Basic IS250 Mods

[McShmoopy]

Hi Guys

One of the first mods I wanted to do to the car was definitely changing all the interior lighting to LED and to put a boot liner down. I managed to pick one up on eBay for fairly cheap and the quality seems great even though its not OEM, I do plan to make some cut outs to allow for the foldable hooks to be used without having to lift the liner. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-Is250-Is220-2005-2013-On-Tailored-3MM-Rubber-Heavy-Duty-Car-Boot-Mat/362207666616?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Bought a set of the standard LED light kits on eBay, was a bit fiddly to install but with a trim removal kit from amazon I managed to persevere. One of the passenger vanity light bulbs wasnt working so Im awaiting the replacement to come in the mail. (Excuse the boxes!)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-IS250-LED-INTERIOR-KIT-INTERIOR-LIGHTS-BULBS-LED-KIT/260863230811?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

One thing I've seen quite common is how pitifully bright the boot light is even with an upgraded LED. Some people have suggesting using an LED strip instead but I never liked the look of this. After poking around the US owners club forum, I noticed one guy buy a multi LED Panel and wired that into the existing connector via an adapter and that produced a much more powerful and impressive light in the boot.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T10-5050-24SMD-LED-Panel-Car-Interior-White-Light-Festoon-Dome-Lamp-Blub-UK/402552696370?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

This was the product I bought, the install was fairly easy although I managed to trip the Dome light fuses TWICE while installing so keep some spare 10amp fuses handy incase you do that. The install without tripping fuses was fairly easy, the bulb is telescopic so you should be able to fit it into the existing housing by giving it a squeeze. The LED panel has an adhesive backing so I stuck this to the bottom of the existing cover to allow for the maximum light output. The cabling will have clearance to go the hole so you shouldnt have many issues installing. 

I didn't take a before shot unfortunately but some of these shots were taken around 9pm but these should hopefully illustrate how bright they are and if anyone else who wants to improve their lighting. Hope anyone else finds the boot LED mod useful! 

 

[mk_lon]

It looks really impressive, great work on the lighting. I agree the boot lightning is pretty poor 

[McShmoopy]

8 minutes ago, mk_lon said:

It looks really impressive, great work on the lighting. I agree the boot lightning is pretty poor 

Cheers mate, at some point I'd like to add some Merc style ambient lighting to the car via that electroluminescent light strips but main upgrades next are VLAND tail lights and headlights 

[drrn]

The Vland lights will change your car for the better! Another thing that you could buy are new boot struts. Dependent on how well your current ones work at the moment?

[mk_lon]

Do let us know how you get on, I'm tempted to upgrade mine too but given my recent mirror motor disaster I have to think twice before I go near the car 

[McShmoopy]

On 3/23/2021 at 4:37 PM, drrn said:

The Vland lights will change your car for the better! Another thing that you could buy are new boot struts. Dependent on how well your current ones work at the moment?

Definitely will do, VLAND is definitely the way to go but the MOT side of things does have me concerned whether itll pass or not. Boot struts are on the to do list as I the current ones dont lift the boot without support and it can be painfully loud and clangy currently! I do have alot of things in mind to do to the car, subtle mods so Ill maybe make a post on the mod page 🙂

[McShmoopy]

12 hours ago, mk_lon said:

Do let us know how you get on, I'm tempted to upgrade mine too but given my recent mirror motor disaster I have to think twice before I go near the car 

I wil do mate, the funny thing is I had an accident after not owning the car for even a week! Thankfully it was a very minor one and the insurance did a bang tidy job fixing her up, my insurance renewal quotes will not be cheap though 

[Bongo]

On 3/24/2021 at 9:43 PM, McShmoopy said:

Definitely will do, VLAND is definitely the way to go but the MOT side of things does have me concerned whether itll pass or not. Boot struts are on the to do list as I the current ones dont lift the boot without support and it can be painfully loud and clangy currently! I do have alot of things in mind to do to the car, subtle mods so Ill maybe make a post on the mod page 🙂

I have the VLAND rear lights, and my car has been through 2 MOT's since I fitted them, I think most owners that have fitted them, haven't had an issue either. 

[McShmoopy]

10 hours ago, Bongo said:

I have the VLAND rear lights, and my car has been through 2 MOT's since I fitted them, I think most owners that have fitted them, haven't had an issue either. 

VLAND tail lights I know are good, just the headlights that have concerned me and I am a rather unlucky person so knowing my luck Im bound to get an MOT failure. Although I think I will take the plunge and go for them as my next major upgrade! 

[McShmoopy]

Decided Im going to make a dedicated thread for this car and all the stuff I do to it on, I'll pop a link to the thread shortly 🙂

[Francis.duk]

End up making a page? 🙂

 

[McShmoopy]

1 hour ago, Francis.duk said:

End up making a page? 🙂

 

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 

 

[Francis.duk]

4 hours ago, McShmoopy said:

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 

 

That's great cheers! I'm hoping to be purchasing an IS250 soon so I've been researching anything and everything I can aha. Very interested in getting a GROM VLine LEX5 for the car. I've just gone through your thread and read through everything. You mentioned about the unit not having full functionality with the facelift aisin model stereos? Can you elaborate on this a bit so I fully understand?! The car I'm hoping to get isn't a facelift, does that mean it'll work just as well or even better? The car is also a manual. I don't know if that interferes with the reverse camera issue that was present at some point aha

[Texas]

Manual …you say! ….none of my business but why a manual when the auto has lots of plus points?

[Mr Vlad]

Don't bother with the Grom thingy. There are android units it's which wipe the floor with it nowadays and purposely for the is250. Teyes unit for one. I'll be getting it in the next couple months. 

[Francis.duk]

13 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Don't bother with the Grom thingy. There are android units it's which wipe the floor with it nowadays and purposely for the is250. Teyes unit for one. I'll be getting it in the next couple months. 

I'd love to get a thorough write up/review of one of these Chinese units. I'd rather go the route that works best aha

[Mr Vlad]

Go on YouTube and search saab unleashed. Yes it's Saab but he's the best guy I've seen explaining android units and he tests them out too which is the best review that can be given.

[McShmoopy]

17 hours ago, Francis.duk said:

That's great cheers! I'm hoping to be purchasing an IS250 soon so I've been researching anything and everything I can aha. Very interested in getting a GROM VLine LEX5 for the car. I've just gone through your thread and read through everything. You mentioned about the unit not having full functionality with the facelift aisin model stereos? Can you elaborate on this a bit so I fully understand?! The car I'm hoping to get isn't a facelift, does that mean it'll work just as well or even better? The car is also a manual. I don't know if that interferes with the reverse camera issue that was present at some point aha

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.

[McShmoopy]

￡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.