ahmed24

Thank you @normski2 Will do the write-up very soon. I've got quite a few videos and write-ups coming as i''ve done quite a lot of electronics mods in the past weeks

The second generation IS250 equipped with auto-folding mirrors does not allow for folding the mirrors once ignition is turned off. This is because the switch is wired via the ACC +12v supply going to the mirror motor. Power folding mirror motors regardless of brand all work in similar way. They have two wires going to the motor. It folds and unfolds based on the polarity of the power supplied to it. The internal switch that folds the mirror basically flips the ACC +12v and ground around going to the 2 wires of the mirror motor. I initially did some testing and was able to operate the mirrors independently using +12v I was going to build my own polarity switching relay circuit but then came across these readily available "Intelligent Universal Auto-Folding Mirror Systems". They sell on the famous bay auction site for as little as £5 from chinese sellers. I purchased mine for £6.49 as that was the cheapest seller that had UK/EU stock which came in a few days. £5 one would have taken 20-30 days to arrive from china which wasn't a great option for the price difference. The price of buying components and prject box etc and making my own unit would have cost me more than £6.49. This system is universal and works on the same principal. As long as it's wired correctly, I had no doubt it would work. The internal mirror fold switch still works just like normal. The module is marketed as being a intelligent folding system. This is because if you fold your mirrors using the internal switch and then turn off the car, the system will not do anything when you lock or unlock the car. It's because lets say you parked in a really tight spot where you had to fold your mirrors with the switch, and then if the system just unfolded it when you unlocked it, that would be a disaster. So the system doesn't operate if you fold the mirror with the switch before turning ignition off. If you leave mirrors normally unfolded and turn off ignition then system operates normally. The system works great. Below is my video demo showing the end result. I will write-up a installation guide in the coming days and post on my blog and on here for anyone who is interested.

+1 try cleaning it as it's very sensitive. More specifically check the rubber gasket ring that sits in the parking sensor. If something like even a small debris or lint from a car wash gets stuck there it will set of the sensor

Thank you. If you need any help or advice feel free to PM me.

Thanks. I wrote a detailed guide on how to wrap those steering wheel controls back in September 2010. It's posted on here and my blog too but I think the pictures may not be working on here. My blog post here: https://is-250.blogspot.com/2010/09/diy-carbonfibre-wrapping-steering-wheel.html Apologies about the blog, it's not been update in a long time, it's very outdated (i've been lazy 🙁) Hopefully soon 😄

It's been a while since I did any mods on my IS250. I've owned it for just over 12 years. I've recently completely resprayed the car to Ultrasonic Blue and have quite a few mods planned in the coming weeks/months. I purchased a stitch-on leather wrap for my IS250 steering wheel. I purchased my leather wrap from AliExpress directly from China. Cost was $26 with FREE delivery and with a extra $4 off coupon. Making total $22 which converted in GBP to around £17. You can get them as cheap as $12 with free shipping. But most of them are synthetic leather. I went for the slightly more expensive one that said genuine cowhide leather. I went for perforated leather with blue stitching. I wanted to add an F Emblem at the bottom of the steering wheel to give the re-trim some uniqueness. F emblems small enough for the steering wheel are hard to find and Lexus don't seem to sell them as replacements. So I designed and printed my own in 3D resin. I cut-out a recess in the original steering wheel and used contact adhesive to form this recess shape on the new leather. The result in my opinion is great. I also re-wrapped my steering switch covers in gloss carbon. The key to a perfect fit is to make sure you stick down the leather and stretch and tightly stitch it together. Cost for project was £17 for leather, £3 for contact adhesive and about £10 for printing a sheet of F emblem and £0.99 for the carbon wrap. Making the total £30.99 Below are some pics and a video of the project including my F emblem design in Adobe Illustrator.

I replaced my digitzer on my unit a while back. There are slightly different variations out there. I purchased a 7.3inch digitzer with a 4pin ribbon cable. I purchased it off the bay for about £10. If you go on the bay and look for part number LTA070B511F this is a 7.3inch display, but I would check with whoever is selling it to make sure it is a 4pin digitizer. To replace the digitizer you need to take the entire unit out and. The original digitizer is stuck on with double-sided tape / glue. Just gently cut away that adhesive and lift away the old digitizer then clean the remaining residue properly giving a clean surface for the new digitizer and then apply new digitzer with some thing digitzer tape. Below are a few pics from back when I replaced my digitizer. Hope it helps.

188k and still running well

Weather has been terrible and i've been lazy to fit the foam spacer behind it. It's the spacer that sits on the headlight unit itself. This pushes the top out.

I'm afraid it is not as simple as just swapping out the Grille. The bumper is completely different between the two variants. The F-Sport bumper is a complete different bumper to the non-Fsport bumper. The regular bumper uses a one piece grille. The F-Sport grille on the other hand comes as two separate pieces. If you have a look at a picture of a F Sport and a non-Fsport, you will notice the difference. One of the most obvious one being the brake Air Scoops on the lower part of the grille.

Failing water pumps are common on the IS250. I bought new Genuine water pump from Lexus Birmingham for just over £100 and replaced it myself. Over on clublexus people have experienced water pump failures from cars with even 45k miles on the clock.

Sorry guys, been very busy haven't had time to update with photos. Happy new year to all and here are some pics of the completed project.

As John said, never heard of solid discs at the front, the ones before 2007 had solid rear discs. Always best to check with your reg and chassis number. In regards to the anti-squeal lubricant, i use a product by Pagid/Mintex (Same Company) called Cera-Tec Brake Lube. You can get a tube from EuroCarParts for under £4. It works great and doesn't contain copper. I don't like the old school copper grease method. Ive always used this and never had even the slightest bit of brake squeal. Also, everytime I work on my brakes, I always re-lubricate my slider pins with genuine Toyota Rubber Grease (slightly more expensive) but prefer the Toyota rubber grease. This is what Lexus use to lubricate the slider pins.

guys what are you doing with so many points on your licenses? i've had my license for a long time and not a single point (touch wood)

here's an interesting read. it's been around for some time, there's lots of threads on clublexus regarding it.

I doubt the problem will come to the UK, I dont think we get that much sun and heat. The problem has been around for a long time in america and members at clublexus have been actively campaigning this and eventually Toyota have agreed to fix.

This might be an interesting read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32622126

You need to re-sync the windows anytime the battery is disconnected. Here's the procedure: Go to each window (not drivers one ofcourse :) ) roll it all the way down, then roll it all the way up again, but do not let go of the switch once it has rolled back up, hold the switch for approximately 4 seconds. Then let go and do the same for all other windows. This will re-sync the windows.

+1 the IS250 is definitely good on long runs. I drove down to Inverness Scotland and got 41.4mpg. In summer 2013 I drove down to Germany and was getting around the 43 mark. Key is to be calm on the throttle. In commuting traffic, i'm getting aroud 24.1ish.

Probably true... but I wouldn't. I do almost 25k (edited, made typo which read 35k lol) miles per year. I alternate between the IS250 and the RX450h, the economy of the RX is better than the IS but then when time comes to change my IS, it will most probably be for the 300h. Right now my IS250 is working well for me, and considering how much cars depreciate, the longer it goes for the more worth it, it becomes.

I haven't had ground loop issues on my IS250, i've been running the A2DP method as main source of audio for 4 and half years. I can only assume only some models are effected. I did however have random Ground Loop issues on my RX450h and fitting an inline Ground Loop isolator like one similar to this seems to have solved the issue. Quite a few people on youtube and my blog messaged me about the ground loop issue and similar inline ground loop isolators seems to have fixed their issues too.

Thanks Arqum, well said. No update yet, very busy week at work. Got some time this coming weekend, so hopefully if all goes to plan, should be done by then :)

Whether you have satnav or not, if i'm not mistaken your car should still have the 3.5mm auxiliary jack in the armrest, this allows you to use the bluetooth A2DP gateway. That's a known ground loop issue with some is250's and 220d's. Lexus published a fix that is free under warranty. if out of warranty, buy yourself a Ground Loop Isolator very cheap on eBay, that should solve the problem.

That's your view buddy and not a view I share. I'm not after an IS-F or an IS350. If i was, I would have bought one. I'm not modding my IS250 because I want it to look like an IS-F, if that was the case I would have got the full IS-F bodykit. I liked the rear-end of the IS-F when it came out and that's when and why I only did the rear-end conversion back then. I've owned my IS250 since it was 12 months old, I am happy with it and have been spending money on it gradually, nothing that kills the bank. I also have a 2013 RX450h. I mod for my own pleasure, not for resale value. A car is always depreciating, unless it's a classic or antique. I didn't buy it back in 2007 with the thought of selling it in mind. The pleasure and satisfaction of the comments I get on the road wherever I go is way worth the effort and money. For me modding is not only creating something to my own taste but also a huge learning platform. I cannot emphasize enough how much knowledge i've gained from modding. This in itself is invaluable and only experience can make you better at what you do (practice makes perfect). I haven't just been modding my Lexus, past few years i've been busy working with "RenaultSport" cars and have been selling a custom made product by me to customers worldwide (mainly Australia, Singapore, Spain, France, Malaysia and UK) Through this I made a profit in the region of £35,000 in a span of 8 months. I see that as an achievement and would not have been possible without the continuous trial and errors of modding. Furthermore, I've also been approached by "Internet Brands, Inc." (The company that runs ClubLexus) to write how-to articles on my mods for a new how-to platform they are launching. This is something i have done and been paid for each article. Being asked to write paid articles for Internet Brands was a pleasure and gave me great satisfaction. This achievement is invaluable to me and was through all the exposure I got through my published mods.

No I've not had to modify the intake at all. The intake still lines up behind the grille as it originally does. Only modifications is that I've adapted the Parking Sensors to fit from the rear like the new style ones.