J Henderson

Pro-Kit will lower a car with standard suspension by 30mm. If you fit them to a Sport model, it'll only end up 15mm lower than "stock" since it's already 15mm lower from the factory.

I've got a set waiting to go on my car, but haven't got around to it yet. I really need to get on top of that...

Demon Tweeks have K&N filters on special offer in their eBay store at the moment - http://www.ebay.co.u...#ht_2068wt_1271

Eibach Pro-Kit. Will lower the car around 30mm without affecting the ride quality much since they're progressive rate springs and work well with OEM shocks. Quite expensive though as they retail for £200+

As stated, the adjuster is at the 6 o'clock position. Spin the hub until you can see it through one of the holes then turn the cog with a flat screwdriver.

I once had this problem on an E30 BMW and it was because the springs and caps that hold the handbrake shoes in place had broken off.

Sounds like you need to adjust the slack in your clutch pedal. I done it and it made a considerable difference, shifts are a lot smoother. Just slacken off the locknut on the master cylinder rod at the clutch pedal 12mm and turn the rod clockwise until you have freeplay in the clutch of about 1/2 inch. The easiest way to gauge this is press the clutch pedal with the power of your thumb only, pressing to you feel resistance in the pedal. Once you have it where you want it tighten the locknut. Do not tighten the pedal too much to the point where you have no freeplay as that will cause undue wear on the release bearing.

Thanks for the tip. I tried this and I must say it seems to have worked a treat. ^_^

I didn't have a massive amount of slack, so I just nipped-up the nut a little; maybe a quarter turn at most, but it definitely made an improvement.

The SportCross looks great in white. Can't be too many of those about. :)

Only the dipped beam is HID. The rest of the lights are normal halogens.

Definitely don't pay too much. My RX wheels only cost me £82.

Yep, the LE is the only 1G-FE-engined model with those mirrors.

Thanks for all the input guys, I just hope i don't need to replace the mirror glass, I heard it's a biggie.

Yes, those electrochromatic mirrors are £300+ each for a replacement.

When one of mine failed I just swapped it with a normal heated mirror as a stop gap...that was over a year ago, so I obviously haven't missed the auto-dimming function much. When my other one starts to go I'll just do the same again and replace it with a normal glass mirror.

You say that, but the irony is that US-spec cars don't have beeping instrument clusters. Plus, unlike here, their IS300 had a 5-speed manual option. :D

My pet hates;

- infamous knocking noise from front suspension/brakes/whateveritis

- Gearbox whine

- Clutch? I find it pretty hard to change the lower gears smoothly without a bit of a jolt or thud.

Do xenon bulbs work?

I'm looking for something that is brighter and whiter than the standard is200 bulbs but do not want the propper HID kits

I dont want anything stupidly bright that may dazzle or blind other road users

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item518a5f7f2b

Is there anyone who has tried or used these xenon bulbs and what is your opinion on them?

Those eBay bulbs are rated at 7500k, which will be pretty blue/purple-ish and not as effective as a lower temperature rating. They'll probably still be brighter than stock bulbs but 4300k will be a better bet if you're after the best possible performance and a "super white" output similar to factory HIDs.

As for whether Xenon bulbs work...Yes they do. I've a pair of MTEC brand bulbs in my main beam and they're miles better than the normal Halogens and a good colour match for my HID dipped beam. I got them from http://www.hids-direct.co.uk/ but they also have an eBay store.

No chance. My first job as a 16 year-old was a trainee in a tyre & exhaust place and one of my lasting memories is the amount of remoulds that came back with problems like the steel cords poking through the tread and them being buckled out of shape etc. The failure rate seemed pretty high. They were also extremely heavy compared to a proper tyre and usually required loads of wheel weights to get them balanced. Absolutely horrendous in the wet too, by all accounts.

That was 20-odd years ago, mind. So I'm sure the technology has improved since then. In fact, I'm certain it has, but I still wouldn't touch them.

I can't imagine it was a special deal for me personally, as I've only dealt with them a few times before, albeit on one occasion it was for a set of alloys.

I would guess they maybe underestimated the painting costs when they done mine, so they've now bumped up the price to make sure it's actually worth their while doing another one. I dunno...

If I was In your position, I think I'd just get the grille only for now since they come pre-painted in 1C0, and keep an eye out for a TTE bumper showing up at a later date.

Interesting...Lexus Birmingham sold me the lip spoiler very recently for less than that.

When I asked, I was quoted £135 for the part and £150 to paint it, plus £25 for delivery. The total was then rounded down to £300. Since I'll never find one in my colour (1D2) out in the wild, I just went ahead and got it.

I recieved it last week, roughly 2 weeks after I placed my order.

If you're going the spare set of wheels route, I'd recommend downsizing to 16" wheels shod with 205/55R16 for a Winter setup.

- 205/55R16 has a very similar rolling radius to 215/45R17 so speedo reading will be unaffected.

- It's one of the most popular sizes for Winter tyres so there's plenty of choice available and prices are way cheaper than 17" tyres.

- The smaller wheel and taller sidewall will provide better traction & control in poor conditions. The narrower width will also help.

Certain IS200 and 2nd-gen IS220d models came fitted with 16" wheels as standard and plenty of people dump them in favour of bigger ones, so a set of those can be bought quite cheaply. So too can the 16" alloys from an early model RX300. The RX wheels are probably the most desirable option. They're 5-spokes and look pretty damn good on an IS.

After seeing this pic, I just had to find a set for myself and did a few months ago, along with some Michelins for them to wear. :)

just wondering, where can i get one of them greddy front lips from? mail me if you can cheers

Finding a genuine one will probably be hard, but good quality replicas can be had from eBay US.

eg:

http://www.ebay.com/...&prg=1005&rk=1

Congrats on the purchase.

Is your car a manual? And is the whining mostly in gears 1-3? If so, then its probably nothing to worry about as it seems to be one of the IS's foibles. If you do a google search you'll find loads of people complaining about the same thing, even folks with nearly-new cars back in the day were affected. I don't think there's much to be done about it.

As for the engine management light being on...Hmm, you maybe have a problem with one of the coil packs, but that's just a guess of course. As suggested, try and get someone with a code reader diagnose the fault properly.

Black here with white decals. Nice and subtle, which was exactly what I was looking for.

For something more noticable though, I think Gold or Bronze would look good.

I also done mine in black a few months ago.

I brush-painted them with a couple of coats of Halfords' own make high-temp enamel followed by 2 or 3 generous coats of Hammerite. I didn't bother with any lacquer as the decal supplier mentioned that it wouldn't be necessary.

http://stores.ebay.c...9-Custom-Design

Yep, the discs are probably fine. They just won't be zinc-coated, hence the surface rust.

I replaced my rear discs recently with a reputable brand (Brembo), but the "bell" on them still turned orange quite quickly. It really spoiled the look when my wheels and the rest of the car was clean.

Anyway, it annoyed me enough to do something about it...

So, one weekend I cleaned up the hubs with a wire brush and some brake cleaner, then brushed on a couple of coats of very high temperature paint. Once that had dried, I laid on a few coats of black Hammerite to complete the job. The VHT paint was probably an unnecessary step but since I had some to hand, I just used it anyway. The end result was pretty effective and smartened the car up no end. Two months later and there's no sign of the rust coming back.

It should be listed somewhere on the plate inside the passenger side door jam.

http://www.lexusowne...showtopic=67615

It sounds like your colour is probably Aztec Fire. (3N3)

I'll just chime in to say that Kodiak Sky is indeed the colour of the LE model. The paint code is 1D2 and Its a metallic grey/silver. ;)

To the OP. Lots of sound advice has already been posted on what to look for so the only thing I would add is that the car is maybe a little overpriced, especially if there's a lack of service history. It does look like a very nice example, but there are plenty of SE models out there so I would try and haggle the price down closer to £2K.

Also, along with being quite thirsty, its worth noting that road tax for the IS200 is expensive (£260 for 12 months).

The "ZR" is the tyre's speed rating, but its pretty-much an obsolete term these days so you can just ignore it. You can still see it stamped on some new tyres, but its a throwback to the old way tyre sizes were listed and designated (eg: 195/50VR15, 215/45ZR17 etc).

A few years back the system changed to the one we have now where the speed rating became a single letter that is listed after the tyre size (along with the load index number) - eg: 215/45R17 91W.

Most tyres on sale today in the 215/45R17 fitment seem to be at least "V" rated (up to 149MPH), which is fine for the IS200 so pretty-much every tyre out there is compatible. Your only real buying decision (apart from brand & price) comes down to whether to go for the "XL" (Extra Load, AKA Reinforced) variants which have stiffer sidewalls that can cope with more weight and don't flex as much. Typically, a load index rating of 87 is a normal tyre in our size and an XL is 91.

Hope that helps. :)

Its only clipped onto the parcel shelf, albeit quite tightly.

From the back seat of the car, slide a flat-blade screwdriver underneath the plastic housing on one side and pry it upwards, then slide another one in nearer to the middle for more leverage. With a bit of effort you'll eventually pop it loose.