harrylime

They look good, especially as they are made in Sheffield, the home of British steel. You could get them off eBay for £49, but they are available from Machine Mart for £29.99 inc VAT, plus you can see before you buy, as there are plenty of branches. I looked for a review and found them on the Machine Mart website, there are reviews on there also

I would not buy cheap trolley jacks or axle stands off eBay. They are likely to be Chinese imports, the steel used may be inferior quality, jacks rely on hydraulic valve systems etc and the engineering in these is also likely to be inferior. If a socket fails it is not a disaster but your life is dependant on jacks and stands (you should never work under a jack only). You need to have 100% confidence in them. I still have a pair of axle stands from 40 years ago, made for me at work by a Lloyds registered welder. They were way over engineered and are still safe to use. I would advise that you pay more for the axle stands and jack, as much as you can afford. Disregard things like CE marking in cases where you do not know the origin of tools. Try to get British made if you can find some and a known brand. CE marking is pretty meaningless, it is also easy to fake. At least buy from an engineering type firm where you have some comeback. eBay is not the best place, I would suggest, for safety critical equipment, unless it is a link to a reputable, established company

I like my maroon 400, but it has gold badges, which I intend to replace with chrome. It will be the last job, as I want to have a deep cut and polish to try and remove the inevitable tiny scratches and swirl marks that come with dark colours. I also have a couple of tine shopping trolley dents to remove. Has anyone any experience of a dent removal company?

I can feel yet another eBay user name coming on

I agree with Clunkfish. It is very useful to be told about good and bad experiences, wasted trips to view misdescribed cars etc, had a few myself over the years. It is useful to be told about cars sold with undisclosed faults and discrepancies with mileages. Personal digs are just a waste of time and sometimes say more about the poster than the person they are having a go at, which is a distraction. It is even useful to hear anecdotal evidence about specific sellers and dodgy practices, as long as it is true. I would hate to buy a lemon when I could have been warned by the fine people on this forum. However, we should stick to the facts and let the reader draw his own conclusions. After all, we are not Americans, we do not need to be spoon fed every little detail to be able to work it out. :D

It is very depressing how little respect people have for others' property. I would be gutted if this happened to my 400, and it's one of the reasons I would not spend 40K on a car again

I did get it fixed, Rupert. It was the gearbox sump seal

Funnily enough, my wife calls mine a boat. However, many boats are things of beauty, including my little 12 foot Tideway dinghy. The 400 may look like a boat, but what do most modern cars look like? Homogeneous, over designed, over developed, under engineered, soul less, hard riding, expensive to maintain, fast depreciating tin boxes. They all look the same. I watched an episode of Minder the other day (the proper one with Dennis Waterman) and as Arthur Daley drove around in his X, I could name every car and van instantly, because they were so distinctive, with individual personalities. I could not do that now,even if modern cars were interesting enough for me to try.

Just think on, if they'd come up with a styling masterpiece, many of us could not have afforded to buy one. Case in point the Mk 2 Jag, a good looking car for which 25K will buy a really good one, compared with the E type Jag with similar mechanical bits, much less practical than the Mk 2 but arguably a more eye catching design, for which 45 - 50K will be needed to buy a really good one. (not the best analogy, as I prefer the Mk2, but a valid point, I think)

My wife and daughter do not like the exterior of my LS 400, but it may be the size, they think it's too big. I think it looks elegant and understated. I agree with Pete about the 430, which looks as if it's trying too hard. I think the simplicity of the 400 makes it less likely to appear dated.

I have grey seats in my Mk4. They are in great condition, but the driver's seat looks as if it needs a clean and has gone slightly glossy. I would like to restore the matt finish if anyone can advise.

Oh dear

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/lexus-audio-video-security-and-electronics/269156-how-to-build-and-hardwire-an-auxillary-input-to-oem-stereo.html

I followed the link above ^^

This is easily the best method because you get line-out quality from the iPod (not the low quality from headphone jack) and also you can hook up a power supply so that it is also charging at all times it is plugged in. Its definitely worth the extra effort to do it properly. I ran my cable from the amp under the drivers seat to the centre console

Thanks for the input Munday. That looks interesting but I don't think you took on board my Fred Flintstone analogy and my not wanting to dismantle the dashboard. I appreciate it though

regards

Hugh

Can anyone please advise me whether there is a way to set up IPOD connectivity in my 99 MK 4 LS 400? I don't want to dismantle any trim or the dashboard to achieve this and my technological capabilities are on a par with Fred Flintstone, so if it can be done, please keep it simple.

thanks

Lexus dealers are doing cambelt changes for £295 (at least Sheffield Lexus is). It should have been done at 60,000 I believe, which is UK guideline. I'm not sure whether it's wise to change other components while it's being done, tensioner etc. Good luck with your 400, I love mine

My LS 400 has more than enough gadgets. Still luxurious but less to go wrong than newer cars. For me it strikes the perfect balance. I've had BMWs and Jags with so called intuitive gadgets with hundreds of different apps. They are a definite distraction and in some cases, positively unsafe. It's a bloody car not a Playstation

Nothing worse than someone trying to be funny, who is not.

Not too far from me, thanks for the tip

I have a Mk 4 ls 400 and agree with all the comments made. I also read somewhere that parking up for long periods can cause problems with the LS 430 suspension, so on that basis alone the 400 would probably suit you better. This was my thinking when I was looking, as my LS is not my daily car. It has been said on this forum that the 430 is more refined, with smoother gear changes. I don't disbelieve the poster who wrote this, but I don't see how much more refined a car can get. My 400 is superb in terms of refinement etc. Some prefer the more modern looks of the 430, I prefer the simple elegance of the 400. Go for it, you will wish you had done it years ago. I bought a good quality CTEK trickle charger and put this on if the car is not used for a week or so

In my opinion, Graham, that's a great outlook on life (although putting rationalising and Fiat Uno in the same sentence is an oxymoron)

Hi gareth

Can't help with the later models as I have a 99 LS 400 (which is a great car). I was wondering what is it that you are dissatisfied with in the GS 450h? I was thinking that when mine gets too long in the tooth, I might go for a GS450h myself.

That's a very relaxed attitude to clocking, that he only took 20000 miles off a car. If it was 20000 miles without a service, which it almost certainly was, it clearly makes a big difference to the car. In either event, if he'd done it to me, he'd have experienced a different, swift and quite unpleasant response. It is fraud, whichever way you look at it and I tend to take these things personally, having worked hard for what I have got.

Nick Clegg? I agree

Yep, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck etc. - he's clearly as trustworthy as Nick Clegg. How do they get away with it now? I made sure I got a VOSA MOT history before buying mine. It only goes back 5 or 6 years or so but it is a start, and the service history and old MOT certificates backed up the rest

Report him the the nearest Trading Standards and do some potential buyers a big favour