matt-c

If anyone has for sale, or thinking about selling theirs, I'm looking for a TRD front lip, and the mesh "Sports" grille - basically, like this; Ideally I'd be wanting in Platinum Ice (1CO), as I'd rather not have to faff about getting them/it painted Thanks!

Lucky sod - I'd really love to get my hands on a pair (front and rear) TTE bumpers for my Sport! Those, in conjunction with the 18" rims, make for the perfect IS for me! How awesome does that look?!?! So much so, I was seriously contemplating, at only a week after buying mine, of buying another I found, that had the TTE kit and 18's, just to swap the bumpers, rims and grille over, then sell it on... How much did you pay for the TTE bumper, if you don't mind my asking?

It's been a long time since I removed a Lexus door panel (I'm a windscreen fitter) - probably about 4 years! But from memory they are very easy. Just a couple screws in the door handle, one in the door catch release, and the rest of the door pad is on poppers. A flat blade scraper will help you get behind the pad in the bottom corner and pull it towards you till you hear and feel the poppers release from the door. As said you can then reach behind to find the cable, poke it through and then smack the pad back down (making sure the poppers are aligned first)

I just bought one of these; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320537318530?redirect=mobile#ht_869wt_689 It's a 5cm aluminium aerial that screws into the original Lexus aerial mount on the roof. It arrived thursday, so of course I ran outside to fit it - and was disappointed that it didn't screw down flush to the original mount. Wouldn't be a major problem as it wouldn't be hard to cut down the grub screw that comes with it for fitting. But that thought was academic because I turned on the radio to find I could only get white noise / static on every channel I had tuned, inc the BBC channels that are the strongest signal Real shame as it looked great! But I'm sending it back cos it's pointless

Yeah I think it's gotta be done, after looking at a few more pics I think it really declutters it

Possibly a little unfair, because for the majority of people, it is simply plug n play. Your situation is different, and specific, since you have an additional external amp occupying the changer port. In most people's cases, it'd simply be plugged into an empty changer port and boom > they have iPod/Aux/USB connectivity. As was in my case. This time it's a possibility that it's a totally different shaped connector too apparently. Around the size of a mini USB connector. Cheers Dave. Yes, I had read about the possible connector change coming, we'll just have to see. However, it'll obviously still work with my iPod Classic, but it'd be nice to be able to continue using it with iPhones, since I plan to keep using those also

How do you mean? Cut a plug off one of the items, wired the two together and plugged in to the head unit??

Old thread I know, but no IS had "UV" windscreens. The polarised look (as someone mentioned, is easy to spot because it has a purply/blue/green effect, a bit like neat petrol) is whats called a "clear coated" screen - the two pieces of glass are clear, and the laminate in-between has the UV resistant coating. A standard screen, as the IS has, are two pieces of glass with a plain tinted (green) laminate in between. Source : I'm a windscreen fitter ;)

I'm a windscreen fitter, so I get to see a lot of cars every week. I changed a screen on an LS430 on Tuesday - first one I've done for probably 3 or 4 years! Really don't see them a lot anymore, although neither do I see the IS200/300 much either; one of the reasons I went for one, as it isn't common - probably haven't done a screen on one for over a year. Ironically, since buying mine I've seen more in a week than I have all year, haha!

Once the tyres are fitted and wheels balanced (weighted) then yes, it will be a simple swap over. The only reason a car would need a 4 wheel allignment is if the tracking is out - and changing the wheels won't affect tracking. Curiously, what are you planning to do with the 16's? I'm contemplating buying a set of IS fitment 16's to put winter tyres on, so were you planning to sell or keep them, and if sell, what price would you have in mind?

As I mentioned in the other thread, that problem *might* be avoided with the wiring harness that comes with the Grom; it has a passthrough for the CD changer plug, allowing you to plug the Grom into the CD changer port, and an external changer into the passthrough plug, so that you can run both from the headunit. I don't know if it will allow external amp volume control, but iy could be worth an ask to Grom. If you can get hold of the female plug, you may be able to split the wiring of your xCarLink to feed back to the connector for passthrough, allowing both the xCarLink and the external amp to work - bit beyond me there though; I'm useless at wiring and electronics!

^ This. Tyres fitted, then balanced (adding of weights) then put wheels on car - done

Not having much luck - after Timpsons saying they couldn't do it, and the mobile guy letting me down, I tried another local cutters today who looked at it and said they could do it, and duly did - for it to work in the door, boot and glovebox, but not turn in the ignition. Felt a bit "notchy" sliding into the ignition, but wouldn't turn, took it back in, he ran it through again, same thing. Then tried tapering the edges off the end (to match how mine have worn) and no luck, ran it through a 4th time, and still the same. Hmm...

That might be where the cable that came with the Grom would have been useful, as it has the passthrough connectors to allow more than one plug to use the changer port (although I couldn't tell you if it would support external amplifier volume control)

I properly want to do this, but my car didn't come with Nav as standard :( So I'm keeping an eye out for, preferably, a later 7" model, and what I'd really like to do to it is rip out the screen, then fit the largest, widescreen TomTom satnav I can (which I think is the 6" Start model?) with a fascia plate to fill in the gaps around it. If possible, I'd like to lose the stock TomTom casing, so the screen is flush with the fascia, giving it the stock look. What I'd need to work out though - and other than not having the parts, this is a major issue as I am RUBBISH at electronics! - is the TomTom's all have their on/off switch on the back of the unit, which needs to be pressed and held. The mini USB socket for charging is on the bottom of the unit. So what I'd need to do is rewire it (much like this one was done here - http://www.**********club.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=10754 (although that's not a TomTom obviously) so that it powers on and off when the open/close button is pressed, and has a 12v source tapped into the ignition live (so that it receives power for charging/running only when the ignition is on - like the stereo) I'd be quite happy to pull the battery off it completely, and just have it run on live power, but no idea if that's possible, or wise. But basically, I'd just want to to turn on when I open the Nav housing, and turn off when I close it, and only have a power feed when the ignition is on. Sounds simple huh? Not for me it isn't! Might as well be trying to teach me greek!!!

DO put some masking tape on all the dash and console edges as people say - I did, then put the headunit back so took it off, then needed to take the headunit out again to thread the wires properly but didn't put tape on it, and marked the console edges! Muppet!

This winter will be the first with the IS (only had it just over a week so far!) and never driven a RWD in snow before! Got 4 new tyres on it (Hancooks, standard size, fitted shortly before I bought it) but thinking about winter tyres after reading a few threads of people saying the difference is night and day with and without them. Think I'd rather get a set of 4 spare wheels to put the tyres on a) so I can just jack it up and swap rims over, and 2) my current rims were all refurbed (again before I got it) and it's be a shame to spoil them in winter Whats a good wheel/tyre size recommendation, and also what tyres (model etc) are recommended?

Two companies do what you're after - Grom (based in the US) and xCarLink (based in the UK, North London I think) Both offer little black boxes that attach the external CD changer port on the back of the stock IS headunit, and allow varying connections (depending on the spec of the box you purchase) - which range from simple AUX audio input (3.5mm headphone socket type), USB (for connecting a flash drive or similar), iPhone/iPod, or SD card. Both have upgrade kits to add bluetooth for handsfree, so that like the parrot kit, the call audio comes out your car's speakers, and you get a little mic so the other person can hear you. I've just fitted a Grom iPod adapter box into my IS, and I don't have the bluetooth upgrade kit, so I can't comment on how good it is or not, but as far as everything else goes, it's so simple to fit and use, and the audio quality is great. One thing worth noting though. From what I've read in the Grom instruction manual (and I'd have to assume the xCarLink is the same, since everything else about them appears to be more or less identical) is that when using the AUX line in (3.5mm headphone type), getting a call with the bluetooth kit does not override the audio from your music player. You'd need to manually pause your device otherwise you'd hear the music playing through the speakers while on the call. The Parrot kit overrides everything (I have on in my work van - when a call comes in, all music, no matter what source; CD, radio, or AUX line in, is overridden and the only sound from the speakers is the call in progress). But if you are using the USB, SD card, or iPod ports, then the call should suspend these, until you are done with the call.

I just picked up a Grom unit (unsure of model - bought used from a member of another forum, but it has ports for iPhone/iPod, an Aux 3.5mm stereo jack and a USB port for flash drives). Came with the the harness, an iPod dock connector to DIN cable, and a female to male USB cable. The Grom Unit Fitting is super simple. Like the OP said, the headunit to Grom unit cable is not long enough to stretch to the glove box, but since mine is for iPod/USB/Aux, and not for SD/MMC card, there's no reason to have it in the glove box for regular access, so that wasn't a concern for me. If you did get one with a card slot that you want regular access too, the cable is long enough to drop down behind the head unit and seat/TRC buttons, to let the Grom box sit in the coin tray under the seat/TRC buttons. Also like the OP, I chose to have my iPod cable exit under the seat TRC buttons, so I could leave my iPod in that coin tray; out of sight enough, but also easy to grab to select a track, unplug and remove, etc. I used a drill to cut a small notch in the back edge of the seat/TRC button unit so that when clipped back in, the iPod cable wouldn't be trapped tightly. You don't need to do this, but I thought it would be better so as not to trap the cable which may damage it, and since the notch I cut was on the back edge, it'd never be seen or felt. As for mounting the Grom box itself, I was armed with cable ties and sticky pads, thinking I'd need to either tie it down or stick it to a flat surface behind the headunit so it didn't rattle around or swing free. Turns out, it's the absolute perfect size to sit on top of the AC controls behind the dash (under where the dash tray, or sat nav if you have it, and airvents are) I didn't stick it down or cable tie it - and you can move it with your finger, but it's not so loose it will slide around; it stays pretty much where it is. As a bonus to that, I reckon it'd be pretty easy to plug in an extra cable (since I didn't bother to run the USB cable or Aux cable) without having to pull everything apart again, but just taking off the dash tray/sat nav part. With it all plugged in a working, this is how your iPod looks in "simple" mode (which means the iPod still has full control use on the click wheel, and the stereo controls are basically limited to skip forward or back) In "advanced" mode (which means you can't use the click wheel on the iPod, and the headunit CD buttons control the playlists on the iPod, plus forward and back skip of course), the screen on the iPod changes to this; More about the use of modes available here - http://gromaudio.com...ipd3_manual.pdf All in all, it seems to be a great bit of kit. The iPod sounds great through it, no real difference than a CD would sound (obviously dependant on the bit rate quality of the music on your iPod of course; mines all pretty HQ). I did run into one small problem after installing mine. After I plugged it all in, and tested it with my iPhone and iPod Classic, and it was great - sound was clear and loud, the playlist controls on the headunit were all working fine etc. So I then plugged the USB cable in, as well as a stereo jack cable, repositioned the Grom unit (which sits perfectly on top of the AC unit, behind the dash), and ran all the cables down behind to come out under the heated seats and TRC buttons. Then wanted to restest just before I did all the screws back up. So I tried the Aux stereo jack cable, and it didn't sound great; quiet/low volume, muffled, too bassy. So I tried the iPod connector again, and it sounded the same! Nothing like as good as it did before. I tried turning the stereo on and off, killing the ignition power etc, and it still sounded bad, and none of the playlist controls were working either. Then I noticed when you turn the stereo back on, a little voice said "USB" - earlier I had noticed it said "iPod". So a quick look on Grom's site for the user manual for trouble shooting says; Back out to the car, tried that, and got it to say "iPod" - plugged in and presto! All working great again! I was going to get the xCarLink model, which is £85 shipped, but decided to chance this second hand Grom unit since it was £35 inc next day postage, and so far it's been great. When you kill the ignition, the iPod pauses and goes to sleep, and when you come back later and start the car, the iPod automatically begins playing (with no button presses needed) from where it was (just like a CD in the standard headunit or changer would). The only thing I can see that's missing is a play/pause button, which is because more or less no headunits have a play/pause button on them (which I've never understood - you either have to turn the headunit off, or switch source). But if you are in simple mode with the iPod, you can still use the play/pause button on the click wheel, so no big deal. I'm tempted to get the bluetooth adapter kit (GROM-BTX), which can be had for £48, but I just don't think I do enough miles/driving in the car to warrant buying it - for the rare occasions I need to take/make a call driving in the IS, the stock iPhone headphones will do I reckon... Edit - one last thing I thought of. From what I can tell, the xCarLink unit monopolises the CD changer port on the back of the headunit. That's fine if you don't intend on having an external changer (CD or MD) plugged into it, but the From harness is a little bit clever, as it has a passthrough plug in it also; one plug on the harness goes into the CD changer port on the HU, and the other plug accepts the external changer plug, so you can have both plugged in and use either the external changer, or the Grom for your iPod. Not a concern for me, as a) I don't use CD's much if at all these days (everything is iPod/iTunes based) and B) I can't see me wanting more than the 6 available CD slots on the stock headunit anyway! But just thought it worth a mention

Just been out into town and back, and pleased with it - turning off ignition and the iPod pauses, turn it back on and it resumes playing automatically. Haven't figured out Random yet (headunit control) though, but my iPod is on shuffle more or less all the time, so it's not a big deal as I just leave it on shuffle and skip through (or use the click wheel on the iPod to scroll through to find a specific track)

I just picked up a Grom iPod/USB/Aux unit from a user on the OJC forum, for £35 inc. next day recorded delivery. No bluetooth, but then I don't spend enough time in the car to warrant needing it (iPhone handsfree headphones will do). Just installed it, works great, and sounds awesome! I looked into the xCarLink one, which probably would have been my first choice, but they're £85 delivered (or if you want it with BT as well, it's £125 inc.) and I just couldn't justify £85 for something I'm gonna rarely use (I don't do a lot of miles, and tend to only use the iPod when doing long journeys), so £35 second hand for a Grom was much more appealing. Fitting is a cinch, and worth a few mins reading the manual to understand mode switching, but after that it's (hopefully) plain sailing!

From what you're saying, even if I bought Stavs one, it wouldn't open and close as the connectors aren't there to power it. Stavs done a great job, don't get me wrong. But I'd much rather have a large widescreen tomtom in it - probably the 6" version theyre currently doing

Just out of interest - if I bought one of the sat nav screen units (the whole thing with the vents etc, but not the DVD source), is it a simple plug n play retro fit? IE, pull out the stock vents and tray, plugs are already there, fit Sat Nav screen and it will open and close, and tilt, without needing a re-wire job? I've half tempted to get one, rip out the screen and fit a TomTom. I'd buy Stav's one he listed above, but I'd rather have a larger, widescreen sat nav in there...

Still can't decide if I should debadge the rear end. One the one hand, next doors Merc looks much cleaner with just the Merc emblem in the middle and no text badges, but on the other hand I'm not sure if I did it to the IS, it'd look like something is missing Rough mock-up;

I've got so used to them on my Transit, I forget I don't have them in the IS, or in the Rover I had before! Would be a useful addition