Exhausted and headlights/tail lights for is 250 2012

[Don07]

Hello I’m new here. I just bought a used IS 250 model 2012. I would like to do some modifications for this car. Any suggestions for exhauster and headlights/ taillights that are good quality but not too expensive.? I live in the UK. Also any auto shop in London you recommend that does modifications for this car? 

[scudney]

Welcome to the LOC Adones hoping you find it educational and informative. With regards to headlights/ rear light modifications there isn't a great deal out there but there are a few and you could try custom made stainless steel exhausts. 

[Mr Vlad]

Hello Adones and welcome to the best Lexus forum there is. Great choice of car you got. What made you want one?

It depends what you call expensive but at around the £500 mark some owners got Vland lights. There are cheaper ones nowadays. Just look on eBay. 

As for exhaust. Just what is it you want in a new exhaust? Tony Banks in Leeds is highly recommended for custom exhausts. In fact he's probably done so many he could make one blindfolded lol.

[McShmoopy]

Hi Don I myself have VLAND Headlights and Smoked HC Motion Tail lights providing me with sequential indicators and quite outstanding modern lights. They're on the pricey side but going used or waiting for a deal on eBay is a good shout. 

[Don07]

1 hour ago, Mr Vlad said:

Hello Adones and welcome to the best Lexus forum there is. Great choice of car you got. What made you want one?

It depends what you call expensive but at around the £500 mark some owners got Vland lights. There are cheaper ones nowadays. Just look on ebay. 

As for exhaust. Just what is it you want in a new exhaust? Tony Banks in Leeds is highly recommended for custom exhausts. In fact he's probably done so many he could make one blindfolded lol.

Thanks a lot for the warm welcome. I was looking for very reliable car that has looks. I want a combination of luxury and sports car.  Oh yeah I see Vland lights online I was just making sure they are good. This is very helpful I might go for this one then. What can you say about the exhaust sold in eBay? Could it be a problem? I will check Tony Banks for sure. 

[Don07]

44 minutes ago, McShmoopy said:

Hi Don I myself have VLAND Headlights and Smoked HC Motion Tail lights providing me with sequential indicators and quite outstanding modern lights. They're on the pricey side but going used or waiting for a deal on eBay is a good shout. 

Oh thank you. Yeah I will go for the Vland headlights. I will defo check the Smoked HC MOTION tail lights I haven’t heard of it before. Was it easy to install and no issues?

[Don07]

4 hours ago, scudney said:

Welcome to the LOC Adones hoping you find it educational and informative. With regards to headlights/ rear light modifications there isn't a great deal out there but there are a few and you could try custom-made stainless steel exhausts. 

Thank you for the warm welcome. I will check that for sure. Do we have laws to follow regarding using loud or not so-loud exhaust in the UK?

[Don07]

9 hours ago, McShmoopy said:

Hi Don I myself have VLAND Headlights and Smoked HC Motion Tail lights providing me with sequential indicators and quite outstanding modern lights. They're on the pricey side but going used or waiting for a deal on eBay is a good shout. 

On your own experience. Is the smoke tail lights not too dark at night? 

[McShmoopy]

On the contrary they’ve been absolutely fine and look great (was dropping a car off at the garage with my brother driving my car) 

[Mr Vlad]

Hello Adones. I can't comment on the exhausts on eBay. Some are good but which depends on what they're made of. Stainless Steel produces a drone but a custom built one can be made not to drone.

Yes fabulous cars and I'm still heartbroken after writing mine off.

[Don07]

12 hours ago, McShmoopy said:

On the contrary they’ve been absolutely fine and look great (was dropping a car off at the garage with my brother driving my car) 

Looks good on your black car. I have grey which I think smoke car won’t look fit. My car looks so classy haha. I think red is better

[Don07]

11 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Hello Adones. I can't comment on the exhausts on ebay. Some are good but which depends on what they're made of. Stainless Steel produces a drone but a custom built one can be made not to drone.

Yes fabulous cars and I'm still heartbroken after writing mine off.

I truly understand that. Thank you for your advice. I’m a bit upset today when I checked my car somebody scratch my bumper. I tried to cover it with t-cut paintworks but it’s still noticeable. 

[Linas.P]

Just word of caution here - being final model year of the car, your car came with facelifted headlights and tail lights. I understand they may not be to your taste, but they are THE MOST EXPENSIVE lights bar non for this car model (well I guess IS-F rear tail-lights are more rare and expensive). As well being last revision of Xenons in front they are the best in terms of actually lighting-up the road and vision at night. 

So whatever you fit performance and price wise will be a downgrade. I understand you may want something different style and modernise the car and that is fine, just don't throw what you have away. At least £600 for pair of fronts and probably £300 for pair of rears. 

Apart of that you, in terms of quality everything will be downgrade, so I would not worry too much, choose the style you like, make sure they have correct markings (i.e. being certified and legal to use in UK) and that is about it. Vlands are standard option, Vland basically is generic name nowadays for aftermarket lights on Lexus, real Vlands are semi-decent (not as good as what you replacing, but not terrible), but there are loads of horrible quality Vland lookalikes. One other thing to note when ordering - you will need lights without AFS and with DLR, they are slightly different connectors (or internal wiring) and I believe lights for your car will be slightly more expensive. Majority of the lights you will find will be designed for older model trying to imitate face-lift lights you already have, so they have AFS connection but not DLR, I know that DLR compatible aftermarket lights exist, but you need to make sure you get right ones.

For exhaust, the cheapest mod and the one I recommend you to start with - just cut the resonator that comes after Y joint, that will generally make car louder, but should not drone. SS tends to drone (just properties of the material), seems fine at first but very quickly get's old. If you still not satisfied with sound after cutting the resonator out, then replace rear section of exhaust with smaller silencers, but at this point you may want to put some sort of resonator back, even if it is just straight perforated pipe inside. Generally speaking IS250 does sound nice, but not exceptional, it is V6... it is possible to straight pipe them for maximum effect and they don't sound too horrible, but the question is how antisocial you want to go, or if you want to keep it civil. 

I have already answered your bumper question. 

[Don07]

29 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Just word of caution here - being final model year of the car, your car came with facelifted headlights and tail lights. I understand they may not be to your taste, but they are THE MOST EXPENSIVE lights bar non for this car model (well I guess IS-F rear tail-lights are more rare and expensive). As well being last revision of Xenons in front they are the best in terms of actually lighting-up the road and vision at night. 

So whatever you fit performance and price wise will be a downgrade. I understand you may want something different style and modernise the car and that is fine, just don't throw what you have away. At least £600 for pair of fronts and probably £300 for pair of rears. 

Apart of that you, in terms of quality everything will be downgrade, so I would not worry too much, choose the style you like, make sure they have correct markings (i.e. being certified and legal to use in UK) and that is about it. Vlands are standard option, Vland basically is generic name nowadays for aftermarket lights on Lexus, real Vlands are semi-decent (not as good as what you replacing, but not terrible), but there are loads of horrible quality Vland lookalikes. One other thing to note when ordering - you will need lights without AFS and with DLR, they are slightly different connectors (or internal wiring) and I believe lights for your car will be slightly more expensive. Majority of the lights you will find will be designed for older model trying to imitate face-lift lights you already have, so they have AFS connection but not DLR, I know that DLR compatible aftermarket lights exist, but you need to make sure you get right ones.

For exhaust, the cheapest mod and the one I recommend you to start with - just cur the resonator that comes after Y joint, that will generally make car louder, but should not drone. SS tends to be drone (just properties of the material), seems fine at first but very quickly get's old. If you still not satisfied with sound after cutting the resonator out, then replace rear section of exhaust with smaller silencers, but at this point you may want to put some sort of resonator back, even if it is just straight perforated pipe inside. Generally speaking IS250 does sound nice, but not exceptional, it is V6... it is possible to straight pipe them for maximum effect and they don't sound too horrible, but the question is how antisocial you want to go, or if you want to keep it civil. 

I have already answered your bumper question. 

Good day. Hello Linas. After reading your response it really made me think twice now to modify these lights. Your comments are very useful and informative at the same time. It’s good to hear from someone who have knowledge and experience in this car as of me I don’t have much. For the exhaust yes I will keep that in my mind what you said. I am really hesitant about it because I live in a quite residential area. 

[Steohiryan]

I have a 2016 at 200 turbo my tail lights are not working but my brake lights work where is the fuse located for this and any suggestions on what I should do a basic knowledge any help would be greatly appreciated

[GMB]

On 11/13/2023 at 12:51 AM, Don07 said:

Do we have laws to follow regarding using loud or not so-loud exhaust in the UK?

My understanding is that currently it is at the discretion of the MOT station. My isf with a Hayward Scott exhaust is a bit loud but the MOT people at the last 3 places ( including Lexus ) said -  no problem it sounds lovely!

They also said that a straight thro' pipe would get an advisory to change it.

But...there is talk of legislation to add Decibel readings to determine a fail or not. We will see.

Apparently they already have dB meters at roadsides somewhere or other but I do not know if a warning or a fine follows.

 

[Linas.P]

2 hours ago, GMB said:

My understanding is that currently it is at the discretion of the MOT station. My isf with a Hayward Scott exhaust is a bit loud but the MOT people at the last 3 places ( including Lexus ) said -  no problem it sounds lovely!

They also said that a straight thro' pipe would get an advisory to change it.

But...there is talk of legislation to add Decibel readings to determine a fail or not. We will see.

Apparently they already have dB meters at roadsides somewhere or other but I do not know if a warning or a fine follows.

 

Yeah in some location in central London, Cambridge, Oxford and few other anti-car cities they have "decibel cameras", although if you nor revving your car it should be fine, even straight piped IS250 would not be very loud when idling.

So you can do whatever you like as long as you pass emissions... and by "straight pipes" - I mean leaving primary catalytic converters in place (removing them would be immoral and illegal), but removing everything after that (secondary cats, resonator, back-boxes/silencers).

The car will NOT sound like that (because this is American completely straight pipe - nothing left in terms of catalytic converters + you get "Christmas tree on the dash" as a bonus or maybe o2 sensors are plugged). But it will sound somewhat loud when revved:

 

[GMB]

I prefer the isF sound. The other one sounds like a pig with wind.

Just saying....🐖🍃🙃

OK . So here's a genuine Hayward Scott sound. I can vouch for it.

 

[Linas.P]

9 minutes ago, GMB said:

I prefer the isF sound. The other one sounds like a pig with wind.

Just saying....🐖🍃🙃

OK . So here's a genuine Hayward Scott sound. I can vouch for it.

 

No a fair comparison - you comparing 5L V8 vs. 2.5L V6 - IS250 will never sound like IS-F, but it sounds decent enough. Not that I would advise having semi-straight pipes on daily car, but it is possible to make IS250 to sound little bit more proper. 

[Don07]

9 hours ago, GMB said:

My understanding is that currently it is at the discretion of the MOT station. My isf with a Hayward Scott exhaust is a bit loud but the MOT people at the last 3 places ( including Lexus ) said -  no problem it sounds lovely!

They also said that a straight thro' pipe would get an advisory to change it.

But...there is talk of legislation to add Decibel readings to determine a fail or not. We will see.

Apparently they already have dB meters at roadsides somewhere or other but I do not know if a warning or a fine follows.

Hello there. This is very informative. I don’t intend to be loud as that in the video I mean I like it but I don’t want to bother other people. 

[Don07]

5 hours ago, GMB said:

I prefer the isF sound. The other one sounds like a pig with wind.

Just saying....🐖🍃🙃

OK . So here's a genuine Hayward Scott sound. I can vouch for it.

 

Hello there. I agree the IS F sound is much better in my own opinion. Very decent sound and very sporty. 

[ahmed-abrar]

I've had rear VLANDS fitted for the last 3 years & they look work perfectly. The best option in my opinion and at a reasonable price for plug & play units

[GMB]

25 minutes ago, ahmed-abrar said:

I've had rear VLANDS fitted for the last 3 years & they look work perfectly. The best option in my opinion and at a reasonable price for plug & play units

Same here.