mrfunex

Steve's

That is insanely cheap! Last time I needed a bonnet respraying was about 2yrs ago and the guy couldn't even buy the paint for that!

Perhaps ask on a bigger forum, like Pistonheads? Think they have a separate sub-forum for painting/detailing etc... I'm on the South Coast, so I don't think my recommendations would be any use!

I'd imagine for the bonnet, bumper and maybe a wing or two you'd be looking at about £1000-1500 if you want good work for a proper respray, not a smart-fix kind of thing. In my experience, the main issue is finding a body shop that can do a good, OEM-level job. Consistently. What part of the country are you?

The pad retaining pins were fixed for my wife's RX450. We got a continuous screech from one of the rears - so loud it was embarrassing! Only seemed to happen when cruising though - not when actually on the brakes. Took a while to get to the bottom of it. Glad it's fixed now!

I think one of the only "common" faults with the ISF are the very rare leaks from the water pump. It's about a £400-450 job to replace at a main dealer (from what I've read, early cars seem to suffer a little more than newer ones, but this could just be an age thing). It's difficult to judge, as they are so rare. If 20 cars have ever had new pumps in the UK, then that's 10% of the market...! Apart from that, errr... tyres and petrol seem to get used up quickly when driving hard. :-)

Booked mine in for a service yesterday and asked about the recall... No further news apparently - the dealer knew nothing. I think it may be some time before the fix happens.

Got the digital copy (suppose it is the 21st century after all...) What a great article - Pete, your car looks stunning - Banzai have written a pretty good article. You've helped me a few times from this forum to get my car set up to my liking - keep going and good luck with the imminent power hike!

Any ideas what shops this mag is sold in? I've tried my local WH Smith, a few petrol stations and a large Tesco nearby - no luck! I'm on the South Coast if anybody has any ideas... I'd love to have a read.

I've got a H&S cat-back on mine. Had it noise tested at Goodwood and it was 102-103dB at 5000rpm (roughly 3/4 max rpm at 1m & 45deg from the tail). Noise limit at Goodwood is 98.. :-( Silverstone has a 105dB limit... How's the X-pipe treating you Peter? Now it's settled down is it much quieter than before you had it?

Giblet, where in the UK do you live? I'm in Hampshire (seemingly in an area where cars stay where you left them!), 32, 12yrs NCD, 8000miles with SDP&C and pay about £350.. That's with Admiral. I found Lexus insurance to be a joke. I was quoted £1200 for my last Lexus, a GS450h with the excuse that "it's a powerful car". I'd previously been paying £600 on a modified 911 Turbo with the same excess/mileage.

Yup, there's a thread over on ClubLexus.com This is it, it gets juicy towards the end: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-f-2008-2014/823874-air-bag-recall.html

I too had a letter a few weeks ago. Mine's in for a service and MOT next month, so I'm going to ask about the recall then. It seems in the US, with a more litigious society, they're getting a bit more bothered about it. Some people seem to have been given courtesy cars (to take their ISFs off the road) almost indefinitely until this problem is sorted.

I'd pop the old tyres on eBay. I had some mostly worn tyres for my S2000 sat in the garage for a year until I decided whether or not to bin them. eBay - £120. The previous owner of my car fitted Yellowstuff pads. He found no real performance gains but they were MUCH harder on the OEM discs. It was for this reason I was lucky to get my car with very recently replaced front discs (and OEM pads!) as the EBC pads had totally chewed the old discs up! YMMV, obviously! Good luck with the Ring trip. Very jealous!!

Voodoo, really looking forward to hearing how you get on with the new tyres and the bigger widths. Are the Michelin Pilot Super Sports yesterday's news compared to the CSC6s then?

Love those titanium tips!

32 Air Traffic Controller

For what it's worth, my main dealer (Hedge End) did an auto fluid change for £120. I could probably have tackled it myself, but the complexities involved made getting the dealer to do the job a no-brainier for me! As an aside, a previous car (SL500 Mercedes) had a 'sealed for life' gearbox. What this meant was that after 100,000 miles they generally fell to bits. It was widely known that an ATF change every 50,000 miles (frowned upon by MB!) would see the thing last until the end of time. Any independent specialist would do it, but main dealers around me would not. I quite liked this logic - how on earth can gearbox oil last for 10,15 or even 20 years and still perform well? If I still have my ISF as it approaches 6 figures, ill get the gearbox fluid done again.

Every 50k miles and the auto box gets an oil change here. Whether its the manufacturer's guidelines or not, it really crisps up the shifts.

At the very least, I'd get an oil change done. Any garage should be able to do this for you and it won't cost much at all. Every year here though.... I pay £30/month into a service plan to spread the cost. If that's what general maintenance costs on a car with this level of tech/performance, it'll be one of the cheapest cars I've ever owned!

Love the car, love the prize and recognition it received and love the DIY guides you do! Keep at it!

I'd hate it to auto-upchange! i had a Merc SL500 previously and whilst it was a good car, the 'manual' mode was a joke! If you selected 4th, for example, it would use all gears 1-2-3-4 and if you got within 250-ish rpm of the redline, it'd change to 5th anyway! I love the way the ISF will pull from about 1200rpm to the redline and stay in the gear you've selected until you choose otherwise. Its about as good as it gets in an auto...

CharlieC - 21000 miles is going some in Guernsey! I'm also amazed you still have both wing mirrors!!

Not mine, but I quite like this shot!

Great write-up!