Gruntfuggly

I was thinking grey like the heater knobs. Come to think of it there are quite a lot of different colours - I take your point about all black and I honestly wouldn't want that, but you've got chrome, black, grey, titanium? on the window control surrounds, blue/grey on the seats, beige headlining...

Maybe it's just the speaker grilles that I really have the issue with - they're very bright and shiny compared to everything else. Might try and paint then as you suggest. Cheers.

For some reason I don't really like the chrome parts inside my car. The front speaker grilles, the gearstick surround and the knobs on the vents all stick out like a sore thumb.

Are they all chrome as standard? Can you get black versions of any of them? I just saw a door card on eBay and it looked like the speaker grilles are black... was this standard on some models?

Just got 34.33 out of my last tank - seems to be improving! :D

Mine have a different clip - it's more of a solid block - there are no holes in it. They look like these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FLAT-Windscreen-WIPER-Blades-LEXUS-IS-200-300-99-to-05-/140353412324?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item20adb71ce4

I'll have a look tonight though - see if I can make them whistle!

I've got cheapo eBay flexi flat wiper blades on mine - seem to work pretty good. They're definitely not the cause of the noise though! :)

Whistling noise from a kettle is not too far off what I was getting, although I haven't had it since that day? I'm starting to think it was a small trapped stone vibrating or something...

Exhausts and spoiler are not really my cup of tea, but I really like those wheels!

I get 33-34 from a 50% dual carriage way/motorway and 50% country lanes daily commute. Not too bad as far as I'm concerned. I'd be over the moon to get over 36!

And as several people have said in the past - you don't drive a Lexus for fuel economy anyway - if that's what you need you'd get a Fiat Panda diesel...

Oddly mine has stopped now - it was very noticeable on Thursday, but I haven't heard it since?

OK - thanks for the suggestions. It's due a service very soon, so I'll get them all checked out...

No noises this morning... how difficult is it to change a wheel bearing on the IS200?

Hi Colin - thanks for the reply

It continues when the brakes are applied (light or heavy).

I'm starting to think it's nothing to do with the brakes.

Also, it seems intermittent - it was doing it very faintly at one point on my journey to work this morning, but not by the time I got there.

Last night though, it was worrying loud... ?

I might try and record it and see if it helps anybody identify it...

I just found this:

http://autorepair.about.com/library/bl208lib.htm

So I had a look at mine and it looks like it's the same system - I stuck my finger under though and the indicator thing is definitely not touching the disc on the outer pad. Are they fitted to the inboard pads too?

Noticed a high pitched squeal/whistle with the windows down in the last week or so. I knew the discs were a bit warped, so I've had them replaced and new pads. However, the squealing is still there?

It only starts above 30mph or so, and once starts it lowers in pitch for a few seconds and then stays at the same pitch. It stops (after going back up in pitch) as I go back below 25ish.

The pitch doesn't change with speed, and it doesn't seem engine related - no squeal if I just rev the engine when stationary.

Are the break pad wear indicators built into the pad, or do they need replacing separately? I assumed it was the pad wear sound, but now I'm thinking it might be something else?

Braking is fine (no more wobble), there are no scraping noises and there is no pull to either side under braking...

Any ideas please?

BTW, as you say, Lexus sure isn't an average car - I drove my mates Astra yesterday and I couldn't get over how clunky and nasty it was to drive compared to my 12 year old IS. And I'm not just being snobby - I've had several Astra's and really liked them...

Well to be fair, my renewal this year was cheaper than I was expecting, so maybe there is some truth in that. However, I am becoming an old fart so maybe that's the reason

The last time I got an insurance quote from the AA, it was in dreamland compared to quotes from online comparison sites. I can't believe that this is going to reduce the premiums down to a competitive level...

Interesting that there are no "You could save N pounds" which is what I would expect to see if the adjustments were really worth having.

How much are they going to knock off for 10 points? I can't find any real figures anywhere...

I've been using a cleaner for a camel pack - has a brush on the end and is about 1.5m long. Doesn't come out the bottom though 8-(

Can anybody tell me where the drain holes exit?

I've pushed some wire down them both and it goes a long way before something stops it - I thought I'd be able to see the end sticking out underneath the car somewhere.

If I pour some water down them it seems to run out from the seam under the sill just behind the front wheels. but it doesn't look right to me?

I ended up with two of these. It's got all the bits, including the adaptor cable (non-amplifier).

If anybody wants it, let me know - I don't want anything for it - just need it out of my shed...

I got a set of these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=131080678704

I've had them since christmas and they've been excellent. No noise at all...

I miss the looks and performance - but certainly not fitting the head unit!

Fitting instructions:

1. Ensure car is in 3rd gear.

2. Balance head-unit on gear stick.

3. Fit cables.

4. Stuff head-unit into slot (hard).

Repeat steps 2 to 4 until there is sound coming from all speakers. If you've also got radio reception, consider yourself a professional installer. :P

@IHgs300 How do you mean you lose the woofer on the rear speakers - I used a bypass cable and didn't notice any difference? Is there a separate sub woofer?

@tomfowler Don't bother getting Halfords to fit it - do it yourself. Replacing the head unit on the IS200 is the easiest I've ever come across. You have loads of room to access the cables, compared to my old Calibra where you had to connect the cables and shove the head unit hoping for the best...

The only difficult bit is unplugging the cable from the factory amplifier. There is probably a much easier way to do it, but I ended up losing some skin from the backs of my hands! <_<

BTW - check you actually have an amp first - not all of them do. Just pop the glove box out and you should see it on the left hand side if it's there...

I just begrudge paying more than 3K for a car. I'm with petayv8, I can't get excited about an anonymous box. Modern cars just look nasty for me - to be honest I don't really like any other model lexus apart from the IS200/300...

I don't get people who (like my mother in law) do the 'options' type scheme where you buy a new car then 3 years later trade it in for another new one. Seems like the most expensive way possible to run a car...

This might be obvious to everybody else, but when I was having condensation problems, it was because I had the switch set to 'recirculate'. Running the aircon cleared all the windows, but as soon as I switched the aircon off again, they would all mist up. Switching the button to 'outside air' and then clearing the windows has stopped them misting up again...