McShmoopy

Following on from the project lights, was another visual and somewhat practical mod. When I originally got the car, the original drivers mat had worn all the way through to even the original carpet underneath and I suspected this was due to the single owner and largely motorway driving. At first I got a basic cheap plate cover to conceal the damage and give your foot a place to rest as well as look a bit smarter. This was absolutely fine, but a few months down the line my mum was moaning she didnt have mats in her IS250C and I saw an opportunity to donate my mats (which pretty much fit the same with the exception of the rear passengers) and get myself something a little snazzier seeing as I didnt want to get any generic eBay ones or go direct to Lexus either. I happened to come across someone on Facebook selling custom car mats, its the style of those Manicci or Diamond mats you can get but with customised logos. I suspected these were simply cheap Chinese made ones I could have gotten for fairly cheap but I was intrigued to see if I could get a Custom F Logo similar to both my steering wheel and my new projector lights. Using the above sample photos as a reference and providing a high quality F Logo which matched my IS250 exactly, I placed the order and after around 2 weeks or so the European chap popped around to my house and fitted the mats for me. He charged me around £140 and knowing what I know now, I could have probably done this myself and gotten them at possibly half the cost off of Aliexpress but all in all it looks very smart and I'm quite pleased with the overall look. The drivers side does come with the plate to protect the mats from wear while driving so that covers me in that regard. These mats should be far easier to clean compared to the OEM ones, plus at some point when I've got some spare cash I may go for an option in the boot to have that lined in a similar style mat but I'm in no particular rush at this point.

The next thing I did was something a little more aesthetic focussed, I noticed Ahmed was selling some of his Lexus F Door Project lights and placed an order for them and I thought this would be a good opportunity to also upgrade my standard F Sport Sills to the Illuminated Lexus Sills. These are how my standard F Sport sills look. It is worth noting that with my car being a Facelift vehicle, the standard sills for this are white and not blue. However the only two ways to get these illuminated sills is either second hand from breakers or to go direct to Lexus and pay an absurd amount of money, on top of this there are very few SE-L facelift vehicles being broken so finding sills is difficult so I opted to get Blue as this would match my overall aesthetic with the projector lights. I first started off with the projector lights, its fairly simple to swap these in with a trim removal tool, just be careful not to snag the connectors. Once in itll work straight away however its not exactly noticeable until dark. Next were the sills, now thanks to the contribution of a fellow member on LOC UK, I know that the F sport vehicles happen to have the wiring looms for the illuminated still in place as a standard. All I needed to do was just pop the connectors in and we're good to go. I did however run into a bit of a snag, those connectors were there but the placement of them rendered the connectors on my illuminated sills to damn short! I am fairly handy with electrics so I did a jerry rigged DIY solution using some block connectors and automative electrical cable I had lying around. I simply spliced the ends of the wire and joined them into a block and gave it more length then I needed and simply coiled them up. After testing it worked, I managed to transfer some of the trim clips onto my sills as some of the F Sport ones broke while trying to yank it off. I did unfortunately managed to dent them but when I get time I'll try and get them out with a suction cup! Overall I was very happy with the overall look of the sills and projector lights together, the sills fade in which is a very nice touch instead of an instant on /off and by a happy coincidence they seem to match up with the older F logo on my steering wheel perfectly! I would like to revisit this project again but to instead get projector lights in the rear passenger doors as well as illuminate those door sills as I managed to acquire two more illuminated sills for next to nothing. This will require some wiring and creativity so I'll attempt that perhaps in the summer.

Hey everyone, been a while since I've had some updates for the car. Quite a few little things have been done and a few big things. One of the main things done was changing out the boot struts, the OEM ones had seemed to worn out so I had to use quite alot of force to open them up every time. I wanted to have these open up on their own and I opted with a replacement favoured by many of us on LOC, the following provided by SGS Engineering. https://www.sgs-engineering.com/gsc2655-lexus-is300-boot-strut I have seen some people on the inter webs replace these with a BMW strut on just one side or sometimes both in order to either save some money as the SGS ones arent the cheapest, or to open up their boots automatically. However I've found through research this presents a few issues. The force for the BMW struts is excessive so while it does open the boot with ease, it takes alot of effort to close the boot also. Secondly especially if only one side is changed, there is unbalanced forces on both sides and this can cause excessive wear of the struts but the boot also doesnt close completely which does not correctly seal the boot from the elements. The benefit of the SGS engineering ones are that its just about enough force to open it and this makes it easy to close, the boot doesn't automatically open but with the addition of springs this is possible. Following on with some advice from Ahmed, I ordered some heavy compression springs as well as some M8 Penny washers. The sizes that fit the SGS struts perfectly were the following. Outside Diameter: 22mm Inside Diameter: 11mm Length: 60mm Blue: (This was for light loads I believe) Penny Washers: M8 x 20mm I got mine from the following eBay links and if you wish to do so you can grab them for there also! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223830215262 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/163939882420 After I got these I simply unscrewed the ends of the SGS struts and slotted in some the springs with washers on both ends. Replacing these was fairly simple if not a bit fiddly, the interior ceiling of the boot liner has to come apart slightly via 4 clips. I was able to use my car trim removal kits clip pry tool to unfasten the boot struts with ease and my new ones seemed fit on with some persuasion. Its worth noting that the SGS engineering ones are slightly longer than the OEM so the way to get these to fit is to push the suspended boot a little more further to accommodate the length. Once in, the results speak for themselves. It does open a little slow on my vehicle but I put that down to the spoiler giving the additional weight, I may try adding some new more powerful strings but if it isnt broken I suppose theres no need to fix it 😂 IMG_5866.MOV

Apologies I’ve double posted And not sure how to delete

From what I researched before I bought the car it was said by a few reviewers both UK and American that the pre de lift IS suffered from carbon build up and that this was addressed by Lexus in the facelift models. Truth be told from what I gather I think this only affected American drivers as they have poor quality fuel and I don’t think many people in the UK including the LOC community have an issue with that pre facelift. You are right, the main Achilles heel of the IS is it’s dated infotainment however I have found that with the facelift the Bluetooth music streaming is just about acceptable as far as bare minimum requirements for Infotainment. Whenever I drive my mums IS250C or if my grom is being a pain it’s works nicely enough and the Audi quality is still superb. Android units do however provide more better infotainment but they will ofcourse cost no small amount of money and there is far compatibility with the newer facelift cars. I know this ti be the case as I’ve recently managed to break my OEM stereo for my 2010 F sport and I considered getting an XTRON Android unit as I don’t believe the Teyes CC3 is fully compatible with my car unfortunately! I did manage to get a new one via a beaker so let’s hope I don’t have to haha

Just as a quick update, I managed to get my custom floor mats in for my F Sport so I brought the OEM mats I have and put them in my mums IS250C. Theres no fastening points on her driver side mat but the front mats seem to fit just like the Saloons, the rear mats were not quite the right size but I've shoved those in and they seem to do the job nicely enough.

Facelift is a good shout, aside from adding from new styling choices, it benefits from engine improvements to prevent carbon build up older IS’s in the US suffered from (not an issue here in the UK) and the infotainment is slightly modernised with iPhone / iPod usb connectivity and Bluetooth music. Newer infotainment can be provided via an android replacement or a grom VLINE for wireless apple carplay / android auto, I myself use the GROM and thanks to working with them it does work rather nicely but both of these are expensive options! (£500) that sounds reasonably priced based on todays market for card and the low mileage, id certainly consider it but maybe see if you can negotiate on the price a little 😉

I've had my 2010 IS250 F Sport Since December 2020 and for the price you pay (Mine was £4500) you get a whole bunch of car for the money. The fact that yours is an SE-L top spec model it has even more bells and whistles in which most of our German rivals tend to lack even in 2022. The only concern I have with an IS nowadays is how ridiculous fuel prices are and the car is far from the most economical, that is made up for by its supreme reliability though. If the price is right and the age of a car doesn't concern you then by all means its worth it! WIth it being 2009 is it the facelift model with wing mirror indicators?

I’m hoping that’s the case also, but from what I read on other forum posts some 3IS owners have had similar issues so I suspect it will be an expensive fix to change out an individual part on the head unit. I’ll give Lexus a call but my alternatives are getting a replacement head unit from a breaker or potentially going down the android head unit path.

Hi Guys After some tinkering with my stereo I have it looks like my factory USB connection is broken, this wouldn't be so much of an issue but my GROM VLINE2 works by hijacking the USB connection to access it. From my understanding the USB connection in the facelift IS receives power from the 12 pin connection at the back of the stereo and this goes to a Multimedia interface unit, which then goes to the factory USB port. I'm hoping theres some kind of fuse used for the USB connection that may have gone off but I inspected the fuses listed Radio 1 2 and 3 and they were fine. I'm hoping its not an individual part I need changing, does anyone know what fuse it could be for the USB port? I have referred to the manual and online guides but no such luck.

Cheers for that, they dont look half bad and using your OEM mats on top isnt a bad idea either.

No worries, in that case eBay is a good option also as you can get some fairly nice and cheap rubber or standard mats , genuine OEM ones can be a bit trickier to find so a breaker would be good to get them at a good price

I'm getting similar style mats with a custom F sport Logo put in by a local guy for £140, how do yours look and is the quality decent?

I was actually looking into this for my Mums IS250C, I checked parts direct and I couldn't spot any IS250C mats but from what I've seen of her car I believe the standard IS250 Mats would fit the front passenger and drivers seat. I am unsure about the back but I am due to get some bespoke mats for my car so I may just end up giving my OEM mats to her for her IS250C!

Hi Sean, Congrats on picking up an IS250! The facelift ones were particularly good as they came with Bluetooth music streaming, auto folding wing mirrors with the indicators, as well as addressing some engine issues the car had pre facelift. I've had the car for over a year and I've enjoyed every second of it and have not had any issues aside from regassing my air con and changing my worn out boot struts.

The cars do look eye catching but what always ruins it for me with these international folk (mainly Americans) is the choice in alloys, they just look awful to me almost like something out of need for speed underground!

HI Graeme, The good news is as youre a 2008 vehicle owner most head units will be compatible with your vehicle. Will need some specifics though, do you have the factory touchscreen navi or is it the non touchscreen version? I assume based on the unit you've selected you've got a Navi so youve got quite a few options. First is a similar android head unit like the one you have linked, from what I have seen this should work fine. You can find some much nicer ones on the webs such as the Teyes CC3 but your mileage may vary. The second is a GROM VLINE2 which would integrate into the existing infotainment system (hijacking the DVD / CD disc section to access it) and retain all OEM controls while also providing a full android experience including Wireless Apple Carplay / Android auto. Now for pros and cons, the cheaper android head units like you have linked will work absolutely fine but there sometimes can be an issue with climate control and the audio quality can be seriously degraded due to cheaper Chinese components such as DACs and DSP. The GROM VLINE however is something I myself own, it is incredibly expensive for what it is but especially for pre facelift vehicles, it works wonderfully and is a quality product that does receive regular software updates and my main thing is that the audio quality of the OEM system is preserved and sounds great. Whichever route you chose to go will still radically improve the car infotainment but it comes down to what you put most importance on.

Hi Guys I've just done a DIY retrofit of Illuminated door sills for my 2010 F Sports so I no longer require these Lexus scuff plates. They're in decent condition with no noticeable dents or dings. The illuminated sills I got only came with 2 / 4 of the plastic trim clips so I've used mine to fit the new sills. You will only get 2/4 trim clips however when you pull out your existing ones you can reuse those as I have done. They could do with a clean but I'll clean these up for you before I post them out. Open to reasonable offers on these and if you are local you are welcome to collect them instead.

￡320.49 48％ Off | TEYES CC3 For Lexus IS250 XE20 2005 - 2013 Car Radio Multimedia Video Player Navigation stereo GPS Android 10 No 2din 2 din dvd https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKOGdTI Here’s a review and link to purchase the Teyes CC3 for our IS250s.

Hi mate, if you’re planning on getting a pre facelift car the GROM VLINE (LEX5) works without any issues from what I’ve seen. Thankfully for myself I’ve been working with grom for the last few months and for my UK LEX6 it seems to be working wonderfully now, not 100% perfect but well enough for my needs so if you want an easy way to get a fully android experience or carplay / android auto while retaining OEM functions then the GROM is the way. I should make you aware that with GROM they do push our regular updates but their customer support can be hit or miss and sometimes a firmware update can break the unit for you and would need to be restored or a software update introduce a new bug. Now some of the guys have mentioned aftermarket android head units, the good thing is there are quite a few which would work wonderfully particularly for the pre facelift Lexus IS250s.At the time when I was shopping around none seemed to be compatible with facelift versions but they seem to be now compatible apparently. As much as I may have preferred these types of units, the caveat of them is that air conditioning controls will be done solely by the units touch screen and buttons and there can be a degradation of audio quality depending on the type of unit you purchase. For me as a musician audio quality was extremely important to me especially with mark Levinson audio. That being said, the Teyes CC3 seems to be the most high quality one I’ve seen, and like the guys have mentioned Saab unleashed did a very good review for this product. It does seem to include high quality components such as a DAC so perhaps the audio quality could be even better once you play around with the DSP and EQ. At this point you can’t go wrong with either but if you can I’d definitely try out the Teyes because not only is it cheaper, you will encounter less issues than with the GROM.

Yes mate I did end up making a page, it’s not been updated in a while but I’ve got a lot of things to update it with but just have had a crazy few months! Expect some updates in the next 2 weeks

Ah I've only just realised he was referring to the covers, my mistake haha

Best bet would be breakers, facelift vehicles are a little harder to find but scouring breaker yards or Facebook marketplace may be a good place to start! I can’t imagine it being much different between left and right when models perhaps different wiring looms

Good effort Ahmed! Looks great as always, I was actually thinking about doing a mod to the OEM IS steering wheel in order to make it heated, is that a mod you would consider doing in general?

Ah fair enough, yes it will vary depending on what you have in terms of that. Should be absolutely fine then