CruzMissile

I tend to have this love and hate relationship with the clutch. Now I'm gentle with it, then I kick her. ;) Since I got the car the clutch would judder on moist, cold days. The dealer always reassured me that that was perfectly normal though never seemed acceptable to me, anyway. I sure like to take-off fast but having high revs and releasing the clutch either gently or brisk doesn't seem to do the disc any good. Decelerating by gearing down seems to be putting a big strain on the clutch also. Maybe I should start using only fith and sixth gear just to minimize changing gears. :winky: I came to the point where I could smell the disc inside the car when accelerating on a hot day in 3th or 4th from +/-4000rpm, where it would slip and rev-up the engine without actually deliver the power to the rear. When I saw the clutch disc on replacement, the black stuff was all worn out and very hardened (not to say caramelised) and the screws were almost near the discs' surface. I guess that the IS clutch is a weak point and that I must slightly alter my driving habit of playing alot with the clutch and having it work for me. And that's a drag. Does this mean I can no longer have my wheels spinning coming off the line then?

brrrr...NOS.... still feels like that forbidden fruit to me... unless I could get reassured by someone who actually has it installed properly and working without putting to much strain on or damaging the engine.

Oh yes it is... but actually it is only used by the occasional local or farmer. It's laying parallel and just next to the highway off Belgium to Boulogne. We only were send away once by the Gendarmerie because we were like too many (20 longboarders and lugers) and not all of us looked so well equipped. We use walkie-talkies to communicate traffic information. But the actual run has like a chicane in the middle and that part isn't really in the small movie(quickly edited) yet. We attain speeds of +90km/h on this hill. B) It gives an enormous speedrush laying on your luge with your head 15cm above the ground, certainly when you get that feared speedwhobblethingy going on. France is nice Greetz,

Living in Ostend, Belgium I go over to France regularly for the nice downhills you can find (streetluger). The motorways are nice and people tend to drive fluently. I do get a lot of looks with my IS200. The Gendarmerie is fair and correct. They even let us luge down a nice hill parallel to the highway to Boulogne at Sortie 9, Wissant, which we regularly use to bomb with our luges and longboards. :winky: Apart from this I wouldn't trust my car leaving it unattended for one night out because, I get the intention that most French people don't really car about their car, let alone understand a good paintjob when they see one. But that's just my opinion. La France est superbe! J'adore le paysage, les gens, le vin, le fromage, le temps...should I continue or just shut the hell up This is a small first onboard luge capturing from Ive and (flashy hairy)me at the 1.3km hill at Wissant. Greetz,

Hi, I just had it replaced last week at some 80.000km because it was giving me more slip at high rev's then I bargain for. At the Lexus Gent, Belgium garage they (actually 1 guy, assisted by a 2nd mechanic when the gearbox needed to be lowered) did the job in a small 3 hours period including testing it and having a small overhaul. All of this for the, I think, ok-price of 571,14 euro. B) 571.00 EUR = 380.187 GBP Greetz,

T/C isn't boy wonder since it will allow in certain situations to keep in control without the back end sliding out. If, however, you turn in hard on a wet road surface, T/C on, and your back does break out, you'll need all the steering skills you have to keep it from spinning 180° SINCE YOU WILL LOOSE ACCELERATOR CONTROL due to the fact that that's just what the T/C does : it cuts the juice! NOT GOOD, in certain situations. I prefer to drive with T/C on when I'm cruising and will not engage in hard turning. Though I prefer to have T/C off if I would want it to be "possible" for the car to break out controllably since then you can manage the sliding by accelerator. All this is quite difficult & tricky if you first start driving rwd cars. It would be nice to look for an large empty lot on a wet day to start experimenting with the different effects of turning and drifting, using T/C and without T/C. I have always driven rwd cars and if you're in it for the sport and enjoyment of driving and don't see your car merely as a means of transportation, then you might find rwd the only way! :winky: Greetz

On wet and cold days it seems the worst but once the engine is at operating temperature it seems almost to be nihil...still, shouldn't be. Last JAE someone stepped up to me and quietly asked me if mine juddered also...when i confirmed he looked so relieved :winky: Greetz

and what about tyre pressures in dry and wet conditions... does less pressure give more grip in wet road conditions? I tend to check wear on the tyres also... If they're inflated a lot they'll wear out more in the middle of the tyre when driving at high speeds. So when I notice that I deflate them a bit to get them to wear out more on the outsides. Hard inflated tyres also give more mileage... Greetz

RWD is the biggest fun B) ...though be aware of the fact that the IS200 is quite heavy compared to other cars of it's size, so when it breaks out, it really breaks out! Although I drive often without TRC off, I still prefer to keep it on for wet road conditions unless I know I have a clear playground with no obstacles and I feel like going for a "good session". :P Also you should keep in mind that the IS200 only gets really jumpy as from 4600rpm (100rpm) so you shouldn't be too afraid to give it some foot when accelerating out of a corner having rpm's lower then mentioned above. This means you can get moderate to good acceleration out of corners with a large safety margin. One more thing I've experienced using traction control and teasing my IS200 is that when on dry asphalt with TRC on and if you get out of shape you should not wait for the real engine limiting to kick in, 'cause then you'll get a kind of smack that is asking for some fast steering response....get that foot off the accelerater 'til you get back good grip and then come right back in on the "power" (like a cart ) anyway, if you can get her out of shape you'd better be on the ball! the summary :winky: : IS200 is loads of fun on the wet with TRC off. :D Have FUN but know where and when to have it Greetz, -<CruzMissile--=

Not backing up in anything is like the key idea, isn't it...how you do it isn't...I guess. Cheers

I got like the same problems(2): my car is 2 years old and allready the calipers' paint is going away; & I'm like 30 and look (and feel) 18 :doggy: Does anybody got like a name and spec on what paint I should use to repaint? Greetz, -<CruzMissile--=

Is there something I'm missing here? Why would one want to be able to downtune the performances and the better fuel efficiency of a good "customisable" chip? If a chip is properly set for a specific engine, I don't think that I would(even if I could) want to fiddle with it. I don't see the use for that? Can someone fill me in on this? It DOES however looks impressive if you got like a laptop with a way-to-flashy-looking tuning proggy, plugged in to your car's nerve system :D but then again...I'm more an oldskool kinda guy who prefers clean & effectiveness over screaming, flashy and "hip" *****. Greetz, -=CruzMissile=-

Hi, I'd also like to come over from Ostend, Belgium to the JAE! If I have any practical questions, to who'm might I ask them or where can I post them? Greetz, -= CruzMissile =-

Neat!! I will consider going GOLD, and allready thank you, Ian, for this very usefull information!