SpokesT

I wet meself at your tale! I hope you told the council that, er, a passerby dropped the paint, only they will come and get the money for the clean up off you otherwise! Is there anyone on here nifty enough with photoshop to create a few different colour schemes for the caliper conundrum out of the pics posted above? Yellow calipers on a blue IS200 for starters, followed by red calipers, and then blue to match the car would be good. Well, it would certainly help me anyway

You lot having convinced me I should keep the Lexus after my brief wobble of a couple of weeks ago, I have decided to do something to assist in the retention of the bonding already in place with my Nippon beauty by treating her to a bit of make up. PLenty of advice on how to paint up my calipers, and it is superbly presented, but one thing is missing: Colour schemes! My IS200 is a blue one, (which I am reliably informed :-) is only on the fastest cars) so what would be the best colour for the calipers? I know it's down to personal choice obviously, but seeing is believing etc. Has anyone gone for the garishness of yellow, yellow and blue being opposites on the colour wheel and all? Or are muted tones more effective? Some guidance here, por favor...

One good thing here (good?!) is that I have found out that I am not the only one in this quandary, thereby making me fairly normal (by LOC standards anyway :winky: ). A problem shared is a problem halved and all that... I think this coming weekend I will give the car a good wash and wax and swop the front tyres to the back (cos they are wearing thin on the inner edges as usual) and generally have a little 're-bonding' session with it

Just a thought, we'd better not declare any interest in cycling, if Gordon Brown has spies on here he'll be taxing pushbikes next!

OK OK OK you guys win, you drive a hard bargain but make all the right points to convince me :D SEXY LEXY IS STAYING!!!! I am going to ride my motorbike to work, possibly even cycle now and then, it's not far, and the saving will pay for the increased running costs. Shall we have a party to celebrate?

What does Glass's say a 52 plate IS200 SE with 37780 miles on it is worth? part-ex price is 6400 assuming its a 2002 52 Cheers for that. This site and the wealth of easily accessible know-how is almost worth keeping the car for!

It's due a service (yikes!) and I was going to take it to my trusted man under the arches, if he says he has changed a washer then you can bet your life he has changed it etc. People go on about the 40k service like it's the Holy Grail. What should I be getting done over and above fluids and filters I wonder...??? And when is the cambelt likely to need changing? These are all the sort of thing that is leaving me with a sinking feeling as I work out my ever rising household monthly outgoings.

Go to Parker's price guide on the web and look up road tax and fill in their ready reckoner and you will see why the 01 cars are preferable. Just my luck to have bought a 52 plater last year eh!

What does Glass's say a 52 plate IS200 SE with 37780 miles on it is worth?

>KEEP IT You know you will be gutted a week after you let it go. < You sound just like my mrs. She reckons as it's paid for, and makes me smile just from looking at it let alone driving it, I should keep it. I'm trying to do the sensible family man thing and making my head rule my heart but I am struggling... Damn that b@$tard Gordon Brown and his stupid ideas, my monthly budget is such that £430 a year just to park outside will be beyond my reach without some major cut backs elsewhere (Tesco Value foodstuffs here we come...!)

Reasons Not to Keep It (in no particular order) 1. Fuel prices 2. Road tax increases looming in big way 3. I am skint 4. I am doing less than 6k miles p/a in it Reasons to Keep It 1. I love it 2. Whatever replaced it would not be as good by a long stretch with what I could afford to buy 3. Value has fallen through the floor after paying £9k for it 11.5 months ago (52 plater with under 38k miles now) 4. I am doing less than 6k miles p/a in it PLEASE HELP ME I AM IN A QUANDARY AND YES I AM SHOUTING!!!

How much are wheel refurbs? Mate of mine who is ex trade says he knows someone who will do it for £50 a rim. Which I thought was the going rate more or less so not much of a favour really

Do you have 'legal expenses' as an add on to your policy? Cos that is what you would use to cover the cost of the fight for the value of any mods etc. It covers what they call 'uninsured losses' as far as I know. Hopefully the threat of such legal action would make the other insurers cough up anyway, as presumably there is no way out for their driver and they would end up paying out plus for any court action, so might as well just pay out asap...

No idea how it happened. Car went into body shop for new front offside wing after a numpty old bat reversed her Merc into it, and came out good as new. Five days later (ie to long really to go back and moan at the body shop) and while cleaning it, I notice the locking wheel nut is missing from the rear offside wheel. I haven't felt any kind of vibrating or anything that might cause this to happen, the other nuts are tight, and it is as stated the locking nut. Anyone got any ideas how this might happen? What I don't want is any more to come off, especially while I am driving Next question - anyone got a locking nut for sale so I don't have to buy a whole set?! :tsktsk:

Some cracking replies there. I can see I am going to enjoy this club. I am also on a motorbike list as well as a military one (past life). I find I am surrounded by experts whose brains I can pick to solve almost any problem. I reckon with the diversity that seems to exist here, this list will be no different!

Wotcher all just spent an enjoyable night going through a lot of past posts up to a year old or so, and saw one about averager ages of Lexus drivers. It got me to thinking, I am now the proud owner of my first Lexus IS200 SE, aged 41. Ten years back I was driving a 1990 Astra estate (2 kids under the age of 4 back then meant load space was vital). Ten years prior to that I was driving a 1982 Datsun Sunny. What were you lot driving ten and twenty yrs back before moving up to what we all drive now? ATBPOR

I'm thinking of fitting some crappy Vauxhall Corsa lights to mine, they are kule! ;-o

I'm still brand new on here, so just catching up basically. Great to see that there are some mods which are truly essential, just as there are other mods which are, er, also essential (superchargers, de-cat systems etc heheheh!) to the enjoyment of the Lexus experience!

Hope you told them that everyone on here is now aware of the situation and that we all await their satisfactory resolution.... they can surely ill afford such bad publicity? Also a copy to Lexus HQ, with the same advice to them too...?

I don't want to be a party pooper.... I am well impressed with the mods, my car is the same colour and i am imagining mine with all your mods, but how much has it increased your insurance premiums by? Snag is, as far as i know, if you don't declare your mods to the insurers, if you end up in a crash and your car gets inspected prior to the insurers authorising any payment, they could deem your policy invalid and you will end up well out of pocket with a busted car and no way of fixing it. Have you got round this?

I suppose that is just plain logical! Sorry for being a numpty!

Howzit all. Just a bit of advice if you could be so kind, I know there are experts lurking on this list Just acquired a 52 plate IS200 which had 32.5k on the clock. I have since put on another 500. It has full dealer service up to 24k, but that last one was done just under 2 yrs ago. The interval is every 10k or 12 months as you know, but I am wondering if i will get away with an oil and filter change for now rather than lash out meg bucks (presumably?) on a full 4 yr service... this is obviously just a stop gap. Would that make sense for the sake of saving some bucks, or should I put the cost towards a service? How much should the next service cost if it was deemed a 'full' service? Main dealer prices, please..... although i wuld proably use Under the Arches Harry as he is the most trustworthy mechanic I have ever come across (in which case are there any 'specialist' areas in a Lexus service schedule that i need to make him aware of that he might otherwise leave out?) One last thing - the headlight washers only seem to work now and then. Presumably every time i hit the buttoon they should operate - or are they linked to the wipers being turned on or summat? Either way, they don't seem to want to work this week... Sorry so many queries - but this is why I joined this forum, to pick the brains of experts such as you lot! :winky: ATBPOR!

South coast, Sussex. Forgot to give the run down on the car I got. It's metallic blue, black interior, 32.5k miles but I've put 500 on it since, 52 plate, cost me just over 9k. Wheels are not too bad, spare is totally unused, but rear nearside is badly bubbled and flaking. The rest are starting to go, which I hear is an inherent problem. Potenza tyres, all with a good 5mm of tread apart from the spare which as I said is mint. I will be looking to do the odd minor cosmetic mod, just to make it my own, at some point once I've got over the initial financial shock of buying it heheheh! 4 replies almost immediately, cheers for making me feel welcome!

Howzit all, been lurking here since I chopped in my Mini Cooper for my 52 plate IS200. Did the Ring in the Mini, was never going to have as much fun as that, and seeing as the electrics had started giving me fair warning that impending bills were looming, I thought I'd offload it. After a week of mourning the Mini's handling and character, Sexy Lexie started to seduce me and I'm now hooked. She's a tad thirsty id my only gripe, but then all my miles have been town miles so far. Anyway I'm looking foreward to my continued Lexus ownership and some runs out to let it stretch its legs a bit, who knows, maybe another Ring visit should be in order, what say ye? All the best!