Keith Bowler

Polished and lacquered face and painted internals would be my choice. Diamond cut face with painted internals and fully lacquered would be even better.

I had a Mk1 GS that had 245's on the front and 275's on the rear. A great combination in my opinion especially when running ContiSports allround. I'd say 275's on the front will not wear well

I see Steve - then I just need a way to make sure the centre stays in place. Looks like i may have to experiment with just 'sticky' stuff pads/velcro.

The DHP wheel design has visible nuts with just what appears to be a decorative wheel center rather than a plate that covers the fixing nuts as on say the standard MK IV LS wheels.

I appear to have lost a centre cap - can 'supeglue' or similar these on so as to avoid loosing it again as I only have one spare. I cant see any reason why it would need to be removable. Also, can anyone recommend a good locking wheel nut for the DHP style wheels.

I think I may have the same brochure Mike, came with a bundle of service history and other bills that I got from the PO of my car, will look it out and scan it and see if I can post pics.

Seems like early 430's are going for pennies at the moment.

I know what you mean Mike, I had the paintwork revived on mine after I bought it to get that Lexus gleam back. Agree Martin that black leather is cool, I love mine, far better than the creams and greys IMHO of course.

Is it me or are there an aweful lot of dark green LS400's around. I must confess that when I bought mine dark green was the last colour I was looking for but after 6 months of ownership i rather like it. Perhaps we should run a poll on the most popular colour.

I currently have a set of 245/50/17 Bridgstone Potenza runflat tyres with about 4.5mm of tread which came with a set of DHP wheels that I bought recently. I find them very hard, noisy and they take a long time to get up to running temperature particularly in the cold weather we have had recently, though they have been good in the snow. I don't do mega miles and have decided to go for a slightly narrower width as there is more choice. I am considering going for a full set of Falken ZE914's which seem to be great value for money at £94 or so (plus fitting) for a mid-range budget tyre. I have a set of Falken 452's on my V8 MGB and they are very grippy. Just interested in what others views are.

This has come up before and I thought people were getting good sound from the cassette adapter so it might be your cassette. I use a Pure Highway which is brilliant you might want to have a look at that as I seem to remember its not an easy job tapping into the wiring loom to fit any other adapter. Mike Bought a Phillips MP3 cassette adapter and sound reproduction is near audio output quality so think I'll stay with this for the time being.

Yes saw yours Mike - will probably do same if I cant loose the wiring under the centre console wood trim to fit the unit in the top half of the centre front arm rest.

Fusebox down in the drivers side footwell or behind the fascia just under the steering wheel. I am sure someone will correct me if I am mistaken.

Small world, I have the wheels and passenger door mirror off that car, bought off ebay a couple of months back. The mirror had a hole in the casing, but I just wanted the glass and backing plate, and the wheels had a cracking set of tyres on, and I'll repaint them ready to go on when needed. I negotiated a good price for both (£120 I think it was), and they combined postage too. Anyway, glad you got everything sorted relatively painlessly, I dread to think what the cost of a main dealer insurance repair would have been, probably write off territory. A small world indeed, i too recognise the Ebay ID, difficult not to. I bought the front console gear lever wood surround to replace mine where some numpty had drilled holes in it for some indicator lights for an alarm.

Looks like you got a fantastic result there Mike. Whatever happened to good old English service eh!

Decided to give the cassette adapter one more try by buying a 'branded' one rather that the £1.50 cheapie off Ebay. If that fails its the Pure gadget provided I can fit it in the front centre armrest.

Hi all Been playing my IPod through the casette player using one of those cassette player adapter thingy's but the sound reproduction is pants. Is there an easy way to add an Aux facility some other way?

Cambelt was replaced on my car by local Lexus dealer at PO's cost just before i bought it and looking at the receipt the total bill including water pump etc and full service came to just over £850, so I would estimate that the cambelt work would account for around £450 or so and that was at Lexus Sidcup. Worth shopping around the dealers as they can be just as competitive as some independants.

I really can't believe how well the snow setting works. Apart from the extra care needed when driving on snow and ice the LS is a real doddle to drive. Use ful to know that it would also work on soft ground as I have on occasion got stuck at Brands Hatch in the field parking areas when it has been wet.

Had a similar problem with mine soon after I bought it last summer. The car had a Clifford Cat 1 alarm fitted and when the battery went flat I lost everythingbut fortunately for me I don't think the alarm was linked to the immobiliser. After replacing the battery I had the alarm stripped out as it seemed to be constantly draining the battery.

I did consider winter tyres but have some 'snow socks' instead but have not yet seen any real need to use them on the LS.

Hey thats spooky, just rang my local Lexus dealer today to order a replacement for my Mk4, cost is £134 inc VAT. I have been looking at alternatives including flexy black rubber splitters that you see on Jap cars but cant get anything to properly adhere so have bitten the bullet. Went to pick up my replacement front bumper bottom lip moulding from my local Lexus dealer and what had been ordered was the chrome moulding strip thet fits between the top half of the bumper that is body coloured and the lower section that is in the contrasting colour. Had a look on their system and found what I really need but it is in two parts (one for either end) not a continuous moulding. Too snowy to get under the car and look so checked my manual which shows no moulding at all (its an American version I believe so may be it was not fitted to US cars). The two mouldings are curved to the bumper profile and are about 400mm long and appear to be fixed by two securing plates with 4 bolts. The cost for just the pair of visible mouldings is only £62 +VAT. The part numbers are L76851 and L76852. I would be interested to hear if anyone has replaced these parts on a Mk4 LS.

In sunny Kent we have had snow on and off now since Friday morning with about three inches of the stuff that has now settled. Needed to go out yesterday for some shopping and was dreading using the LS, snow on most side roads clearer on main roads. What really suprised me was that I could actually drive on the snow and slush on our side roads in 'snow mode', traction control was working overtime though and I did need to take care with braking distances. Not bad for a heavy rear wheel drive old barge. A vast improvement on my old GS300 which just slid and squirmed all over the place and was very awkward to control.

Do you have any internet links for the kit you used. I would like to upgrade/replace my front seats heating elements. I would also be interested in how you wired it, did you just run it direct to the battery with a fuse or did you tap into the electrics behind the dash anywhere. Thanks

Can't say I am a motorcycle fan but I do have a softspot for a 70's classic and currently have a 1970 MGB Roadster tucked away in my garage which has a Rover V8 motor. Better power to weight ratio than a Porsche and a real hoot to drive but only in the dry.