sir john

Had Dunlop Winter Sport tyres fitted last week. Yesterday it snowed. Last year my LS was useless in the snow. Yesterday was amazing. One half of my brain was screaming "No No No! slow down its snowing, we are going to crash" the other half of my brain was saying "it cannot be snowing because the car is driving as normal". The car drove, steered, braked and accelerated as if I was driving on a dry road. Amazing. Just amazing. £118 each fiited from Camskills on 01946 694794 or 794694 (cannot remember which way round) EDIT; that camskils in Whitehaven Cumbria.

Was she concieved there? [cue confused Americans...] No mate. The M6 is a very popular motorway. Everyone around here has been on the M6!!!

what model do you have.. Thats great economy mate. best i ever got was 30.5

Not a 460 but a 93 400. The rear screen had to be replaced by autoglas. The clown(sorry; fitter) with 20 years experience almost broke the only electrical connector on the screen. The one for the demist. Id watch them like a hawk if i were you. Or better still take it to lexus.

Thanks for that John, I see that is the none fitted price. Fitted they are £143 ish. Still a good price but the place up the road (31 miles) is £118 fitted and balanced for Avon Ice Touring. When i have them on the car ill post the contact detials for other members.

Motorworld sell Carplan paint, if there's one near you. Ade, there is nothing near me but sheep and seagulls mate.. Ill google motorworld tomorrow. Cheers mate. Silver paint and sheep.....now that gives me an idea!! "something for the weekend sir?" LOL! Just drive East until you stumble across the M6, then head South until you reach civilisation - job done! Theres a girl in our village they call M6 !! :winky:

Sourcing these winter tyres is a nightmare. So far Ive been told that they are sold out, there is only 1 set left in the uk or what sort do you want sir. Prices valy a lot as well. So far I have found;(225 60 16) * Fulrun £105 each * Goodyear £170 These are from Kwikfit and ATS. I have also found another suppier with the following;(215 65 16) Avon Ice Touring ST Goodyear Ultra Grip 8 Dunlop 4D All at £118 each fitted and balanced. Ive been told that these are the same rolling circumferance as the original 225 60 16s. Any thought????

Directly behind the keyhole is a small switch, well made but light construction, this went faulty on mine and the car would not lock etc. I got one off a scrap car but the switch may repair by cleaning it up inside, mine did but I already had the replacement. For door card, remove all screws,handle rim etc, pull at the bottom carefully to unclip it, then the card MUST BE LIFTED UP to release it. Go slowly to avoid breaking clips etc. Cheers, Thanks for that mate, It is exactly what I wanted to hear. My main concern was broken clips so thanks for the tip of "lifting it up". Something to play at the weekend. Winter tyres next week!!

I have had problems with the drivers door lock before. It comes and goes but is now a real pain. This is how it goes; you lock the doors with the key (remote doent work). The key will unlock all the doors but the drivers door. To open the door you have to reach into the car via the other side or the OSR door and pull the inside handle. Door opens. Things have moved on now; as above but; when it happens and you manage to open the drivers door it will not close unless it is locked first. Im sure its just something in the mechanism inside the drivers door itself. Problem is I dont want to damage the door card stripping it down. Any suggestions as to cause? And do you know the correct way to remove the inner door card?

Motorworld sell Carplan paint, if there's one near you. Ade, there is nothing near me but sheep and seagulls mate.. Ill google motorworld tomorrow. Cheers mate. Silver paint and sheep.....now that gives me an idea!! "something for the weekend sir?"

I will be having Winter Tyres fitted in the next week. If you have had these fitted to your LS, which make did you go for and do they really make a big difference to the drivability of the LS on snow? I have always sworn by Avon tyres but have never bought winter tyres before.

Thanks for all the help. Ive been away from home for the last week seeing clients in the midlands and SE so apologises for the slow response. Ill be looking up the carplan 25 and the paint Benfur recommends ASAP tomorrow. PS; 1,000 last week. All in the Rover 75 unfortunately 48 mpg aint bad though! :)

Thanks for that Acre, or is it The? It will be really useful to know the number.

Im about to start reburbing a few things on the LS. Its a 1993 in silver. While im replacing the Fr upper ball joints and the 2 rear lower ball joints I am planning on refurbishing the wheels too. Over the years they have become very scabby and really let the car down. I will be using cans of airosol paint to keep the cost down but I was wondering if anyone has found a good match to the original silver on the wheels. Also, Im having winter tyres fitted. Im planning of refurbing the wheels after the new tyres are on so that the new paint will not get damaged. Would you agree?

Pete, I had all the geometry done by a Toyota garage a couple of years ago. They couldnt or wouldnt crack the siezed bolts so it went to another garage to crack the bolts before returning to Toyota to do the geomerty. Its was spot on after that. If it were my car id take it back to Lexus and tell them to do it again, and do it properly this time.

Steve, its the ball joints that are knackered. PlasticO, I think i got mine from the same place as you. Somewhere in yorkshire. Part4cars or something like that. Its only a 15minute job to fit new ones so i think ill go theh pattern route and take a chance. Might have been different if i was flushed but im on mi a**e at the moment.

I hear what you are saying but its a 190k 1993 car when all said and done. In teh next couple of weeks ill be buying 4 new winter tyres and 2 lexus rear lower wishbones. Total cost in the region of £700. Add a genuine front upper ball joint to that and you are over £1,000.

Thanks for the response Malc, Phoned Lexus Carlisle today; List £428 +vat discounted to £364 +vat. At these prices it will be cheaper to replace them with pattern parts every couple of years. The car is 18 years old after all.

I have changed the 2 front upper ball joints; NS 2 years ago and OS last year. Both from a factors on ebay, c £70 each. Im aware that other members have had the same problem with pattern front upper ball joints. The NS is now knackered and needs replacig again. Other than going to the dealers, where can I get a good quality one from?

What a cracker!

Air in the coolant was my first thought. It will definately result in the engine reaching full operating tepmp but cold or only col;d air coming from the air vents. Its an old trick when you suspect that the engine is losing water to turn the heater to max. If it doesnt blow HOT you are low on water and in for a head failure if you dont do something about it.

You`ll be back im sure. I cannot aford to drive the LS for work these days. If you havent chosen a replacement yet, have a good look at the Rover 75. Its a classy car with a lot more quality about it than a Mondeo or vectra. Its no Lexus but a good saloon CDT can be had for about £1500 and you get 50mpg. The 75 forum is health too. Good luck Manc.

It will depend on what your temp guage is telling you. On an LS the guage on the dash should always read dead centre. No matter whether you are pushing it hard on a hot day or sitting in traffic in the snow. Cool air coming from a car engine at full opporating temperature oints towards low coolant level. And that usually spells disaster not too far down the road if its not fixed. Good luck. And let us know what the temp guage is doing while the air is going from hot to cool.

I know what you are saying Mudguts, Ive always thought of cars this way. Although i have never kept a spread sheet. I dont think the LS is expensive to run. They may be thirsty but they dont cost much in repairs. Apart from tyres mine cost £950 to buy in Sept 2008 and has cost £620 in parts and service items. That includes a new alternator, disis and rotas, rear springs, front upper susp, spark pluga and brake pads. I dont think thats bad for a 16+ year old car with c185k on the clock. Hense the concideration of spending more money on keeping the old girl on the road.

Ive needed these for ages. Its now beyond putting off any longer because the car is castoring too much. Ive just been quoted £112 each (incl VAT) for the upper wishbones that have the ball joints attached. It sounds like a good price really, but the old girl is 18 years old now so i have to be careful what i spend to keep her going. The list of other ailments is; * needs new tyres (now) * exhaust Y pipe to cats corroded (needs welding up all round) * a couple of rust bubbles on front wings and above wind screen. * NSF window getting slow (i can live with this). * too thirsty (needs LPG fitting really @ c £900) Your thoughts much appreciated. And if you have replaced these arms recently, how much of an arse were they to do?