Mr_Groundhog

This is great to hear guys, thanks a lot for the insights. A bit of a relief that I can rule out any malfunction in the car...

Does your car drink more in the winter, with colder temperatures out there? In the last few weeks, I have the feeling (just a hunch) the car's self-reported fuel consumption (I know it isn't accurate but it is constant, so I'm using it as a reference) has increased a bit. From being between 50 to 47 mpg with low effort, now I'm finding myself driving economically on purpose just to see if I can still achieve those figures. I have seen similar topics but about models in particular, and I guess each model can be different so I thought I would ask here specifically to you IS300h people. Apologies if this is a duplicate.

No s**t Sherlock. Thanks for enlightening me with your wisdom. Maybe you did, not sure. My point was simple: if the thread is weaved optimally to evacuate water in a certain way (outwards as the tyre rolls on wet tarmac for example), then if the opposite tyre has that thread pattern "upside down" so to speak, the water would flow in the "wrong" way (inwards). ...What I found even more confusing is that yes, the word "outside" was visible on all of them, despite the above not making sense to me. In my head it felt like a contradiction: how can they both be mounted right when they don't mirror each other? I did check today and they do have "inside" on the inside, so at least my suspicion of wrongdoing was unfounded 🙂 About the Michelin enquiry: they replied nicely actually: Primact 4 tyres are 'symmetrical' tyres so each tyre may be mounted in any position on the vehicle. ...if the car has 'asymmetrical' or 'directional' tyres fitted, the mounting position is important. In these cases the tyres will have an arrow indicating direction of travel, and/or 'Inside/outside' embosed on the tyre sidewall to indicate mounting position. For further information regarding correct tyre mounting, please see the following link: https://www.michelin.co.uk/auto/advice/tyre-care/tyre-rotation

I do see the word outside on both, but this seems to suggest, as you say, that the word outside is present on both sides of the tyre. I'm gonna go to the garage tomorrow and tell them. Man why is it so hard to find competent professionals who care.

Silly enough, I had not thought of this as the reason for that very slight drift but I would be shocked if the tyre engineers had not thought of this, no? What do you guys think? Because looking at my two front tyres (see pic: left one is driver side and right one is passenger), the thread isn't the same (it is but upside down). HOWEVER when you look at the tyre info on the side there isn't an arrow indicating rolling direction (it just says "outside"), which means maybe they should be mounted differently on one side? Now I wonder if it also says "outside" on the other side!? Edit: I have written to Michelin UK but I don't expect a personal reply from a big corp, they'll probably send some marketing copy-paste. Will update.

Aaaah.....so this may be the reason why my car has a very slight tendency to veer to the left on a straight road. Very very slightly, and I went for Hunter alignment to verify it was all OK (and it was).... AND mine are Michelin too (Primacy 4 VOL) I'm glad you decided to ask, since it seems it's a few of us with the same issue.... and to be fair, it makes sense because the threading on the tyres isn't symmetrical so right or left makes a difference on how the wheels roll 🤔 But how / why would the Michelin engineers not think / detect this?

Yeah that's not the issue, because the tyres are new from last year. I went and bought an electronic tyre thread meter (less than a tenner) because a year ago I replaced the front arm bushings (GS-F OEM) in order to reduce inner tyre wear, so I'm curious as to whether it worked after 10k miles 😅

Seems I need to get my own thread depth device! Thanks both.

So I had annual service recently and one thing shocked me: the new tyres from last year are still at 6.5 thread depth, just like last year.....but after 9K miles.... I'm still not sure how that's possible.

I think it is something like 8 or 9 liters.

That's the thing.... the installation may be straightforward but it's the panel and screw removal of the dashboard that i don't feel comfy with. I may just stay comfy with the Lexus maps, which, if updated, work pretty well.

That and not adding a Estate variant of the IS, but all the people want these days are SUVs.

This is great to know as I'm booked in with them in a few weeks....

Ufff....I'm sure you're right BUT I shiver at the idea of doing it myself....I'm a coward!!! I'm not sure I'd know where to start and terrified at breaking something that would have me call the dealer and have the car towed away for repair.... but what's true is that finding professionals who care for their craft is sadly rare....

When it comes to installing these CarPlay kits like the one above, would you people know of any good garages/installers that would do it? (driving distance from Kent) I would not want to have it done to then have to live with all types of rattles on the dashboard and things like that.

Scary stuff all of this.... i would not dare, so kudos for that. I think if I was in the need to carry stuff on the roof I'd just change my IS for an SUV or something like that

Well, then this may be more recent than the one you have. Write me via PM with details and I will send it over (yes, free).

I just got the latest SD card update (2023-2024 v1) for the lexus sat nav, replacing the previous one (2022-2023 v2). So if anyone wants it, I'm happy to give it away. Let me know 🙂 I think you can only use an SD card if your satnav is the one with the large(er) screen and has a joystick instead of a round knob.

Yes, I carry one of these along with the yellow pages: I have them mounted on two book easels on the dashboard. Good for shade too.

So the ES is also affected by the Canbus thing? I thought it was only the RX

What do you mean by an executive job and staying out of court? If it's a reference I'm not getting it sorry

This is awesome Where did you do the underside seal job and how much was it?

The one I used last year also closed, so you may be talking about Maidstone? I went to Lexus Canterbury to have my Dashcam fitted and the experience was very good, so I may try them for annual service. Heard good reviews of Lexus Sidcup too.

You and I must be the overly-sentimental buddies of this forum 😄

Yeah actually that makes sense, thank you. When I picked up my IS300 I had cleaned my part-exchange Honda, and made sure it was all OK, thinking they'd inspect closely to find faults, and I was surprised they didn't care. They didn't look. Just checked the mileage and that was it. I was fond of that car. I do wonder where it is and whether it is having a good life. 🙂