is200 Newbie

Still need a replacement wheel?

Brilliant - thanks

I have been given a sat nav screen and motorised cover unit. I want to fit it to my is200 and use it for a housing to either fit a screen or a tom tom but i would like the cover to operate as norma, ie open when ignition is on and close when off etc. i had found a topic on here that described the wiring i needed to hook into. I saved the link then over christmas my computer died, i lost the info and i cannot find the link anymore. Would anyone be able to point me in the right dirction in finding it again or know of the wiring i need to hook the unit up so it opens and closes. I am not bothered about using the sat nav screen, just the operation of the cover. The link i lost was from a guy that had modded his gps to a sony unit and had actually done the work in rewiring the cover which i think was only connecting into 3 wires - switched live etc.

I have not long refurbed my own - i have put a walkthrough on the maintenence section under Aero Alloys Refurb - very easy to do, just need a bit of good old elbow grease !!

I have an Is200 LE - 2004 - it has the sat nav housing tray and lid but no sat nav installed. It looks like it was an option but was never fitted. There's no screen, just a place to put things. I have just taken this out of the car to see if there's wiring connections present and without rooting around i could not see any. Is the sat nav operated through a cable loom connected to the radio or is it wired seperately through the car? I might have a look behind the glove box at the weekend just to satisfy myself that there is no wires there. Any ideas?

Just removed the lid/tray - piece of cake. I was expecting to see wires there though but it's as tidy as hell behind the dash ! Kind of sorry in a way as i was hoping there would be a link / connector for the sat nav unit even although one was not installed. Would you know if these sat navs are wired into the CD unit?

Brilliant - just what i was looking for (but could not find anything) - found a good mod that may suit yours. Someone had fitted a small ipod into the ashtray - totally hidden, thought that was a good idea !! Will try to remove this at the weekend. Cheers

Can anyone help me with a bit of info... IS200 2004 I need to remove the centre console on the dash - not all of it but just the part that houses the sat nav. I currently have the housing with the lid but no sat nav screen. Can anyone let me know how to go about this - i dont want to start chewing up the dash trying to remove bits - thanks

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=75276

I have just posted a walk through on how to refurbish these at around the £30 mark for all the 4 wheels. post is under Reburbishing Aero Alloy Wheels

Just topped the 2000 miles for the month and there has been no issue with any vibration from the brakes after the work i done.

Bought a set this afternoon after a 3 hour trawl on the internet for £120 - need refurbing but will give this a go myself to see how they turn out - will post pictures before and after

far as i know no bother, set of aero rims on ebay at the min for about 350 and they need a refurb, Thanks - I saw these a couple of days ago - looked to be in a bad way - especially for what the seller was asking. Have just bid 310 for them and was going to refurb myself but seller declined - ebay wont let me bid again for 24 days!!. Dont think they are worth the momey for the price the seller is asking due to the condition - would like a set though !!!!!!!!!

Would anyone know if a standard set up is200 could accept 18" alloys - Would anyone know where a set or Aero style wheels could be purchased from? Thanks

Cheers - thanks for the advise - i was half in the mind of doint it and half not - just needd a reason not to i guess. I know what i am getting for christmas now at least

One of these has a damaged "flange" causing a slow puncture

I have an IS200 2004 LE - came with the dash cover where the sat nav lives but no sat nav (not just the tray but with the actual housing cover). I dont think there has been a sat nav installed and taken out before i had the car as there's no signs it has had one in. Question is, i am looking to buy a tom tom sat nav anyway but was wondering if it would be better to fit an original nav in the car where it should be. Would anyone know if the wiring is pre-installed or would i have to route around looking for the correct wires to attach the unit into. How easy would it be to take off the parts of the dash to find out? Also i believe that there is a disc thats mounted in the boot? Would anyone know the wheeabouts to look for this wiring or have any pictures of what connections i should be looking for in both the dash area and the boot? thanks

Just under 900 miles so far after cleaning the pistons and all's well. !

Hi Rory - thanks for the pic I have one on my car at the moment and i was looking to change it to the sport style grille - I wasn't aware it was an optional extra on the car. It is not badly chipped but has a few but i suppose everyones definition of badly chipped is different. When i get a change i will post a picture of it - probably towards the end of the week. Would you have a sport one you would want to swap?

Would you have a picture of the grill ?

Hi dj0nes To cut a long story short (although this might go on for a while) I had originally replaced the discs on the car as they were worn, with new ones. Then i had the issue with the vibration/judder when braking which could only be described as a warped disc feeling. I replaced the discs again with Brembo ones and the judder was still there. I spoke to someone at Brembo, one of their engineers and he assured me that their discs would not warp which is a big statement to make but they are a very good make and i didn't really think it was the discs. I got really fed up with the problem to be honest and recently gave the calipers a really good clean. Replaced the slide pins but left the rubber seal off the bottom pin as i felt this was causing more friction than anything. Have had no issues with this and the two pins these seals are on now move freely. Anyway i popped the pistons out as i had the feeling that one was sticking (passenger side). Why did i have this feeling - A while ago when i was first trying to track down the fault i had asked my wife to watch the caliper pistons while i pressed the brake pedal to see if they were moving - she said yes so i automatically thought they were ok. This last time i checked them myself- she pressed the pedal and i had a look at the piston and although they were all moving there was one that would come out about half a centimeter then it would stop. If i pressed the brake pedal harder it would come out. Hence my diagnosis of a sticky piston. To get it out i took the caliper off and holding one piston in with a g clamp i pressed the brake pedal until i could just about pull the piston out by hand. I didnt lose too much fluid either as i had the caliper on it's side so the fluid would not run out too much - just dont press the brake pedal with the piston out ! Between the inner seal in the caliper and the outer dust seal on the caliper i lightly rubbed this down with grit paper as it felt a bit rough. I cleaned the piston with IPA and the inner caliper housing with a dry tissue. I pushed the piston home but applied a bit of wd40 at the end of the piston to help it in over the friction of the inner seal (maybe should not have used the wd40 but it was very minimal)I bled the brakes and done the same to the other piston. Bleeding them when ones done helps apply pressure to the other piston and it's easier to get out. Do the same all round (front calipers) i left the back ones. Finally bleed the whole system after doing the 4th piston. I bled mine in order of rear passenger side / drivers rear passenger / front passenger and finally drivers side. The whole job took about an hour and a half. Since Sunday this week i have done just over 200 miles no issue. The car feels so different - smooth and "soft" for lack of a better word. This worked for me as i tracked my problem down to a sticky piston - it may be a different problem on your car but i am glad i done it as if nothing else it has given me an understanding of how the brakes work on these cars. For the time it takes if i was you i would give it a go - if nothing else you can rule out seized or sticking pistons.

Discs have been replaced - with the fact there's no judder now after cleaning the caliper pistons sort of proves that the discs aren't warped and the problem does not lie in anything other than the calipers - i do around 2000 miles per month so will update the post soon as to how it's been - it also feels smoother now with the pistons cleaned.

Thanks for all the replies Problem sorted. I popped the caliper pistons out at the weekend (all 4 of them on the front) - none were seized but i think some may have been sticking? All pistons were spotless, no rust/pitting etc so i cleaned them up and re-inserted them into the caliper and bled the brakes (lost a lot of fluid doing this). I put a bit of WD40 in the rubber dustcap and left them overnight after testing to see if all the pistons were working. Just done a 10 mile drive and the brakes are spot on. Saved just under £600 on a set of new ones from Lexus

Hi Matty I posted the remedy a bit too soon previously but have managed to resolve the issue with vibrating now I popped the caliper pistons out at the weekend (all 4 of them) - none were seized but i think some may have been sticking?. All pistons were spotless so i cleaned them up and re-inserted them into the caliper and bled the brakes. I put a bit of WD40 in the rubber dustcap and left them overnight after testing to see if all the pistons were working. Just done a 10 mile drive and the brakes are spot on. Saved just under £600 on a set of new ones from Lexus

Thanks for all the replies Problem sorted. I popped the caliper pistons out at the weekend (all 4 of them) - none were seized but i think some may have been sticking?. All pistons were spotless so i cleaned them up and re-inserted them into the caliper and bled the brakes. I put a bit of WD40 in the rubber dustcap and left them overnight after testing to see if all the pistons were working. Just done a 10 mile drive and the brakes are spot on. Saved just under £600 on a set of new ones from Lexus.