C Andrew Green

I've found the same with both Merityre and with ATS Euromaster, I assume it's cheaper as they have your money for a few days between booking and fitting as you have to pay up front. If you're buying online I would suggest that you visually check what tyres they're going to fit BEFORE they fit them as ATS fitted 'equivalent' tyres to my Mazda (admittedly only budget tyres) due to no stock of the ordered tyres. Bought online a few times with Merityres with no problem however. I tried BlackCircles.com once but they use crappy back street garages as tyre fitters. My brother swears by Event Tyres (not sure but they may be a franchise operation?) and has used them for several years, they're a mobile service (and you pay on completion) and come to your work or wherever with a fully equipped van. Had my last couple of tyre fittings done by them at competitive prices as has another guy at work with no problems at all. Andrew

Re the eBay ad it may have 'only' 27K miles, but nearly £12K for a 10 year old IS250? Really? It sure migrated north for the summer pretty quickly........ Andrew

I can vouch for this eBay Mini VCI Cable & software as coming with 64 bit drivers (and its <£15 & UK seller). It installed OK on my 64bit Windows 7 laptop and recognises the dongle.......But, I've not had a chance to connect it to my IS250 yet as immediately after I installed it I discovered that Iwas going to a family funeral, in Bangkok, which is where I am for the next couple of weeks...... The disk has four versions, the most recent has a video to guide you through the install process which worked exactly as they showed. Regards, Andrew

Brief update: Might be a slight delay, didn't have time today as I found out early this morning that we have to go to a funeral at the weekend, in Bangkok! Spent spare time today organising flights, leave and tidying up loose ends at work.... Maybe tomorrow lunchtime. Regards, Andrew

Update: My Mini VCI cable arrived today (the same one Shahpor linked in post # 6 above). After one false start the <ahem> software and USB serial port drivers appear to have installed correctly, i.e. it runs and can see the VCI cable. Car is tucked away in it's garage 100 yards away, so tomorrow luchtime at work we'll see if i can have a little chat with Mr IS250! (my car doesn't have a name, yet!) Regards, Andrew P.S. Arqum, did you get yours yet?

My 2007 IS250 is pushbutton start too, the proximity function allows the door to unlock when you touch the sensing strip inside the handle, when leaving it I just press the little black rubber button on the door handle to lock it and leave my key in my pocket. Maybe if it's raining I might dash to my doorway and lock it with the remote but rarely. Regards, Andrew P.S.. I wish mine had auto locking when in anything other than P or similar.

My understanding is that you plug a Techstream (Lexus dealer OBD) reader/programmer in to the OBD port and there's a function to add and remove keys (and I hope immobiliser NFC chips). I have read of some strange manual programming method involving various combinations of window switches, door locks and start button pressing.... but hmmm. Lexus dealer in Oxford will only program new keys that they supply (at a price) Boo! Sevice department at Lexus Reading reckons their parts department will program a spare key but i've been unsuccesful in getting them to answer the phone. I've emailed a couple of auto locksmiths to see if they can do it, if all else fails I might have to get a dongle as my previous post and see what happens. Regards, Andrew

I've got an (allegedly) erased/unpaired second hand standard smart key fob on the way, so we'll see...... I saw the post about the lack of success, but the key I've got coming was a bargain (<£50) so I thought I'd take a chance..... My main reason for this post was to see if anyone had any experience of the card style key fob..... Really tempted to get one of these Techstream dongly things (bootleg copies I assume) and have a stab at programming it myself.... They're cheap enough. Regards, Andrew

Haha! It would have been nice if the forum software told you about the minimum four letter search wouldn't it? I'm cool with using Google.... Thanks all, Andrew

I accidentally found a workround, while googling similar searches LOC came up in the results with the option to show more results from LOC! Which then uses a google search of the site..... Andrew

Thanks Nemesis, At least it confirms that it's not me! Hopefully an Admin will see this and take a look at the problem. Thanks again. Andrew

Hi, Has anyone acquired a used 'Credit Card' style buttonless Smart Key and succesfully reprogrammed it to their IS250? (Although that should probably read "programmed their IS250 to the key") There's one on eBay at the moment, not cheap @ £90, but the form factor is appealing and as I only have one standard smart key fob anyway.... It's a 'Denso' make, model number 14AEC (see pic) the same make as my existing one although that's a model number 14AAC. Any

Hi all, I hope I'm not being thick, but search doesn't appear to be working for me? I'm new(ish) to owning a Lexus but reasonably happy with how forums (fora?) work on other subjects. If I type in 'Key' or 'key fob' (I'm looking for smart key info, my IS250 only came with one) I get zero search results? But just by looking around I found at least one topic with 'Key' in the title. BTW I've tried standard and advanced search. Hoping I'm not going to look silly! Andrew

Hi, Has anyone had any experience with an olde worlde (2007 era!) Lexus dealer fitted bluetooth handsfree kit? I'm a recent Lexus convert, '57 IS250 petrol automatic, came with a dealer fitted Lexus branded bluetooth handsfree. It appears to work correctly (throught the radio speakers) and recognise spoken commands, but I'm d*mn#d if I can get it to pair with my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (or my other halfs Galaxy S4). The process goes OK until the bit where you enter the pin it tells you (1234, same as the book says), and the pin is never recognised. Is the bluetooth protocol just too ancient for modern phones? Or am I missing something blatantly obvious. Regards, Andrew

Hi, New Lexus owner here, bit of a step change in comfort! 25 year old Mazda 626 > '57 black IS250 Petrol automatic. Trusty but finally too rusty Mazda has gone to the recycling centre. While sorting out the MOT fail my brother (trusting) lent me his IS250SE (his spare car!) for a week and a half and that did it! Loved driving it and was lucky to pick up my IS privately with 69,000 miles on it regularly serviced, it's been doing 6,000 odd miles a year for the last 5 years. Mazda gets it's Cat removed and weighed in....... Shiny black IS Brother and I work in the same office, (small scale Lexus owners club)

Google.co.uk did it for me while I was searching independent Lexus garages around Oxford, new owner of a '57 plate IS250 and probably can't justify main dealer servicing. Regards, Andrew