Diapason

Evening all, long time since I've been around these parts, but here I am again asking questions. My IS200's OEM 17" wheels are looking increasingly pitted and...well...crap, so I'm mulling over putting winter tyres on them and buying a new set for summer use. I'm not looking to increase to 18's or anything like that since the roads over here are bumpy enough on 17's. That said, I've seen some conflicting stuff online about what offsets I can use on 17" wheels. I know OEM is +50 and 7" wide, but I've seen at least one website claiming that 7.5" width with 40 offset will work. Any thoughts on this? It seems counter to Monster Mat's excellent table above. My car is not lowered, and if anything seems to ride a little higher than stock, especially at the rears. To be honest, I'm a bit bamboozled by all of this, since in my mind a lower offset means I'm less likely to foul the struts, no? In my car at least, there's no danger of rubbing the arches. Thanks for any advice.

Had the same problem, everyone thought I was nuts, couldn't persuade Lexus, they couldn't find anything untoward, never got to the bottom of it. Doesn't seem as bad anymore, and the periods of sluggishness seem more rare and much shorter. Why? *** knows. Best of luck!!

I agree to an extent, but it bugs me that I, doing 4000-5000 miles a year in total, have to pay the same tax as those doing 10 times that.

Sure you got that right mate. From what I've understood on the Revenue.ie website Motor tax is still based on engine size not emissions. The only difference being a 9.5% increase on vehicles up to 2500c.c. Only VRT is based on emissions. Or am I missing something. Yep, you're missing something!! Gormley announced it the day after the budget, and it will only apply to new cars from next July (for now -- how long do you think they'll accept 2 motor tax regimes running in parallel?). See askaboutmoney for more details.

The VRT sucks balls alright, but have you seen what they're going to do with annual motor tax from next July? I posted about it here. :crying: :crying: :crying: :crying:

Well, the government announced this morning the new motor tax regime for Ireland, which will be effective from July next year. Tax bands will now be based on CO2 emissions (for new cars) and the highest band -- for emissions over 225g/kg -- will now be the princely sum of €2,000 a year. Yep, 2 grand. That's the end of the line for my Lexus upgrade plans.

You have to remember, a *REAL* Levinson system costs more than 40k -- you should consider yourself lucky to get the car thrown in for free.

Gareth, I think I know what you're talking about, and I've mentioned this on the forum before. When the car is cold, it doesn't seem to "freewheel" very well. You take your foot off the accelerator and it's almost like you've applied the brakes, the revs drop so quickly. When warm, it seems to freewheel much better. Is that the kind of effect you're talking about?

I totally lost the rear of the car once. When I pulled over and checked the tyres they were bald as eggs. Mea culpa really.

Course, it could be just wheel balancing...

Thanks Janey!!

I've been looking for this for a while and I can't find it on the site. Surgical Virus used to use it a lot I think. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Is it happening on cold mornings? When you take the discs out are they fogged up/covered with condensation?

I had this problem exactly as you describe. A replacement hub fixed it...!! (The hub was from a previous poor repair and was apparently warped. I was eating discs for breakfast!)