BMCWP

Yeah they have a branch in Portadown and others in Belfast but that's still a minimum of a 60 mile round trip for me. Next time I am up I might grab some just to have 🙂

Went on online yesterday to get new blades. Website says no. (2006 LS430) took a drive over as I was near them anyway and they had none. Chap was very accommodating and went back and forth trying different ones but no joy. Local motor factors had none, and my "local" Lexus dealer is 50 miles away. So Amazon here we come and... No. We can't ship this item to your address (I'm in Northern Ireland) 🙄 Off to Rock Auto over in the US of A and 2 blades plus Fedex shipping were £5 cheaper anyway. Anyone else have any issues with blades?

Yeah from 2017 - better than nothing I suppose. It also misses out 2021 (for obvious reasons) and only gives you mileage readings really. It also thinks I have an LS440 🙄

Just on the air suspension it does stay up (at least mine does) and also the seat memories are useful for me as my steering motors have failed and I have neither the spare cash or a mechanic willing to fix them so they can stay broke

Some of them are rather "out there" from what I can see the "bot" scans the web, looks at images related to what you type in then does its thing. From a quick search myself there are a lot of "slammed" LS photos out there so it seems to favour those buit occasionally it can make some that are not so bad

As title I decided to see what the old Ai computer I have access to could churn out if I gave it a few ideas. these images are entirely computer generated and apart from dodgy wheels and a few other small anomalies they show how far the technology has come over the last few years - (I used the "Midjourney" bot)

Follow up to the previous 2 videos

Good idea and in some cases great reading as well - I have some of mine from 2011 to 2016 and spotted things such as a new electric sun blind, rear light lens and body, a complete set of new front shocks (at 2370 euro!) new boot gas struts, another rear lens (seems it was owned by an elderly gentleman who could not hear the "beeps") a full new complete left hand door mirror (880 euros!) plus all the usual service items. I've sent an email off to see if I can get the early history from it was new to 2010 but I have heard nothing back yet.

You probably don't want to read this but my car had a full history up until 2 years before I bought it with no mention of the belt being done. Like yourself I assumed that maybe it had been done but something kept niggling at me (and after reading a few posts on here) I bit the bullet and had it done. At that point it had 86,000 miles on it and was 12 years old. When we got down to the belt we found the original one still in there and my mechanic says that it was a good job we did as it was really worn. I may have got a few hundred or a few thousand miles out of it but it was about to let go. It was not that bad money wise in the grand scheme of things (well the credit card didn't think so) but its done now as is the radiator. These are not cars to run on a shoestring (although to be honest I do) but it rewards you with literally trouble free driving as all I need to do now is normal servicing and tyres wipers etc as and when needed. (oh and put petrol in but that's a given) I strongly advise you get the belt done as there is a big difference between a bill for a few hundred quid and a few thousand for a new engine.

Considered moving the car a bit but being as its completely frozen 🥶 over I thought I will just leave it be. I have the c-tek battery thingy plugged in and it has fresh antifreeze etc and screen wash so its taking no hurt as they say. I will start it and go for a run tomorrow as its supposed to get a bit warmer by then 😁

And that, explains why I couldn't get the clips I have to fit - no metal rings to be seen 😆

So.. Had a few barges in my time. Jaguar XJ40 - nice car, comfortable and everything worked in it. Replaced that with a LPG converted Jaguar XJ8 - 8 years of trouble free driving and only replaced as it was too low to get into due to a bad back - that was replaced with a Range Rover L322 that I should have kept as it was actually reliable only ever going off the road due to a faulty height sensor (a brand new one!) that I had to wait 2 days to get replaced but ultimately it had to go as my parents could not get in and out of it safely. Then came a 2006 S Class Merc - hateful thing and the less said about it the better. Then a VW Touareg followed by a Nissan Murano both dumped due to silly parts prices and then along came the LS430 and yeah... better than any of the others (although I will admit the Murano's seats were better!) it's staying until the time comes that either fuel gets too expensive or I am too old to drive it. I could be tempted into a big Volvo though and I really really really want a Citroen C6 (yes I know I'm mad)

I had to go the other way (From KM to Miles) and the only method is to swap out the entire cluster. Its not actually that difficult (I posted a few pictures see link below) however you need to be aware that the miles are coded to the engine and not the cluster so if you buy (like I did) a cluster with more miles than you actually have then thats what you will see. I did ask the seller and seemingly they could do that but wanted me to send the unit back 🙄 So, I took photographs and documented everything. I am not selling the original KPH cluster as it will go with the car when I sell it as I am in Northern Ireland and if it goes South they can convert back (as that is where it came from) You will get plenty of stories about putting a sticker on it but I feel it does not look right and the complete swap also cured a few minor niggles I had with the old one.

I would start with a decent reference CD first to make sure everything works as it should. That way you can rule out (or confirm) the subs and amps work. Levels from external sources will vary from device to device and I find there is a huge difference in levels when using my Bluetooth adaptor with its onboard SD card reader using .wav files vs audio fed from the phone via Bluetooth (so effectively in that case I am amplifying a transmitted BT signal from my phone into a FM adaptor to be rebroadcast by the system so obviously its not going to be great.

Our local garage is currently £1.87 per litre so for once (for some odd reason) we are lower than average after decades of always paying more than anywhere else "due to the distance the tanker has to travel" 🙄 I'm also lucky as I dont do a lot of miles and have use of my brothers car for most long journeys) so the 430 is staying put 😁

Well... It certainly feels like it 🙄 🤣 It was actually cheaper to have both bumpers sprayed last week 😳 (just a quick blow over nothing major)

Highly likely as they live just down the road from me 🤣

I may have picked this up wrong but is the issue its not dipping far enough, or its dipping? If the latter its supposed to do that - but electrics can be odd in these cars I will give you an example... My car is an Irish one so the speedo was in KPH - if I opened the drivers door the "passenger door is open" warning came on, and neither of the mirrors dipped in reverse but occasionally the passenger one would. The drivers mirror would not move up or down (but left and right were ok) Also the "lights on" bong never bonged. Fast forward and I changed the pod over for a UK one and now not only are the mirrors dipping when I hit reverse the lights on "bong" is back and the drivers mirror moves in all directions. Go figure (as they say)

I bought my brake hardware kits from rockauto - when ordering pads you can get them with or without the hardware. I usually wait until I need a few things and get them all at once and prepay the fedex shipping while it looks more expensive it works out both cheaper and faster (as they pre customs check so her majesty can't rob you of over £20 for keeping your parts in a shed for a week) 2 days for delivery as opposed to nearly 2 weeks if I used the cheaper shipping.

I'll do the jetwash thing (and wont use the "cone" nozzle as that can strip paint off the bumper (ask me how i know) 🙈 have an old carpet brush in the shed somewhere will see what i can do.

Standard original carpet ones

As per the title I am going to have a go at cleaning the factory mats, resplendent in what used to be a shade of beige but now resemble anything but (to be fair they are in good condition considering) my attention will be mostly on the front as the rears are literally as new and only need a gentle clean. (carpets are clean so no issues there as the mats did their job) So I am wondering has anyone else cleaned theirs, what with and did it come up ok - I'm not expecting perfection and know they will get dirty quickly again but there is a show on in a few weeks that I hope to get to and would like them looking fairly good, as for the paint I am a bit wary of going down the "paint correction" road as I can't afford that but has anyone tried any other polish stuff that works ok on light scuffs? I do have a nice powerful pressure washer that can be turned down for the carpets should that be an option its the soapy/cleaning stuff I am not sure about. (failing all this I will leave it with a valet chap and let the credit card take a hit) 😵 🤣

Yeah Northern Ireland and this car originally came up here from the south complete with a KPH dashpod (that I have changed but still have the original one) its also one with no sunroof - I'm happy enough as it is but like everything else i am not getting any younger and there are a few cars I'd like to own before i have to hang up the keys 🙂

Wonder what my 06 with just under 90k on it and a fresh MOT would go for (not selling just wondering) 🤣

Washed, cleaned 2 new front tyres and through the MOT for another year 🙂 and again no advisories. I have noticed though the parking brake is getting low so that's a job before the next MOT to get it sorted out. Now for a bit more cleaning and polishing 😳 🤣