KentIS300

I got this one.

Got it last year £299 from Halfords, excellent sound (even better with android as it uses HDMI to connect)

Radio reception is poor, althought I am sure it has something to do with my aerial etc... typical Japanese car .

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Car/AppRadio/AppRadio+2+%28SPH-DA100%29

OK I have put them on the car and took a picture.

I need to do claybar, machine polish, sealant and wax ... hopefully tomorrow as weather today has been weird on and off with rain :( :( :(

Vasilis,what type of sprayer is that as it looks like a plastidip sprayer and youve done a great job there mate.

It is just a cheap Earlex ... mostly for DIY at home (ie fences etc...) but I tell you what it has sprayed the bumper on my saab and wheels great lol.

Just have to be thorough to clean it afterwards :)

Hi guys,

Been wanting to refurb my wheels 2 years now ... well since I got my Lexus more less lol as they were badly pitted.

I took them to www.inspraytionsmartrepair.co.uk and got them stripped and sand blasted (like I did with my old Saab 93 Aero wheels)

decided on the colours combo ...

Got the wheels back yesterday (only took 2 days more less to sort them out, thank God as they were busy)

Yesterday

Primered them

1st coat of sparkling graphite colour... it has the metallic content I liked, it is a BMW colour, very sparkly in the sunlight.

2nd coat of sparkling graphte colour.

Today

3rd coat of sparkling graphite colour.

masked them off

1st coat of mica blue Lexus colour (same as the car)

2nd coat of mica blue Lexus colour

Removed masking tape

happy with the result

3 coats of microfan 2000 lacquer ... decided to do that as it is better than spray lacquer, although hate the mixing process lol

And voila all finished.

Painted the center caps sparkling graphite colour as well.

Front Grill painted sparkling graphite (preserved the chrome surrounting)

Lexus backing black holder now is painted mica blue Lexus colour.

And I repaired the nasty tree contract the rear bumper had on the corner ... but I need to leave that a couple of weeks to harden so I can fine wet sand it and make it nice and smooth, match the rest bumper on shine.

over all pleased with the 3 day progress...

Tomorrow I need to do detailing / clay bar / condition the leather / rotary machine the paint and apply sealant and wax.... a busy week so far and a busy weekend :) :)

Pics :

And now with lacquer

I will update the first post to put in names then :)

Wendle a GS an IS ... a Lexus it is :) :)

I will throw some dates and we can look for a meeting then.

Friday or Weekend you think suits the most?

Hello guys,

We must organise and gather up some numbers to make a nice pub meet at this neck of the woods...

Around bluewater area I assume would suit most of us? (doesn't have to be bluewater, but I heard they are OK with small groups).

Any ideas?

Cheers

Vasilis.

I am in Birchington Kent my self

Saturday 29th of June 2013 (from 18:00 onwards)

Attendance List for Bluewater:

KentIS300

Youngiceman87
wendle
LexIS200Sport

Pegs

SherbertMelon + 1
DJW/IS-F

PEPE

Bluesbreaker

Kendall

Dean I think that adds valuable knowledge though to the Thread's owner as it gives a full image of how most of the companies work, it is like a step by step guide :)

This is how I got them back after acid and sand blasted

And this is how they looked after I sprayed them

DIY can be really rewarding :) :) :)

Before

After

I used these guys to acid and sandblast a set of old saab alloys I bought and I painted them my self.

Most of the companies did not want to do half the job ... and would not quote me just for acid dip and sand blast ... which I found annoying... but these guys were more that happy to help me.

My wheels were very bandly pitted and corroded tires even loosing air because of that lol once I got them back they looked like new... and were ready to be painted.

I am going to use them soon to do the same with my Lexus alloys as I want to paint them two tone etc.

They are only in Gravesend.

http://www.inspraytionsmartrepair.co.uk/

Dean glad you got the car saved and not salvaged. :)

It all depends on the small print of the insurance so better before someone makes a claim have a look and avoid the risk of loosing a car they like to keep... assuming that it can be bought back. Best do some research to avoid many phonecalls afterwards :)

By the way I thought you never had the claim submitted with your insurance how on earth they arranged to pick up the car for salvage without it being a write off?

Cheers

Vasilis

I will chip in with my experience too :(

sorry to hear about the accident ... not a nice thing to be faced with especially when you did nothing wrong.

2 years ago another car backed out and revered on a busy main road managed to hit me b-pillar and all the way back to the rear liht (I was still moving not stationary when that happened.) The car was my Ford Probe, which I had as a run around car at the time.

Since the car had a quarter panel damage that is when the costs go up ... and they will not repair it as it always goes to £1000s£ just because welding cutting is involved ... although the other driver admited fault at the point of accident later at their insurance said that it was not tjeir fault.

My trade insurance acted faultlesly and made them change their mind and in 2 months all around I had a pay off, but my car written off as CAT C. Mind you I was still driving the car in the mean time as it was fully drivable, it was only cosmetic damage.

Anyhow I was told the "common practice about buying the car back" has changed.

If the car is written off by the other party insurer they have not right to get the car from you as they never insured your car. So they pay you off and keep an amound from the pay off so you have the car.

If the car is written off by your insurance (where the car was insured on) it is a 95% of the cases that you will not be able to buy the car back from them as there is a clause in their terms and conditions that the car does not belong to you after the pay off. I hope this is not the case for you and things will be easy. But please check if you were planning to keep the car and claim, because the communication with the insurer will take for ages!

I was lucky by the fact that my insurer hired a 3rd party specialised dealing with my claim, it was all based in UK and all sorted very quickly and satisfactory, I was contacted always by them before I felt the need to contact them.

oh yes this is the first thing I am going to do before I order anything.

Yes everything will be put installed by me and my mate (Who is a Mechanic) serviced all my cars now for many years so he agreed to it ;) the pipework costs about $300 but that includes a GodSpeed turbo I am not planning to use lol.

So then I have £1300 to spend on piggy back ECU, Turbo, Intercooler.

Not sure yet if they will be brand new or recon ...

lol ...well I just want the pipework from eBay ... (GodSpeed) so have to come from US. And then from UK I will source the turbo and intercooler. Havent done the math yet but about £1500.00 I have in mind.

That will be parts only... allowance

Hi Kent I thought u already hav k & n intake ?

Yes my car has K&N Typhoon intake since I bought it. But I never thought to link the pause in the very occasional 1 --> 2 nd gear with the intake and the non correct aftemarket ECU mapping.

I also have a momentarily loss ... in the power when I accelerate fast and from 90 to 92mph and then picks up again just a dip in the RPM's... I am sure that will be related to the factory mapping and having an aftermarket intake solution... (K&N).

I am not that bothered for the time being, the plan is soon to get the Turbo kit and I will piggy back ECU and will remap ... so that should not be there then.

OK, apologies, Mister Ken. The IS300 engine is torquey, but in comparison to other cars, with larger engines, it might not be as torquey and this might result in me feeling as if it does not respond as well as it should.

Can't compare anything with the good old 5-speed auto from Merc though. Even the current 7-speed does not come anywhere close.

Had torque converter just packing up on my S63: 65000 miles. ***** of MB UK call it "normal wear in tear"...

hahaha no worries I will not go in a debate going on how superior supercar that 300 is ... wink wink hahahaha

But I must agree I think the Merc 5 speed is a really smooth box. However they pack up as well ... never heard on an S or a CL class though.

The 7 Speed ones they just cannot make up their mind on what gear they want to be in ..... The first automatic I had driven was back in Scotland visiting family... and went to rent a Punto (Europcar) and .. they did not have it the next available car they had and I would not pay anything extra was an E200 Elegance (07 model!!!) LOL Auto,. ... loved the car but everytime you found a slight incline!! it was kicking down!! no engine power!! aarrggg

The most annoying I found with the IS300 is when you are on a cruise control on an open uphill bend going with 70mph... and it decides to downshift ... scares the **** of me ... and sometimes it might down**** two gears down ... depending on how steep the uphill is ... lol. No matter how many times it happens I am always not prepared lol

You know I have not thought of that ... good point. Might have to do with the K&N intake in mine too lol, good point.

I have to kind of disagree here about the engine not being torque(y) in the low revs, the throttle responsive is instant. Well instant enough to surprise a friend who had a Porsche 911 Carrera (07) model (with the dreadful tiptronic gearbox) ofcourse he was only surprised on how respoinsive the IS was from standstill ... no further match lol ... (for the reference he now has a 911 Turbo (11) model and ... wow that is what I am only saying electrifying lol)

I just think an oil change is over due if you cannot see in the history of the car ... like any oil regardless mileage even if the car is low on mileage the time has past it... so you will see a benefit if you care about the car to change the oil with fresh as time is not a friend on this case. :)

P.S. The gearbox on our Mercedes CL500 which is an older car 2000model and it is a 5 Speed auto has no hesitation or problems, the car has done 145.000miles now and the oil never changed. But again it is a different design etc, plus it is a much more powerful engine.

The PWR option just holds the revs higher between the automatic changes when in Auto mode (D) ... goes closer the limiter and has more sharp changes ... favouring the peformance rather the comfort.

I do not think that PWR does makes any difference when you use the buttons on the steering wheel on the M mode..

I have read this somewhere else in the US sites and they were saying that filter exists.

After a google I have found this.

http://www.partsgeek.com/mmparts/transmission_filter/lexus/is300.html

ooppss sorry read the whole post after I posted... anyway at least you have a complete idea of options the guys posted as well etc :) :)

Hi

Just taken delivery of my 05 IS200, absolute quality.

The only thing i really want to upgrade is the stereo but i literally dont know where to start. Got no experience with the wiring so i'd rather a pro did it for me. I've had a quick look online but i cant find what systems are compatible with my car, checked halfords website but in the compatibility tool lexus isnt an option for some reason.

All i need is a unit with a usb connection, only need it for playing music. Wont be making calls or using is it as a sat nav. Not really fussed on improving the sound as the speakers seem tidy enough anyway.

Any idea on where i should start?

Hello Ben,

Wellcome to the site :)

Since you ask for upgrade of the headunit I will go right to the subject of that ... and not how you can keep the original headunit.

You can have a 1DIN unit or a 2DIN unit ... Halfords might tell you the Lexus does not take an aftermarket 2DIN unit , but this incorrect.

In my car I had a 1DIN alpine headunit this is the one I bought the car with and now I have a 2DIN pioneer unit

I quote the model numbers to get an idea for sizes.

1 DIN Alpine iDA x305

2 DIN Pioneer Appradio 2

In both cases there is a fascia kit which can accomodate both 1 DIN and 2 DIN and looks really nice with the car plastics ... you dont know its aftermarket to be honest. Here is a link so you know how it looks like. I did not buy mine as it came with the car.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXUS-IS300-IS200-2001-2004-CD-Stereo-Fascia-Panel-/270643336934

You will need to bypass the factory amplifier ... but this will be easy to do by someone who has done a couple of installations before.

This is how my 2DIN Pioneer Unit looks like

And this is how my 1DIN Alpine unit looked like, I know the picture is not the best but if you zoom you will be able to see.

Mine usually does it when it is warm and in traffic jams ... hasnt done it for about 5 months now to be honest.

So I am stuck in a traffic jam and I want to accelerate slowly... it will stick on the first gear and then it will change with a delay to the second ... thinking that you bumped on something ...

it only does it from 1st to 2nd.

But I am convinced it is just an oil change that will cure it. After all the car is 11yo now.

Well officially white outside

IS is covered lol white!!

and I have been away a few months from the Forum ... and I come back to this again ... lol ROFL

here are some links, I am not sure how often it is meant to be changed, someone else might have a better idea on this

a link on this Forum

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=63105

on a different forum they mention the process here, but make sure you use the correct fluid (Toyota) and not a Dexron....

http://my.is/forums/f65/is300-auto-transmission-drain-refill-flush-340994/