J Henderson

A 2 year gap between services might put off a future buyer (despite the nominal mileage), if you ever try to sell it. An oil change in-between would dampen such fears. It would work for me anyway, even a DIY one if there's evidence of the oil & filter purchase. Maybe get whoever does the MOT to also swap the oil, so there's a paper trail?

Lexus OEM brake components aren't worth the money IMO. Better off just buying decent aftermarket ones. Yes, its nice to keep things OEM, and despite the additional cost this was once my policy, but I've had 2 different sets of front discs fail before they were a couple of years old. And these were IS350 spec brakes, so it's not like siezed slider pins were the reason why the discs failed prematurely. A set of OEM discs and pads for the rear is something like £200 as well. That's way too much when you can get very good quality alternatives for about £80-100. In many instances the aftermarket ones will even come with additional hardware like shims, fitting kit etc that you don't get with OEM. And the Lexus discs will rust and turn orange just as easily as aftermarket, so you don't even get that to fall back on. I went with EBC slotted discs and Yellowstuff pads on the front. They perform very well and after about 18 months on my car, the black coating that the discs come with still looks pretty good. They have impressed me enough that I just bought a set for the rear end as well, and I'll be fitting those in a couple of weeks. Now I've just stated that Lexus brakes are too dear, and then bought ones that are even more expensive... 🤣 but I don't mind paying extra for something that can justify the higher price. On the negative side, the EBC stuff is slightly noisier. During cold months, on the first press of the brake I would hear a small squeal from the pads, but that only lasted a second or two and only happened with the very first press of the pedal. Slowing to a stop is also noisier, though not a squeal, more of a low groaning sound. Nothing alarming though.

Well, kudos to Lexus, I guess. Of course this scheme will be first and foremost, a marketing tactic to remove one of the obstacles that might be in the way of Joe Public buying one of their EVs. But, I give them credit for at least acknowledging the problem instead of burying their heads in the sand about it. EVs have their place, but covering long distances in an efficient manner clearly isn't one of them. Not with the current technology and infrastructure. Imagine what life would be like if all those vehicles currently transporting goods and services across the country, were forced to stop every couple of hours for 30-40mins. It would be an absolute shambles. Some of the things we've grown accustomed to, would be thrown into chaos, or at a minimum, severely disrupted - Fresh produce on the shelves when the shops open? Next-day delivery for your online purchases? Newspaper through your letterbox at 7am? Forget it!

You could buy an alarm stopper for a few quid. Effectively an empty buckle with no belt attached. Leave that plugged in and the vehicle would theoretically react as if the seat was occupied.

That intake looks familiar 🙂 Just noticed in one of your earlier pics that there's no headlamp washers on a JDM one.

I replaced the arms on my IS and its very easy to DIY. They're only held in place by a single nut, 14mm or thereabouts. It'll be covered by a cap that you have to pry off. Order the new ones from Amayama. They'll cost 25% of a UK dealer price.

Damn, well it only took seven freaking years, but those H&R springs that were the subject of this quote from Post #1, are finally, finally on the car! The estimate of lowering by just 10mm was a bit pessimistic, with the ride height now being approx 15-20mm lower than it was. The springs have also been paired up with a new set of dampers - Bilstein B6s. The journey to obtaining a set of these was actually quite drawn-out and frustrating. I originally ordered a set in 2022, but due to stock shortages and supply chain issues on Bilstein's end, I got fed-up waiting and received a refund. I then flirted with the idea of getting a set of coilovers instead from BC Racing, but couldn't help notice that they seem to have spiked in price quite dramatically during the past couple of years. What used to be a tempting £650-700 option, was now something like £900+. This, coupled with the fact that I had never owned a car with coilovers before, put me off, so I stuck with the idea of sourcing some dampers...eventually. Fast-forward to a few months ago and I noticed that the Bilsteins were now readily available again, so I grabbed a set whilst I could. As well as the shocks and springs, I also bought a pair of RCF lower control arm bushes. This is a popular upgrade, and at less than £80 it would've been rude not to follow the herd. It turned out to be a worthwhile spend, as the OEM bushings had started to split. Albeit, only slightly. I dare say they would've maybe gotten through another MOT. The new shock/spring combo seems great so far. The ride quality has actually improved as the old shocks had definitely seen better days. They weren't leaking or anything, but the ride had become a bit bouncy and uneven of late. Now, the car feels extremely planted and composed again. Turn-in and steering feel is better too. Probably due to the new LCA bushes, although it's difficult to quantity their effect since everything was replaced at the same time. Overall, I'm very happy with how things turned out. The drop from the springs is just about perfect and after about a week or so, I am yet to experience any issues such as rubbing. The car feels very nice to drive as is, but I'll get an alignment booked to make sure nothing is untoward. To finish up, here's a picture that was taken today. 🙂

Yes, if you input the details of the 3IS wheels & tyres on https://www.willtheyfit.com/ You'll notice there will only be 1.5mm difference between the front and rear axles.

Do you have this light on your dash?

For sale: OEM F-Sport coil springs, taken off my 2011 car with 88K on the clock. Will lower a non Sport model by about 10mm. Very good condition, with only a few minor bits of surface rust. Not weak/sagging. Item Condition: USED Price and price conditions: £50 Extra Info: Pictures: Contact Details: PM Location: Central Scotland Delivery & Conditions of Delivery: Delivery (UK) is included in the price.

You can disable the sensors via the "satellite" switch, located under the dash brightness control.

That setup with those tyre sizes would be fine since the rolling radius of the front and rear wheels would be almost identical. You won't need any spacers.

The newest episode of Car SOS features a Lexus IS200 that gets rebuilt into a drift car, complete with 600+BHP 2JZ. Next showing is on National Geographic tonight at 12am.

Re: Max Range. Could it be low simply because the car is brand-new? I believe the range is calculated on recent historical average MPG, so the range will probably increase over time. If 53mpg becomes the norm, the range should be in excess of 400mls.

Forget the diesel as its not ULEZ compliant. The 250 is extremely reliable so mileage is almost irrelevant. Buy on condition/history. I'm into my 8th year of ownership and outside of normal servicing costs and brakes/tyres, I've only had to pay for 2 front wheel bearings.

Wow, a 1% discount 😄 You could import that same wheel from the other side of the planet, get a new tyre for it, and still have £1K change. Dealer prices really are ridiculous.

Try holding the unlock button on the fob for 5 seconds, then do the same with the lock button. Apparently that will reset the central locking.

Still under warranty then? A lot come with at least a 3 year guarantee.

Yeah, they are extremely expensive for what they are. A cheaper option is to import them from Japan for half the price, including shipping. 04946-30110 Regardless, I'm not sure they'll cure a "clunk" type of sound, the shims mostly help with rattles or squealing.

There should be two sets of shims. A thin black inner shim that hooks onto the the back of the pad, plus there's also a silver outer one which goes on top. On a complete setup, you should be able to see the 4 shim "hooks" on each pad.

Possibly a strong "trade" style TFR was used, and either applied dry (a no-no), or left to dwell too long before being rinsed off.

The rear window stays surprisingly clean in my opinion. Way cleaner than on a hatchback. The bumper, number plate area and rear-facing part of the bootlid are always the dirtiest parts on my car. There's nothing on the mirrors as far as I know, but the front windows do have a water-repellent coating. You could apply a glass sealant/coating to the mirrors and thd rest of the glass yourself. There's many available, but one of the best and easiest to apply (Soft99 Glaco) can be bought in Euro Car Parts.

I'd be very surprised if the navigation system in something as recent as a 2015 RX runs off a DVD. It's likely updated via USB.

Time for another update... 2022 As mentioned a few posts earlier. Just after this odometer milestone was reached, my 2nd set of OEM front brake discs failed prematurely, resulting in an MOT failure and tarnishing my car's previously clean test history. I was actually dubious about the car failing, as the brakes didn't seem too bad to me, so got it tested again somewhere else, and what do you know, it passed. Still, I could tell the brakes weren't quite 100%, so I sought out some replacements. At this point I was done with buying OEM Lexus discs, so I was looking for a quality alternative and decided upon a set of slotted discs from EBC, and paired them up with a set of their Yellowstuff pads. Apparently these are the pads favoured by the Police in their pursuit vehicles. They're overkill for the majority of the driving that I do, but there's no real downside as they perform perfectly well when cold, and its good to know that they're up to the job, should I feel like a spirited drive. 2023 At the same time the brakes were fitted, the car recieved a service and I also had to replace the driver's side front wheel bearing as it had been grumbling for a couple of months. This meant I've now had to replace both front bearings since the passenger side one had previously given out in 2021. Still, as far as unexpected costs go, that's not bad during 7+ years of ownership. Next up was a wee visual mod when I jumped on the bandwagon and bought a set of those fancy door lights that everybody else has. Gotta love the Engrish description on the box. I had resisted the temptation to get these up until now. Anytime I had seen pictures of them on other people's cars, there was something that kinda put me off. But I guess the technology has improved since they first appeared on the scene, as the ones I got produce a lovely sharp and clearly defined logo. Could easily pass as OEM. Throughout the year I had noticed that my exhaust had sprung a leak and was gradually getting louder with each passing week. And with an MOT coming up in October, I was going to have to do something about it. An OEM replacement costs literally thousands of pounds, so that was off the table. An aftermarket one was a possibility, but would probably have to be imported and I was concerned that it would take too long to arrive. So, I kicked the can down the road by having the exhaust welded at a local tyre & exhaust centre. Not the cleanest looking repair but it did what was needed to earn an MOT pass, and tide me over until a long-term solution can be found. Into December, and this is when I made the annual switch to my Winter wheel & tyre package. I convinced myself that, come springtime, when these would be coming back off, they'd be getting replaced by something new & shiny. For a long time, like 3 or 4 years at least, I had been searching for a set of the 19" F-Sport wheels that the 2016+ facelift GS came with. I felt that these would've looked really good on my car, and would've fitted with the whole "OEM Plus" theme. Alas, it was to no avail. I did see the odd single wheel come up for sale now and again, but never a complete set. I guess those cars are just too scarce in the first place, and the likelihood of an owner wishing to swap the wheels for something else, even more unlikely. So, I would have to take a dip into the aftermarket world for my next set of wheels. And with a Black Friday discount code available, I took advantage and committed to placing an order for a set of WORK wheels. 2024 They were made to order and had to be shipped from Japan, but the whole process from start to finish, was only around 8 weeks and they arrived at my door in late January. Shout out to Driftworks for the great service.👍 As well as the wheels, I also picked up a set of wheel nuts, centre caps, valves & valve caps. And these are the wheels in question. Work Emotion ZR10 in "Glim Black" with polished lip. I considered going "square" as I believe these 9.5" wheels could also fit on the front no problem, but that would probably involve running a stretched tyre, and I'm not really a fan of that look. So, I kept the staggered setup with a more conservative 8.5" front wheel. 19" wheels were also a consideration, but I think I prefer the smaller wheel, chunkier tyre look. Reaffirming this, I've upsized the tyres to 235/40 & 255/40. Getting decent rubber in these sizes was somewhat limited, with the rear 255/40R18 fitment usually being the bottleneck. Michelin is my usual go-to choice and the latest Pilot Sport 5 was available, but I fancied trying out a different brand for a change. I also liked the idea of my new JDM wheels wearing a Japanese tyre brand. But, with the offerings from Yokohama and Bridgestone being a bit uninspiring, I opted for the recently released Proxes Sport 2 from Toyo. They have the all-important "A" rating for wet grip, and a local independent tyre shop hooked me up with them for a very reasonable price. Once I got the wheels back home I wiped them down and gave them a coat of Gtechniq C5. This was my first experience of using a ceramic product of this type, but it appears to have gone well despite the coating being applied in fairly lukewarm weather. I love how the colour of the spokes can flip between looking silver or black, depending on the viewing angle. Before I put the new wheels on the car, I flushed out all the crud and crap that had built up in the wheel arches during the winter. Here's a few pics of how they look on the car. I'm delighted with how they look and the fitment is very nice. The stance should look even better in a couple of weeks when some of the wheel arch gap is eliminated... 😉