plastic orange

Yes, if possible lol. Seriously though, cars parked beside the sea and cars in areas with heavily salted roads are much worse than those from drier regions. Not too many folk bother to wash down the underside to clear the salt after a drive, and the RX's aren't well protected underneath. Water ingress to interior shouldn't be a thing with modern cars, but our RX leaked like a sieve. Pete

Make sure you check for rust underneath and interior water leaks. Try and buy a car from as dry and salt free location as you can find. Pete

If using ACF50, don't let any of it drop on a monoblock drive as you'll really struggle to clean it afterwards (almost impossible) - don't ask me how I know lol. Pete

Our RX 300 and my Daughter in laws one of the same age looked pretty shabby underneath, despite us coating them with Bilt Hamber products when we bought them about 5 years previously. However, only comments on MOT was regarding the copious amount of bilt hamber product on underside lol. On our one, all the mounting points for the undertrays were unserviceable, and one support had to be removed due to terminal rot (not an mot fail though). Our solution to the issue was to move them both on and we bought newer vehicles, but not lexus. Strangely, both ended up in the same dealer down south despite us trading them into different garages. I'm assuming they were sold at auction and bought by the dealer down south. I'd guess both have limited life left in them due to corrosion, but mechanically and looks wise they were nice cars. It's a pity that Lexus don't protect their cars better in this regard. Incidentally, when we bought them, they were the best condition ones we could find, I looked at some horrors. We are both happy with our newer vehicles and to date they have proved cheaper to run than the RX's, plus in the current climate worth a good bit more than what we paid. Pete

I don't think the DHP springs are available as I looked some years ago and couldn't find any. It may be possible for old stock to be gathering dust on shelves somewhere though - who knows. I believe fitting coilovers may be the solution if maintaing the ride height and handling is important. Mine had an inch broken off the bottom of a front spring, but it still worked, and coilovers would have been my option if it had failed further. I do believe there are some spring manufacturers that could replicate the fitment, but I didn't explore that. Yes, /70 was a typo, but I can't now edit it.

Whilst checking for underbody rust, check interior for water leaks. These 2 issues were enough for me to move ours on. Pete

DHP should be as stated previously 245/70 x17 (Jag XK 8 fitment). When I looked to replace the pirellis fitted I had 2 choices, both nearly £250 a tyre (this was in 2010). I decided to go down a width and got tyres for around £100 each (falkens). By going down a size, the speedo read faster than it should, so next tyre change I went for 235/55 x17's which brought speedo reading back closer to what it should be. It did read about 2 mph faster than actual speed though, and this increased to 3 when tyres wore down. I always used Falken tyres in my 12 years of ownership, and whilst their grip was superb, they didn't last long, but i'd rather not end up in a ditch, so I was fine with that. I'll look forward to hear what the new owner experiences in regard to future tyre choice. Pete

We got rid of ours due to water ingress and rust. They really aren't well protected underneath at all. If it's still got an mot try moving it on through one of the car buying sites. However, if it's got a fail against it, that won't work as they'll check. Can you do the work yourself as that will save a lot of money? Pete

I'd been promised a replacement sat nav unit when it went belly up (on a trip to Skye), but kept getting fobbed off by a local guy breaking an LS, so I just lived without it. I too couldn't see anything wrong with it. For years now, I've used Mobil 1 0-40 from costco, plus either a Wix or Toyota filter. Oil does remain clean between changes though. Windscreen will obviously be damaged and need replaced to coincide with paintwork I'd guess - roads are in a shocking state. Glad you're still enjoying it and nice to hear of updates. Pete

I'm glad you're enjoying it Gavin and hope it gives you many years of enjoyment as it's a great car. 35 mpg is good too, but it won't be used to cruising so slowly. Brakes should be bedded in by now too. Corvette arrives around 7 pm tonight. Pete

Mine is for sale - in the for sale section, and only £2k for a DHP model in the best colour. Pete

I've just ordered EBC discs and pads to give these a try. Looking back my records, the Pagid discs have actually done 30k, so that's not too bad. Although I'm hoping to sell my car, I'd feel more comfortable selling it with new parts. I priced up getting the discs skimmed on the car, and the charge for this was £120, so for an extra £19 I've got new discs and pads. Pete

I've just posted my 1999 LS400 dhp on the for sale section. It's not getting used much these days and I fancy a change. Pete

I would have expected better wear from discs, but like most large heavy cars, they go through them quickly. I dare say I could have them skimmed to save some money. Pete

I wouldn't think being a DHP would make any difference. Looking at options, I may try EBC this time as i'm not sure how much longer i'll be keeping the car. Pete

I've replaced 2 sets of discs and need to do a third. Originals lasted 20k till shaking, blueprint, 10k till starting to shake and pagid 20k. I'm going to try originals again as the pagid ones are now shaking unacceptably. Best pads used so far were Ferodo Premium, but they seen unobtainable now, pagid pads are very dusty. Pete

No, most of the ones i've looked at of a similar age are roughly similar. When looking I discarded quite a few that were really bad, and the one we bought was the best we could find - 6 years ago though. I did attempt refurbing, but when I discovered every single fastening for the undertrays being U/S I gave up, especially when one support had actually broken through rust. Strangely, My LS 400 is vastly better for corrosion protection despite being 6 years older. The water ingress was really what made us move it on - think swimming pool. Pete

We got rid of ours last year as the underside looked like it had been parked in the sea, plus the undertrays had to be attached by tie wraps as the mountings had all disintegrated. Our daughter in law sold hers at the same time and it's underside was similar. For a quality car I wasn't best impressed, and coupled with water ingress would make buying another a big decision. They are nice cars though, but check very carefully, Pete

I use classicline for my cars and they are very good when the worst happens apparently. Pete

The tin lid so to speak for the RX was the shocking state of the underside and the water leaks. Pete

Yes, they do fit, as a guy in my area has one with all LS running gear. However I'm down to 3 Minors now, but have a 1953 Chevy Bel Air fitted with a 6 litre V8. My Lexus gets little use these days and doesn't go out in the winter unless necessary. It really needs me to attend to all the annoying electrical stuff, plus it needs the windscreen taken out to fix the usual rust at the top of it, plus rear N/s wheel arch tidying. I just keep putting it off as it still drives and looks pretty good, plus I've other cars to look after. Still, I've had it nearly 12 years now, so it's done well. I've taken a notion to a C5 Corvette though, so who knows? Pete

We went through a similar process to replace my wife's RX 300. We ended up with a Seat Ateca 190hp 4 drive tdi. 0 - 60 in 7.3 seconds and averages 40 mpg and handles superbly. Obviously not as nicely finished as a lexus, but in terms of all round performance, we're delighted. It's not as big or heavy as the RX, but that's fine. Myself, I don't miss the Lexus at all. Pete

When the adjustments failed on mine, I just set it to suit my driving position as I understood that the motors on the Mk4's can't be fixed, just replaced. It was easy enough to do once shrouds were removed, and all parts in there looked very well made, but obviously lifed. My car is slowly failing electrically, but still drives fine, but there must come a time in the future where it will be 1 fault too many and it's time to go. Pete

There is one local to me, plus a few others in the UK. It's quite a wide engine and fills the engine bay. Obviously, not much of the original minor is retained to fit it. Mine are Rover 3.9 and Chevrolet LS1. Pete

I've had 2 Bosch batteries in 11 years, so quite happy with them - and they fit correctly. However, due to lockdown my car isn't used much at all, so i give it a charge every month to keep things fine. Worst batteries I've had were motobat for my bikes - 1 lasted ok, the other 13 months. My biking friends have had similar experiences with them, so I guess it's just your luck. incidentally, the 18 year old battery on my V8 Morris Minor is still fine. Pete