johnatg

No aftermarket HID kit is road legal if only because they are not type approved and the bulbs are not e-marked. That doesn't mean they won't pass an MoT though - the MoT checks immediate road worthiness, not Construction and Use issues. Even if you have a valid MoT you can still be prosecuted for not complying with C and U regs. Highly unlikely though. I have an HID kit - first MoT with it fitted is due in a couple of weeks. Incidentally, MoT stations have recently been equipped with much stricter beam testing kits. i'll let you know how i get on. I am not surprised that a mechanic declines to fit them. They are not legal and professional mechanics should not fit things to cars which are not legal. What you do yourself is up to you - but understand the risks and don't just try and say 'I thought it/they was/were legal! But clearly Sathax doesn't want HID, so lets address his post. Oh dear - you really shouldn't let your car get to that state - any bulb which fails (and its opposite side partner) should be replaced immediately. Now - the dip beams are the outer bulbs, the main beams are the inner ones. The two bulbs are independent of each other. My advice from here would be to take it to your mechanic and get him to replace all four bulbs with whatever he recommends - but do it now - today. It would be a good idea to learn how to do simple tasks such as replacing bulbs etc yourself. You pay through the nose for a professional to do things like that which really are simple to do yourself (although - fair does - headlamp bulb replacement on an IS can test your patience and dexterity of your fingers.)

Certainly sounds like an air lock.

The 'crease' is there so you can fold the mat in half and store it in the more sunken area in the tray. The support then stores in the cutouts at either side of the back of the tray. Not sure why you'd want to do that - makes for a rather awkward boot floor - as you illustrate!

I have no idea what those strips are, but they are nothing to do with the luggage box cover support. Here are the instructions on the base of the luggage box: (pic 1) Then there's the support bar: (pic 2) And it fits like this: (pic 3) As I mentioned, you could fashion a support bar from a piece of wood.

That's true, but there are occasions when the paddles are handy. For example, if you're following someone at say a steady 40mph looking for an opportunity to overtake, the car will be in 6th gear in normal mode. When the opportunity arises you put your foot down and there's a delay in kickdown even in PWR and hence a delay before you start accelerating. It can seem like an age, particularly if the window of opportunity is a bit tight. But if you drop down to third with the paddles in advance as you see the chance is going to arise, as soon as you put your foot down you're away

I don't understand why you would ever want to upshift earlier than the autobox wants to. I suppose if the change was so slow that you hit the rev limiter, that would be the case, but i don't think it ever would be in an IS.(Unless you have limited the box to too low a gear with the paddles) The car uses the highest gear suitable in any given situation - sometimes I think I bit too high. But any higher would put the engine into labouring.. So - upshift by the paddles would be pointless and as it works on our cars it is fine - controlling downshifts by paddle but leaving the box to change up when it wants to (unless you want higher revs, and then you limit the highest gear with the paddles) Or just leave it alone to its own devices - I guess that's what most people do and it's fine nearly all the time!

Not sure what you mean - I can't see it anywhere. Look at the pic of the tray, with the top cover open - the bar fits into the cutouts at the front and back middle of the tray edges. It supports the carpeted lid when heavy weights are in the boot.

Here I am disagreeing! I guess it depends on where you live - if you use a lot of dark country roads you need good main beams. I use mine a lot. I have HID dips (aftermarket kit) but I use Osram Nightbreaker Unlimited Plus main beam bulbs. Doesn't matter where you get them from - they are available from loads of sellers on eBay - eg for £19.90 for a pair. from http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Osram-NightBreaker-Unlimited-HB3-Headlight-Bulbs-Duo-Case-110-Plus-Light-/252014362902?hash=item3aad3a0116:g:WuMAAOSwwbdWH59e I've had them in for a couple of years - no probs, although I don't do a huge mileage.

Good call - jump in three, SilentBull! It looks to have a support bar missing - should have a bar across the tray under the carpet running front to back - it slots into the cutouts at front and back of the tray - but you could always make one from a piece of wood.

There's a whole panel, incorporating a tray for stuff, missing. Maybe the AA guy left it out by the roadside, or maybe the garage where you got the puncture repair fixed left it out.

They look almost like one piece blades but they have extra joints in the blade backing which allows the blade part to flex more and they have a separate replaceable rubber insert just like old fashioned blades. They work better on most cars than one piece blades - I have hybrids on my MX-5 as well as on the Lexus.

The refills for the oem blades cost about £15 a pair from Lexus (at least, that's what I paid) and easy to change. Much better than any of the one piece wipers - Lexus screens need hybrid blades. The part numbers are 8521453080 and 8521453090. They are also specified for various models of the Toyota Land Cruiser etc so Toyota dealers will stock them as well. They are rather more expensive than quoted above if you buy them from the Toyota eBay store.

I've got Avon ZV7 all round. Excellent tyres in all respects but I can't comment on wear yet. They are designed and made in UK , Avon have an excellent racing pedigree and have been oem suppliers to manufacturers including Rolls Royce and Aston Martin for many years - not sure if they still are or who they currently supply. I have every confidence in them - and I paid £297.74 all inclusive for all 4 (225 and 245 section 17") from Halfords (via cartyres.com (edited 5/10/16)) in June.

No. Ebay. (eg this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cabin-Pollen-Filter-Lexus-Is-250-Saloon-2001-2011-VAR36-/291590851230?hash=item43e42b4a9e:g:2gMAAOSw5ZBWH~eY ) Be absolutely sure that you have read the guides here on how to replace the filter - especially the critical bit about setting the aircon to recirculate before you start.

Yes - pretty much - in mm - forget the decimal places! You don't mention what rim width your wheels are - standard tyre sizes for 18" rims (I think this will apply to F Sport models as well as others) are 225/40R18 and 255/40R18. But that is with 8" rims on the front and 8.5" rims on the rear. Don't put 255 tyres on 8" rims - you need at least 8.5" rims for them, and preferably 9". BTW - my comments in the post above apply also to fiddling with the suspension - probably even more so.

It is just how the majority of modern mid-range sports saloons are styled these days. The idea is to give a low 'sporty' front end whilst providing decent boot capacity. I think you will find that the gaps between tyres and wheel arch tops are pretty much even front/rear and the bottom of the sills are level with the ground. Any attempt to re-orientate it by fiddling with tyres/wheel sizes will upset those parameters and make it look very odd.

Take care with the rim width. Keith is correct in saying that the 255 tyres which come with Lexus rims go on 8.5" rims. In fact the maximum tyre size you should fit to 8" rims is 245 and indeed 8" rims are best suited to 225 or 235 tyres. If you want to go for 255s on the rear as per Lexus standard, you should fit 8.5" rims - you could fit 225 front tyres to them. The ideal rim width for 245 and 255 tyres is 9". Lexus are skimping a bit to fit 225 and 245 tyres to 8" rims on 17" wheels - they'd have done better with 8.5" They are also skimping a bit fitting 255 rear tyres to 8.5" rims at 18" size I don't think there'd be an issue with fitting 8.5" rims on the front with 225 tyres but you would need to check - they might just foul the arches under some conditions. Lexus supply 8" front rims on 18" wheels Ideally of course, you would fit 8" rims on the front and 9" rims on the rear. Re the centre caps - you may well find that the Lexus centre caps do not fit in whichever replacement wheels you buy.

I think UK TSB numbers are different - TSBs in UK are not public domain, whereas they are in US. Here's a link to it: http://workshop-manuals.com/lexus/es_350/v6-3.5l_(2gr-fe)/accessories_and_optional_equipment/radio_stereo_and_compact_disc/radio/stereo/radio/stereo_noise_filter/component_information/technical_service_bulletins/customer_interest_for_radio/stereo_noise_filter/sb0169-09/nov/09/audio_system_noise_when_using_auxiliary_devices/ It needs a revised wiring harness - I guess that should be available to buy from Lexus?

The 'official' 18" tyre size is 225/40R18 and 255/40R18 (as per Owner's manual, P 385). The bigger the wheel, the heavier it is and that affects handling (because it increases unsprung weight) but most people wouldn't notice in normal road use. Tyres for bigger wheels cost more and last for a shorter time. Bigger wheels have shallower side walls and that affects ride quality and comfort - again, it's marginal mostly. (Although from experience of roads in rural Ireland, at least, I wouldn't want to degrade ride quality!) Tyre width doesn't really affect comfort - it's the depth of the sidewalls that does. (I suppose it can be argued that shallower and therefore stiffer sidewalls give improved steering response, but I think the factors mentioned above outweigh that). In fact, the only reason to use wheels bigger than 17" on an IS is appearance - but I know lots of people here won't agree with me, so very much a personal opinion. I like darker grey - anthracite or gun metal. Refurbishers don't generally paint centre caps - you want the centre cap to be the same or darker than the wheel - careful brush painting is the way to keep the chrome effect logos - just find a suitable colour in a car accessory shop

A DPF or Adblue are alternatives - vehicles that use Adblue don't have DPFs. It has been used on commercial vehicles for quite some time - widespread use on cars is relatively recent. Mercedes, Jaguar and I think Renault use Adblue and it's getting more widespread. It's nasty stuff though and car owners are not generally expected to top it up, although I see it on sale in quite a few garages these days. Commercial fleets generally have a 'man' who needs to attend to it regularly. The additives mentioned here in the past which go in with the fuel are simply no alternative - Adblue has a separate tank and the fluid is injected (into the exhaust manifold) according to a program.

Take it for a drive - washing can make the discs look surprisingly rusty. But they do look pretty bad. If they still look anything like that when you get back you need some urgent investigation. Start with checking the slider pins.

All you need is Techstream software, the correct cable and a laptop. The software and cable comes as a package - use your initiative to find it! (Hint - the website address starts with 'e'. :-) ) PS - it can be argued that under the EU directive known as Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulations this is public domain stuff. Lexus copyright claims would not stand up. (But don't ask me to test it)

Here's a link to an interior led bulb kit: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-IS250-LED-INTERIOR-KIT-INTERIOR-LIGHTS-BULBS-LED-KIT-/260863230811?hash=item3cbca9035b:m:m6bGFK4tkJ5m4pf_mHH6yrQ Be aware that leds in the front dome flicker when the dimming effect kicks in - can be annoying at first but you get used to it! Also, if you haven't already got them, a set of plastic trim removal levers helps to get the lights apart without marking the plastic (you can find them on eBay). And check how the front dome fits together before you start - it's not obvious. Workshop manuals also available on eBay, but you may find a guide to the front dome assembly on here or online somewhere.

I don't think you need to worry about getting them in sync. I thought you could 'start with just one car' on a multi-car policy and add the second later?

It's more likely to be the slider pins than the caliper itself. Your mechanic should be able to free them, but you should certainly replace the pins and rubber boots as well as the discs and pads. You can't really improve the braking much at the rear - most of the work is done by the front brakes and unless you got into really extreme performance mods you might as well keep the rears standard. The Apec discs are fine - just the same as standard really. And the EBC Ultimax pads. Dealers would be able to supply pins and boots, but I doubt they'll keep them in stock. (They keep hardly anything except bog standard service stuff.) If you ask a Lexus dealer to do the job, they'll replace the calipers, mounts and everything as a unit. The sliders and boots are all part of that. Best place I know to get brake parts other than on eBay (and I doubt you'll get sliders and boots there) is Brakes International in Rochdale - http://www.brakesint.co.uk They do online stuff and they do pretty much everything you need (including pins and boots - they are officially called bushes.) Check whether you need solid or vented discs - likely solid, but check!