J Henderson

Offside = Driver's side in a RHD environment

Kind of a funny one this... When shopping for insurance last time out, I found the quotes could actually get lower when declaring that the windows were tinted. Work that one out! In any event, I don't declare my tints or anything else I've done to my car. As far as I'm concerned I haven't changed anything that would warrant claiming extra for. ie: I have different wheels than it came with stock, but they are still LEXUS ones, and exactly the same size and spec. If I was slammed on coilovers, had a set of £2K+ JDM wheels, or had upsized to 19" or something, then yes of course I would declare that (and did, when I had ISF wheels on a few years ago). But if one of my windows gets smashed in a bump, or by a thief I wouldn't be expecting the cost of re-tinting the glass to be met by the insurance company. If painting calipers is considered an "offence" in the insurers eyes, I would guess there are literally hundreds of thousands of uninsured cars on the road today.

IMHO, there's a lack of basic information being provided, so I'm not surprised there's been little interest. How many wheels are actually for sale? Only 3 LS400 wheels are visible in the picture. Is it a full set? Are the tyres any good? Centre caps included? etc... BTW, there's no price and until today, it's never been explicitly stated that they are actually for sale. I actually thought they might've been free to anyone who wanted them. Not having a go, just my .02p on maybe why the lack of interest.

If the calipers were an issue (ie: sticking), that ought to have been picked up in the rolling road brake test.

Compared to a CT200h, the ride will be noticeably better. Even the F-Sport model.

Have a read in this topic A faulty coil pack was responsible in this case.

Is the light all LED or does it have bulbs that can be removed? If the latter, I would try and vacuum it out.

Full leather seats too, unlike a UK one.

We Restore Alloys

£60+VAT for me.

I can't speak for Jay's wheels, but the wheel company I use refer to the OEM style finish as Shadow Chrome. It's not a single colour though, it's a custom process. The wheel is stripped to bare metal and powdercoated gloss black, then sprayed with a few coats of the silver colour, then a clear lacquer is applied as the final step. This is how my wheels turned out after I requested the OEM finish, but slightly darker.

No amount of effort and towels will get rid of the type of trapped water that resides inside door mirrors, grilles, fuel doors, or wheel nuts etc. That's where a blower dryer really pays off. One needn't cost the earth. I paid circa £40 for mine. Technically, it's actually a pet hair dryer, but works a treat. 😄

An SC430 of that vintage ought to be compliant. https://www.lowemissionzones.scot/vehicle-registration-checker

Bonnet release lever?

That sounds decent for £30. I reckon I would be happy to pay someone else for that level of work. I still do my own car though, and always have done. Albeit, not as often as I once did. The physicality isn't yet an obstacle, and I quite enjoy the experience, but there are definitely a few more aches and pains afterwards nowadays. It's actually the thought of spending a good 30mins just to set everything up and put stuff away, that prevents me from washing my car more regularly. That, plus the weather...

Looks normal. Although it appears there are no shims fitted to the pads.

And you never will. They don't sell premium fuel at any of their sites. Petrol or Diesel.

Lexus Edinburgh also share the workshop with the Toyota garage next door. Same parent company owns both franchises (plus all the other marques nearby)

I was caught short a few nights ago and had to use a BP station. I knew I was going to be ripped-off so only put a tenner in. Got a whopping 6L as the price of Ultmate was 164.9p. Filled-up with Momentum the next day at 147.9. A 6p premium over E10, which is pretty normal. Sounds like your Tesco in particular is the thief. The price of each grade can always be seen before lifting the nozzle on the pumps I use, btw.

According to Lexus Parts Direct (who want over £400 for one), the part number is 47201-53170 Searching for that part number in Autodoc just comes up with a bunch of fake results for other cars, as far as I can see... Amayama.com have the part listed and for sale at about half the price (plus shipping from Japan & probably import duty). They also have an Exploded Diagram with all the individual parts that make up the master cylinder, if you can identify exactly what needs replacing on your existing one.

I've had CC2s on my car since July last year, so I've now experienced all 4 seasons with them. Everything from heatwave conditions to minus double-digit degree temperatures, and everything in-between. A lot of what Linas says is on the money, and yes they are expensive (especially the rear sizes), but I would disagree with his assessment regarding their worth in Winter months. Yeah, you might not need anything other than summer tyres in London, or other parts of the SE. But, somewhere further north like Lancashire (which, I believe is one of the more hilly counties in England), the benefits of an all-season tyre will be of greater value. So yeah, basically it'll depend on the topography of where you live, or where your regular driving routes are. Personally, I can't even make it out of my side street if there's a light dusting of snow if I'm on summer tyres because the hills are too steep. Previously, I had full Winter tyres before getting the CrossClimates, and honestly, there wasn't much of a drop-off in performance on snow. Summer performance is more than adequate to run them all year round. Wet weather too. My other set of wheels are shod with Michelin PS4 and I would normally ditch the winter set at the earliest opportunity, but I have yet to take off the CC2s since getting them. That would be unthinkable with full winter tyres. Regarding the price, I managed to get my set during a promotional campaign for under 500 quid (£499.76 to be exact), so not too bad.

Lights ON - Very welcome when attempting to join the Westbound A720 Edinburgh City Bypass in early morning traffic. The sun is directly behind with an uninterrupted view for miles and you can barely see anything in your mirrors. Cars with their headlights on are significantly easier to spot in the glare. I'm sure there are many other east-to-west facing roads in the UK, where this scenario plays out.

I'm not against having headlights on during the day. In fact, I will typically do this on a daily basis when working (as a driver). It's dark at the start of my shift, so headlights are required and I'll invariably just leave them on all night until I return to base. Overall, as long as they're properly aimed and aligned, I find other drivers having headlights on more helpful than a hindrance. The only real nitpick I have is that it can be more difficult to spot whether someone is indicating or not, since the turn signal is located inside the headlight casing on most vehicles these days. DRLs are all well and good, but as mentioned earlier, they're only on the front. I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen idiots driving in really bad conditions, or in complete darkness with no lights on. Doubly idiotic when they're in a black/gray/silver car that renders them almost invisible.

So, it appears the exhaust on my car is not long for this World. For the past few weeks, it has been sounding a bit more throaty during cold-starts, but otherwise quite normal once idle speed stabilised, or once on the move. But today, I got out to retrieve something from the boot with the engine still running, and I could clearly hear that distinctive blown exhaust sound emanating from roughly the middle of the car. This would tally up with the advisory I was given at the last MOT test. Central Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases Leak at centre silencer (6.1.2 (a)) I haven't been under the car to have a proper look, but assuming the rear section and the rest of the pipework is fine, I think I'll try and find someone that'll cut the silencer off and weld in a straight pipe. The so-called "Resonator delete" that seems popular across the pond. Has anyone done this? I've seen a couple of vids on YouTube that suggest it won't be much louder than stock.

That 2nd product sounds like a degreaser. Overkill unless your engine bay is un-Lexus-like and covered in oil spills & leaks. A regular APC (All-purpose cleaner) is sufficient.