Vyker

ok heres a curveball for ya... say after all that application, time and effort applying the 3 coats and buffing it all out... when i take it to a car wash a week later, will all that stuff just wash off?

how much does it cost then? and where can you get it? ... oh and the most important question, one for the lazy man, how long does it take, and how much effort? also, my car gets dirty weekly... i can wash it on a friday and by next friday its a mess. is it worth polishing and waxing it ?

Thanks :D

Thanks.. He is, and rightly so. I took my car to the tyre shop near my place, to get the front 2 tyres replaced with a new set of Dunlop SP3000A, cost me £150 all in. But when the guy took the wheels off, he looked at the inner tyre wear and said to me.. "look boss, you have tracking problem, i fix.. £40.." and i just looked at him with a grin on my face and said "its ok mate, i got it sorted already, lexus professional." the common misconception in the public domain about tracking is astonishing!! the world needs to be educated hehe

What can i say guys.. I had a bad case of inner tyre wear on my T plate 1999 IS200. When I have the car parked up somewhere, with the steering locked to one side, i would always look at the tyre and think, "nice these tyres are lasting well, check out all that tred"... Little did i know the tyre was wearing on the inside out of my view. I noticed the car would also be very jittery under heavy breaking in a straight line, i had no idea why it was doing that, and put it down to the ball joints, even though i had them replaced it was still doing it. After checking the forum, searching for inner tyre wear problems, i noticed that it appears to be a common problem, and that one man... a Mr To.... nay... DR Tony Bones from STS in Watford, had a mathmatical resolution to solve this problem. so i took the car too him this afternoon. the steering and brakes locked the car went up... the sensors attached.. and Tony got to work and the shocking figures from the first set of checks came back. you can clearly see how far out the figures are on ALL readings... toe, caster and Camber. When i saw them on there, i was just shocked as to how far off there were, and how ive been driving for so long with such a poor set of angles. another nice shot shows the same figures. all the while our Tony, cool as a cucumber, knew exactly what he was doing, and set out to get it all sorted. Here he is adjusting the rear driver side Here he is using the spot welder to heat up a stiff bolt to loosen it. Adjusting the front... after about an hour of tweaking and tinkering to ensure all angels where spot on, the results came back. You can clearly see the changes from the before shot. Now there is one thing i have to stress, the figure in the top right that shows 5'26', and the other side showing 5'21'... these are the Caster angles.. now these angles are not adjustable, Tony had to make changes to other parts of the car and other angles to influence those figures, something i thought was pretty impressive. To accomodate so many angles to ensure each is set to its optimum settings. fantastic! Once i started my drive back home, i noticed an immediate difference, the steering became ALOT more responsive and more stable at higher speeds. Now Tony warned me that i might notice a difference and pleaded with me to take it very easy for the next few miles to get used to it, and he was very right. When steering into a corner, the car actually...... did! as opposed to understeering and being forced to apply more lock to get round the corner. On the topic of geometry or calibration, it appears to be a common misconception in the public domain as to what it is. when i would have chats with work mates about this problem only a few days ago they would all tell me, "ahh now you see mate, you need your tracking sorted" "get you tracking checked out mate, looks like its out." And i had to tell them all that getting your tracking done simply measures only the one angle, Tony measured nearly 18 angles!!! Now the service wasent cheap[for me at least], paid £100.46 and i will need one tyre replaced, which i will get done tomorrow at a cost of £65, but when you consider getting a 1angle tracking done will cost you nearly £40... the £100 spent appears minimal in comparison. And you also get a free check up after 2,000miles, so Tony, I'll see you soon :P [wont take me long, i do 350 a week] so to sum up.. CHECK YOUR TYRES INNER WEAR!! Tony showed me some examples of other IS's he had come in, and my jaw dropped. the tyres had gone past the "oh mate, your low on tred there, might wanna get some new tyres"... the rubber was long gone, i could see thread and wire, effectivley the inners of the tyre, all the while the rest of the tred on the tyre as if new! so ill say it again.. CHECK YOUT TYRES INNER WEAR!! Tony did a fantastic job, and i dont know how i can recommend him more then just typing in this forum topic. you could go to your local with the figures supplied by Tony, but there is no gaurentee that it will be done 100%, so if you do have this problem, visit him in Watford. Some might say, when seeing his posts on here, that he is just after our custom, looking out for his Wheels in Motion company, but i can assure you, this isnt the case, he is just a man that is passionate about Geometry, and has recognised a possibly fatal flaw in an all round fantastic car. Tony, I thank you! p.s Jamie.. i took a picture of the under side for you, best i could do, hope it was what you were after

im up for it, count me in :)

you've all got me worried. mine is at 91k, 8yrs old, and it hasent been changed. ill book myself into a garage.

mate, your car is really coming on well. its the only car on the forum that i actually look out for. all the mods you are doing to it are right up my street. makes me want to do the same to mine. but then i have remind myself that my car is just a run about thing, and not worth spending anytime caring for it :( keep up the good work. and keep the pictures coming.

yeah, speaking of bargains, i managed to get my cracked rear passenger side light cluster replaced with one i got off ebay for.... ..... ... only a tenner!!! ive been watching for one on ebay for a month or so, and everyone that goes by hits well over £60. so i was chuffed :) there will always be a bargain somewhere, you just got to find it :)

sorry to boost this thread back up to the top again. but im interested in knowing what of all the ideas mentioned above have actually made it into the new IS not being an owner of the new IS i dont know. can anyone tick off the multiple lists above. cheers and sorry again :S

im interested in them too... but what i want to know is.... do they actually work? ideally, i would want them to reduce wind noise on a motorways, as im sure you are all aware, the is200 isnt exactly quiet. [unless its just mine :S ]

thanks for the reassuring comments lads. i suspected it was a "drivers" gearbox, took me about 15miles of driving before i got the hang of a smooth gear change. As for the oil change, im not too sure, but i will put it on my list of things to do/check. Cheers Pumatron

sorry for bumping this topic back up again, but i thought it might help potential new buyers. i bought my 1999 T reg IS200 on 9th feb with 85k on the clock, for £4,800. When i went to see it, it had shown signs of neglect, there were stone chips, all four alloys heavily kerbed, dents and a cracked tail cluster. The owner showed me the service history book and all stamps were there, right up until the 74k stamp, all from Lexus dealers. He then mentioned that he got his 84k service done at a Toyota dealer, which i now beleive to be a lie, as the stamp had no date or mileage. I took it in for a service at an independant garage, and most general servicing clearly hadent been done since the last proper service at 74k Pads were almost gone, oil was dirty, air filter needed a change, and ball joints were almost gone [very dangerous] All that cost me £400.... i've since got the alloys changed, to nice new ones, costing me £140 in total. the moral here is, that although the car appeared to be well looked after be previous owners, in this case the company guy who drove it like mad for 74k miles, having regular services done at full cost with a nicely stamped service book... all it takes is one owner to neglect it. Having said all of that, the car still feels sturdy, well built and almost tank like. theres an air of brute about the car. regardless of its previous neglect. Im happy to say that it also hasent taken much to get it back to the speed again, although im finding more faults here and there, most recently the rear passenger side brake pads clip has fallen off resulting in a click noise when driving, Lexus only part, and they are closed till Tuseday, but thats another story! lol so to sum up, a well looked after car is often more crucial to look for in buying then one thats done less mileage.

Hi All Ive got a 6 speed manual gearbox on my 1999 IS200. I wanted to know how loud you gear changes are compared to mine... For instance.... when im parked up, engine off, windows down, and start shifting from any gears, i can clearly hear the links moving and making sound. even just "wiggling" the gear stick around in nuetral, i can hear it clicking away underneath the car. Another instance... If the radio is off, and im driving calmly.. as i shift, i can hear the gearbox below making its change. How loud is your gearbox? Am i missing a part? a cover of somesort? could there be a problem with mine? broken part? Is this just normal? Interms of the gearbox itself, it appears to be working fine, all gear changes are smooth. Any help would be great cheers guys!

is it common knowledge though? i, when i bought into the IS, never knew it needs a belt change at 100k, i personally thought it would have had a chain. or need replacement earlier on, say at 80k.

i like that out the box thinking! lol all true pionts you make, but surely im right in saying that selling a 100k+ car is harder then one under? i for one, dont even look at cars over 100k, infact, in most searches i filter out cars over 100k.

Hi Guys! i bought my lexus on the 9th of feb, at 85k on the clock... i paid £4800 for it, and i recently got it serviced for £400 i had new brake pads fitted, front ball joints replaced, oil change, oil filter changed, air filter changed, and a few other little things done. the car is now at 88.5k, at the rate im going, im going to hit the 100k mark pretty soon. at the 100k i beleive its due a major service, we're talking cam belt, the lot. im pretty certain its going to set me back a bit. Would it be worth my while to sell at say 95k, and buy another is200? Will i have trouble selling it when its gone over 100k? what do you think i should do? any advice would be grand! cheers

Hi Everyone, ive just bought a 1999 Lexus IS200 second hand SE model. There is a few minor problems with the car that i hope to iron out over time. first up is the Fuel gauge. When i fill the tank up, the needle doesnt rise to the top of the gauge at the "F" marker, it stays where it is, i filled it up yesterday from 1/4 tank to full, and its still only risen to 3/4. It rises VERY slowly! I think it might be a problem with the float in the fuel tank? has anyone else had this problem before or know how i can fix it ? Thanks