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On the way home from work yesterday afternoon,I decided to deviate from my normal 'straight home' route and go for a little drive. It was a nice sunny afternoon and the LS somehow seemed to be even smoother and quieter than usual. On went the Genesis 'A Trick of the Tail' c.d.,and I was in heaven. You know how sometimes you feel that everything is perfect,and you don't want it to stop?. I must admit I was welling up inside as a combination of an ultra smooth ride and my favourite music 'got' to me. Unfortunately all good things come to an end,and I arrived back home as the last bars of 'Los Endos' were playing. What a day,what a car,what a sound system. She may be a shed compared to others,and I have a couple of times considered getting rid of her,but after yesterday that all went out the window. I'll keep her 'til she dies!. That's all.

So,s**t kicking music and folkies seems to be liked by LS owners then!. Am I the only ageing prog-rocker here?. I know of one other that obviously likes one of my favourite '70s live bands - The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. My musical tastes are reasonably diverse,but I cannot abide country,jazz or manufactured Simon Cowell type rubbish. SWMBO tells me I'm stuck in a 70's time warp musically - so what's wrong with that?. Give me some Pink Floyd,King Crimson,PFM,Led Zeppelin,Genesis etc. Love it.

I've had the flat battery problem a number of times and perhaps this is covered on here, but I printed the attached and laminated it and it sits in my glove box, as I can never remember what/how to reset everything. One other thing - I bought a solar panel that plugs into the diagnostic port - this allows charging whilst the vehicle is switched off and locked (the lighter socket does not). I have used this at airports/whilst away and I haven't had a flat battery since. Again, this may have been covered already, but thought I would mention it.

Over the last few days I began to hear an almost imperceptible hum when I was driving. It was almost like the wind blowing through a vent. The tone changed, slightly, as I accelerated. Whilst listening to it, cruising at a steady 50mph, I dropped a couple of gears and the noise remained at a constant level. I thought that if it was engine-related, the tone would change as the engine revs increased. It did not, leading to the conclusion the tone of the noise was related to the speed at which the wheels were turning. This morning I popped the car in to the village garage and asked if they could check the wheel bearings. They have just phoned to say the front, driver's-side, bearing was on the way out. They have ordered a bearing and will fit it tomorrow morning. Had I not been driving such a quiet car, I might have not noticed it until more serious damage had been done.

Well done Chris, when you say caliper mount is that the one in pic number 4 ? ... if so you've done an awesome job m8 ... have a look on Rockauto if you are struggling for any parts.

All this talk of washing cars and merely fitting a bonnet, I'll raise that! LOL http://vid10.photobucket.com/albums/a138/Tom-P10/Altezza/MOV_0642.mp4 Only kidding of course and I will be washing mine tonight! My engine rebuild is (hopefully) all sorted and my Altezza is running now! :) Did my first journey this morning and got me to work with no issues, so fingers crossed that I don't get any teething problems between now and then. I should be all set to go to my mates in near Bedford tomorrow evening and then head over to from there on Sunday morning! Peoples getting there about noon right? Please excuse my scabby wheels - was part way through starting refurbing them and haven't had time to look at them since for obvious reason! :P

Good job I subscribed to this thread! I almost forgot about the meet... it's been so long in the organising. Looking forward to seeing you all soon. Hopefully I'll have washed my car by then ;-) I'm out with the GT86 Drivers Club on Saturday to catch up with my old friends and see Fast & Furious 7, so this is a petrolhead weekend! :-) See you soon.

Even if they do take a year or two to change from the Tetra radios, it's still a lot of money for something that will ultimately become redundant. You also have the possibility of it detecting a Fire Engine, Doctor Car, Fire Car, Ambulance etc which may not even be on the same road as you (crossover bridges etc). Add the fact it only works if the radio is transmitting, and you have to ask if it still represents good value for money.

Hi John, The motive was to create awareness. I know the MB forums will probably be more resourceful as far as the technical side is concerned. Cheers

This is the type of ownership experience Lexus should aim to market. Reminds me of the old VW advert where the squeaky ear ring is the culprit and not the car.

Forgot to add that it's been a b@gger getting the dust boots, have sourced some OEM ones from eBay as spares (arrive today) and got a refurb kit from Toyota, so will compare the 2 types and post a write up. Lex has been off the road all week whilst I've been at work and waiting impatiently. I have tried cleaning up the old sliding pins, but they are just too pitted to be saved in my opinion, whilst a little pitting on the pin part I could live with, it has proven difficult to clean the pitting off the "head" of the pin where the new rubber seals should sit and I am sure if they don't seal well then all the moisture, dust and debris will just get back in to make life hard!

About the only thing that could spoil a drive in my 400 is Genesis coming through the speakers. Phil Collins sounds like a long tail cat that's sat too close to someone in a rocking chair

Yep, the kit consists of: Caliper rubber/silicone seal Caliper seal retaining clip bottom slide pin bush 2 x rubber dust boot bushes They are different kits for front versus back. I just bought the following rear kit from eBay for £17 (doesn't have caliper parts) for when I look at the back brakes. As when I went to do the fronts last weekend, I had a stuck sliding pin and a dust boot had disintegrated. I had to put the wheel on and order a new bottom sliding pin. I decided to refurb/clean the caliper mount. Took about a day of time and virtually no cost using a homemade electrolysis rig! I'll have to make time to do the other side and will also do me dust shields as they aren't too corroded, just ugly. Ta, Chris.

A post from the heart John. There are thousands of us who just love their cars and their music. Regards John

Being mainly inspired by this thread I woke up this morning to a very sunny west London and decided to do something I hadn't done in about 25 yrs, Polish both my lexi,s ( said in a slight alan partridge voice) after a quick trip to homebase for the wife to get her hanging baskets and me to pick up a large bottle of turtle wax and a roll of cloth, hey presto!!! Feeling totally naked and without a single bone in my body not aching, I'm off to bed, good night!!

Got her back a hour ago and am WELL happy.... Even got a full tank of fuel (driver filled it up 5mins before dropping it off) And me bad I hadn't filled the IS300 up but was told not to worry about it as I'd only done 50mls in the week I had it 😃 Ok I'm off to wash polish caress her body work (I caress her more than the wife so ive just been told) 😉😉

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Wind-Deflector-2pcs-Lexus-IS-250-Saloon-4-Door-2006-On-30005-/181672691058?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2a4c894572 any good?