flotsam

Leather is just the skin off a cow.

It needs feeding at least once every six months otherwise it will start to harden and then crack.

Everyone goes to Micheldever!

The best possible professional tyre fitter at very good prices. You can't go wrong.

They did a very professional job on my car when I lived near them; sadly they're too far away from me these days. They use stick on weights which don't scratch the paint on the alloys so saving on corrosion problems.

Others use clip on weights on the rims.

The Tire Rack are probably the best known on line site for providing test comparisons. Here's their Grand Touring/All Season test results:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testRe...=GTAS&x=15&y=11

The best performer in these tests was the Bridgestone Turanza Revo H with a noise score of 8.23. Ride comfort was also high at 8.19. Actually from the article they sound so good that I may consider them when I next change tires. The only poor rating seems to be the traction figure but I don't do many jack-rabbit starts anyway and the traction control should help.

I assume Lexus have done all their homework on the dynamics of the wheel and tire combination but a change of tire shouldn't affect this too much.

OOps! Just read the previous posts which have already recommended the Tirerack and Bridgestones. You seem set on the Michelins. The test results weren't bad for the MXV Energies on the same test as the Revos.

NPH

I think you've said it yourself.

Car engines were designed to do long journeys. Short journeys are the cause of all the deposit in the cylinders and injectors. If you burn off a whole tank once a week on a single journey you won't need any injector cleaner.

Most are a rip-off anyway. If they weren't, the petrol companies would put it in the petrol by securing exclusive rights to add it to their petrol.

Slick-50 the engine oil additive for example has been fined because of the false claims they made. Again the engine oil manufacturers would put it in if it was any good.

Larry,

The noise made by tyres on the road is just about independent of the car to which they are attached. GrandAlf is correct when he states that the quieter the car the more you hear other things.

What you want is a tyre tread which is quieter as the other posters have recommended. Usually this is a tyre which has a continuous tread around the circumference of the tyre. The quietest would be completely smooth tyres (for example the 'slicks' in racing) but they would be illegal for the road. Most manufacturers offer treads where there is, for example two continuous rings around the centre of the tyre tread with the usual tread blocks either side. The standard fit Dunlop SP Sport 270s on the LS430 are designed for "grand touring", have a centre band which is continuous and should be quite good for noise. The rubber compound will have an effect as well.

Dunlop's D65 Touring has a five out of five rating for noise performance.

Frankly, I think a change of road surface will make more of a difference.

Tyres do not affect the warranty (within reason).

Whatever you do, don't open the bonnet before agreeing a price otherwise you'll pay anthing.

The thing's a *** damned work of art.

2) long routes: It doesn't guarantee the shortest routes. On some journeys the sat nav takes me all the way down the M1 and back up the A1 rather than across country which is a LOT shorter. But on mine it will do this consistently for the same journey.

Agree with the earlier post about the possibility of a bad GPS signal. There should be the letters GPS under the North Icon when you have a signal. Check this is the case when you have problems.

I haven't had problems with mine other than when I turned off the screen on a long journey. It wouldn't come back on until I'd stopped though the voice prompts still kept going. Don't know if this is a fault, design flaw or intentional behaviour.

When there isn't a signal, I arrive at junctions before the screen thinks I'm there. It's based on the rotation of the wheels but I've got the standard fit 225/60 Dunlops D8zs.

Perhaps the Americans are playing with their GPS system as a counter-terrorist effort or the European Galileo prototypes are being played with. Wonder if Galileo will mean we get a more accurate system.

Perhaps you could also provide exact details of a test route for comparison, say "High St." Reading to "High St." Swindon.

To answer your original question about calipers touching discs. If they were I'd say you had a serious and dangerous fault. I doubt this is the cause.

If memory serves, brake squeal is usually caused by contamination of the brake disc or pads by something like oil. But don't quote me it's something I read or heard a long time ago. I suspect wearing-in the brakes should get rid of the problem. Don't know if there's some way of cleaning them.

Something else I remember is low-quality replacements having inconsistant surfaces causing the vibration as the pads/rotors grip and shear repeatedly.

Here's a full article on Brake squeal:

http://members.aol.com/carleyware/library/bsqueal.htm

No it doesn't do that if you leave the key in as you must have opened the doors therefore won't lock.

The dealer when I bought my MkIV said the automatic re-locking of the doors occured only if none of the doors were opened as a security feature.

I haven 't tried opening one of the back doors and seeing if the whole thing locks or not. I'll have to try the remote opening of the boot with the gear in neutral as well.

Perhaps I'm talking rubbish.

I assumed it would be difficult or at least costly as they always ask when I get a quote.

When I first got my car half wouldn't even insure because of the price, some would but only with a tracker.

What about maintenance? Are the specs going to be a problem when servicing or getting parts?

Get a barge pole and then see if there are insurance companies happy to deal with an 'import'.

I've a MkIV and Thatcham Cat 1 is factory fitted as standard.

Yep! The quietest engine there is I believe. Other cars have extra sound proofing. But I remember standing next to an MR2 with the engine running and not being able to hear the engine due to the cars on the road driving by.

I also once looked at buying a second hand Supra and again the engine was so quiet I could only hear the fan on the engine whirring with the bonnet up and the dealer revving the engine even!

Just Tyres

Just Tyres a lot of people probably know have very high prices.

I had an old wreck once that I needed a new tyre for before selling it.

The scumbags wouldn't quote me a price and insisted on me driving it in first. Unfortunately, the tyre was found to have a nail in it (probably from a dear neighbour with multiple cars who I'd, politely as I could, asked not to park blocking my garage).

Having removed the nail, I was forced to buy a cheap tyre at over-inflated prices. When it came to paying the bill the scumbag waived the cost of balancing etc. as he obviously thought I was about to go ballistic.

I've been to other Just Tyres and managed to get quotes. They've always been way over the top on prices.

Complete crooks. Avoid like the plague.

Final Update:

Well, it looks like the wide-boy sales reps are backed up by some more professional customer service teams. All said and done, they responded in reasonable time.-

I've got my cash back in full.

Further Update:

During my conversation with the supervisor last week the excuse was that their cancellation department had a backlog. But afterwards, I realised that it had been 3 weeks already when I phoned, so I phoned again and this time I was put in touch with the customer services department who got me to fax back a disclaimer about the policy. Fair enough! Although it wasn't my fault they had a backlog I couldn't see anyone refunding my premium until they'd processed the returned policy form.

Now a week later, I STILL haven't got my money back.

Yep! My car aerial also changes to suit the frequency or more precisely the wavelength ensuring maximum gain.

It's time to ask yourself whether you bought the car because you wanted something which was in pursuit of perfection or if you just wanted a flash car.

Put another way, do you deserve the best, are you (as l'oreal state) worth it, or is the best only for other people.

No idea about maintenance records?

Buy with your head not your heart.

Why by a dubious car when you can have a safe one.

I could be wrong. It may be a great car. But it isn't worth the risk.

Walk away.

Update:

Actually, like a lot of things these days the insurance brokerage is sub-contracted out. I've worked with Royal Bank of Scotland (in fact they largely paid for my Lexus), and they're a decent bunch.

I phoned this morning complaining about the charge and the guy I spoke to eventually said "this is obviously serious" and put me in touch with a supervisor. She promised me a refund and to sort out the problems.

Looks like there's going to be some insurance brokers looking for a job soon.

"speaking to Lexus dealers the commonest fault they have to fix on the cd units is extracting copied cd's!! "

Actually, speaking to my local used car salesman, the most common complaint he hears, is people complaining about his competitor across the road.

I phoned RBS who gave me a very low quote and I accepted but my current insurer which is a subsidiary of RBS phoned me up and gave an even better quote.

Strangely, with RBS I was obliged to give bank account details there and then and to accept the insurance in principle straightaway.

Over the course of my negotiations with the brokers, I spoke to four people all of whom claimed to be the same person. One even gave me one name at the start and finished off the call by giving that same name and extension. Each time I phoned up, the person who answered was different but claimed to have taken the previous telephone calll I had with them.

I cancelled with RBS when I got the Privilege quote and RBS gave me the run-around, making it difficult for me to cancel. I've just checked my credit card bill (I changed the payment details) and I've found that they've charged me anyway.

All in all, I'd avoid them like the plague. They simply cannot be trusted.

As the aspect ratio lowers, higher grades of sidewall material have to be used. The latter is necessary to maintain a reasonably accurate speedo although as a rule ±1% will not be too bad. Checkout the rolling circumferences of the tyre manufacture too.

Another factor to bear in mind is the ratio of the rim width and the tyre width to use the tyre at its best. These days for sportier handling up to 90% is typical.

Offset, if you change the size of your rims then you must look at this so as to avoid fouling of the wheel arches. As Lexii are RWD, the calcultion is a little simpler though it would be a shame to spoil the CD figure of the LS400 which is one of the best on the road.

Weight distribution has to be considered between front and back.

Tyre pressures with the new alloys will have to be considered.

Then there's hysterisis pertaining to when the grip goes, roadhoalding quotient, castor, camber, base resonance and whether the front and rear resonances are reciprocal, the rapid-reaction adjustable valving (TEMS) on the Lexus in PWR/ECT mode.

But I'm sure you guys have already done the calculations.

Doesn't this mean you can borrow the CD do a copy and say "Nah. It's not worth the bother"?

Lift up the cover to reveal the spare wheel.

Lift up another cover on the LHS of the spare wheel.

I don't have two screws, I have two locking mechanisms to hold down the unit.

RHS cover has mobile phone connector.

If you want a brighter beam, then HID kit is probably the way to go. They should use less current so you shouldn't have to worry there.

If you do go this route stick to the 4100K bulbs. HID is capable of precise beam patterns and you should see a sharp cut-off with natural sunlight-like illumination.

Higher colour temperature bulbs which go into the blue not only diffuse more ruining the pattern and blinding oncoming traffic, but also cause eye fatigue as they burn into the retina more (as will the oncoming driver's main beams).