Rob is200 SportCross

Thanks Lee, I'm really pleased with it.

Cheers Scudney. I used Prestige Reflections - www.prestigereflections.com They are in Cardiff, same as me.

Thanks TigerFish. I paid £290. It was an 8 hour process and included an interior clean and even the exhaust rear box & pipe were cleaned and polished, I have a chrome exhaust now! My headlights, rear lights & fog lights were all scratched and looked dull. Now they look brand new.

Thanks, appreciate it. Just noticed the photos have been cropped on the right side, not sure why, they looked great before uploading. Apologies.

My 2005 Sportcross paint work was in a sorry state, swirls, scratches and cloudy paint were all there. I got here last Autumn, don't think any of the previous owners had bothered with the polish & wax. I found out about the detaiing world and booked a one day paint correction detail. If you're thinking about it, the transformation is fantastic! Snowfoam, clay bar, paint thickness test, wheel arches & alloys cleaned, rotary cutting polish & concourse wax - she had it all. 4th photo is a before & after 50/50 showing polished on the left & masked unpolished on the right, quite a difference. The paint work is now glass smooth and mirror like. Hope you liked the photos!

Thanks for you input on this Tony

A few miles later, when I get up to about 45mph. Now that I have sorted the seized caliper, the judder has gone.

I've been plagued by a juddering steering wheel (45-60mph)and no idea of the cause. Had the wheels balanced twice & tracking checked. Then noticed the tyre would not spin freely when the car was jacked up. Yet again a sticking caliper is to blame. I was basically driving with the front nearside brake partially on. I have cleaned, lubricated and compressed the offending pistons and cured the judder. My thanks to Alexey Gavrilov for posting a useful video which was the basis for my diy fix. Here is the link, hope it works... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI0186hJIGw

No my battery was not disconnected. 72050 miles on the clock.

It flushes the engine.

Firstly, if you contact Terraclean at http://www.terraclean.co.uk/ and use the branch locator via a text message, they choose your nearest location in a straight line. So my nearest was Weston-Super-Mare which, from Cardiff, is a short direct distance but obviously not accurate. My nearest centre is 20 miles west of Cardiff. Best to ring Terraclean direct and I found this much better. So my car went in on Sunday and they lifted out the back seat to expose the fuel tank, here they disconnected my engine fuel supply and attached the hose to the Terraclean machine. Here is the machine, the two cans are the primary and secondary cleaners. The process took about 1 hour from arrival to leaving, machine was running for 20 mins or so. I drove away and noticed the difference immediately. My car is much smoother in every gear and with more mid range power. It starts more quickly and ticks over more quietly. It's a really pleasant difference, I used to have a problem pulling away smoothly from standstill and now that has disappeared. I will assess the fuel mpg over the next month or so and update findings. For the benefit of Stuart Aspey and other local members, here is where I got this done - http://www.motpyle.co.uk/contact/default.asp?session_ID=0&pid=1920 I paid £90 and it feels like money well spent!

Terraclean has been great, starting a new thread with all my info.

Right then, my car is booked in for a Terraclean this Sunday, I will post findings on a separate thread.

I'm booking my car in for a Terraclean soon, now that I have found 2 agents near Cardiff. Can't wait to gey this done. Been quoted £90.

If you don't have access to a hose, the Greased Lightning Showroom Shine product is excellent. I have used it and get good results, search online for it.

I am also thinking about having the conversion done. Got a mate who had his is200 done at Profess in South Wales, he says it's a great job and loves the saving. I am also tired of watching the mpg dial.

No it wasn't me Stu.

Nice wheels Stu, look forward to seeing how they turn out.

Are those the 11 spoke alloys Stu? If so I'm very jealous, was very close to a set of 4 for myself last week but the seller on ebay (from Oxfordshire in case) turned out to be a ***** & sale didn't happen. Looking forward to the photos fella!

Hi Stuart, In December last year I drove my sportcross from Cardiff (home) to the centre of Edinburgh on a beautiful winter day. Did the trip in 7hrs, arrived fresh & relaxed after 395 miles. Didn't need to fuel up until Berwick upon Tweed on the way home, 450 miles. I've had my is200 10 months now and am staggered how comfortable it was to drive to Scotland. When the weather improves, I will add some photos. How have Lexus Cardiff treated you Stu? Cheers

I've had my Lexus 5 months now and regularly get 35/36 mpg which I am very pleased with. As good as the Vauxhall I used to have but it's much nicer driving a 'prestige' car and the build quality and ride comfort is premier. I tried driving with the snow button on between fuel stops and, for me, it made no difference apart from less acceleration. So there you go, it was worth a try. Happy motoring....

Get down to Costco, there's a great deal on Goodyear wiperblades. I bought 2 replacement windscreen wipers for £6.95 each For the IS200 you need a 22 and a 19 inch, worth stocking up!

Hi all, Further to my earlier post about a strange knocking noise coming from my front wheels, I have been to my Lexus dealer for help. The noise comes from a valve in the shock absorber opening & closing, nothing to worry about. It's not a great design but I understand it affects the is200 and has been a widespread problem. If you have had this noise, I hope reading this will help, it is not a big fault. Thanks to those who suggested possible problems with brake pins / calipers & ball joints but these were not at fault. Thanks also to Lexus Cardiff for their attention on this matter, I had great service from them. Cheers.

It seems to be reduced under braking for humps but I will have the brakes checked to be safe. I'm really grateful to you, Thank you for the advice.

Hi all, I'm new here, 3 months ago I bought a 2005 is200 sportcross (black) 60,000 miles. She's in very good condition and a real beauty. Sadly, I hear a strange clunking noise any time the front wheels go over a bump / speed hump. Can anybody please help me decifer what this could be. I bought the car with a 1 year warranty. Thanks in advance for your help. Rob.