H3XME

And there I was thinking nobody buys coilovers to chase comfort 😁. Sure, sometimes they improve comfort if they are good (adjustable and low spring rates), but the main purpose is to lower the driving centre of gravity and improve cornering ability and reduce body roll. BC Racing coilovers usually come with stiffer spring rates than other brands such as TEIN. When I fitted my Tein coilovers to my IS250 which covered 120k on stock suspension, it improved the comfort, handling, the whole lot, but it's a different story if your car has factory air suspension. However, I didn't buy them for comfort. I wanted to get rid of the awful boat-like feeling. I remember a few years ago when I put coilovers on my '91 Soarer with factory air suspension, you could definitely tell it wasn't standard by how it drove and it by no means improved the comfort, but the car felt more "with it" if you know what I mean. Definitely a proper driving mod rather than comfort. I'm not sure where I was going with this, but as you can see the common misconception of coilovers "ruining your car" isn't true. It really depends on what you get and how adjustable they are. Suspension is a wizardry! So many options and other supporting parts that make the car feel the way it does.

Yeah, everything works like stock. Auto lights work, headlight levelling works too. The only different thing is that the front DRLs are on at all times, even when your stalk is set to "off" but thats the point of them. However, it comes down to wiring. I plugged into a fuse that was in the instructions. There's only two designs. Clear and Amber reflectors. I got them off eBay, and bought the last set so I can't send you a link anymore.

Nope. Everything works as it should

I don't mind helping out, but obviously it wouldn't be the smartest thing to do right now in lockdown. I've never done it before either, but if you follow a YouTube how-to it's easy to do. You need a phillips, flat head, 10mm socket and patience. I don't have a garage, I do most things outside when it's dry.

UPDATE* I spent some money, probably on the wrong stuff, but got the much wanted VLAND lights. I LOVE them. Looks aside, the front lights are such a massive improvement in terms of light output, it's amazing. They're just as bright, if not brighter than the OE xenons on my GT86. Flowing indicators are also pretty cool. The car looks a lot newer with LED lights. Installation of the rears was easy. Just popped the clips off the get the behind the carpets and there was a few 10mm nuts. Took me about 35mins. Front wasn't difficult, but took longer 2.5h. Undo a bunch of clips, nuts and screws to get the bumper off and then 3 bolts that hold the headlights in. Wiring for the lights was plug & play for both front & rear. Although to get the front DLRs working, i had to connect a wire to the fusebox, but it's supplied and anybody could do it.

I do indeed. I haven't found a cheap enough LSD yet. It's a straight bolt on, housing and everything, so you don't need to take anything apart. It's just a matter of the mounting bolts and shafts, easy job if you're just swapping the pumpkins. I had to push the LSD plans back as I ended up spending money on cosmetic mods at the moment. That being said I'm still looking for available LSDs and will bite the bullet if there is one for the right price. (300ish)

Yeah, when it's under a load. General driving it's quiet. Doesn't drone or anything.

HKS Hi-Power axle back system

Try plugging in an OBD module to and connect it to your app on the phone. You can find out a lot through there. Depends on the car and sensors but I'd be surprised if the ECU didn't know what pressure the turbine is building on this car. You might be able to use that as a boost gauge.. just out of curiosity.

I know, but when you have the choice and it's better to have square setup, why go staggered.

It depends how much you push it I suppose. My driving style was spoilt by the GT86, that was low and planted in corners with no body roll with a few mods. IS250 felt like a boat, which it is lol but with a new suspension and tyres it got a lot better and again, the driving style adjusted accordingly. So when I drove my friends stock IS250 it was a very different experience in the handling department. 245s wouldn't rub as the factory 17" rims are only 8J and sucked in the arches too much. Yea.. I don't like when people are putting staggered wheels on their cars. Of course some cars can benefit from it if we're talking big power outputs, but with 207bhp IS250, it just kills the joy. 225 & 235 is okay, not a big difference, but it's always better to have a square setup for balance if possible.

We can only wonder why they made this engine. Nothing we can do about it other than tune it to our requirements even though I AGREE people shouldn't have to do it, especially given its price when new. Again. I agree with that. VQ engines sound great and make decent power. My father has a 370Z and it is something i'd consider quite fast. Sounds crazy good with a backbox delete - GT-R R35 territory sound-wise. Lexus will sound similar too, my IS250 with HKS mufflers isn't far off. I'm booked in for secondary cat delete next week, so will post a video of the sound. I have high hopes. 17PSI just doesn't sound right. For example, Focus ST250 MK3 - 250bhp from the factory, 2.0l inline 4 and it runs something like 8-10PSI from the factory. REVO Stage 1 ups the boost to around 12 psi and you're looking closely to 300bhp. Given this RC200t engine is 86mm bore & 86mm stroke, it's just like the little 2.0l boxer engine that's in the GT86/BRZ. With a turbo kit and 7psi it's pushing around 300bhp.. it's a high compression engine though. 8AR-FTS has a 10.0:1 compression ratio. So even though it should take more boost easily, 17 still doesn't seem right. Although, I'm not arguing like I know it, I'm just thinking out loud here and it does sound strange that this 86x86mm engine with 10.0:1 CR would be pushing only 240bhp with 17PSI.. this is why I think it's a lot less. It's interesting. I'd like to see more places tune this engines so we can all learn from it, but given the very very limited production even across other Lexus models it's probably not gonna happen for a long time. These aren't the kind of cars that people buy to modify..

Thanks Vlad. I have 225/40R18 all round. Like I said, i only have experience with the previous 245/45R17 on stock wheels from the previous owner. That being said, my friend bought IS250 a few weeks ago, that had 225/45 (front) and 245/45 (rear) tyres, so I believe that's a factory specification. Again, that particular car didn't feel as bad as mine on 245s all round, but you could definitely feel the difference. Especially during cornering due to factory soft suspension and AWFUL body roll. Really didn't feel safe going through a bend at 60mph on a country lane lol

I understand your points, BUT who says the car is getting already a maximum amount of air? You can simply throw on an intake, which may not even be needed and what the "cheater box" does is increasing the pressure that's in the actuator. It's fairly simple. Most cars with small turbos run something like 5-7PSi. The turbo on this car is capable of 17psi but it may be restricted by either actuator which has a spring that maxes out at 5-7psi unless it's electronic OR not having enough air. Factory turbo cars can easily go up by 60bhp, even by using a "cheater box" just because the factory turbo pressure is never at its peak. Meaning, you can squeeze an extra couple of PSI before the actuator hits the limit. THAT will happen before the needs more air, hence only 50-60bhp increase. I have no experience with TDI tuning in particular, but MJC custom remaps down in london offer a similar output, but the car actually does need to go to their shop. It's all about software. (Call them and ask) I am certain the throttle hesitation can be removed and gearbox could be tuned too. GT-R R35s and Porsche PDK transmission are often tuned for a similar reason. If I found myself having the same issues as you, I would definitely try it. Small price to pay for a completely different driving experience.

I'm not new to the game. I know what i can and can't do and how it's going to affect things. I think this is where experience comes to play as people who are new to modifying cars don't often do things properly (may not know how) and it's so so easy to ruin the car. I agree, but this is why I wanted to do it to the Lexus. You don't see it very often. It's not bad to stand out. HUGE difference. Handling feels more responsive and lighter, yet safer because of the grip from the tyres, so the tyres & wheels changed the car the most. Nevermind the suspension. Yes, 245s on all 4 corners. This car really doesn't have the power to justify 245s. It just kills the mpgs, handling and acceleration. I suppose most people are afraid of RWD cars and they try to over-compensate with big tyres to avoid skidding because they can't drive 😄 You can keep your factory wheels and simply put 10 and 15mm spacers on them to achieve a nice fitment, but if you want to change the wheels completely, look for something that's similar to factory size & offset. Width of the wheel doesn't determine how far out it will sit. It's down to the offset. Use this website: https://www.willtheyfit.com put your current setup in, so factory IS250 wheels are 17" x 8" ET45.. so for example if you found wheels you like that are 18x8.5 ET35 they would sit 16mm further out than factory wheels. And with the 16mm difference it you will achieve a very nice fitment on factory ride height / suspension.

Well.. issues. There is camber wear, of course, but that's the price you pay for silly mods 😄 My tyres lasted 15k miles, but I am on TOYO Proxes TR1 that are quite soft and grippy, so a regular economy tyre would last longer because it would be a harder compound. Alignment was easy, because you can't adjust much on these cars at all. My toe is slightly in on the back, I need tie rods that allow adjustment (£150ish), front is fine. Camber and the rest was changed evenly after lowering the car, so it didn't cause any issues or had a negative impact on handling. If anything the handling improved by swapping for lighter alloys and narrower tyre. Car feels more alive than it did on stock wheels and budget 245/45 tyres that the previous owner fitted. Also, 2 degrees of negative camber on the front helps grip in turns, so the car feels a lot more stable at higher speeds and in turns. I know this is a big car and by no means anything sporty, but it feels a lot better.

My 18x9.5 ET38 wheels sit 26mm further out compared to factory 17x8 ET45 wheels. 9.5 ET38 is too much for the front on factory ride height. Rear ones are just about flush / in line with the top of the arch. However, I have lowered the car on coilovers by about 60mm (it's still very comfortable due to softer spring rates, so I didn't lose comfort even though it's lower) By lowering the car, the suspension tweaks to a point where you gain natural negative camber. With the camber I gained just by lowering the car, the front wheels have tucked in by a lot. From a slight poke to being 10-13mm in the arch. I don't have a picture of that, but they are well within the arch. The rear wheels went in so much due to camber that I ended up using 22mm wheel spacers (which makes them 48mm further out compared to stock wheels, but again, i only "needed" to use spacers because it's been lowered and camber tucked the wheel in too much for my liking). Pics below. The wheels have a slight, aggressive poke, nothing too excessive. I'm happy with the rear fitment with my slightly stretched 225/40 tyres on the 9.5J rims. Fitment game is a difficult one to get it done right. Takes a lot of measuring and trying different things. It's safer to go for wheels that are within the arches and then tweak it with wheel spacers depending on how low you want the car to sit. IF you are NOT planning on lowering the car, your new wheels should be something like 8.5J ET35-45 for a fitment that will be 10-20mm further in the arch than my wheels on factory height. Hope that makes sense to all. @Linas.P Yes, the negative camber plays its role, but I gained it just by lowering the car, I didn't need any camber arms or anything. Arches are slightly pinched/rolled on the front otherwise it would rub on full lock, but ONLY when i lowered the car. On factory height, I had no issues whatsoever, even with sh*t (pokey) fitment.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with CORRECT wheel spacers. You need hub-centric spacers that sit on the factory hub just like the wheel. If you get some sort of universal spacers that are not hubcentric, the weight of the wheel is purely on wheel studs - this is where it may cause issues on awful surfaces and hard driving. I've been using (driving and drifting on them) hub-centric wheel spacers for years and they are just as safe as not using them. And yes, negative offsets will make the wheel sit further out. The lower the ET the further out they sit. So a 10mm spacer will essentially lower the offset of standard wheels to ET35.

I wouldn't worry about this 5-8mm at all. I have 18x9.5 wheels with ET38 front and ET16 rear on my 2008 IS250. The front wheels sit 26mm further out and the rears 38mm further out compared to factory 17x8 ET45 wheels. If you want your wheels to be 5mm more out, you need 8J ET40. Offset (ET) is measured in millimetres. So ET35 would be 10mm further out than ET45 on the same width rim.

This is a fun thread. I like your honesty @Linas.P I currently drive 2008 IS250 manual and I started looking into RC200t's as the 300h doesn't appeal to me for two reasons: 1) lack of power or mainly cylinders 2) CVT box.. RC200t sounds like a nice compromise even though it's a 4-pot but a normal turbo engine and a normal gearbox. There is a company that offers chip tuning of these. https://tdi-tuning.com/en-gb/car/lexus/rc/20-t-242-bhp-245-ps-180-kw-350-nm-258-lbft/crtd4-multi-channel-petrol-tuning-box-chip After reading and watching reviews, I think the car would be greatly benefit from the little boost. 300bph and 310ft/lbs seem pretty nice on paper! Apparently they can adjust the turbo-lag that people often don't like, throttle sensitivity and the gearbox problems where it acts a bit hesitant. You should probably try it and report back your thoughts. I love the lexus/toyota life and if they sold RC350 in the UK it would be an absolutely no brainer for me, but sadly they don't, so I'm just considering 200t, and not for what it is in stock form, but what it could be when tuned. I did my homework on them, but the only and probably the most important thing I haven't done is test drive one. Thanks COVID. I had IS300h for a few days when my car was in for a recall last year and despite the "instant" oomph thanks to the electric motor, it felt slow compared to my 2.5l V6 barge. I'm sure the RC300h would feel different as a whole as it's a different chassis, but the power delivery and gearbox would be the same. Hence I'm not even considering those. RC200t seems pretty good on paper and until I started reading your thoughts I had no worries per se. I suppose most people wouldn't be so picky about their car as I am.. especially in terms of "feeling". At the end of the day I want a cool looking daily commuter that isn't gutless and is still fun to drive. I'm not sure if RC200t is all those things, but I suppose there is only one way to find out.

They sound pretty good, not many people in the UK with that system. I'm going to remove the secondary cats on mine to let it breathe a bit better, but keeping the resonator so I don't get any drone.

Quick update on the clutch. I've got the Exedy kit in, kept the original DMF with 145k miles as it's still good to be used. I don't think you need to change the flywheel unless you have flywheel issues or can justify spending £500+ on a new one just for peace of mind. The car works as it should now, clutch feels very good so I'm happy overall.

Quick update on the clutch. So the clutch has been changed now, got the Exedy kit in it, but kept the original DMF as it's still okay for a while. Couldn't justify spending £500+ on a new flywheel at this time of the year, but the good news is everything works as it should. I'm just going to bed it in over the next 250 miles or so. Moral of the story, if you have no flywheel issues, you don't necessarily have to change it. Garages will advise you to do it but they just want to make extra ££ on you even if the stock flywheel is still usable. The car has covered 145k miles on a stock clutch & flywheel, so I'm chuffed.

I have. It's the right grade, and from experience, it generally doesn't matter. I ran Motul 75W90 in my GT86 both diff and gearbox and it was fine. This is the same stuff just from castrol. Gearbox and diff is also almost the same as 86.