is200 Newbie

This is just through my experience which sounds like the problem you are having .....Pretty sure its not weight related as the two parts that are creating the noise - dust shield and disc - should be secure and should not move under normal operation, other than the disc rotating these two parts if installed properly should be tight. Changing the discs is really easy, especially the fronts, as are removing/cleaning and greasing up the slide pins on the front calipers. The discs are held on by the wheel/wheel nuts - taking the wheel off and then the caliper will allow you to take the disc off and replace. Just make sure the mating surfaces are good and clean when replacing. There is a big debate on what grease to use on the slide pins - if you can get to a dealer then they can supply with what the car came greased up in but other than that a good hi temp lithium grease is good. I use a lithium based teflon red grease with no problems. Judder in the front "can" be caused by a lot of things - after market alloys which have the wrong inner bore - to rectify this you can buy different sized sprockets to allow the wheel to align better to the hub (£5 approx for the sprockets), seized or sticking caliper pistons (refurbed caliper around £80) or £30 approx if you want to refurb sticking ones yourself but i have heard that this does not last well. Warped discs (£90 approx for a front set of Brembo) but if its the discs that are warped then i would suspect the calipers are either siezed or sticking. Worn bushes etc.... When does the judderring occur, is it around 50 - 60 mph or is it all of the time or is it just under braking or when turning corners. You can usually narrow it down yourself to save spending money replacing parts that are working ok. Mileage and how well the car has been looked after needs to be taken into consideration - saying that, these cars are solid - the calipers are the weak point on these cars judging by the amount of people that have had issues with them which is not bad considering how much kit is on them and the mileage that they can get to.

Have you had the rear brake drums replaced - see the post in the main section under "Wheel Noise" - i had this problem - thought it was coming from the front. Drove me up the wall - turns out it was coming from the back discs which were rubbing on the dust shield. (Discs had become rusted up over time in the groove that the guard sits in and this was rubbing together) Job done now - although still a squeel there its unnoticeable if you are not listening for it but i will cure this when i change the drum and brake shoes. The judder i also had which was sticking caliper pistons - easy to remove and clean. Also check your slide pins arent siezed or sticking.

Just noticed a very very slight squeel thats still there so i will cut down a bit more when i do the brake shoes but it was definately the casue.

It sounds like you have a leak somewhere in the cabin or like the transporter said above about the cabin filter in that needs replacing as it wont let air in/out of the car freely. When ever heat is applied to water or in a damp area it will create moisture which will settle on a cold surface, see it in your house when drying clothes on a radiator. Check the carpets and in and arount the heater vents for wet patches. Is the headliner damp, sunroof misting up, check around the seal in that area.

I am no mechanic but find it good doing things around the car. It took me around two hours to do the work (total time for both sides) - if you can change the brakes on a car then i would say its manageable. If you are not happy in grinding the brake guard down a bit then i would take the drum off and with a small screwdriver give the groove in the disc a really good clean as a lot of rust came off mine (which would have been rubbing on the guard) which i think was the cause of the squeel as the guard looked clean but i ground a bit off and gave it a good clean for good measure. I am going to replace the discs soon though as they can do with it and they look like to be the original ones and with 100k on the car then it can do with a new set. I dont know if a garage would know how to cure the problem unless you showed them what to do or at least explained what the symptoms are - Lexus dealer would but i would expect that to cost quite a bit. I have found the advice on the forums spot on and well worth being a member of the club.

There is an armrest currently on ebay - item number 300782299874 - one day to go and only £40 -- This is not mine. All of the 200 LE models were fitted with armrests - the only other model to have one was the 300 although i think they were a bit different as they were a bit lower?

I have just resolved what sounds to be the same problem as you are having - it was driving me to the point where if i could not fix it i was getting rid of the car! I thought it was the front discs and i spent a lot of time trying to find something wrong with them and couldn't. A lot of help on the forum pointed me to what the fault was. I have spent a bit of time today on the rear brake drums and taken the car for a run and no noise !! Brilliant. What everyone pointed me to basically was the groove in the disc was rubbing on the brake shield, and creating the noise.I spent today taking the drum off, cleaning out the groove on the disc with a dremel and grinding down a very small amount of the brake shield. Didn't take long to do really. Its quite easy to see how the noise is created as i did take out quite a bit of rust from the disc which i am pretty sure is the original part and on a 2004 car has lasted well. I will be renewing therear discs and shoes soon as i think it needs it but give that a go as like i said above - i thought it was coming from the front and it was actually the rear. There is my original post on the main forum called Wheel Noise - have a loot for some sugestions

JOB DONE - no more squeeling !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think i will be replacing the disc and the drum shoes in the future (now i know the car had drum shoes) - must be the original parts and have lasted well at just under 100k on the car. They are looking a bit worn now. Just one question - i noticed when cleaning the drum out and putting it all back together after grinding the shield down that there is an odd shaped pad pin that holds the shoe to the brake itself (aided by a spring and a type of locking washer (one on each shoe), i dont know what the proper name for the part is? but the one on mine when i came to put it back together seemed too long for the drum as when all was fitted back, the spring was touching the hub and when spinning the hub around it was hitting the rear of the wheel bolts. I got round this by adding some spacers on the rear head of this pin to pull it away from the hub. Its that small a part but has anyone else seen this when changing the shoes. What i have done in using the spacers has worked but i dont think its right. Anyway - the noise has gone which was driving me to despair - so thanks to all has given me - spot on :hocus-pokus:

Hi Guys - had a chance to look at this today. Got the rear wheels and calipers off ok but when trying to get the discs off i could not get either side off - managed to free them both up from the hub by using two bolts in the two threadded bolt holes to inch the discs off but while i was doing this the drum pads themselves were coming off with the disc. So i stopped this as i didnt want to damage any.thing Its a while since i done drum brakes - should there be a nut or a screw to back the drum pads off from the disc? While i had them loose i ran a screw driver around the groove in the disc and got a lot of crud out - i done this on both sides while i had them loose. Took it for a spin but the noise is still there although at a different pitch now so i do need to take these off to give them a good clean and inspection. Does anyone know how to back the pads off from the drum? - pics below

Hi Dave - yes it looks that way - i have still not had a chance to take them apart yet but i did have the pressure washer out a couple of weeks ago and thought i would blast the rear brakes so i got the jet nozzle as far as i could into the rear wheel brake assenbly and gave it a good blast and it did have an effect in making it quieter so i think i have found the area of the noise but just need to get down to taking the bits apart. I might get a set of rear drum pads to replace the ones on the car while i have it in pieces. When i get it done i will re-post the results but i am really hoping this is the cause (as explained in posts above)

I am in no doubt that someone can answer this. Do the is200 rear brake discs have inner drum pads as well as the outer pads as per the is300 or does it just have the outer pads as standard?

Had my timing belt done two years ago by Lexus Chester for £280 (just the belt) - Piece of mind really after 75k and belt being 7 years old. Its not just the cars mileage to consider but the belt life itself - if a cars only done 20k miles and is 15 years old then the belt must be put into question - depends on the rubber as it will degrade after a while but i suppose a lot of factors come into play regarding this.

Thanks Indrek - i have found the is forum post - will definately have a look at the rear discs - will need to find out if the 200 has the inner pads as per the 300. Will let you know how i get on when its done.

Thanks Indrek - I think its pointing to the rear wheels - so far i haven't had the chance to have a look at them as the wife has me cutting down trees in the garden !!!!!!!!!!!! I will have a look at some point this month but for now my cure has been to turn the radio up !! Have you had this problem yourself...does it sound like the noise in the video in the previous post?

Steve o - never considered this but yes i suppose it could quite easily happen judging by the state the alloys can get to - i suppose at the higher temperatures (motorway driving) that the tyres must get to then air can leak from them. When you had it changed last did the tyre depot clean the rim up on the inside so the tyre would seat properly?

I agree with North - defo the battery - will be harder to start in the winter as well if you dont change it.

Hi Matt - this is something i am looking to do also - I want to put a TomTom XXL in the mororised unit. I have the motorised sat nav unit and have taken the screen out at the moment and replaced it with a piece of MDF covered in leather but the reverse way around so the felt suede of the hide is visible and this doesn't look to bad. Sounds a bit tacky but actually looks ok. Next i want to adjust the MDF within the unit so i can fit the adapter below. At the moment i have just fitted the MDF in and it in and it fits well but i need to adjust it further back into the unit to accomodate the holder as its just a bit too proud and will not close properly i dont think with the added thickness of the holder. The holder has a power plug so its just a case of putting the tom tom in the holder. I need to find a way of powering the unit permanately or routing the car charger lead through the dash to the cigarette lighter socket. I dont like wires showing so will look to what North has said above and try and find the wiring for the tom tom power to fit into the cars loom. This is something i have started but been pulled away to do other things so havent really sat down to finish it.

Get the cam belt done by Lexus - do the rest yourself as there is not a lot you cant service on these cars - Getting the belt done by the dealer is peace of mind. I do my services in August evry year (on the bank holiday Monday) as its not worth going anywhere due to the amount of traffic on the road - i have just bought all the parts i need for a service and theres plenty of change from £50. I have just changed the pollen/cabin filter and the picture below shows one years use - the picture on the top is the old one (one year old) - i had noticed that the screen was starting to mist up and i am thinking it was due to a clogged up filter. Changing this took less than 2 minutes !! and i purchased the part from Japarts

I have an auto box - with 96k on it - it does whine in first gear only, think its just what it does. No clunking between shifts just a lurch forward if your foot is on the floor but less if the sports mode is on which seems to make it shift through the gears smoother. Fluid should be red.

You look for one for months and months then it rains grilles - bought one today from ebay for £25 ! - its genuine lexus sports grille but blue so will have the option to paint or maybe try a wrap on it? Lex Birm wanted £120 for the same grille in the cars colour Theres also a very nice set of TTE Chicane alloys and bumpers on there now - the alloys are spotless - item number 320968727902 - not mine but i wish they were !!!!

I had AA insurance cover on my car and had the screen replaced a few months ago by them as a chip turned to a 7 inch crack on the way to work one day. It took them 3 goes to replace the screen - the first go was a Pilkington screen which had a warp in the glass that the engineer could not see??? (guess he did not want to replace it) - i complained about it and they came out the same week to renew the glass with a Lexus screen which i insisted on which took me a couple of long phone calls through the insurer to organise. It was not easy. Anyway, they came to fit that and the engineer could not seat the rear view mirror properly - the clip on the screen broke while he was fitting it!! A bit fed up now and the following week - 3rd screen later he replaced the Lexus one with a Shatterproof make one - i had all 3 replaced and it rained thereafter on each and they didnt have leaks on any of them. I had initially asked the engineer on the first install to put a bit more sealant around the screen around the wires for the heating element after hearing that there could be a problem there. He showed me what was involved when he had the screen off and to be honest for the screen to leak then it really needs to be a bad install - if getting your screen replaced ask the engineer to let you know when he has the bad one out and show him where to add the extra sealant which is around the heating wires, bottom right on screen but if its a competent installer then i should not imagine there would be a problem. Monitor the footwell for water after the job has been done - i did this for a few weeks after and no wet/damp patches. The initial installs were a pain but have had no issue with this screen. Needed to pay the £60 excess though and it does not affect your no claims.

I have the LE model = brought out in 2004 fully loaded as the passing out model before the upgraded / facelifted one came in - Its an auto box - Full leather / electric everything / parking sensors / arm rest / nav (although i dont think this was a standard option on the LE) / 17" 11 spoke alloys / HID lights - they are quite hard to find ... I think it has the better spec over the SE model and possibly the sport, depends on what you want?

Has anyone thought or considered wrapping their wheels? From the youtube vid below it doesn't look too hard and would only cost around £5 per wheel and the vinyl is available in all sorts of colours and designs/patterns from ebay .... something different?

Hi Matt I like the look of these grille's and am currently looking for one. No luck yet but will keep looking - they come up quite often on ebay. I need to sort out a "wheel squeel" first though thats driving me up the wall a bit now.

The bumper is below - i will get a better picture at the weekend - it's stamped TRD on the inner side with a serial or model number alongside and there is an inset badge on the front underside passenger side of the bumper marked as TRD. This is a full bumper although it does look like there is a front lip on it - i cant see a join so initially when i first got it could not tell what make it really was but need to go by the stamp which is in raised letters on the inner side. Also the bumper is plastic and not fibreglass. There is also a rear TRD skirt on the car which i will post up at the weekend which i believe to be a TRD one? - would be nice to know what make these actually are if anyone has the same.