mikeyv

£120 seems a good price to me, think they are off a later LS (17"), but are fitted to a MK IV LS400 at a scrappers in Southport. I have no connection to them, apart from dealing with them over the phone for another part off the same car, and finding them very easy to deal with. Here's the ebay link http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexuss-400-Set-Of-17in-Wheels-/231726461298?hash=item35f3f93172:g:ZogAAOSw5ZBWJi-X

I think you might be less surprised, should you get the required part numbers, when Lexus tell you the price. My guess would be somewhere north of £2K, to supply and fit, but you never know you're luck. If you will only accept genuine parts, I would have thought a visit to the Lexus parts counter was your best course of action? Please let us know if you do find out.

Yes, excellent post, thanks for taking the time. Thing is, even if you're not happy to diy, at least, armed with this knowledge, you could pay somebody for four hours labour and still be £5K + better off. Are the cells available new at all, and if so how much?

Found it. http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/96865-ls430-air-suspension-conversion-to-coil-springs/

I recently bought some bits from ECP, it was a few quid cheaper online, and delivered next day, than over the counter. Seems daft to me, but there you go.

Yes, somebody on this forum did the conversion, using parts from the US I believe, can't remember who though, sorry.

I managed about 15 minutes of this before hitting the off button, like watching paint dry. Why is it so hard to produce a decent motoring programme? Must say though, am really enjoying the 3 year old fifth gear series, currently running on Quest, how anybody could prefer TG is beyond me.

Tosh is putting it politely!! I watched last weeks show, where these clowns fought over a Focus with next to no mot left, and with crumbling sills. The lucky winner ended up scrapping it and losing money. I only managed 5 minutes tonight before turning it off, makes wheeler dealers look like a Hollywood production.

Can't help thinking thirty quid to put 13 months mot on, when selling, is money well spent, both in terms of attracting buyers, and giving them one less reason to knock you down on price. Agreed about auto trader, seems to attract time wasters like a magnet. Thanks for your posts about the IS-F, I've enjoyed reading them, and good luck with your next motor.

Just don't ask the wife to get the ticket. My dear lady got confused as to the Reg details and when went back to buy another ticket is wouldn't allow it. - Month later Penalty Notice for £72.50 duly arrived and of course the damn receipt for the original ticket and the attempt at correction somehow either left in France or whatever. Managed to plead our way out of paying but I do the buying from now on!! Well done you for not paying. It really eats away at me that these days poor little Joe public make the smallest of mistakes quite innocently and you are immediately hammered with a financial penalty way out of proportion with the mistake but bankers, civil servants, local and government and corporate upper management never or rarely at best ever get to be held for their misdemeanors involving billions £ and sometimes lives, mostly will be asked to leave with a huge golden handshake only to pop up somewhere else ready to do as badly as they have done before. Keep up the good fight. Mike. Couldn't agree more, absolutely scandalous.

Clayed using farecla mitt, then polished using megs stuff that came with DA6 I bought about a year back, but been too busy to use!

Just starting on Quest+1, I won't be bothering though, must have watched it a dozen times already!!

Thanks Iain, sounds like they are exactly what they say they are, basically selling auction cars, but with the benefit of a more thorough testing period than is possible at the actual auction. I bought a car a few years ago, from another ebay outfit in reading, called deutsche marques, who did the same type of thing, but they've gone more upmarket these days. My car was a good one, a Honda Accord estate which never missed a beat over two years and sold to we buy any car for only a couple of hundred less than I paid for it. Hope your as lucky as I was.

Was this from cars with no reserve in Reading? There was a thread a while back regarding their selling "terms", would be interested in your experience, if it was from them.

I can recommend clicking on spotted laurels link to his flickr album, as an ex laurel, crown, 280c estate, bluebird, camry, etc, etc owner and fan, I've just spent an hour browsing it, and many happy memories came flooding back, as well as a few less happy, corrosion related ones!!

The problem with a 460 or 600 as an old car, will be the complexity and cost of any faults. I seem to recall a post on here relating to the 600, where the repair cost was several thousand, which I'm afraid equates to a write off in the bangernomics community. Compared to the 400 and 430, the 460 and 600 are pretty rare, so finding s/h spares will be difficult at best, and unlike a 400/430, you won't be able to buy another so easily if you scrap yours. There's a 460 on ebay that I have on watch, it has a problem or two(cat C for starters!), but what a gorgeous interior. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361384872827?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I hear it's even easier to clock them now, just plug in your lappy and, with the right software, pick your mileage. Against that, there is more scope to check previous mileage readings now, mot etc.

....until the motor fails....... Or they corrode from the inside, or the double glazing goes cloudy............hmmm, maybe I'll just make sure mine are properly shut. Rain sensitive wipers, self closing doors, automatic lights.............answers to questions that nobody asked imo, not to mention unreliable and costly to fix. You can keep the rain sensing W/W's and the automatic lights but self closing doors - yes please. Never had a problem on my S320 (18 yrs young) and no cloudy D/Glazing. Mind you the windscreen and the rear window had bad lamination at the bottom. Windscreen got replaced during my six years but not rear screen. Just had to put black insulation tape along bottom and part of the sides of glass to hide from MOT inspector. Great not to see any clouding on the Lexus - another plus! - and its quieter than the double glazed Merc IMO. But what if,,,d/glazed, soft closure LS400 Mk 2 - (oh and electrical folding mirrors) would have totally destroyed Mercedes sales. Not so sure Stuart, unfortunately for Toyota they struggle with our badge snobbery in the UK, so being better isn't enough, though I do wonder if the German brands will suffer from lack of exclusivity, now our roads are full of them?

As I don't own a Lexus anymore this will be my last post! This kind of bickering has plagued the Lexus forum ever since I've been a member, and I don't want to be part of it. I certainly won't be alone in saying that much "smugness" on the part of LS400 owners has always got the back up of LS430 owners, the majority of whom have not even owned one. How about getting back to what's important, being a car owners forum that offers help and advice, and remembering that all Lexus models are great cars? I would have said that the remarks have flowed both ways, in fact this thread WAS about a problem with a 400, until a 430 owner posted about self closing doors! But frankly, who cares, it's just a bit of banter about a couple of banger money cars, no need to make it personal.

deleted as quotes got messed up .

Hardly a bag of rubbish, but I started out with the intention of buying a 430 a few years back, and after a fair bit of research decided a 400 might be less troublesome. This is partly because of the extra toys on the 430, in particular the air suspension. So, for me, it comes down to what matters more to you, and I value reliability over toys, some of which I find utterly pointless. My swipe at the wipers, lights etc wasn't aimed at the 430 in particular.

I've seen a few old Mercs at auction recently, 10 - 12 yrs old, and they all had quite serious looking rust, strange for a supposedly "premium" brand. As to looks, most modern cars look bloated to me, probably due to pedestrian friendly stuff?

I've seen a few mentions on this forum Graham, a couple of 430s and also a Land Cruiser from memory, but even if the risk is small, the cost to repair would likely be horrendous, whereas a replacement radiator, probably a couple of hundred? Not much for peace of mind.

....until the motor fails....... Or they corrode from the inside, or the double glazing goes cloudy............hmmm, maybe I'll just make sure mine are properly shut. Rain sensitive wipers, self closing doors, automatic lights.............answers to questions that nobody asked imo, not to mention unreliable and costly to fix.

There is a known problem with the radiator, also afflicts other Toyota vehicles I believe, where coolant is allowed to mix with transmission fluid, due to corrosion, with predictably disastrous results for the auto box.