Hando

Don't buy a monitor from Tescos! You wouldn't buy food from Dixons would you? ;) I usually get all my tech stuff from Overclockers - only good kit there and great aftersales care. 19" Monitors on Overclockers

There's lots of info out there on detailing. And lots of good products as well as lots that aren't worth the bother. I'd recommend reading up on it. Here's some links Autopia How-To's Detailing World Forums (especially the guides section) hope that helps.

:) yep.

Yeah whatever the link was - it's now turned into a rickrollin' pop up that has to be ctrl-alt-del'ed to stop. -- mods might wanna edit the op? --

heh - yeah I agree on the new IS wheels: doesn't work at all (sorry Tango :) ) - but it's quite nice having thicker rubber at the back tho. Still have a rear lip - it's the TTE one, only it looks extremely OEM in profile shots. Parth: I'm pretty sure that WIM send wheels off to BJV to get them repaired/refurbed and one of mine had very similar damage to yours so I'll report back with the quality - although hopefully if your letter from the council tomorrow is good then you won't need 'em. *fingers crossed*

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lol - thanks for the offer but I think I'll go pick 'em up ;) They're having a refurb and also being hot rolled to repair some nasty pothole damage from when I used to have very low profile rubber on them. hmmm, not massively - no. Certainly not enough to notice it without you suggesting it. I was on Pirelli PZero Nero's before FWIW.

Cheers aztec, I should be picking up my chicanes from wim next week - I'll post updated pics (as the springs should've settled a bit by then too). :)

So I've been sitting on a set of TTE/Eibach springs for a few months now - decided to wait to get them fitted at the new WIM centre. Yesterday was the day. Got springs fitted and geo done and then dropped off my rims for a refurb. Everything people have said about the new wim centre is true. It's great. First off the location: anyone who visited Tony at STS will remember that it wasn't exactly situated in the most picturesque location. The new wim centre is in a smart new business park set amidst some lovely countryisde and villages in Chesham. It's a nice drive there too through some wooded twisty A roads. Secondly the kit: wow - no expense spared: the calibration machine is very Star Trek and the tyre removal machine ("The Boss" ;) ) is totally cool: it removes the tyres without touching the rim itself. Anyone who's ever watched in horror as someone goes at their precious rims with a tyre iron will appreciate this. Thirdly: the people: there's a real feeling of people doing something they love and enjoying it and taking pride in it and this feeling really makes you feel secure when they're working on your pride and joy. Even the good Doctor looked close-ish to happy (sorry Tony ;) ) The end results:- It's kind of hard to judge exactly what has caused what (because the car has been lowered, and had geo calibrated, and is on different rims) so I'll have a more detailed impression once the springs have settled and my 18"s are back on - but I can say it feels like a completely new car: the effect on the steering is immense: my steering had felt very "loose" and "light" but now it feels totally precise. A very happy wim cutsomer and I'll be going back for all my wheel/suspension needs again (plus they're definitely branching out: they've recently added rim repair/refurb and aircon re-gassing to their list of services and I wouldn't be surprised if new features are added.) Here' some blurry photos of the drop - bear in mind that the springs haven't settled yet and I've got Tango's oem 250 rims on as a "loaner" till mine are refurbed.

Are you really sure you need this back in your life?!? ;)

I recently bought a new telly - went for a Sony LCD in the end after much research. I'd recommend reading up on HDTVTest (very thorough independent review site) and AVForums HTH

Quite quite mental - but yes - totally awesome. :)

Hey Kelvin, Welcome to LOC You could just get the stock rims refurbed - will cost around half what the dealers are asking. But if you want to go aftermarket - then the world is your oyster. There's lots of posts on here about various wheels - and it's not too hard to translate how a rim shown on a sedan will look on an estate. FWIW I always liked the look of this sportx (from US)

Aquanuke turned me on to Autoshades - and I used them to tint the fronts of my IS300 to match the rears - great job, and great service - I'd recommend them highly. (And considerably cheaper than Pentagon)

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erm - granite sky is one of the colours you can get it in from the dealer. At £35. Including the badge and the sport logo. So - just to be clear - no the ebay price is not fair - it is a scam. Ring your local dealer - ask for parts department - order sport grille in granite sky for IS200. Hope that helps.

With fully comp - your insurers should pay for the work (you'll have to agree with them beforehand if you want to take it soemwhere other than their apporved bodyshop). You pay the excess, your insurer pays for the work. When the liability is sorted (which will take a while even though she's admitting it) - then her insurer pay the money back to yours and you get your excess back. If you go to one of their approved bodyshops then they'll have an arrangement with the insurer so you won't have to pay for the work yourself (other than the excess) - if you go to a bodyshop of your choosing then you have to pay and get a cheque from your insurer. Going with one of their bodyshops will be the least hassle - but just make sure you inspect the work done very carefully when you get the car back (take a strong torch and inspect it in the light - even if it's day - and check for any overspray etc) - cos you don't want to live with a bad job.

Mate sorry to hear about this. But consider yourself lucky - I may be being pessimistic but I reckon with 99% of these shunts the party responsible scarpers with no note and you're left footing the bill. If you can: take the car into a bodyshop you trust or a Lexus dealer with their own (not outsourced) body shop and get a quote in the morning because I think you can request your own body shop rather than the insurers' approved one. As long as the damage is just cosmetic it should be a 3-4 day turnaround (and if you take it to a Lex dealer you might be able to get a courtesy Lex for the duration). And there's no reason why you should have to wait for the claim to get sorted - if you're fully comp - they pay to get it fixed and get the money back from the other insurer after.

m0rksport I'm gonna hold out on ordering anything now to see if Steve can organise a Gold Discount. (link courtesy of pistonheads)

(since no one else has posted these yet and I know quite a few members have them) 18" TTE Chicanes (and no - not lowered yet either - got the springs in the shed just waiting for the good doctor to get himself settled into his new uber-wim-complex)

aha - thought they were the same. My single bottle of KSG has lasted me 4 years so far :) Does the advise about being careful not to over-apply still apply though?

One other bit of advice (which you've probably gathered from your research already - but it's worth overstressing) If the Carlack 68 Long Life Sealant is the same as the Klasse Sealant Glaze (I think it is): do NOT over-apply. You really need the tiniest amount on your pad for each panel - on first application you won't believe how little you'll use so will be tempted to over-apply - DON'T it's much better to use too little than it is too much. Over-applying will make it a real nightmare to buff out. Doing this all by hand is really going to take you AT LEAST all day (that's before the next day's reapplication of the sealant glaze) - you really should consider a random orbit polisher. But if you're determined to do it by hand one final tip: cut your fingernails before you begin :)

Yeah me too - I quite fancy one of them .. did you read the article on pistonheads about the reviewer driving the new one back from geneva? Made me want one... Linky