Gareth Rose

I've had Pirelli P-Zero Rossos on mine since I've had the car and I've had a few sets, not cheap tho. Always found them really good, but never tried any others so hard to compare. They always come top/close to top in Auto Express tests tho. Gareth

I've just renewed my insurance, and was offered Key insurance for 14 pa, with only one key you definately think it. The booklet says they cover up to 1500 quid to cover new locks and ecu if needed. Gareth

I can check the part number when I get home. It's an OEM Toyotapart, so you should be able to get them trough toyota thanks mate. jus pm me or post it up thanks again Have a look at this, Wheel They've got loads of JDM stuff, the Japs have got some pretty bad taste with some stuff tho, Toyota actually make a 'Carbon Fibre Fuel Lid Garnish' like what you'd get from Halfords,lol, most of the rest of the JDM stuff is nice tho, preicey tho (at least I think it is, I've got no idea what 50,000 yen is worth,lol) Gareth PS just worked it out, the Wheel is 370 quid,lol

That may well be the car I nearly bought to replace my current 200. My mate works in a place that kit out police cars, and rang me one day saying he had a 300 in being decomissioned, but we lost track of it after it left him plus i couldn't raise the money. It would have been ideal aswell cos my car is Plat Ice as well, but with the TTE kit and wheels, so could have swapped everything over. Since than I've bought a house so definately havn't got the money any more. Does look nice tho. Gareth

I had my insurance renewal throught yesterday from Adrian Flux, and they're offering key insurance for an extra 14. I wonder would it cover broken keys. It says it covers lock smiths and stuff and lost keys. When I ring them up I may ask them. Might be worth asking your insurance can it be added to yours. Gareth

I must admit I usually use a garage forcourt one.im getting a new pair of rears today so il try 33 all round and see how it goes. Thanks for replies.

Hi guys, Just been out driving in my car and it started to rain and noticed the car was really tail happy so when I got home I checked the treads, and on both the rear tyres the middles are worn down. I check the pressures resonably regularly and I usually set them all about 35 psi. The only thing Im thinking is that I do 90% motorway miles, so should I decrease the pressures a bit? The tyres are Pirelli P Zero Rossos all round 225/40 r18. I had problems with them wearing unevenly so had the alignment set to the Drs settings, and when the fronts wore down this time they were pretty even, so I don;t think its alignment. Thanks Gareth

Don't quote me but I think the fog lights are the same as the standard bumper. Theres a seller on ebay who had a few grills.in fact I think hes selling a tte bumper aswell.i had one a few months ago from them for 40 something quid I think it was,brand new. I think the seller is xk engineering.

Here you got mate. TRD lip TTE There were a couple more TTE ones on there aswell I think, but u may just have to traul thro all the IS200 search results to find them. Gareth

The guy whos selling it on ebay mentions he would split them. Theres also a few TTE front bumper on there I think. Gazza

So how are they looking? Im thinking of getting some before the winter kicks in. What ones did you get? Have you got a link? Did you get them for flasher/full beam aswell as I heard somewhere HIDs don't like being flashed. I may just get them for main then white halogens for full with leds for side. Regards Gareth

Tamiya used to do a kit of the IS with a TRD kit on it, but its discontinued, although they do pop up on ebay every now and then. I got one a while back, unopened for 90 quid. There are a few other IS/Altezza bodies available but most are modified or racing versions, so not ideal if you want a mini Lexi to match your real one. As for static models, there are a few, again try ebay, Also I think there was a thread on this a few weeks back, there may be some details on there Goodluck with your search Gareth I found the other thread link

I remember when I was about 16, I used to have an off road bike, and we'd go and get petrol from our local garage (which was always a bit more than supermarkets) and it was exactly £4 for 5 litres, so 60p a litre. Now its nearing twice that. Gareth

I think we should all sell our car, and buy £0 VED cars, then see what the Government does. Are they going to stop maintaining the roads? Turn off all the street lights? Of course not, they'll just tax the Prius at £400, and free for electric, unitl everyone buys electric, then charge them £400 tax, until everyones walking, then we'll have different tax bands according to how much you walk (more if you run). They're never going to stop taxing Joe Bloggs. So I say we should all go out all brim the tanks of our Lexi', and enjoy them while we still can, and If the government is going to force us to stop feeding our children so we can afford to fill out tanks, then I think Mr Brown could be up for alot of child neglangence charges for indirectly starving the nations children (I wonder if that would work,lol) Gareth

Im having my front bumper (same as yours) and wing and bonnet sprayed soon, so was thinking of machine polishing the rest of the car to match. What did you use? Any tips? I polish boats in work regularly, but thats gel coat and not paint. I've got a big proffesional machine and and a cutting sponge, polishing sponge, and lambs wool heads. Car looks good Gareth

I've got to get mine checked again soon, I had it done by a local garage using Tonys settings, but it seems to have got gradually twitchier over the last 10k. Has anyone had it done to tonys settings at a Lexus Dealer? I emailed Lexus cardiff a while back and asked them could they do it, and they said yes, but Im gonna ring them and check they'll do it to tonys settings. Gareth

What kind of boat is it? And how much does it weigh? Also how steep is the slip way? I work as a boat fitter and we use a Land Rover for putting boats in and out, and with our 24 footers (cuddy cabin sportsboat), the Landie clutch has to be worked if its not in low range, so I don't think an IS200 would'nt stand much chance. I have a friend however with a ~24 foot boat, whos got a Nissan Murano 3.5 V6, auto, that hasn't got an auto box, and he just plants the throttle and it goes up our quite steep slipway fine, so a IS300 auto should be ok for that. My dads old Vauxhall Omega 2.5td, would struggle with a 20 foot boat up the same slipway, with the clutch smelling bad. As far as towing goes though you might be struggling. Our 24 foot boats weigh ~3 tonne on a trailer, so even most 4x4s would struggle legally (we've got a Nissan Navara and the towing capacity is only 2.8 tonne), so from memory I think legally a IS300 wouldn't be able to tow it, but could cope physically. Pretty much the only vehicles that can tow 3 tonne upwards are Landrovers and a few other 4x4s. You may be better getting a cheap 4x4 just to use for the boat. Hope this helps Gareth

I've got Pirelli P Zero Rosso Extra loads on my car. Mine are 18s, but I assume you can get 17s. I've had 2 sets so far, and they've been great. Not lasted ages, but that may be my driving style, but grip loads in wet and dry. Gazza

Yeah I tried admiral, quite impressed with the quote, came back as 1100 for all three cars, with me and the gf driving all 3, with commuting, which I thought was quite good. And you can choose who gets the NCB for each car. So If I do get another car, I may go for that. Thanks for the replies Gareth

Hi guys, Just wondering if anyone works in insurance? My Lex is starting to cost me a fortune (fuel, servicing, tyres), plus the mileage is getting high (I do about 15k in it at the mo, 12k of that is to work), so I was thinking of getting myself a little diesel runabout or van to go back and for work, so I can keep the Lex for best. I live with my gf, whos got a fiesta, and at the moment were each a named driver on each others policy, which is causing problems trying to get cheap quotes, as most places will only insure 2 cars if there is only one driver, but ideally we both need to be able to drive all of them (or at least the 2 main cars). I've tried a couple of family fleet insurane companies, but the proposer must be at least 25 (im 24 gf is 22). Has anyone done anything similar, and been able to use NCB on all cars. I've got 4 an gf has got 3, so if we could kinda combine/use both of them. I've tried getting quotes formyself only with 0 NCB, aand they're all to high to make it worthwhile. Regards Gareth

That does look good, thats the effect Im after with mine, and it saves painting the wheel centers. I've got 2 spare wheels so Il get them done and see what they look like. Cheers Gareth

Brilliant cheers mate. Gareth

heres a quick pick of my wheels. went for the graphite colour. four wheels refurbished any coulour. tyres removed replaced and re- balanced for £180. amazing value, got them done here. http://www.covanhill-powder-coaters.com/html/index.php Have you got any full car pics with those wheels on? Im looking to do my 18" styling kit alloys in a similar colour on a Plat Ice car with Styling kit, but can't decide on which shade. Something like yours or titanium would be nice. Cheers Gareth

Im interested in some pics of Silver cars with darker wheels as well. I've got the TTE 18s, and want to do something a bit different and have then like a dark silver, and then darken the head and tail lights to completement them. I've been looking at the different colours available for powdercoating, and there seems to be a couple of different silvers (silver and Hi Power silver) as well as Anthracite and Smoked chrome. The Anthracite looks too dark I think, so somewhere in between. I wouldn't mind a bit of mettalic in them as well to give them a nice sparkle in the sun. In you find a nice colour mate I'l interested to seem them on the car. Gareth

I do think some of the surveys are a bit skewed sometimes tho. Like if you expect a car to be ultra reliable (ie a 40k A5 full of modern technologies) and it has a few minor issues, its hurts alot so the owner would talk it down a bit. But if someone one of the really cheap city cars, with lets face it alot less to go wrong, and minor things go wrong, then something minor goes wrong, then the owner is resonably pleased. I think thats why alot of the expesive up market cars slide down quite low. Same goes with alot of the other categories, like performance or practicality, both of which our beloved IS scores badly on, mainly becauseof the opinions of people who are used to other big cars, but for people like me who came from a 1995 3 Door Peugeot 205 Diesel, both the performance and preacticallity are stunning. So I think we should take the surveys with a pince of salt. That said, I took great pleasure winding my father in law up when my older discontinued car, beat his brand new Focus in a few categories. Gareth