RX-Men-8

I think the stagger is not the issue, the IS250 came with either a non-staggered 7J16 ET45 inch wheels F+R with 205/55R16 tyres, 8J17 ET45 F+R with 225/45R17 front and 245/45R17 rear tyres, or 18x8 ET45 with 225/40R18 front and 18x8.5 ET50 with 255/40R18 rear. https://www.wheel-size.com/size/lexus/is/2007/ The thing I would look at first is the tyres themselves, you would be surprised at the sensitivity to the right tyres to road camber and tramlining. Then vehicle alignment, and possibly your aftermarket wheels are a low offset ET40 or less making the track wider affecting the steering geometry. Best to stay close to the stock ET45.

The point is that when cornering at the grip limits, not necessarily drifitng, it may even be in the wet or snow, that you don't want the transmission to shift up or down unexpectedly. The change in torque to the rear wheels may cause sudden oversteer. Turbo lag is another trickster in this case.

Suppose you're on a track carving enthousiastially at the edge of grip/traction, or even in full drift /powerslide controlling the drift angle with the throttle, you don't want the transmission to go shift on its own, even if you're at the redline. In reaction to the hill descending above, brake parts being cheaper than an engine/transmission: you'll burn up your brakes on a long descent and have an accident which is even more expensive. You should slow down to the range of the gear that holds the downhill speed and descend without braking as much as possible. It's the way to do it and it won't cause extra wear to your engine or transmission.

One major difference: The OEM Hids have a shield below the dippped beam bulb, whereas the Non-hids have not. This prevents light from reflecting up from the bottom side of the reflector, that would be too blinding. German pics here ;)

I do believe the IS200 handles very well. And if it does well on the skid pad compared to other cars (50:50 weight distribution and front+rear double wishbone suspension) it must do well on roundabouts. ONLY: any RWD car it isn't as foolproof as a FWD car, especially without VSC/ESP. Give it too much welly and a FWD car will just plough straight ahead, a RWD car steps out with the back end. So if you know how to control your car , you're going to be fast on that roundabout ;)

Cheers mate - one day too late but I hope you had a good one!

Ehhh.. I'm not going to unbolt it for that ;) But I won't contest that's the best way to check. It will go to a max speed of 215kp/h (GPS) @the rev limiter in 6th line like before. And 3,909/4,100 * 215 would only be 204. Greetz Rx-Men-8

Strange..... My IS200 has an RS200 LSD fitted,, no difference in final drive with IS200 LSD. There were two differences though: no cooling fins on the Altezza diff-housing, and I had to use the old axle stubs as they are 6-bolt on the Tezza instead of 4-bolt on the IS200. From the pics above there must have been quite some variations, only you wouldn't get to 146 mph with a manual RS200 and a 4.3 final drive, with a 3,909 you would. Maybe someone can complete the gaps in this story Cheers, RX-Men-8

What's the ratio of that differential? It depends on its origin, it's from altezza has ratio 4,100, it's from European IS200 has ratio 3,909 (LSD type). I said to you that it interested one to me. 4.100:1 is for Lexus IS200/ Altezza AS200 with automatic transmission, and never an LSD afaik 3,909:1 is for Lexus IS200/ Altezza AS200/RS200 with manual Aisin AZ-6 Gearbox. Cheers, RX-Men-8

You must have had a set of four front rims. Maybe you can go to Lexus and ask for the 18,5J as it is hard to misss on first glance and the staggered look is much nicer. 18x8J ET45 18,5x18 ET50 They can go straight on the IS200. If you leave the 255/40R18 rear tyres of the 250 on, you'd need to roll the rear arches. IMHO 235/40R18 looks better (same "stretch" of the tyre on the back as on the front) and no modifications are needed. Cheers, RX-men-8

Have you actually checked the cast marks in the rim? Think you'll find all four say 8 JJ. Only the tyres differ. Well, on the 17"OEM's anyway.. Believe me ;) Or search the forums :D Cheers, RX-Men-8

I've got them on my IS200 for 2 Years now ;) To state some facts: The rear rims are wider, and do not fit up front! (would rub control arm, not that you'd want to put the wider ones up front) Rear: 18,5Jx18 Offset 50 Front: 18Jx8 Offset 45 You can run 225/40R18 up front and 235/40R18 Rear without any arch mods, even with 30mm lowering. The rims are flush with the bodywork, ideal imho.

Come to think of it, the only time you'll need spanner 13 is when installing the TTE Supercharger (top bolts). I hope they're not bad luck ;)

Didn't they include the spare in the tyre rotation scheme? Like back to front, one front as spare and the spare and one front to back?

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html ;)