Paradroid

How much would it cost us to buy them all up and get them crushed? A service to the Lexus brand!

I only tend to go out round there in the late afternoons, so can't tell you much about late bars and clubs! But the PrintWorks has lots of pubs and bars which are all next door to each other, another big area for going out is right down the other end of Deansgate - round the Great Northern Warehouse. While I was looking for that name of that big warehouse I came across this which might help you mate http://www.manchesterbars.com/

That's an interesting move to make. Must admit that although the new IS is very modern and sophisticated, the original one has more individuality especially with the interior. The IS200 has very clean styling too which hasn't dated much. I'd still happily swap my IS200 for a new IS250 SR though. Having said that if my IS200 was immaculate, low mileage and in a colour I preferred it would be a very close thing.

I feel for you, that's really not what you need. Hope the other party gets in some trouble for their dishonesty. I got a scratch on the drivers door of my silver IS over the weekend, not what I needed after spending the best part of £500 getting the suspension repaired and being without it for a week. Luckily it was the kind that buffed out with some Scratch-X so that cheered me up a bit.

1) I know what you mean, my dad has an MG ZT diesel, it's a 54 plate and has done 17000 miles. Not worth it, he should have got the 2.5V6!!! But he prefers diesel. 2) Agreed, I don't like them either!

You have to be doing at least 15k miles a year to get any financial benefit out of owning a diesel car. And that's an old figure, with the difference in fuel prices these days it'll be more. So why not have the smoothness of petrol instead? Plus some newer diesels are finicky about doing low mileages i.e. lots of short trips.

Ah I see, it wasn't obvious off those pictures I thought they were the normal 11 spoke off the later models.

I think the cat has to be physically present on petrol cars doesn't it, diesels don't need the cat for MoT. So if you don't want to mess about at MoT time get a standard cat and gut it (but you could still fail on emissions) or get a sports cat. Would there be much gain on an IS200 though?

Wozza I didn't know our cars looked so similar! Mine is the same colour, same wheels and has the sports grill. Mine still has the standard rear fogs though. I've used a clay bar a few times and the results have been good. Think my IS would benefit from it actually, it spent last week sitting in a body repair shop :(

Well I've had chance to look the car over properly today in daylight. Well it was sort-of daylight, anyway... The wheel is still about 1cm further back than the other side. Could this just be differences in geometry? I have no idea what the geometry is set to on the repaired side but don't think it's the WIM settings, whereas the other side should be. Tony - you mentioned you increase the castor angle to move the wheel further forward - would this account for the 1cm differenc or could something else be wrong? The garage where I took it was certain there is nothing else wrong...

Probably the same reason I can't look at them either, I think there's a slight issue with this forum. Could one of the mods take a look? All they should need to do is register a new account for testing and see if they can view image attachments on this forum. If they can I'd like to know why their account is different to mine!

Happy birthday Matt Any more Blackpool or Wigan meets planned? I'm in Wigan.

Wayhay, finally got the car back!!!!!!!!! I'm well pleased. Didn't realise how spoilt you get driving a Lexus, I was in an 06 plate Ford Fusion, perfectly nice car, but just didn't feel like my Lexus! Anyway, the car feels good. It's really come together now, especially compared to what it was like when I first got it. The parts changed were the lower suspension arm, track rod, and the bracket that holds it all together. Only thing now is I have WIM settings on the nearside, and standard settings on the offside (not as much castor). It definitely proves out how much difference the WIM settings make, the car is much more sure of right turns where the weight goes on the nearside! Hoping to get final adjustments to geometry soon :)

That's good of you to speak to them about their prices. What bothered me was 3 hours labour equalling £170+VAT. 170 doesn't cleanly divide by three does it? Which made me suspicious that they were trying to pull my pants down!

Also: 4. You're playing with fire and might end up buying one and going skint

I've been looking at getting one of these too, but will have to wait now after the "suspension incident". Would be interested to know the best place to get one, are they only available 2nd hand now?

That's very interesting I paid £140 + VAT. Think my car was quite straightforward to do apart from one corner which was a problem. I thought that was a bit steep to be honest. Also they quoted me to replace the bent suspension arm, they wanted £280+VAT. Part was £110 they said so £170 for three hours labour. A bit rich for my blood that. I took it to my usual place and paid £170 all in.

Outstanding!!!! I'd like one that says something like "retrospectively shafted up the a** for £430". I'm sure someone can come up with something funnier but you know what I mean :)

To be honest I'm happy in a way that the arm is being done, it's more expense but at least now I know the car will be spot on. I know what you mean about the geometry. The garage will be able to sort out the horrendous camber and toe I had after the arm was replaced (caused by Drury Lane trying to align before they realised the lower arm was bent) which I think will make the car safe to drive. I'll try and get the WIM settings done soon after that :)

Well Tony you were right again! Garage changed the bracket today, wheel still wasn't in right place. So next he undid the bolt at the end of the tie rod (where it joins the lower arm is it?) and sure enough the wheel snapped back to the correct position. New tie rod hopefully coming tomorrow on special order, he's going to try and let me have the car back tomorrow night. Can't wait, am really missing it!

It's normal practice for your insurance premium to go up, even if you have got another years NCB. They all try it on, it happens with house insurance too. They hope to make a profit out of people who can't be bothered to shop around. Go on moneysavingexpert's site and follow his process to get the best quotes, i think it's check Direct Line (not applicable to you!), Tesco and then moneysupermarket.com to get quotes of loads of other places.

That car looks like a nightmare! I like Supras, but that one has far too much power, it's writhing all over the place. You'd be in danger of doing a James May and crashing going in a straight line.

That's in the region of what Tony would charge, but it's not what Drury Lane would charge - I can vouch for that. For 100 miles I'd definitely go to WIM, I'm 200+ miles away.

Yeah, brilliant stuff :)

:) If it was me I'd be kicking off, putting it in writing and all that. He's not the type to kick up a fuss though, so will probably end up putting up with it. Might make it hard for him to sell the car on though, 1999 model and £400 a year tax, people will not be keen