Greedy80

Like you mate the second day I had my car I woke up to the sight ok a light key mark the length of the entire side of my car. The second day!!! I knew who did it also but had no evidence so it just made me incredibly angry. Luckily I buffed it out immediately, couldn't believe I'd be polishing my car on it's second day of owner ship! It's good to see so many like minded individuals here. :winky:

Tell me about it mate the elderly and infirm and, those who just don't really care (my lady, maybe not entirely fair she usually is pretty respectful, mostly) are the number one enemys. I'd rather have my car marked by an unknown than a relative. Like you I love cleaning my car but like you I fear the new scratches I may find or the old ones that may need rebuffing. I have to say I find the boot lid is the absolute worst, new light scartches appear here all the time inexplicably. I just don't know how it happens, I guess it's a flat surface and during normal use natural grit could fall here and with water movement these light scratches form. In addition to my previous post other things that have happend to my car are marker being drawn across the petrol cap. Luckily it buffed out completely but I had seen several cars in my road had been done including a white estate which now has a black wavey maker line the full length of it's body. However owners have done nothing to salvage it. Once parking in a multi storey in Weymouth I came back to find some chavs left the rubbish from their McDonalds on the back of my car. Also in the same place I came back to find a traffic cone on the back of the car. Also I was hating the fact that when we had all that snow my car was parked at my parents while I was working but when I finished I came back to see th abligatory swathes of snow removed from my bonet, doubtless at the hadns of some prepubescent snow ball armys. I could be wrong but I doubt they took car not to rub the zips of their jackets up the side of my car while stretching to get the snow from the roof. My fault I guess I should have got my parents to clear it. It makes me angry just thinking about this stuff! lol rant over!

Sadly not mate it's at the top of the door, my biggest fear is building up the paint work so it's all level because if not it'll stand out even more than it does now. Needles to say I'll be going very carefully at building the layers up, lacquering and then polishing when completely dry. I'm looking forward to having a go at sorting this but it is with great trepidation too.

I know what your saying these things just stare at me , everytime I look at my car the imperfections standout sooo much to me it's grating. In fact I know it's sad but I've lost sleep over these things in the past.

Ok well this little topic is a fairly light hearted, if i think interesting topic about what is the worst thing that has happened to your IS at the hands of someone else? To further illustrate this I'll kick off by saying clearly I love my cars, always have but I feel especially strongly about my IS200. I care for it love cleaning it and try to keep it in tip top condition. Recently I haven't had the chance to give my car the TLC it deserves due to moving home, having a baby boy and getting ready for my wedding but my love hasn't deteriorated and I can't wait for the day I can get back out there with buckets of water and some good polish. When I look at my car at the moment I feel a mixture of guilt as a result of it not being pristinely clean and of excitement as I look forward to getting out there and renewing the car to its glorious luster. However just the other day I and my partner were off out, baby safely secured in the back and as my lady got in she let the car door swing open. On any other day this wouldn't have mattered as the door would have swung freely through the air to a stop. However on this day the door did indeed stop but at it's end was a skip that a neighbour had thoughtfuly plonked next to my parking space. :shutit: I did, i think, incredibly well to hide my anger as I pulled the door back to see a 2ml chip in the once perfect paint work at the very edge of the door, no dent though thank god. I can't describe just how frustrating it is when little but to me significant things happen to my car, god it frustrates me. Anyway I've ordered the chip stick from Lexus for my platinum ice car and will set about resolving it by base coating then building up layers of paint and allowing to dry before finally lacquering the small area. I pray this works out because I have heard horror stories about trying to match this colour paint and it's my first time doing this. If it works out though it'll mean I can cover two other chips on the car too. Anyway the point of this thread was to ask you guys to share any accidental damage stories that have happened to your pride and joy. Plus any tips on repairing my car are of course wellcomed.

Excellent mate! Especially the videos we could do with more of them on here. :)

: )

Wow...thats a great price for all that work ! Have you got the garage details, Name, Telephone Number, Address ? Thanks The garage is called the Dorchester Motor Company and their number is 01305261111. I've had servicing done with them before and the use all official parts and do a fantastic job. I can't recommend them enough! : )

Hey Buddy, in fact I just replaced a set of worn P7000 pirelli's with some falken FK452's, in all honesty they are much better than the dearer pirelli. Road noise is down and the handling is great maybe not as responsive initially but much better ride quality. Also the Falkens will last much better, on here everyone seems to like them too. A good place to buy is camskill.co.uk they were the cheapest at about £65 per tyre. hope that helps buddy!

Yep just checked with the guys at DMC and they will also supply and fit the water pump (plus necessary extras) for £100. So i'm gonna go for it and have the pump, cambelt, tensioners/idler and 70K service done. All that will come to a grand total of £587 not too bad for the lot I'm thinking. I must say sorry to the original poster for kind of taking over this topic but I hope this has given you guys an idea of pricing too. Thanks guys!

Ok just got off the phone with my local garage who are Jap specialists. For my 70K service and the Cambelt including two tensioners the price came to £487. However the chap said that on all the is200's he has worked on, rarely do they need the tensioner and the idler changing so he sadi they check condition before replacing these and if the car doesn't need them then £110 can be knocked off of the price. So that gives us a cost of £377 for the Cambelt and the 70K service. not too bad what do you guys think?

I was quoted by a good local garage (not Lexus) £135 for cambelt change, that was with them supplying the parts and all of them being official parts too. I have to get my 70K service done soon too, the car has only covered 59K but going by age it will need the 70k service. Price on that I think will be between £80 and £100 if I remember correctly, I need to check it out again. In fact I just rang my garage and they will have a quote in 30mins.

Hey guys thanks for your replies, as I thought I'll bite the bullet and make the trip. I wanted to anyway but as everyone has said it's a small price to pay to ensure the car has good geometery. Plus I've just bought a set of four Falken FK 452's and I want them to wear correctly, I don't think there was a problem with strange wear on my old tyres but they were missmatched some P7000 some dunlop and a michy. I have to say the Falken 452's are very good indeed so far I managed to get them at a local decent tyre supplier for £76 (£304 for the set, gone it seems are the days of money off for buying a set) each, fitted and balanced. I did have to double and triple check that they would fit the weights to the indide of the rims though. Ju7st for info I found them cheaper on camskill.co.uk at £254.60 for the set but, by the time you took into account fitting there was only £20 difference in buying locally. Plus no hanging around for the delivery and I didn't have to get rid of the old tyres myself. Just for your info guys! Thanks again guys. :winky:

Thanks for your replies so far guys, as always very fast and helpful. My other question is would using a lexus dealership be an option, do they have a reputation for doing this job well? I know it may cost more but because of the distance invovled in getting to Tony but if it's not too much it's an option. Ultimately though I want the job done well, that's much more important.

Hey guys, first off let me say I would love to visit WIM and get my car's geo sorted, there are no obvious issues with my cars handling, however having seen the many forum members here that love Tony's work I feel compelled to get my IS200 checked out. My question is much will it cost to have my car WIM'd? The big issue here is I'm soooo far away it would cost a fortune to get to Tony. My other question is what are the details of the geo settings for the IS200 SE, I figured some knowledgable sole may know here. Locally where I live there is a good indie specialist car mechanic, he ususally deals in Porsche, Ferrari and Lambo but I was thinkig if I sourced the correct Geometery settings I could supply him with them and trust him to do a good job. Although if WIM is cheap enough I may end up making the long drive, what do you guys think? Thanks in advance guys! :winky:

Ta buddy!

Hey Guys I just checked out these bulbs and I quite like the look of them. Can Anyone tell me if there are any threads on here which give a real idiots guide to fitting them, I know they are supposed to be dead easy to fit but I would really like to see the link. Also are there any video based fitting guides on here? I mean for anything at all I just wondered because as great as the forum is vids of people doing these things would be massively helpful. Even if it was just the simple things like fitting discs and pads or filter and plug changes. I just think it would make this forum even more invaluable if there were actual video based tutorials. Even if the videos are hosted on youtube and just linked here it would be great. Whaddya think?

Agreed this is a really interesting thread, does anyone know of any other restoration/rebuild threads on here? In fact I think this could even be a subject worthy of it's own seperate forum heading. I find reading about project cars really interesting and a good way to learn about our lovely cars, I'm the first to admit I'm an utter noob when it comes to mechanics, but the more I read about peoples projects the more confident I am that I could one day tackle some of the smaller maintenance issues. As for those of you who are already well versed in the depths of your IS then it would just be interesting and good reference material. What do you think forum administrators, is it worth having an individual sections all about project?

Greedy your local to me, try Pro Tyre in Poole, very good and cheap prices. I may even be off down there tomorrow to get a new set of Kumho's Thanks for you're help mate but pro tyres were a bit pricey my tyres and the local tyre fitter (bride valley motors) were cheaper.

Very True!

Hey guys, I was watching Garage419 the other day and in the news they mentioned the fact that a new light weight IS-F is on the way. It will be more powerful (slightly) and more significantly much, much lighter! In short think BMW CSL that what Lexus are aiming at, I'll be excited to see what they come up with. Incidentally the M division aren't making a new shape CSL so Lexus will have this market to itself. Although I have to say I do have a little concern, I have faith but to my knowledge Lexus have never built a stripped back sport version of their cars. I'm sure it will get done correctly but I just hope they don't get too involved with technology as opposed to putting a sportier diff, brakes and suspension in. Ultimately you want a Lexus with loads of power, road holding and mostly feel. It could even be produced for the same money as the standard IS-F offering customers the choice. Have you guys heard anything about it?

Any body have an opinion of the pirelli's? I have them now but have nothing to compare them to. Ps. Thanks again for all your replies.

Ps my wheels are standard 215/45ZR17.

Ok so I have looked into this somewhat on the web to try and find some excellent prices but to be honest it's not been as easy as I anticipated it would be. I've looked at various tyre places online and they all work out to be dearer than my local tyre fitting out fit (not kwik fit or anyone like that but a decent local firm). I've been quoted £89 (inc vat, each) for pirelli P7000's and thats fitted and balanced. Obviously I will be making sure that they put the weights on the inside on the alloy but that doesn't sound bad at all to me. However I can't help it, I though I must be able to save online some where any suggestions? Also any suggestions on tyre, what to get value against performance. Thanks in advance guys. :winky:

Thanks for your comments guys, ok so I'm gonna go for it with the hair dryer. I don't suppose anyone could refer me to a good chemical that will help remove the excess glue on the paint work? I don't want to miss any glue and then have it pick loads of dust and dirt creating a scabby patch on the rear of the car. Glue should come off when warm/hot, but if not try sticky stuff remover from halfords, it in spray tin :D Thanks once again mate, I will do and I'll let you know how I got on. This forum is quite simply the best I've ever used the community on here are very helpful, i suspect many lexus owners have saved a fortune by reading these forums.