Shrek

About time I stopped lurking and came out into the open and said hello to everyone...Hi!

Just bought my first Lexus - a Gold (it's growing on me :winky: ) 95 LS400. A lovely unmarked '95 example with 83k miles, verified history and everything works. Had to to kiss a lot of frogs before I found my princess.

Wonderful car and beats my old 7 ser BM hands down in nearly every department. Earily quiet and refined I found myself continually looking at the rev counter to make sure it was still running when stopped in traffic. Not too sure about the wallowy handling - but the car was never made for hustling around the twisty bits; on the motorway it excels and is truly impressive, economy is an eye opener too.

The only niggle is the audio unit backlighting. Seems to be a common failure - but I'm struggling to find a cure on this or the US site. Anyone able to advise please?

My only other concern is tyres. The car is fitted with Dunlop D8z tyres which I understand are manufactured specifically for the LS range. Unfortunately I've damaged one and I cannot source one (really would like two)

I'm told via my trusty tyre man that the tyre is now obselete and its closest replacement is the Dunlop SP Sport 01 at £100.00 a corner. Looking at Dunlops site, the tire seems to be a performance rather than a luxury comfort/low noise tyre.

So, what's everyone using, or are you all managing to find D8z's - or using an alternative?

Considering a change of wheel to 17 or 18's - the standard wheel can hardly be described as pretty! I'd appreciate input from anyone using larger than OEM wheels tyres...trade off in comfort and noise especiallyy

Great site with a wealth of useful information - certainly informed me on what to look for/ask when searching out a LS; thanks.

Dave

Hello dave Welcome to a great club. I have just bought a Ls400, The spare wheel has never been used from new and that ia a Dunlop Sp they are on all four corners as well, in my experience tyres for Lexus cars are a lot of money, however I have checked out with my local Merityre dealer in Sunbury, and the tyres work out at £127each. I guess that you will be looking at the £100 mark for any good tyre.

good luck with the LS

Les

hi Les.. long time no see mate! good to see you back mate!

Hello Steve thanks for the welcome mate I hope to bring my membership back up to date and become a LEX lover again. My Gs has had a rough time it was stolen and recovered but has never felt the same. ho hum time to move on. I'm putting the Gs up for sale now. hope to see you at a meet soon.

Ditto to Steve's post.

It's nice to hear of a fellow 1999 owner so near (I work in Shepperton). With regards to Franchised dealer stamps.

I would think that it makes a difference to newer cars which need to realise their full potential when their time comes to be traded in. Our cars being, 8 years old now, will only sell for a fraction of their worth. Although Lexus are a brilliant and luxurious car they are not 'Spaceships' A confident Mechanic will work on our cars with no problems. A Toyota and other Japanese Importer only 5 miles from us carries out all of my servicing and repairs. I'm sure that a stamped service book from them will be just as good to the market to which we will be selling. Spending £80 to £100 an hour at a Franchised dealer on 8 year old cars in my opinion is not justifiable.

Enjoy the most wonderful of cars. Regards, Graham.

Aw! thanks guys I have missed the club and want to become active again. Graham thankyou for your thoughts on this. You are of course right, Its great that you live so close. I pick the car up on Thursday, maybe we could meet and chat about your knowledge of the cars?

Hello Guys. Long time no see...

Ive just had the good fortune to get my first LS, I used to own a Gs300 sport but I wanted extreme luxury so I have moved up. B) This car in my opinion is amazing. I have paid top money for a 1999 car, however it only has 19360 miles on the clock with full lexus service history. this car is stunning. the tool kit and spare wheel have never been used the leather is as soft still as a babies bum.

The reason i've opened a topic is not to boast but I wonder if anyone has any experience with aftermarket warranties? Lexus will not give a warranty if a car is older than seven years.

I am aware that most warranties are insurence based? Lexus of Guilford tell me that these companies want work done for around a 3rd of the present hourly charge, so they are reluctant to take on their work. I would love to keep up the Franchise stamp in the book, but do not want to scare myself with the prices.

any thoughts?

Shrek (Les)

When I bought my car I had the surface treated with Supergard. :duh: It was the worst mistake of my life. the car has never had the shine that it first had. the difference between the door jams and the exterior paint is sad very sad Does anyone know how to take this treatment off. supergard tell me that it xcant be removed. i was wondering if clay may be the answer i want to see my :D in a deep deep shine, not a milky haze.

Hello you all it's Shrek here

I have missed you all. I am only just back on line after what seems like years. I am really aware that i have missed out on loads of stuff. and the Jae

I am hoping to get the shrekmobile back on the road soon I had to lay him off for a while through lack of funds. I am sorry but I have been driving a 205 I miss my air conditioned blue dream machine. I hope to get back into the Gold club too. please e-mail me if you get a chance. my new e-mail address is LES.TAYLORP3LAT@NTLWORLD.COM

Chat to you all soon Les x

I'll be there

welcome Laro1000 what a great choice of club. And the 1000th member the drinks are on you? :lol:

Well done Zee A grande opportunity. we will miss youe energy. you will be missed. Take care matey. Taj sends her love . the kiss is from me :lol:

Count me in please :D:D

I have just had the a/c done on my car I had to have a new compresser and new piping. the a/c seems a lot colder than the 16 degrees indicated. I notice a drop in revs on idle but as I have it on most of the time I do not notice a power drop. to have it regassed is around £150 :o but in the long run it is well worth the comfort. :):)

welcome to the club Trevor.

enjoy the Lexus experience. :)

What do you guys refer to your car as. A he? or a she?

do you say SHE goes well? or do you say HE looks great?

I was wondering if I am the only member with a Transexual car as I refer to it as a he, and Taj refers to it as a she. :?:

Well! what can I say Taj and I were greeted with a real sense of affection. Right from the start I felt really part of a wonderful club. Taj wants to say thank you to all of you for making her feel so welcome. She at first felt that she would not fit in???? :( But you all changed that fear for her. for that alone I thank you all. the meeting was the best. I felt so proud of the club and everyone knew we were a real family afair. there is a real buzz when someone pays attention to our pride and joy. we looked good! real good!. thank you Mat and Zee for a great first mass meet a great job very well done. However Let us not forget the work that has gone into making this the club we all enjoy today. so a BIG,BIG thank you to all who run our club. And an even bigger thank you to all its members. taj wants to be a part of the family so she will at some stage log on as shrekett thank you guys for a great weekend. oh and by the way I am all sunburnt :lol:

How many of you have got hands covered in either paint or tiny cuts?

:( yeah I have. but the car does look great though. I have not had time to do the many stone chips :(:( Taj and I are really looking forward to the weekend. :lol:

:regan: Think I will give that a miss then. :eyes:

Welcome to the club Julian :) check out the PIAA website they have everything you could wish for bulb wise.

www.piaa.co.uk Happy hunting mate :D

Les

Originally posted by lexussport

Zymol is the best product by far.

Yes I would go along with this:):)

Autoglym's gone in the bin, its all hype.

The finish of Zymol is stuning, just stuning.

If you are going to JAE please only approach Steve's and my car with sunshades on as other wise you risk damage to your eyes. :o:o

They are so shiny:lol::lol:

And mine its shiny too :cool:

If you use Mer watch the edges of the car where the paint tends to be a little thinner. a friend of mine had a beautiful cossie. but where he had used Mer all the time the base paint started to show through. on the corners of the car :(:(

Confirmed jae members

is200 including sport....15 members

is300 ...........................2 members

altezza.........................1 member

windom........................1 member

gs300 including sport..4 members

gs430..........................1 member

ls400............................none

ls430............................none

sc430...........................none

rx300...........................none

24 members

:(:( Come on guys and gals e-mail Steve

We were gonna rig up a tube to blow up the air beds... we'll run the tube over to the cars and connect them to the air valves on the tyres.... when you all get to your cars in the morning all the tyres will be flat and well all be lying on our comfy air beds!

wow! green air ????? :lol: Think about it :?:

Has anyone seen or used the scratch and stone chip remover kit, or the alloy wheel repair kit from Halfords? :D

I had superguard applied to my Gs 300 it works well for keeping things like tree sap and birds sh*t from damaging the paint. However, They said to me after this is applied all you ever have to do is wash and leather the car. I have found that it still needs to be waxed for that perfect shine. I was also told that it is mainly for solid colour cars. ie: Red, Dark Blue, Black. it does not work so well on light colour cars. worth considering if you live in a tree lined avenue, or in Trafalga Square with the pigeons.

Has Sporties Son got his tent erecting Badge yet?