BernardTamHK

hmm.... most probably not... cos my reverse parking sensor is installed on behind the LHS tail light. This is really weird.

had another listen last nite, and found that the beeping came from the trunk. Seems to be behind the lining material behind the RHS tail light. Is this where the security system is located? Anyone have any ideas why the security system is beeping at me (never did it before).

thanx Lee ...... wat do you mean alarm backup? you mean maybe my security system is malfunctioning? ie maybe the backup battery (if there is one) is not charging or something? Where can i get access to that?

Folks, 2 days ago, my IS started to make a faint beeping noise (on and off for around 30 secs) after I unlock my car and open the doors. The beep is very faint, intermittent, and seems to be coming from the rear of the car. Need to be inside the cabin to hear it. I thought I left a phone or something in the car, but thats not it. Is my car trying to tell me something??? like battery low, or something? I've never heard this sound before in the 2 yrs i've had this car! on another note, does anyone know how to get rid of the damn gurgling/water noise in the aircon when accelerating/moving the car? its getting quite annoying. Bernard

as promised, here is a pic of my IS with 17" rims.

if u can wait a couple of days, i'll post up some pics of my IS in 17" rays rims. TBH, when i tried driving my friends IS200 with 18, I did notice slight deterioration in the dynamics of the car during cornering. Personally, for a non turbo-d or charged IS200, I would stick with 17". But thats just me. You also need to consider that the diameter is only 1 of the factors that affect the way a rim looks on a car. You need to look at the width of the rim itself (as it affects the way a tire looks on a rim). A tire on a 7J or 7JJ or 8J could look quite differently. And i have seen ppl who have used these width with a 215 tire. Of course, the offset is very important, cos a small offset (ie 38 or 40) would fill the wheel wells a lot better than a 50mm offset rim. Anyways, its your choice really, as different ppl have different taste. As I said, if you can wait a couple days, I will post my car with 17s. Bernard

i hope u took tons of pics as evidence

as Super Moderator, I think u r entitled to say that

Looks nice and subtle but damn she moves! Had a few challengers tonight, Civic Type R and Audi A4 1.8 T, both were dots in the rear view after a few seconds!! Civic Type R .... was it a real one? or a rice-fake? ..... you must have some mods in ur car that you dont know about, cos i'm pretty sure a genuine civic Type R can keep up with a tezza if he/she really wanted to

even the fibreglass replicas do not need to have any screws removed after installation. There should not be any screws that are obvious to the eye on the outer surface. The screws are only on the wheelwell arch, under the bumper in the front, and 2 screws inside the bonet. A pic is the best way to describe what holes you are talking about.

the thing with rims, is that you are really betting alot (i.e. your safety) for a low price and nice looks. You just cannot tell how good a rim is online. I mean, even if you look at the rim in person, you wont be able to detect any poor workmanship at a material/grain level. I would always buy from a quality vendor to ensure good QC. For example, I have a club mate, who bought a set of very nice looking rims (looks very similar to Rays CE28N). The rim itself looks totally top notch, except for the fact that the brand was not a well known one. The price was about 1/2 the rays (japanese import). One day, he was driving, he hit a really deep pot hole at high speed, his rim crushed in, snapping 2 spokes. He was lucky he was able to stop safely and the rim didnt fly out and hit someone else's car on the hwy! My advice, rims is "not" a part that you want to save on. There is a reason why a similar looking rim can have a 2x price differential. Experienced manufacturers who make for racing (i.e. WRC or track etc) are good choices. Sorry to sound naggy, but ppl tend to easily buy into the bling factor without considering safety. Its one thing to buy bling at discounted prices (like strut bars etc) for things that dont adversely affect the car ...

dont really understand your question here. Are you saying parked with the engine off? or on? if u r talkin about engine off, there is no harm, you wont be able to start the engine tho because it is programs to prevent this. You will need to shift it back to park before u twist the key. If engine on, still shouldnt have much damage, other than a very tired leg on the brake.

good question. I thought the same thing when i considered buying an altezza ..... (but finally decided to go with an IS) the biggest concern by far is to find out if it is a flooded car from japan (u will have to check under the carpeting to be sure). If any traces of water, walk away as u r guaranteed to have electrical problems in the future the 2nd one is to check if its been in a collision. It sounds funny, but there have been cases, where they join the front and end of 2 cars (where 1 was in a front colision, and the other was in rear), and just welded it in the middle to make a complete car. If you bring the car to your mechanic and jack up the car, all will be revealed. Other things to look for is starting problems and idling problems. I have a few altezza friends who've found they have difficulty in starting, and also have unstable idling. They still cannot find the root cause (even after extensive checking/replacing). Check the condition of the throttle body, and also take a long test drive. I have at least 1 friend that had premature wear on the camshaft bushing, causing vibration and sound at moderate speeds. And of course, you need to check for Err3 on the radio. But even if there is, its not a problem as 80% of altezza's experience this problem. You can just use this point as a bargaining chip to get a bit more discount.

Works VS is what u need ..... http://www.work-wheels.com.hk/product_deta...p;gallery_id=73

V Power is available in HK. Its always been here and its 98RON. We dont have optimax in HK.

Mark: 20" now that would be sweet. Encrust Customs I haven't heard of, but if they do rims, could you introduce me ;-) .... i'm thinkin of changin rims. Somethin japanese like Weds SA90 or similar. BTW, you've been here all ur life? which secondary school did you go to? I studied in ESF schools before I went to Canada. Derek: if you can confirm u r comin back, i'll make it happen! :D

Morse: RS, excellent choice. But hard as a rock! ... RS is a drift spec suskit rite?

In HK, pretty much as soon as the cars are wrecked, they get broken up into parts and sold as 2nd hand. Its hard to say how much a crashed tezza would go for. But as a reference, a running 98 altezza, would sell for around 5300 GBP. If you want, I can ask around to see if my mechanic can source an engine for you, but I would have no idea how much it would cost to ship to the UK. As you know, it weighs a ton. But I think it may be possible to source a tezza engine for around 3000 GBP. However, its a gamble, cos you never know how the engine runs until you've actually put it in and run it for a while. Bernard

dunno if its a bit too late. But i'd like to put in my views (as its been pretty one sided so far, as I guess most ppl use TEIN and havent used HKS coilovers). I have personally used all 3, SS, Flex, and also HKS Hipermax LS+. I am currently using TRD suskit (yellow) coilovers. personally, if I had to choose between the 3 (SS, Flex, LS+), I would go for the HKS kit. The amount of control you have with the LS+ is alot more granula than with the TEINs. Also, with HKS, you can get purchase rebuild services which basically refreshes your entire set (using new parts that get worn) for a fraction of the price. So near new kit, low price every few years. with the same kit, you can truely get varied stiffness, as you can feel a dramatic diff between the hardest and softest setting. The quality is top notch too. After using FLEX for 6 months, I started hearing knocking. The SS ones started to knock nearly immediately, and got a small creaking noise from the springs if going over speed bumps "Very" slowly. Regarding EDFC, i never bothered, cos I liked to just play with the knobs myself. Bear in mind that it only adjusts the stiffness, which is the same as if you twisted the knobs by hand when you pop the hood. I personally love my TRD kit at the mo ..... My 2 cents worth :-)

hahaha.... not LOC tho! ... actually.. none of them have even heard of LOC .. which is pretty funny ....i'm like an alien.

i think a black SC with WORK Euroline rims (ebony black 5 widespoke & polished lip) .... would look sweeeet! btw, how long have u been in hk? any ideas as to how many LOC peeps r in hk? maybe we can do a mini loc meet! hahha....

Yup ... in Hong Kong :P i guess that doesnt help! 5000GBP .. thats crazy ... i can get the whole car for that price!

when you say "ap" that doesnt just mean japan. In many countries in asia, there are lexus IS200s. In most asian countries, we basically all have Sport version only. With 7K GBP, you wont be able to get an IS200 imported. Locally, it would be difficult to find an 2000 IS200 for that price alone. My IS is a 99, and the ave price in the market is around 10K GBP in HK.

forex fixed term deposit. NZD has some high interest.

If this is the Japanese advert why is the steering wheel on the left?????? Something strange there. .......and neither "she" or "he" didn't look Japanese at all... Mind you I'm sure the UK ad was shot at Lanzarote, with illegally darkened windows! Sorry to sound like im nitpickin here ... but its not a japanese commercial. Its a chinese commercial (not to say it was filmed or the actors have chinese citizenship ). But this commercial was aired on tv in Hong Kong and Taiwan etc. The one that is on youtube was narrated in mandarin. hold on a sec..... I'm very disappointed in you Derek ... u didnt pick this up?! :P