Greedy80

Ok well an update I have managed to get a quote from lexus for the body coloured shell on my wing mirror which a crazy woman driver broke. It's not too bad at 30.24 +vat, I honestly thought it would be more I went to a non lexus body shop and they were charging 30 for the part and the same again to paint it so I have opted for the Lexus option which comes pre-painted. Good stuff!

Hi Guys, I drive a platinum Ice IS200 SE and today a stupid woman driver smashed her wing mirror into mine and caused the silver facia of the wing mirror to fall of into the road. I managed to retrieve the wing mirror which although on the whole is in tact has large cracks in it, I can't tell you how fuming I have been this last hour. Anyway my question to you guys is what do you think the best route would be to getting this sorted and how much do you think it might cost to be repaired or if necessary replaced. I would like to post a picture of the mirror but at this moment I don't have the cable for my phone handy, I'll do my best to do so later. So of course if anyone knows of a platinum Ice wing mirror facia going just let me know. Thanks in advance guys

Wow!!! I can't believe they showed on the same day that I had my car done, man I would have waited around had I known, on the other hand probably best I didn't know my Mrs would have not been pleased with me drooling over these. I take it they had been out for a track day somewhere near by.

So after having my lex is200 se for a few years and in that time having red hundreds of articles about the benefits of taking your car to WIM I finally made the 300 mile round trip from dorchester to Cheesham which, I have to say has a surface not unlike the moon, we are talking serious pot holes! The trip was brought about by my noticing some serious inner tyre wear and rather than waste money replacing tyres for it to happen soon again I thought I'd get the guys to fit some new tyres and sort the geometry at the same time. Tony and the guys worked on the car for about an hour and a half and midway through called me in, the caliberation couldn't be perfect and was 1 degree out. Due most likely to a minimally bent upper wishbone i'm told, but Tony advised me that this would unlikely cause any negative effects but I should be aware of it. Tony went on to say that he had seen many other is200's with this issue and he had contact with them and there were no issues. When compared with the diagram of the original alignment with wheels seemingly pointing in all directions it was obvious that this caliberation was very much required! The result was brilliant the car feels better and I'm happier in the knowledge that I'm free of crazy inner tyre wear. I have to say though my lex felt a bit less special the only reason being I spent the morning looking at the Porsche C4S outside and the DB9 and Maseratii Gransport which were being worked on. sigghhhhh one day! But I can heartily recomend that any Lexus IS200 or IS300 driver should pay them a visit. P.s I managed an MPG of about 29mpg which is the best I've seen!

Ta buddy I thought so but I just wanted that confirmed and yeah inner wear is the sign.

Hi guys I have just had my MOT and the lexus sailed through once again but on an advisroy I was told that my front tracking was in need of adjustment. Now my question is are tracking and geometry (i.e WIMing) one and the same? Or does WIMing include tracking? I'm wondering if it's time to make that trip to WIM. Thanks Mark

That's a good point, how did they skim the discs with them still on the car? Do they not put it on a lathe? Honestly I really don't know but I think they had a machine which they used with the discs on the car, they said it was setup to catch all the sparks and that it worked on every car they've used it on just fine but it couldn't have been setup right in my case. :tsktsk: Like I said it looks and feels great now but I'll be keeping a close eye on the body and make sure I contact them as soon as I have a problem.

Exaclty, I think the guy trying to sort it didn't have a clue, he was just worried.

So far so good but we'll see I guess, I too wish I had taken photos and I was going to but the guy started washing before I had a chance.

Hi all, let me explain I have had a problem with break judder which I posted about on another topic and that problem has turnned into a new problem, hence this topic. To bring everyone up to speed I had warpped discs which my garage offered to skim for me which because the discs were new I opted for. Ok so all dandy! Well so I thought, I'm 300 miles in now and I'm still being delicate with the breaks but the breaking feel is fine now, smooth and with no grabbiness. However the day after I had the work done I was driving to the post office with my family and I couldn't help but notice what looked like tree sap or that kind of staining on the passenger side front door. I noticed in my passenger side wing mirror and it troubled me all the way to my destination when I got out I ran my hand over the paint work and it became clear very quickly that the paint work was covered in the dust and flecks of metal from the skimming that occurred the day before!!!!! I couldn't have seen it the day before because it took the night and the dew that it brought to allow the said bits of metal to oxidise thus creating a visibly orange tint to my now sand paper like body work!!! Seriously both sides of the car were orange to the naked eye with the passengers side being worse because that disc wasn't as warpped and as such needed more skimming. Swines! I was fuming I quickly drove to a friend of the families body shop and he quickly confirmed my thoughts, he did remove some of it by simply using some car detergent and a sponge with lots of water, but he was very shocked that this had happened and couldn't belive the state that they'd left my car in. So after that I went directly to the garge, at this point I want to mention the garage have been brilliant for me always and this is the first issue I have had. So I arrived at the garage and the now familiar mechanic came over and said 'alright' and once shown my body work he announced 'oh :tsktsk: '. The second mechanic concurred and couldn't believe it had happened, they do this with many cars and haven't had the problem before. Then the third mechanic came over and he was the chap that completed the work, he said back so soon in a joking way adn once he saw the body work he just let out a half hearted laugh and said blimey that hasn't happened before, all the while playing down the significance of the damage. He then took over and said no problem that'll wash right off! I wish I had pics for you guys but I wasn't thinking, it was clear a wash wasn't going to do the car justice. The chap rushed the car over to their valetting spot and started soaping up and washing down the side panels of my car with me and my family looking on in disbelief. He washed and scrubbed and said there ya go, I ran my hand on my car and said it's all still there but you have just washed the rustiness away, he didn't agree but continued to clean the car. He even whipped out the polish out one point just to try and help but I mentioned to him that all it would do would seal in the particles not lift them away from the paint work. Anyway at which point the guy said well im spending my lunch hour doing this for you, so if you would like anymore doing you'll have to bring it back and I'll polish the whole car, obviouslly ignoring what I'd just said. I said well I was planning to clean the car properly tmrw so i will try and sort it myself then but if not I would be back. So the following morning I got the full detailing kit out I rinsed the whole car, followed by the full two bucket car shampoo, I then shammied and dried the whole car, I then clay barred the car in the hope the woulkd lift out the particles, I followed this with a wax and polish. Still i could feel almost grit like bits on the paint work. This left me utterly deflated and beginning to notice that below the window seales I could see oxidisation reoccurring. i couldn't believe it I worked my nuts off. The car looked great but as soon as you felt it you could tell it wasn't right, it was better but only slightly. So I took the car back again that day and spoke to the manager who is an excellent guy and has been incredibly helpful, he was fully aware of how bad things were and said whatever it would take to sort the car i.e re-laquer or re-paint then it would be done. He grabbed the owner who would have the casting vote of what to do this chap really annoyed me he was an old guy and started running his hands over the car exclaiming that by the way his team had been talking the car was much worse, I replied it was before 5hrs of work that morning, the car was orange! he much like one of the guys before played down this issue and kept repeating 'this is fixable', he said I could drop it in any day in the following week and the car would be fixed. However whenever I asked how he intended to fix the car he just replied it will be sorted or fixed no problem. When I cornered him and quite annoyed asked how would he fix it he replied with it's my secret, his secret it's my :tsktsk: car!! With that he had to leave, the manager came back over and calmed me down saying he'd find out what was being done and that the owner was a little nuts but assurreed me that the I would be satisfied. So now I have had the work done about three days ago the car does look fantastic and the paint work is like glass, i'm still a little concerned that I might get dull spots in the laquer or that there maybe surface rust occurring in a few months but the manager said if that happened he would definately sort everything for me. Oh and the old guy? He put hours of work in cleansing the body work and heavily polishing and waxing the car. So I guess I'll watch this space to see if things are ok, i've been assurred the skimming dust and flecks were only surface based but I don't kn ow how the guys can know that 100%. Anyway rant over I wanted to post this massive post and wanted to see what you guys think. Thanks Mark

I have just contacted the ebay shop called quality.car.parts and they have suggested that if the pads and discs are at fault I should buy another set from them have them fitted then send the faulty ones back and then they will send them to mintex who then decide if they are faulty and if mintex says they are then the ebay shop will issue a refund. Hassel! To be honest if they are faulty I might just go for oems from the garage then send the faulty ones back to them and see if I get my money back, I may sound sceptical here but I doubt I will. Hell I may just try and deal with Mintex direct. Hi guys, just wanted to let you know how I got on with this because it's nice for these topics to have a conclusion. Basically I took the car to the garage as mentioned above and they were certain the discs were warped. So the guys at the garage offered to skim the discs for me and they said it would mean losing a couple thousand miles of the discs but it would mean the cost would only be about thirty quid and I wouldn't have to deal with the potentially fruitless process of sending the discs back. I figured this to be a good suggestion and agreed, the guys lent me a car for an hour and I popped back and voila skimmed discs, the guys advised me to break early and gently for the next 200-300miles. Ok so all dandy! Well so I thought, I'm 300 miles in now and I'm still being delicate with the breaks but the breaking feel is fine now, smooth and with no grabbiness. However the day after I had the work done I was driving to the post office with my family and I couldn't help but notice what looked like tree sap or that kind of staining on the passenger side front door. I noticed in my passenger side wing mirror and it troubled me all the way to my destination when I got out I ran my hand over the paint work and it became clear very quickly that the paint work was covered in the dust and flecks of metal from the skimming that occurred the day before!!!!! I couldn't have seen it the day before because it took the night and the dew that it brought to allow the said bits of metal to oxidise thus creating a visibly orange tint to my now sand paper like body work!!! Seriously both sides of the car were orange to the naked eye with the passengers side being worse because that discs wasn't as warped and as such needed more skimming. Swines! I have started another topic on this so everyone can see whats' happened here, i'll add a link here in a bit. thanks Mark http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=63543 Needless to say I was utterly livid

I have just contacted the ebay shop called quality.car.parts and they have suggested that if the pads and discs are at fault I should buy another set from them have them fitted then send the faulty ones back and then they will send them to mintex who then decide if they are faulty and if mintex says they are then the ebay shop will issue a refund. Hassel! To be honest if they are faulty I might just go for oems from the garage then send the faulty ones back to them and see if I get my money back, I may sound sceptical here but I doubt I will. Hell I may just try and deal with Mintex direct.

I have spoken to the garage who seem to be leaning toward warpped disc or discs, although come to think of it this problem may have been there if only slightly before I had the new discs and pads so I'm thinking its the slide pin. If it is a ceased pin is that a lot of work/cost to fix? Anyway it's booked up to go in on the 26th and they will check both there and if it's the discs they will provide me with all the necessary receipts and a headed letter to send to my ebay based supplier so that I may get a new set of Mintesx discs and pads under warranty. Hopefully this will be a straight forward process, anyone had any experience of doing this?

well ormi you could be right, I just don't know, I'll let you know what happens. Would the siezed pin account for the judder i get when I brake at high speed? yes it happened to me mate the seized slide doesn't let the pad away from the disk so it generates heat and the faster you go the more heat then you brake and poop yourself as the steering shake's its self to bits Good, good the ceased slide pin is sounding simpler and cheaper to fix than warpped discs and you guys saying this gives me hope! I'll let you guys know what happens, still havent called the garage yet. I'm gonna do that now in fact!

well ormi you could be right, I just don't know, I'll let you know what happens. Would the siezed pin account for the judder i get when I brake at high speed?

well mate I had the discs and pads replaced at a Japanese specialist garage, I've used them before and trust their work. I'm gonna call them tmrw and see what they say, I also noticed a slight skimming noise coming the front drivers side disc, which when you corner hard left, putting pressure on that side you can here some rubbing. So it does sound like warped discs. Just hop I can sort something out because the garage did the work but I supplied the Montez discs and pads. I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks

Hey guys just a quickie i have recently had my discs and pads changed (about 4 weeks ago). Now I'm noticing more and more that when I brake down from 60 or 70 mph, I get a vibration through the steering wheel which continues until under 45mph. When traveling around town it's not noticable only when braking moderately hard from higher speeds. I'm anticipating the possibility of warped discs sadly, but I wanted a second opinion. Thanks in advance.

When your IS200 is at the end of it's life what will you get next mate?

Best I can do at the mo. Cracking pics! I have to say I love them both when it comes the way they look and I think the new car is just as attractive. But can you tell me how you feel about the differences in handling? Weight, roll and attitude? :winky:

I have to say I do love the way the new is looks so that's not an issue for me, an M3 would be nice but it's a different price bracket..

Hello one and all I've touched on this in another thread but what I wanted to know was what do IS200 owners think of the IS250 or the 220? I'm loving my IS200 and having driven a few different newer cars I'm left feeling and worrying that the new cars are a bit detached and produce a less than inspiring driving experience. Most of the cars are dulled by over servoed pedal feel and weightless steering feel, whilst the cars I've driven weren't of the standard of the lex I can't help but worry that this is the way things are going. Put simply I just want to know what the driving differences are between the 200 and the 250 or 220 models? Power, feel, hadling the works! I plan to test drive a 250 at some point and then I'll have a better idea but I'm really keen to see what you guys think. Ultimately when the sad time comes to replace your current is200 will you look for another 200 with less age and mile or would you be happy in the newer cars? Or of course would you jump ship altoghether and get a different car? Mark

My car is a 51 plate IS200 SE and my driving consists of a complete mix of town centre roads and carriage ways but no motorway approx 22 miles a day and I thend to get 400 to 420 miles per tank. But that tank is of course getting more expensive used to cost £50 or £60 now costs closer to £70. Petrol here has just gone up to 106p and the government are gonna bung another 2.5p per litre on at the end of the month! Swines!!!!! They really need to ease off of the motorist a little now, it's become very rediculous. Yes I could get a car with better MPG but I shouldn't have to do that just because the government aren't happy with a pound of flesh they now want a kilo!!! The swines in parliament have a convenient argument too which is by increasing feul tax they are causing the consumers to think more before they drive and save petrol. This maybe correct but it doesn't fly with me for example if everyone took this message to heart then imagine everyone driving hardly at all!! The government would get hardly any fuel tax and would no doubt increase alchol and cigarette taxes. Sad fact is we were better off with the public having more cancer from smoking and being drunk because when they stopped fuel went through the roof. Guess what if we all ditch our petrol and deisel cars and start pinging around in teslas (and stopping every 200 miles, in real life of course that figure is closer to 100 miles of course) then suddenly electricity will go through the roof. They will screw us whatever we do! I have hardly any faith in the system sadly so the best thing to do is ignore it as much as possiblle and sit down with a pint of petrol of an evening and get wasted!

i have no brake slap/noise from the front or rear of mine as long as all moving parts are greased and the rattle shims haven't been throwen away you should have no noise. THE RESULT! Basically just as the mighty Ormi suggested and as I have read on here before it was the slides in the caliper on the OSF which had not been greased enough and was causing the metal rattling sound. The car is now perfect and after all the work I had done is now even better than it was before the service, very pleased indeed to be driving a car that handles and drives as positively as the is200. I was given two hondas as loan cars which I have no doubt are reliable and everything but both the accord and civic felt as if they were made of rubber in every respect interior, handling and breaking. Makes me glad to have an IS200 and makes me worry that the inevitable next car I get (whatever that maybe) won't be as good to drive. For example what are the new IS250's like? Are they as good or do they feel a little dulled down? Anyway no need to replace my car for a few years yet, I love it! Once again thanks to all for your input it helped an anxious man get through yesterday, gladly the garrage appologiesed and did the work for nothing same day. They also replced my battery for me for free! They completed the 70k service, fitted the cambelt, idler and tensioner (supplied by me from ebay japarts), fitted and supplied all other belts at the same time and fitted my mintex break box kit all for £329.86! Which I thought was pretty good the break box was £90 inlcuding discs and pads and the cambelt kit was £130. Interested to hear what you guys think. Hope this helps anyone who has experienced the same problem and like me aren't mechanics, I have to say the noise that was produced before I had the issue fixed was rather loud and worrying. To be honest I was unsure if simply greasing the pins would work such was the severity of the noise. However it did completely and the car is perfect once again.

No I already checked the dust guard it's solid no problems there. I have now taken the car back and the garage are very appologetic and are looking at it for me as we speak and for free with a loan car can't complain so long as nothing else is damaged. Fingers crossed I'll let you guys know what it was when I have my car back. I really don't think it's the discs or the pads they are solid and the pads don't seem to slip at all and they look well seated and greased in all the right places. We shall see..... Thanks for your replies though guys

It does it even when I'm not breaking, but Inwill defo be taking it back to the garage tonight or tmrw mornin depending on what time they close.