ChrisIS200SportTTE

They wanted £200 each for the callipers which I paid but then wanted an extra £300 in labour charge which I didn't pay. Got my mechanic mate to fit them on mates rates. It's about £350 per calliper fitted from a main dealer

Barn

Did u see what I wrote on the ball joints thread? Jack your car up so the wheel is off the floor. Now hold the wheel at 12 and 6 o clock. Now push and pull at your wheel. It should be pretty solid. Also try it at 9 and 3 o clock. If there is a lot of play in the wheel then ball joint and excess play is an MOT failure

Still sounds like ball joints....

I replied to your other thread mate, If it is ball joints it will fail the MOT if there is excessive play. You can test this yourself. Jack your car up so the wheel is off the floor. Now hold it and 12 o clock and 6 o clock and push and pull your wheel. It shouldn't move. Also do it holding it and 9 and 3 o clock

Sounds like ball joints to me mate....

Yeah Ray it's been a rubbish couple of days, but I've calmed down a lot and totally forgot about the S3. Bit of a chav car innit! Lol... The wheel Refurbers who did my spare say they can sort out the buckled wheel so not too much drama. And you're right I wish it was blue! :) Ben, I know mate. It's the best looking car I've ever owned and the car that's given me most pleasure if I'm honest. So I'm going to get it fixed up. Noreen, I was having doubts but they were while I was angry. I have had a few issues with this car, more than I anticipated but at the end of the day it's a lovely car! Yes I have plenty of experience with Lexus dealers and am known to Lexus Bristol. They always answer the phone greeting me with my name and I get on well with Nigel the service manager. He has a blue IS200. Lexus Bristol did my cambelt, aux belts, 100k service and I bought 2 new front brake callipers from them and some trim when a fence fell on my car (see how I think I'm jinxed with the Lex?) My car is also going back to Lexus on Friday to have a good look over after my incident. The car is driving with a steering wheel wobble and a vibration through my seat so I think I've done more damage. And no it's nothing simple and basic like wheel balancing. :( A diagnostic is about £60 at Lexus but they've waved that fee if I then have the subsequent work done there. I also bought a spare key from them and they coded it for free as a goodwill gesture as I'd put a lot of buismess their way.

Spotted

This was a good week for me... I only drove the last half of the tank carefully after reading this thread and the light hasn't come on yet.

you cant change trip reading between mile and km I belive Lol I know... Only joking :)

I reckon his trip is in KM....

Yeah I know Matt, it's cars. I just prob expected more after buying one with a full Lexus history etc.... In regards to the ZX, yes both turbo's went but the point I was trying to make is I didn't get these little probs with those 2 cars. No sensors failures, no breaks seizing, no puddles of fluids under the car in the morning. I knew when I bought the ZX that it was 9 nearly 10 years old and I was aware that the turbos notoriously went around that age... But yeah your right maybe I'm just feeling a bit sorry for myself lol! My last car, an 08 Honda Accord was Superb, that never had a thing go wrong but it was a lot newer! At the end of the day I've formed a stupid attachment to this bloody Lexus, and I'll guess I'll keep throwing my money at it because when all is said and done I still have a little smile when I walk towards it and I get compliments on how nice it looks all the time. Also when I meet other IS200 owners a lot say to me "wish mine looked that" :)

I now it's nothing out of the ordinary Matt, but I've spent more on this car which is 12 years old than I ever did on my Nissan Primera (95 model owned in 2005) or my Nissan 300zx (91 model owned 2002-2003) The only thing that ever went wrong with the 300ZX was the turbo's both went so I had to get rid but the Primera never had an issue in 13 months of motoring and i bought that with no service history. I ended up putting that Primera into the side of Dartford Tunnel and wrote it off.... :( I've calmed down a bit now since last night. The car is back on the road albeit with a horrendous shake which comes through the steering wheel and floor at speeds above 50mph. I'm going to get Lexus Bristol to diagnose it for me on Friday and go from there.... I'm thinking maybe damaged the prop shaft or ball joints gone or wheel bearings??? At least If I pay Lexus for a diagnosis I'll know exactly what's wrong with it.

Yeah become a gold member... I got 2 :)

I understand that Matt but I've just had more bad luck with this car than any other... In the last year, 2 siezed callipers Leaking power steering fluid hose leaking onto steering rack Lower control arm suspension bushes Leaky fuel injector causing the car to run on and throw up mis fire codes (took a week to diagnose this correctly) O2 sensor Brake fluid leak Now considering the Lexus reliability I think that's a lot in the space of 12 months. Not to mention cambelt change, 100k/10 year service, new aux belts, new battery, 4 new tyres, 4 new brake discs, 4 new brake pads.

It just needs tyres for MOT, or so the bloke says. Yeah I've got a big decision to make I think!

Thanks for the replies guys... Yes I will indeed be taking a picture of the offending pot hole and I will be fighting this all the way. The car is in the garage now, getting a look at. Got my mates spare wheel so that's going on the car as well. Going to try and get to WIM in Friday so Tony and his guys can have a good, thorough look at everything. As regards to the Audi Stuart its on an 07 plate with 65k on the clock, full Audi service history. It needs four new tyres however and has no MOT. It's just about affordable for me and am giving it serious consideration.

I may be coming in an Audi....

Driving home from work tonight and BANG! Hit a massive pothole, covered by a puddle. Right in the middle if the road. I hit it drivers side!! I was only doing 45mph on a 60mph limit road as it was raining heavily and foggy. I Pulled in at an petrol station a few hundred yards away, that's where my good fortune ended. Got out and saw straight away the back tyre completely flat! It wouldn't take any air so I thought I'd blown the tyre. So I went to work removing the back wheel. When I had the wheel off the tyre looked fine but after a minute or two I realised there was actually nothing wrong with the tyre and saw the that the wheel was buckled! What are they made of? Butter??? To top it all off yesterday I took the spare to the alloy wheel refurb place. I'm getting them to do 1 so I can see the results. Anyway bottom line is no spare! I tried to bend the wheel back into shape with a hammer with some success. I bent it enough so that it took the correct PSI without leaking and fitted it back to the car. Checked the front tyre and it looked ok and hadnt lost any air. So I proceeded to drive home at 30mph. It was the worst drive ever! I was experiencing some slight steering wheel wobble before but now it was really bad. I think I might have buckled the front wheel as well although obviously not as bad as the rear or damaged some suspension components or finished off the suspected failing ball joints. All in all a pretty awful night. Gonna take the car to a local tyre place that's open Sunday's tomorrow (not s*it fit) to have a look for me and get it up on a ramp. My mate has a spare Aero wheel luckily and is lending me it to put on the car to replace the badly buckled wheel until mine comes back from the refurb. Getting a bit fed up with the Lex now to be honest. It's just one thing after another! I'm jinxed with this car and I just may be wound up now but I'm so close to getting rid of it and buying an Audi S3 that's been up for sale at the bottom of my street for a month! It looked very tempting as I limped into my street just now.....

Another 40 miles today. Didn't have the window down so couldn't hear the whistle. No vibration again, drove beautifully. Could something temporary have been causing the steering wheel vibration?? I'll keep monitoring it and I'm still gonna get it set up by WIM.

Very nice :) I'd sell mine if I could find a 300 like that. What's the mileage?

Thanks. That's a huge help. Well the car drove 68 miles today absolutely faultless! The whistle was still there but not as loud and it wasn't constant, came and went. No sign of vibration tho. Smooth as you like! There's obviously something wrong. I don't think it just miraculously cured itself! Lol. I'm going to try to get to WIM a week Friday, book it in for full geometry and get them to look at it and see what's what before it gets worse. Thanks again, if it is ball joints I know where to get them now.

Good news :)

Never had a problem with Lexus customer service. It's the best I've ever experienced :)

Agree with Ray..... It's just too thirsty for the lack of power! And also I would hate to be stuck behind you Stuart, you must drive everywhere at 30mph in 6th gear