Haylands

Hi Can't understand why anyone would want to sit in a parked car and watch Tv on a silly little screen. There again I could be getting old.... No one at present, as far as I have seen, has bothered with one for the 460 but there is a company in the states doing similar for the later 430 so it probably won't be long... Have a look on ebay usa for them Pete

Pete If you are thinking of going LPG as your other post, then don't use platinum plugs, they don't work with it. Iridium are fine as are standard plugs. Make sure they are gapped correctly, any garage that does a conversion and has to "regap" the plugs hasn't done the conversion properly and are covering up poor setup.... Pete

Oh and LPG is around 96cents a litre in Ireland Pete

"What is LPG? Liquefied Petroleum Gas, often called autogas when used to as a vehicle fuel, is made up of propane and butane. It is a by-product of oil extraction and refining operations. The UK has an abundant supply. Currently the UK exports LPG and imports petrol ." MPG on LPG is about 10% less than petrol but LPG is about 53p a liter and Petrol is now about 112p so in monetary terms its about half price fuel.... or twice as many MPG... See here for Ireland LPG http://www.ilpga.ie/ Pete

Hi Pete, Weird, I thought Super Steel was a Federal model and all the Vredesteins had "Trac" in their name ZR without a speed rating indicates a model specific tyre for a high performance car (effectively homologated but without the homologation code some marques have). With a speed rating then the Z is ignored (unless it's a Z rated tyre, 240kmh+). I've no idea why non-Z tyres sometimes include Z before R(adial), seems pointless, but I think you only find it on high-speed ratings (W+) so perhaps it's a tooling thing? Cheers, Paul Paul Last October when I started this thread the tyre shop who looked at the tyres said the rears were Vredesteins... now I'm 6'6" so I don't get down to tyre height very often!!!! so I never noticed that they are in fact Federal tyres.... and when I think how many times I've washed them and never read the sidewall, then the other day when you asked what model they were I STILL didn't read or notice that they were Federals..... Sorry about the mixup.... anyway they are going soon Pete

Very nice... and I do like the later headlights.... now where's my angle grinder..... Pete

Steves wheels are chrome, not alloys... very bling...... Pete

The government have just announced a 100% increase in the duty payable on LPG as they think it is unfair on everyone else that Pete is saving loads of money by having it on his LS Steve I know it will happen soon.... like every time I wash the car it rains.... Is LPG not available in Ireland then???? Pete

Hi Welcome to LOC Right... Rear springs... I'd try ebay or one of the web sites where you can email lots of breakers to get second hand ones, its unusual to hear of one breaking so you should be OK with second hand ones Front radius arms... I presume they mean the front wishbones these are a common fault and the cheapest way is from the states, do a search on hear for wishbones and you will find the details. Front bump stops.... they are probably just a bit perished and Lexus are being fussey... I'd leave them alone unless they are actually missing.... N/S/F Wheel bearing.... motor factors Bonnet struts.... sgs engineering or ebay... again do a search on boot struts as I posted a thread about a company that can regas them... You won't need a Lexus specialist to do any of those they are all very straightforward, just need a bit of work on your part to get all the bits nice and cheap... if you can't find the above info from searches on here let me know and I'll look later, I'm a bit pushed for time at the moment... Good Luck and don't worry, all that lot will be much much cheaper than you have been quoted... Pete

Hi Keep the LS and do this http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=49175 Pete

Steve As a well known anorac for fancy air vents I have to say that they do vary anyway, the speed and angle of oscillation is different whilst the cabin get up or down to temp and then they change speed and width of oscillation to keep the parts other aircons can't reach at the correct temp... Also another interesting feature of the 430 aircon is the front and rear sun sensors, these measure the intensity of the sun and take this into account when determining direction and temp of incoming air.... How sad is it that I know these things......!!!?!?!?!???! Pete

The one steve is talking about works the same as the kettle, you put it in the footwell, activate it and then put aircon on recirc and shut the doors for 10mins. Used it on my old car and it worked brill... Like the kettle idea though, you would have to make sure it dried out OK or the bacteria will be going mad in a warm wet atmosphere.... Pete

Out of interest which model are they? I've had consistently excellent performance from Vredestein on a variety of cars from big heavy diesels to a tuned RWD turbo coupé. Cheers, Paul Hi They are "Vredestein super steel 595" 225/55/ZR17 97W. So they are W speed rated (168mph), correct for the car. Load rating of 97, also correct... but does anyone know what the "Z" before the "R" for radial means.... Oh and they have minimun tread left so will be going soon... Pete

Out of interest which model are they? I've had consistently excellent performance from Vredestein on a variety of cars from big heavy diesels to a tuned RWD turbo coupé. Cheers, Paul Hi Bit dark at the mo.... will have a look tomorrow... Pete

Hi To put all this into context just have a look at a Mercedes forum, the lists of faulty bits stretches to several pages and the prices are ludicrous... Soft close door failure..... £800 Air con leak behind dash £2500 Cracking strut mount £600 To name just a few Most of the failures on the old 400's that are now well into their teens can be fixed pretty cheap with the knoledge gained from others on here... So Manc, don't worry about the odd thing... to buy a new car will cost you £300 a month in payments and £200 a month in depreciation so just enjoy the Lexus.. Have fun Pete

It has been over a week now and the aircon is still working! That must of been where the leak was. It is too cold now though, I have to keep puting it on auto 16 or low 0.5. Great news Alan, its nice when you finally get to the bottom of a problem..... Stay coooooool Pete

Hi This is a common problem and is a diy fix... see here for details/links... about the fourth thread down http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...mp;#entry471361 Good luck Pete

Hi All I can suggest is take them out and try Maplins or someone similar... Good Luck Pete

Hi I thought on the second press it ACTIVATED the double locking. If you want the interior sensors off there is a switch inside the car... anyway sounds like a fault with the double locking, I'd check all the door locks work on their own... Try sitting in the car, press the button once and see if you can open the door from the inside, this will show if it is double locked... Hopefully someone will have a hand book for your car and help you out... You could also look through the fuses to see if any are blown... that should take a few hours........... Good Luck Pete

Hi Sounds very much like front and rear wishbone bushes, these wear very well on LS's, you will not notice any movement on inspection, the bushes will still be hard enough to not allow the wishbone to move by hand. Sometimes it is loose disc pads but this is easily identified, find a bump where it always knocks then drive over it at the same speed but breaking at the same time, if it still clonks its not the pads. Shocks tend to last a long time, they do degrade but very slowly, you need to change them when the floaty feel of the car gets too much... Bearings don't clonk they tend to whine, especially when cornering. At that age and mileage I'd put my money on wishbone bushes, do the front first and check the lower ball joint as well as this wears but doesn't seem to clonk that much. Get the parts from ebay from the states, they are cheaper even with the postage, make sure they are for the right year of LS as they changed them regularly.... This will still cost a few hundred a side if you get someone to do it for you, do a search on here for wishbone bushes, there is loads of info and links to how to do them yourself, I did my brothers a while ago and it took less than an hour a side and was not hard at all, we set aside hours to do it and had to test it with a ride to the pub to try it out and fill the time.... Or.... turn the radio up and forget about it..... Good luck Pete

The high setting is only supposed to go up 18mm, mine only manages 14mm but acording to Lexus this is within tolerance.... can't see much point in it myself really Sport mode stiffens the dampers and stops it feeling so boat like on twisty bits... personally I like the floaty feel of the normal setting As for the steering wheel mine is very silent all I can suggest is a squirt of wd40 if you can see where to put it!!! Maybe its the inner and outer plastic shroud rubbing on each other, you could try putting it all the way out and use some silicon spray on all the exposed plastic bits and see if that makes any difference. Good luck Pete

Chris I sit corrected... just a typo, mine are 225/55/17's.... Pete

Hi On the drivers door handle is a little silver plastic bung which covers up the key hole, look at another lock to see the difference, this bung can usually be got out with your fingernails (if you don't chew them). Once open you could try disconnecting the battery for 30mins to reset the system... may work, if not its the dealer. Pete

Hi Glad you love it, welcome to the club, sounds like yours is mines sister... DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EVEN LOOK INSIDE A 600 don't go near one at the dealer, if one comes the other way or up behind you then turn off straight away and close your eyes. This is because if you see that it is just a bit better than the 430 (which is hard.... how do you improve on perfection?) you will want one and then the love affair with the 430 will be over.... Pete

Hi Yeah I know what you mean, I looked into the "tyre" thing long and hard and came to the conclusion that the tyres that Dunlop had designed specifically for the 430 would be the way to go, they are quiet, the correct rating, still available and not that expensive. I would still stand by the decisions I made if it wasn't for the fact that these cars seem to "eat" tyres, they scrub the edges off the front and grind down the rears... The Dunlop’s I have on the front are excellent and I'm real pleased with them, they are just what I thought they would be... However with hindsight I may have opted for a cheaper tyre or one that lasted longer and put up with some road noise, I think the Maxxis it had when I bought it were just too cheap and the noise was excessive, but there must be something in between. So I am sorry to have led you down this path, the Dunlop’s are excellent tyres but are they good value? Of course it could be the way I drive, I don't hang around, what’s the point of nearly 300bhp if you are not going to use it, and now its on LPG its cheap enough to play now and again... Pete