LexIS200Sport

Nice one. Pretty sure you'll immediately notice the step-up in ride quality  🙂

Interesting that you replaced the suspension arms though at ~113k miles. Was it because of perished bushes?

Suits it very well! 👌

9 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Read this Henry. We are better than your local Lexus Dealership ! https://blog.lexus.co.uk/lexus-car-safety-monitoring-systems/#driverMonitoringSytem

It says the driver monitoring system is/was available on the GS450h too! Was this ever fitted to UK cars?

Or alternatively there's always the UK-delivered Infiniti G37 😉

Here's a couple to whet the appetite. Grade 4.5 too:

https://carfromjapan.com/cheap-used-lexus-is-2007-for-sale-5e74e8c724582ba1201c64cf

https://carfromjapan.com/cheap-used-lexus-is-2010-for-sale-5ea2ec0844b7fc8de626cb9d

Australia could be another source as they were sold new there. Although like-for-like they could be pricier than ones from Japan (but at least the controls would be in English).

See, opportunities like this ALWAYS seem to present themselves when I'm driving the wife's Leaf (and with the wife present!) rather then when it's just me alone in my GS...

Frustrating but probably for the best lol

Looks much better with the original wheels  🙂

31 minutes ago, Herbie said:

A catalyst takes part in a chemical reaction (usually speeding it up) but is not part of that reaction itself and it remains unchanged by the reaction, ready to be used over and over again, ad infinitum.

There should be some degree of erosion or deterioration, otherwise we won't be seeing error codes like "P0420 - Cat efficiency below threshold".

People getting very desperate now... 

Well, according to that Top Gear article, it is even built in China. They do have an R&D centre in Coventry though. 

6 hours ago, Hangie said:

We might be reaching turning point soon.

I remember my 1st car got no grill at all:

That 3rd gen Prelude is the stuff of legends. My dad had a facelifted one in burgundy back in the day and I have nothing but fond memories driving it. The mechanical 4-wheel steering did take a bit of getting used to but came to its own in the country roads. 😍

58 minutes ago, BigBoomer said:

What's with everyone suddenly adding HUGE grilles to the front of their cars?

Worry not, with the way the industry is going, big grilles (or even grilles) could be a thing of the past. Enjoy it while it lasts  😉

All useful information, many thanks 🙂

Many thanks for the help everyone, much appreciated.

I had a look at the front brake disk and it does appear lipped on both sides. 

Out of curiosity, is this something that would normally be picked up during MOT? It passed its MOT in March just before the lockdown and had no advisories on the brakes.

Welcome to the club!

Is it an import from Japan?

Lately, my GS has been producing a "scraping" noise when driven even at low speeds, and becomes louder the more it is steered to the left. It appears to be coming from the front left wheel.

After doing some research online, many seem to attribute this to a faulty wheel bearing. So I jacked the car up today and grabbed the top and bottom of the front left tyre and rocked it as hard as I could, but there was absolutely no play at all. There is no "coarseness" felt at the wheel when I rotate it either, but scraping noise is certainly audible as it spins.

I've attached a video that hopefully demonstrates this. Would appreciate any thoughts on this.

Thanks  🙂

According to Amayama, there's two part numbers for post-facelift cars:

52119-30986 for cars with radar cruise control

52119-30991 for cars without

pricey

@Herbie, compared to a refrigerator, the aircon system in a car is exposed to more extreme operating conditions - heat from the engine being one. As over half the aircon system resides in the engine bay, would that not mean that things like the oil would be prone to degradation?

Also, isn't there a "filter" within the sealed aircon system (and I do not mean the pollen filter). If so, would that not need replacing at some point?

Just wondering - please correct me where wrong  🙂

Agree 110% on the transmission side of things. In my books, sealed for life = sealed for 10years/160,000km

If you installed the CCTV around your house, the dome cameras should be very similar to mount and wire up.

I installed the CCTV system in my place. Mounted the external cameras on the soffit around the perimeter of the house. Ran the wires back through the roofspace. Used one of these to help guide the wires.

Same here, JEM looked after my IS200 and have been really good. 

That was so relaxing to watch!

Love Malaysia too 😎

Lovely car - nice body and wheel colour combo 😉👍

No problem, really keen to see how this progresses 🙂

1 hour ago, Britprius said:

I can find a number of complete steering wheels on Ebay for £75/100. It may be worth finding the price of a new switch. I could drill a small hole in the back of the steering wheel and fitt a micro switch out of sight for the moment or even put a switch in the little pull off cover for the airbag fastener.

You could get that SE-L steering off the bay and then list yours up for sale for probably the same amount  😁

@Britprius, the stalk that toggles the cruise control on/off is also different for cars with ACC - you push the stalk forward (away from you) to toggle between radar cuise mode or normal cruise mode. The part number for that ACC toggle switch is: 84632-58011

37 minutes ago, ColinBarber said:

84250A SWITCH ASSY, STEERING PAD 84250-30400-C0	PRE-COLLISION SYSTEM-MILLI-WAVE RADAR TYPE, BLACK, TRIM04, 1*, 2*
84250-30400-E0	PRE-COLLISION SYSTEM-MILLI-WAVE RADAR TYPE, ORCHID BROWN, TRIM00, 01, 02

Those are part numbers for the facelifted steering wheel. I believe John's car is pre-facelift, in which case the the part number for the distance control toggle switch is:

84244-30121-C0 for black steering wheel

84244-30121-E0 for "orchid brown" steering wheel