kallabungo

Right, come the new year my lex is going to be resprayed. Im lucky enough to have a cousin that has his own bodyshop and previous experience working on A1GP cars etc. so im confident in his work. All i have to do is pay for paint and help him prep it all up to get it sprayed. I love white, absolutely stunning colour that always attracts the attention of my eye especially when its gleaming clean. However i dont want my car to be just white, i want something that little bit extra that makes people stop and take a second look... So... i have been playing around on photoshop and have come up with the below example of Pearl Blue over a White base. Please note the picture is not of my car and is of an image from google for illustration purposes. I had to use an example that was already pearl white for better results as my platinum ice was hard to work with. Also changed the wheels to my desired TTE choice. Any comments, suggestions...?

Surely your using more fuel by never taking it above 3000rpm? If you were going up a hill you would perhaps need to be above 3000 in a higher gear to let the engine cruise up rather than have it struggling...

To be honest i think its only started doing it after i changed the pads and discs. I used to get really bad vibration under braking and they felt crap so i changed them to some mintex pads and standard discs. I went for a bit of a nuts one though and i think i overheated the discs and the vibration has come back and then this slight knocking noise. Its normally only when im pulling up though. Check ya wheels are tight as this is whats holding your disc on... edit - x reg (2000)

I've been getting a similar problem and i've put it down to the brakes. I've had bad balljoints and tie rods/ends etc before and i know what it feels like. I also took the car to my cousin who's now a qualified MOT tester and he's said the ball joints are fine. We checked engine mounts and they all seem to be tight. I'll just leave it and see if it gets worse...

This vibration issue seems to be quite a common problem its not nice if ya braking from 100 or so is it? So you say the F1A's are much better than the Dunlops? I've got the SP9000's on at the moment and they are incredibally poor in wet and dry and the sidewalls are showing cracks. It feels like someone has been kind enough to make sure my tyres are fully greased up before every journey... I wouldnt buy Dunlop for my feet ever again let alone my car!

Pity you don't live a bit closer, I'd be very interested to compare your car against mine. Like you I was worried about the handling of my car to start off with, and my previous car definitely outhandled it. But now the gap is a lot closer. I think what happens with some IS's (not saying this is yours) is people get the tyre wear problem and after a while get sick of paying a fortune for expensive tyres that get shredded in no time, so they end up buying budget tyres. This then ruins the handling of the car completely. This is what happened with my car anyway. If anyone in the North West is not sure about the handing of their IS give me a shout, I would be interested to compare to see if mine is spot on now or whether it could be better :) Im currently using the Dunlop SP9000 tyres not the 'L' version though. The tyres i dont seem to find a problem its not like the car suddenly snatches out on me. Infact i have to slap the clutch in most often when i want to get the back end out (i've never agreed with using the handbrake, its too violent) It's mainly the high speed cornering - you come flying round a corner and one side just seems to get incredibally light. I think im going to get some Tein Super Streets and set the damper as stiff as it will go....

I'm not really qualified to say much on handling specifics, although I do wonder how many miles your car has done, and whether you have some suspension components that need replacing ? I imagine that some of the more expert members here will be able to give you some more specific advice. As for WIM, it definitely makes a big difference. I took my IS down a local road of "twisties" soon after having it WIM'd and I was amazed at the transformation. The WIM settings are available (either on this website or via Tony) and you could get someone local to set up the geometry, as long as those local people are competent enough to set it to those WIM parameters (e.g there seem to have been cases before where some garages don't really understand it). Perhaps someone on the forum might be able to recommend a decent place to get this done near to you ? I have a local garage close to me which have all the laser alignment tools they hook over your wheels for toe, caster, camber etc. The car is X reg 2000 and has done 84k and about 6 months ago had some springs put on - the car was re-aligned after the springs were fitted but not to Tony's spec. Do you know where i can find the Geo details at all...? Cheers.

Has your IS been WIM'd ? No not 'yet' unfortunately. I live in lowestoft - which is miles away from WIM but after hearing the reviews it does seem like it needs to be done. Does WIM'ing stop the lifting? I feel when i come into a fairly sharp corner about 70 - 80 mph one side of the car will compress really nicely and feels quite planted but the otherside where the weight is coming off feels dangerously light and like its about to start skipping 3 wheel style across the road - i've had some scary situations but luckily have managed to hold it but this scare has reduced how much im willing to push the car.

I hate the handling - it always feels wobbly into corners and feels like the car is lifting when you slam it into a corner really hard. I had a peugeot 406 sri turbo before this and i can honestly say the peugeot would out handle the IS200 in all conditions.

Yeah i'd also be interested in hearing where you can get them from at that price...? Cheapest i've seen is £536. Cheers.

I had the same situation as you - except i bought some mintex pads and standard discs for £62 and fitted them myself - i was shocked when the garage quoted a 2 and a half hour labour charge to do them. So i took on the work myself and its surprising how easy they are to change. At the end of it all the shaking has completely dissapeared...! Job done.

specifically why i bought a 2000 plate car

im getting the same problem - like you said though its a bit intermittent, mostly it always starts on the first kick but sometimes is a bit of a bugger. I bought the prestige battery with higher cranking amps etc which seemed to help a bit. Does the coilpack need to be warmed a little with the accessories on before giving the starter a kick...?

Good point, it's the sports grill for people who've not seen the piccies at the start of the thread! I am really pleased with the new grill, I really didn't like the three bar one that was on the car, it looks worse than the original four bar one, not sure why they changed it :) Thanks for posting the pics up of before and after the grille (my car's also platinum ice) - i've been debating the decision of black or platinum ice coloured grille and i think im going to go black. It seems that the surround of the grille being the same colour as the car has took away its depth a little. Im going to buy a black one and post up a pic when im done....

Are the old ones for sale.....?