removing the caps for long periods.

I check mine manually once a week and have been using the same set for four years without any problems.

The last set I had (and this going back 12 years ago) when I was in Canada, but. they clearly stated that I should not use them below 4Deg C - they were pone to Overheating, and the wear was not very good at all - in fact they wouldn't last more than 7-10,000 miles. They were not recomended for > 100kmh either. I also seem to remember that Fuel consumption suffered too. This is why people tend to have 2 set of rims - one with all weather/summer, and one with Winters in Canada and NA.

You are a long way out of date Gunther!

Things may have improved, but the road noise and general limitations for the UK don't really make them too viable from my memory. Don't forget - we only get weather like this every 30 years! Unless these Winter tyres have improved a lot!!

Mine (Continental Winter Contact TS830) are little if any noisier than the Michelin summer tyres fitted as original equipment. I don't know what you mean by "general limitations". It was the inability to get anywhere in the snow last winter that caused me to change my arrangements for this year - it certainly doesn't feel like 30 years ago. In any case, modern winter tyres are not only for use on snow and ice. They give better road holding performance than summer tyres on both dry and wet roads at temperatures below 7C. Their wear characteristics are not as good as summer tyres if used at temperatures above 7C, but I will be taking mine off at the end of March.

Also, as mentioned above, the rubber is different compound and doesn't last long, even if the wheels are removed. Is it worth spending that money? May be if you live in Scotland!

The manufacturers quote a five year life for the elastomers in the tyre if they are unused. I will be happy if I get three years from them. Buying a spare set of wheels is certainly an additional capital cost, but in the long term the extra tyre cost is very marginal since wear will be spread over eight tyres rather than four.

People will have to make up their own minds whether the extra expenditure is worthwhile. I am driving to and from my home without any significant difficulty at present. Having just helped my neighbour to push his stranded BMW 318 up the Close and onto his drive, I think (for me) it was money well spent.

Winter tyres help, but not practical in UK yet!!

why not?

Why not indeed? I have them on - in the UK and they are entirely practical as far as I can see.

no not use chains on clear or mixed roads - u will gamage the chains and then when they snap u will trash the car. chains are for use on hard compacted snow.

they are very rough to drive with also. chains can easily dmage alloys - thats why a lot have moulded rim protectors.

the only place that people would actually need to use chains is the farmers living up in scotland

Whs. Unless you are prepared to take the chains off every time you come to a patch of bare tarmac - then put them back on when you come to some snow, they are not much use.

In a journey of about twelve miles last friday I would have had to change them seven or eight times - at the side of a narrow country road, with snow on the verges.

No thanks. I prefer a spare set of wheels with a change to the winter set in November and back to the summer ones at the end of March.

and drive off in my old Citroen BX.

One of my best cars ever on snow was a Citroen Light 15. Mind it was my first front wheel drive and such a revelation compared with other cars around at the time - that was the late 1950's.

How do you find the TS830s? I have ordered a set of them with 17 inch five-spoke wheels that are good in the winter (not so much snow stuck in them) for my new IS due to be delivered in a few weeks.

On snow and ice I have found them to be excellent by my standards, but I have nothing with which to make a comparison.

Mine are 15" 195/65 and on a front wheel drive car with a lot less power than the IS250, so your experience may be different.

I have also driven them at up to 70 m.p.h. on tarmac at temperatures between 0 and 4 degrees C and found them to be very good indeed.

I have not yet done enough miles on them to make any estimate of wear.

Sad but true :( had my Merc ones stolen about a month after getting the car.

Sadly in the world we live in cheap ones are the only solution....although I'm just glad they took the caps without damaging the car / letting down the tyres.....

I put on the spinning ones that need a key to take off.

Fingers crossed, but I haven't lost one in four years.

I'm a bit puzzled about your comment on the lack of Winter tyres in the UK. Plenty of places sell them - most of the tyre fitting places offer them and they are readily available off mytyres.com, blackcircles.com or camskill.com. I was thinking of buying a set but to be honest with the snow button engaged and a bit of care i've had no real problems this year.

There are plenty of winter tyres available, but my experience of buying them is that they come in a limited range of sizes and only in higher profiles. I suspect that is deliberate and related to perfomance.

The Conti T830s that I bought were (AFAIK) only available in 15" or 16" and for me that meant new wheels as well as new tyres. I am not unhappy about that because it makes them easier to exchange back when the weather gets warmer, but I can see why someone with 17"+ wheels might say there is nothing available for his wheels.

When I owned Series 1 GS 300 Sport the rears were 275's,fronts 245's. Spare was same as fronts and fitted front or rear if needed....albeit with different wheel nuts. No problem with insurance either.

Will a full size spare fit into the designated spare wheel slot?

That's interesting. Were there any limitations on use if you had to use different tyre sizes on the same axle following e.g. a puncture?

From what I recall, it was suggested to not exceed 50mph. The Series 1 GS 300 Sport with optional 10" rears had an alloy 8" rim as a spare but it had its own wheelnuts with a different taper to enable it to be fitted to front or rear. Mine didn't have these nuts so Lexus Coventry ordered them for me....FOC since I had purchased the car from them. I actually mentioned it to my insurers who were unconcerned as they were a genuine Lexus fitment.

That is still helpful. It reduces the odds that you will have to drive in a restricted way, as compared with the spacesaver . . . . . :)

Probably. Apart from the Rover 827si which had plenty of poke!

Still only about 85% of the torque and the horsepower of the IS 250 auto?

I believe the significant difference on snow, was that the 827Si was front wheel drive was it not?

I seem to recall that it was a lot lighter than the Lexus (maybe 75% of the weight) but (I'm guessing) with a much bigger proportion of the weight over the driving axle?

Altogether a much better package on snow . . . . :)

When I owned Series 1 GS 300 Sport the rears were 275's,fronts 245's. Spare was same as fronts and fitted front or rear if needed....albeit with different wheel nuts. No problem with insurance either.

Will a full size spare fit into the designated spare wheel slot?

That's interesting. Were there any limitations on use if you had to use different tyre sizes on the same axle following e.g. a puncture?

hi all, i have just took receipt of my lexus is220d and i am loving it. unfortunately it came with a spacesaver spare wheel..... yuk. can i replace it with a standard alloy wheel and tyre or must i stick with this awful spacesaver? thanks in advance for any help!

When I owned an IS250 the front and rear tyres were of different widths, so could only get it right for one of them (unless willing to carry two spares . . . . . ).

There is a low probability of needing the spare, so I would leave well alone.

Can't remember my old MK 3 Zephyr 6 estate or MK 3 Zodiac struggling in very bad ice & snow in the '60s and early '70s. Big RWD saloons but did have manual gearbox not auto.

Much narrower tyres and a lot less torque and horsepower than now?

I had a puncture yesterday and spent an hour or so in the freezing rain trying to get the wheel off. I did not succeed.

The problem was the locking wheel nut. It would not budge, mainly because the supplied wheel brace was not snug to the wheel nut removal tool, nor was the removal tool snug to the wheel nut. This type has an irregular circle on the locking wheel nut, as opposed to the pins on my 2006 Lexus.

I was able to pump the tyre and I went to the nearest tyre place, who removed the nut easily with their equipment.

I am of the opinion that a better wheel brace might solve the problem, and may buy myself a late Christmas present. My reason for posting is twofold:

1. To ask if anyone else has had this problem or is it just me?

2. A suggestion that 2009 owners might like to try their locking wheel nuts now, before they are stuck in the cold, dark or rain. Of course we could always call out RAC..........................

I always keep an extending breaker bar in the back of the car (they are quite inexpensive) and I keep my own torques spanner so that I can check that wheel nuts are torqued to the correct setting. Over the years I have found that wheel braces supplied as part of the OEM tool kits are often inadequate and that garages using impact wrenches will often over-tighten wheel nuts. Checking wheel nut torque when you have daylight and dry conditions can save a lot of hassle when trouble occurs at night or in poor weather.

I said I might pop in from time to time to see how you were all getting on and the current snow-clad roads reminded me.

With a similar amount of snow last winter I found it almost imossible to get the IS250 auto in and out of my own Close, which has a tee junction and a short slope down to the main road.

Driving the Prius, shod with Continental Winter Contact TS830 195/65 R15", you would not know that there is any snow on the ground. The difference is incredible. No sign of the VSC operating and I can let the vehicle come to rest facing up the slope and let it roll away again without any special effort.

I hope you are all keeping well?

A Merry Christmas.

looks like theres a grand total of non on here tho, haha

Do you think they would own up? . . . . . . . .

Took the car test in the early fifties (but had been riding a motorcycle before that). I took home the bloke who accompanied me to the test - never had any lessons, just got friends to come out with me - ah the good old days - then drove back to work.

When I reached the ripe old age of 75, I decided that I ought to re-take the test, to satisfy myself that I was still competent. I drove myself to the test and drove myself home again afterwards. I took the practical test in the IS250. The on-the-floor parking brake and the reversing camera seemed to give the tester some pause, but apart from that it went without incident.

There is in the IS250 so i can assume that this would be the same for the IS220D

Haven't got mine anymore, so I can't check, but my recollection is that there is a manual switch on the light in addition to the auto switch that works when the boot opens. If it is switched off at the manual switch, the boot remains in darkness whatever the position of the lid.

Hi all,

Not sure if anyone has posted this yet - apologies if you have - if not, hopefully UK models have different floor mats but as it's so unusual for Toyota / Lexus thought I'd post it here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8281981.stm

I had a floor-mat recall posted to me by Lexus ages ago (2.5 years?). It was conditional on the type of floor mat supplied (I seem to recall that it referred to rubber or plastics mats) and did not affect my IS 250 which had carpet mats that were well secured by hooks at the back edge.

Yep that's one of the ones I was talking about, where it has it's own clear screen - not sure there are any that project onto the actual windscreen but might be interested myself if there was.

I have heads-up on the Gen 3 Prius T Spirit and I love it. The projector is buried in the dashboard and puts a virtual image onto the windscreen such that the image appears to the driver to be outside the car and very close to the normal line of sight when looking forward. The vertical position of the image is adjustable to a degree so that it can be seen clearly by drivers of different heights. The intensity varies with ambient light levels so it is visible in bright sunlight or in the dark. There is a short menu covering the items that can be displayed and I have mine set to show road speed together with the power level resulting from the current accelerator pressure and navigation information when approaching a junction or turning with the sat-nav operating. I find it very impressive and a real help to driving concentration.

I feel sure this option is bound to appear on more and more vehicles and with an increasing amount of information being displayed.

Is it not just 1 disc? That's all that came with the older cars, and thought it was the same for the newer ones too..........

I have the Toyota DVD update set Numbered PZ485-X03EU-08 that I bought for installation in an IS 250 SEL - MM.

The set consists of four DVDs marked Europe West (which includes the UK); Europe Central; Europe North; Europe East - together with an instruction manual in English and nine other languages. Each disc has a different code number, but all are marked 2008 - 2009 Ver 1.

Send me a PM if you are interested.

As Steve said, they do exactly what they say on the tin in that they can run when flat..........

But run-flats also have a reputation for being noisy and giving a poor ride and roadholding because of the stiff side walls. I think the latest ones may have been improved, but I would still be wary.

Neither should you assume that a punctured run-flat will necessarily be repairable and re-usable. My understanding is that most tyre places will not repair a run-flat because they cannot be sure whether the side wall is damaged.

My IS250 is almost three years old and though I have loved owning and driving it, it is time to move on.

I'm getting to be very old and have decided to buy something more staid and in keeping with my current motoring needs, which are really little more than daily local journeys of around ten or fifteen miles maximum in urban and town traffic.

So, I have decided to try the latest generation of Prius and say goodbye to Lexus.

I have enjoyed being with you and I wish you all well.

I may well pop in from time to time to see how you are getting on.

Bye for now.

PS - I have the 2008-2009 DVD Navigation map set for Europe if anyone wants to make me a reasonable offer for it? It comprises four DVDs in a case, covering Western Europe (including the UK); Central Europe; North Europe and East Europe. It comes with a printed manual (in several languages) and the Toyota Accessories Part Number is PZ485-X03EU-08