Linas.P

Well.. we will see - I would like to upgrade to IS350 calipers and rotor in the future anyway - so this is more of filler in the mean time. I am not expecting them to outlast OE.. and considering low-dust pads even match them. As mentioned, I don't like slotted "looks". As for cracks .. I was aware there are risk of these warping and cracking - only time can tell if that will materialise. The car is not used for anything else except daily traffic queues - so I guess they would wear below minimum thickness before developing any other fault.

I was attending Speed Awareness Course recently ... usual bu***** telling that car takes 96m to stop from 70MPH (correct in 1935 thought, when it was tested on cars which could barely reach such speeds). What's more .. they always seems to be stuck with the idea that all cars are the same and if it is true for the car traveling in the first lane at 70mph it is as well true for the car in mid-lane traveling at 85 and the car in the outside lane is again the same just traveling at 100mph. So then they assume that by the time car traveling at 70mph will stop, the car in outside lane would still be traveling at 78mph.. The presenter got quite upset when I pointed out that "if car in outside lane is ... lets say Porsche or McLaren - it could probably stop twice quicker than both other cars and would have some time to spare"... My point - 70mph speed limit for modern car is utter nonsense, even bigger nonsense is to apply it to all cars regardless of their actual capabilities .. both to accelerate and to stop. When it comes to SMART money making machine... it is possible that it works in certain isolated cases, but in majority of the cases it only creates unnecessary congestion and queues, and lets not forget pollution. It works very well to cover up total failure to invest in crucial infrastructure as well... yes it does help to slow down the traffic coming towards "bottle neck"... BUT wait... what is "bottle neck"... it is simple road network planning failure which meant to be improved, but isn't and never will be... just because there is SMART way to slow everyone down and "save" money on otherwise crucial projects and maybe as well generate some revenue for more SMART madness to be installed... so we can safely do 20mph on motorways. It does save some embarrassment for government, what it doesn't do.. it doesn't save our time, our taxes and our money.

Well, it is actually pretty simple - if the new rotor is 28mm thickness and can be worn by 3mm, that means 1,5mm on each face, so the lip can bet at most 1,5mm high. So yes - you are right even after 2k miles you rotor going to have a lip... maybe 0.15mm which means your rotor is 10% worn. When saying "new" .. it would be great to mention how many miles are already covered (pictures taken after ~700 miles) and as well consider the fact, that on IS250AT rotors are actually poorly designed. They are undersized for car weight and power, that is especially noticeable on AT, less on MT. That said rotor wear is excessive to almost everyone's expectation - some rotors were replaced only after ~20k miles. Low dust brake pads make it even worse, as reported by some users, sometimes the pads can outlast the rotors. As for the lip on my new rotors... well theoretically there is already some kind of "lip" - I would expect it to be no more than ~0.00375mm or 2.5%. IF that is correct the rotors would last 28k or about average with "low-dust" pads. I believe the coating itself looks a bit like a "lip" as it is fairly thick, probably like ~0.3mm. So that is why my new rotors looks like having a "lip". I must admit my disks lasted fair mileage ~45k, but that's on OE Confort pads which generate extensive dust. If you zoom into the picture below, the lip is quite noticeable and I would say just over ~1mm. As mentioned previously, I believe the disks were still "legal" though probably worn over 70%. Additionally, it is clear that they are excessively rusted inside the vents, hence I think new disk coating is bit pointless as it would not provide any improvement in such rust prevention. Another fair point - majority of those layers are probably rusted brake dust and dirt rather than actual metal from rotor.

By measuring minimum thickness. The front rotors are 28mm new and minimum thickness before replacement are 25mm. Meaning you have 3mm of steel to wear before replacement. Usually, you can tell by the "lip" if the rotor is near minimum thickness. I believe the rotors can be actually used longer, but you won't pass MOT with the rotors below minimum thickness .. even if they are still perfectly safe to use.

Just wanted to share one subtle "enhancement" I have recently installed on my IS250. This is purely cosmetic and really depends on personal taste. Some might like it, others hate it... So my front rotors were up for changing - probably still more than 25mm, but dealer would mark them as amber (or even red) due to the pronounced lip. The decent update would have been getting IS350/GS350 brake calipers and rotors (which I still planning to do in my dreams), but for time being I wanted to upgrade that dull and rusty part with something more suitable looking. I wanted for brakes to look more "performance" oriented so I was considering "drilled" design. Never liked Slotted/Dimpled brakes too much (again personal taste). The only rotors I have found for reasonable price were MTEC made p/n: MTEC1576 Front 296mm and MTEC1621 Rear 291mm (check if you rear ones are vented or not as vented ones are 310mm - p/n: MTEC1614). Additionally, I added protective coating "gold edition" ... anyway that comes to the taste... I knew that the face going to wear out when quickly, so it is really just nice detail around it... essentially replacing rust with some "gold" coating (other options were silver/grey and black). Parts: http://www.mtecbrakes.com/mtec1576.html http://www.mtecbrakes.com/mtec1621.html http://www.mtecbrakes.com/special-edition-brake-disc-coating/gold-edition-2-discs.html I throw some Brembo low dust OE-equivalent pads on front and some Mintex cheap stuff on rear (in fact Mintex front pads were more expensive than Brembo). The end result (as expected) is very minimal difference and in my opinion subtle.... I know I know ... I need to refurb my rims before taking any more pictures .. they are really poor right now. Generally, I am happy with this tweak, but I would not recommend MTEC coatings. This is because I expected the coating to be more like "metal plating" - essentially some hard wearing coating which protects from rust, but does allow heat dissipation etc. In reality is some kind of heat resistant paint, which can be easily damaged when installing, secondly only outside of the discs is covered i.e. face and the back, but not inside vents. I do understand that covering vents in this coating would prevent rotors from cooling and therefore they are left naked, BUT the surface which rusts the most is exactly the inside of the vents... so protection vise this is not great design. P.S. Dealer was not impressed with this and gave amber. In fact they might have been missed them but the re**rd who installed them threw away anti-squeal shims. I have noticed that some time after I have left the garage, but it was little too late. Next time when installing the pads I will make sure these are not missing. So lesson learnt - don't allow id**ts near your car or watch them carefully. I must admit I had no space to upgrade myself and I was foolish enough to allow the mechanic to fiddle with my car unsupervised. The replacement part is: 04945-30140 and it is £30-70. The relief ... so far there are at least no squeal. P.P.S. Obviously, I wanted to spray calipers and dust shield (on the rear) matching colour. But I only have 2 options: either pay fortune to do them properly ~£150 per caliper (removed, prepared and professionally sprayed with heat resistant caliper paint) or do them for reasonable price ~£20 by same person who lost my anti-squeal shims (using spray can... which will bubble-up and burn after 100 miles). The third option - doing myself properly, unfortunately unavailable for now.

Ohhh ... yes. If challenged they would come back with some cool defense story. My point - there should be so kind of trust and relationship between dealer and the driver - should I feel like offended in such case?! (I kind of already am offended, but by the list of other issues with that dealer... and this is just one more to add to the list).

That seems reasonable - bare in mind most of the serious garages does alignment check for free. Though, I would recommend doing tracking on the new pair of tires (probably I sound a bit like "mr. obvious"). That said I don't like Evergreen (and majority of "value brands"), but you can keep the rear ones if they still have some thread left (that would help for environment as well). I would not buy ones, but if I found them on my car with reasonable depth and matching pair I would probably keep them in place as well.

Hello All, My car just developed interesting fault. Surely expensive to fix, but interesting in a way to investigate and nail the real cause. So to start with - few days ago (like Tuesday this week) my A/C started making some noise ... like squeakyish/grinding noise, but it was intermittent (happened like 2-3 times altogether). I had a service coming up 2 days later so didn't really bothered to investigate, nor had an opportunity. Thought, "if there was something obvious Lexus service will pick it up" and if not I will take a look over weekend. So Lexus Woodford did service an MOT, got all green except one amber. They said my drilled rotors are far too lavish, hence they put amber to accompany them (to clarify it is amber for "non-genuine front rotors and pads", they are Mintex drilled discs with Brembo OE-equivalent low dust pads - will post new thread in Modifications forum). The rest are all green including "Aircon / heating / ventilation" as below: On my way home from the dealer, I have realised my windows are starting to steam-up and the air from A/C is getting hot... clicked on "Windows Defogging" and the realised that A/C light is flashing > stopped by traffic lights and clicked "Off" and "Windows Defogging" again to restart A/C. This resulted in the weirdest thing ever in any car I have owned > the engine RPM started jumping and when I have clicked on "Off" again the engine cut-off as well (see video below). You can notice A/C light is solid while RPM is jumping. From under the bonnet it looks like compressor clutch tries to engage unsuccessfully or that compressor is actually completely stuck. Actually, I can see little sparks coming out of the pulley (see video below - sorry it is bit dirty ... Lexus panels does great job keeping all that dirt and rust inside). It only happens on idle, if I am cruising at speed then A/C light starts flashing straight away. Now based on the fault description I have found that this fault can be caused by faulty compressor clutch coil. I do believe this is not the case, because faulty coil would result in flashing A/C light and as well would fail to engage compressor, but in my case it seems it is trying to engage compressor and after multiple failures gives up and starts flashing. If I drive at speed trying to turn A/C results in flashing A/C light straight away - no impact to RPM etc. So my second guess would be that compressor itself is mechanically faulty/stuck and engaging clutch causes stress to the belt and RPM starts dropping. This would be sad news.. as replacing compressor would cost 10x more than just replacing coil. Any other thoughts? As well wouldn't you expect Lexus dealer to pick up such faults? I am not joking .. it happened 3,5 miles away from dealer after “All Green verdict”... Any help or opinion would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Well that was done as part of full service - I would be surprised if dealer would accept it as standalone work... or in such case would charge less than £100. That said the price is correct - various prices over years for oil: the cheapest £14.52 (quantity 11?) and the most expensive £19.23 (quantity 14?) + £1.73 for 2 gaskets (weirdly that works out £0.865 each?!). Surprisingly I have traced back ... the first gear oil change was done at 41013 miles when car was barely 2 years old... Dealer cashing out? While this is a bit of surprise check of transmission and diff oils are part Full service, thought I would not expect that car barely 2 years old would need "top-up". It states "replace as required (model dependant)" - which for me sounds like "n/a" on automatic IS250, unless 10+ years old. In details it states GEAR OIL ZEP75/90. I have no clue what they referring to by quantity (it seems they used 14 of 100ml bottles). That said previous owner had loyalty card and 12.5% discount was applied for all works and parts.

Today, (following not so great service experience at Lexus Woodford) I was reading through the service history on my car. It appears that Lexus Hedge-End was filling my car with wrong oil for last 3 years (before I have bought it). They used Castrol GTX 5W30 C2.. no wonder the car barely passed emissions test last year. Lexus Woodford filled the car with "no name" 5W30 (still can be Castrol, but they just didn't bother to type it on the invoice) .. were not bothered to discuss 0W20 or 0W30 options and pretended never knew of such oil being used by different dealers. I am now tempted to throw the "no name" stuff and replace it with Magnatec 5W30 A5 while Tesco bargain prices lasts. Assuming they replaced oil filter that should be fairly easy. On the side not my car now seems to be "cleaning the air" after service. Exhaust emissions test states that on Fast idle it emits 0.000 Co2 (max 0.2) and on natural idle 0.001 (max 0.3). I wonder - maybe they plugged nearby Prius while running it?

Considering you have got all the parts I can guess it is to late to say it is not really DIY... but I guess you already know it and are determined to do it ... On the matter if that can be done... yes surely dealer was doing mine ever since 96k for £15-£19 per change, so again a lot of risk doing it wrong and it actually costs more to do it yourself. But I guess this is not a point... it is rather the case of experiencing everything yourself and I do appreciate it. Maybe sometime you can ever share some of your knowledge with other .. which again would be really appreciated... so Goodluck!

I would say - before looking to any faults you should replace all 4 tires ASAP (fronts the least). It is surprisingly not legal requirement and you won't fail MOT only because of different brands. That said you might still fail the brake test (and subsequently MOT) because of uneven braking distribution on front axle... and I am almost certain this will be the case. For me it seems mad that somebody would drive the car with odd tires on the same axle (no offense please). In extreme braking situation you will certainly have uneven braking distribution, hence ABS and all other systems (like EPS, EPB) would not work efficiently, you are likely to lose control more easily. Evergreen is obviously cheapest brand available (hence the high noise), not matching front tires obviously reduces road holding, which is already compromised by cheap tires. Now thinking just about tires alone ... if the person who previously owned the car put such cheap tires on the car and even not bothered to change both front tires at the same time (any decent mechanic in any shop would recommend it) how likely the tracking is done on the car? All 4 wheel alignment would have been the cost of the tires... so I can guess - 0% possibility that you car have wheel alignment done (ever) under this person ownership. So: Noise is because of cheap tire and odd tires in the front. Road holding is bad because of the same reason. + it is unlikely that tracking is done, which would again attribute to both points above. Now when you have all that done (to begin with please just replace front tires... for the sake of lives saved in road accidents) you can start looking in other problems... which I am sure are not the case. Now you need to set your expectations right for Lexus - just to set bottom line - I would start from saying - Lexus IS250 SE-L (2005-2009) steering is far from accurate. I have previously owned IS250 F-Sport (2012+) which had somewhat improved steering, but it really comes to what you are comparing it to. It is comfortable, but in terms of accuracy and feedback somewhat average... if you want accurate steering look for BMW. That said it is not bad, but not the sporty one. Obviously you expect better steering that in Golf or Passat... So innacurate steering might be what you are referring to... or might be something else. Front wheel alignment is recommended every 6 months or anytime you change tires (if you change rears, then all 4 wheel alignment). All wheel alignment is recommended at least once a year. Rear obviously cannot be done on its own, so anytime you do rear all 4 wheels needs to be aligned. I am saying this, because not everyone knows it and places like Kwikfit or your local tire fitters unlikely to tell you that if you just replacing rear tires... furthermore they probably do not have all necessary equipment to do all 4 wheel alignment on IS250.. so for them is pointless. Fronts on IS250 can be done almost anywhere, but for all 4 wheels I would recommend ATS or Lexus Dealer. Halford claims they can do it, but in fact not all centers can. I am certain you will enjoy your car if at least minimum standard of maintenance is met.

My point was - I wouldn't like it done to my car, but that is the service I would expect for such repair (or rather avoid). I would advise to speak with the person who presumably will work on your car even over the phone. If he state that they will "drop some mud and sand it" - challenge insurance. This is not acceptable and it is not quite "as it was" before the accident. Then they can either increase the quote and ask the service to do proper job or find another place. Insurance decision is not like "final" it is your thing to reach agreement with them which suits you. Generally, as it is not your fault you can expect the repair to the condition as it was before accident and not out of your pocket. That is the reason car is insured at the first place. The place you least want to be - is to accept this raw deal, have your car inappropriately repaired and two years later have them failed e.g. cracked filler or even rust.

That is still reasonable, as long as they "pop" them straight. The worse you can expect is to get thick layer of filler painted over top. I would especially cautious about that ding in rear fender - it is quite hart to straighten it as it goes over style line. It is likely that they won't straighten it properly and just fill it. I would not expect third party garage to replace the door either unless there is hole in the door. I would second - if it is not your fault push for Lexus repair. I would accept it even with excess, but it shouldn't be.

We "warming up" car in driveway wouldn't clean the disk so it doesn't sound like disk problem for me.

I would suggest to go in person, I have been in 3 or my local Tescos and all had some is stock. But as said by others, it might be worth to check the date. I have ask Lexus Woodford about 0W20 and 0W30, but they say they don't know why they are used by other dealers or in Scotland , they do not recommend to use it and put some regular 5W30 in the list. Similarly they don't know where is my courtesy car or why I had to pay for "local lift" myself. I guess this means that is not some kind of dodgy practice, but Lexus Woodford (or should I say Toyota?) are not bothered.

I thought additives only degrade when in engine, not when stored in oxidation proof cans. Otherwise it is high risk to buy "outdated" oil. Maybe that is why they are discounted?

No - it was exactly my point. 5W30 is not labeled Fully-synthetic in Germany, because it is processed from lower grade oil. Obviously, oil in Germany and in UK is exactly the same, just that in UK regulations are different and they can qualify their oil for fully synthetic here.This doesn't mean Magnatec is not good oil, but it rather defends the price difference between Magnatec and Edge (which apparently "genuinely fully synthetic"). Then again, I don't believe it matters if you do your oil on time. While on this topic I have noticed Tesco now have discounts for Castrol oils: Magnatec is £18.50 for 4L or £6.50 for 1L Edge is £28 and £9.50 respectively I reckon it is great price if you doing your oil yourself?

No... you are probably right. They only certified the cars they expected to sell well. RC/IS 350 would have been a niche product ( not to mention Lexus as a whole is niche in Europe) and would never been profitable sell. Obviously for customers this is never good.. now it is either all or nothing and no middle ground. But in Lexus sense 5% will be RC-F, 65% 300h and 30% 200t.. if released RC350 at best would cut 2,5% from each 200t and RC-F owners which would be loss, slight increase in profit from 200t would not offset loss on RC-F (obviously Lexus making most profit on "F"). i think this is still less questionable tactics, than what they did with IS220d (no AT option).

I hope you are right on this as well. Petrol was unfairly disadvantaged based on current rules. On 350 note I am sure that many people would be happy to wait for few months, no need to have them readily available. This must be Lexus sales decision no to make them available in UK for some reason.

That is correct. Whats more - in reality not all 0W are actually less viscous than all 5W, even more rarely any of 0W are less viscous than 5W at temps ~0 Deg C (actually it is often opposite). Usually, the difference is where tepms are like -54 C. I kind of contradicting myself here, but at least theoretically 0W30 can be better than 5W30 and should not have negative impact. In reality it is unlikely to make any difference. However, where it comes to 0W20 is sound like serious trade-off of motorway protection of components with same negligible benefit of cold starts, On the side note - I was reading in other forums and apparently Castrol Magnatec is "hydro-cracked" (whatever it means) oil rather than real synthetic (in Germany it is considered semi-synthetic due to different regulations), while Castrol Edge is fully-synthetic. Now .. does it make any difference to anyone - I am sure no..

It seems like using "0W" would be beneficial considering easier start-up when engine is cold. Obviously, small benefit in UK (generally mild/warm) climate, but at least not worse. Will ask for 0W30 during the service and see what Lexus Woodford will say. As for "XW20" it seems like small trick to reduce emissions at the cost of longevity of the engine especially for motorway driving (city driving might still be ok). It seems like "20" cannot provide enough lubrication when engine is warm and that obviously increases wear. That said it is still unclear where 10W60 comes from.... is that for trackdays ? :)

Probably, owners of face-lifted ones can tell. It seems (I might be wrong) that tax for 2011+ is £20 cheaper at £270 a year, the engine is definitely the same thought. I am pretty sure that Lexus recommends same 5W30, but again only someone with 2010+ car can tell what is in the manual.

I guess that is 5 for Bosch S4. Not surprised as it is premium brand to match premium car :) Sadly, no opinions on Exide - I though it could get it up to fight as equal contender. I am aware I need 068, with 069 being identical size but opposite terminal sides. Will be getting Bosch (maybe S4) - when fraudfords battery going to give it's last breath. The problem is - it seem like Bosch doesn't make S5 in 068 size, so I guess I am left with S4 option. It is actually funny - Bosch US have same batteries, but one number up - S6 AGM, S5 and S4, while UK counterpart site has S5 AGM, S4 and S3. Based on UK description - S3 for small or older cars, S4 for medium modern cars, S5 for cars with high energy demand e.g. start-stop function etc. While IS250 is not start/stop car S5 sounds like upgrade, S4 sounds like "just right". Based on the price I guess that maybe Lexus Woodford was (not) about to fit S5 for £143 to me. Thanks for all replies

That is pretty much my opinion - no reason to invest in oil on car from last decade. Do premium oil while car is within warranty and serviced by dealer and then stick to the cheapest compatible oil afterwards. It is very likely that in 10 years time the cheapest oil matches or exceeds the premium oil quality which was filled back in the day when car was new. One interesting thing I have found on Castrol site - they (obviously) recommend 5W30 Magnatec A5 for IS250 XE20 (2005-2010) 4GR-FSE engine, BUT recommends 10W60 Edge for same IS250 XE20 (both 2010-2011 and 2011-2013) with (obviously) the same 4GR-FSE engine. http://applications.castrol.com/oilselector/en_gb/c/recommendation?vehicleType=cars&manufacturer=lexus&model=is-xe20-(2005-)&modelType=is-250-(2005-2010) vs. http://applications.castrol.com/oilselector/en_gb/c/recommendation?vehicleType=cars&manufacturer=lexus&model=is-xe20-(2005-)&modelType=is-250-(2010-2011) and http://applications.castrol.com/oilselector/en_gb/c/recommendation?vehicleType=cars&manufacturer=lexus&model=is-xe20-(2005-)&modelType=is-250-(2011-2013) What is the logic here?