Anees

I have the ProLex Veba ones fitted. Seem to work well. They blend in very well and are not instantly noticable because my car is a dark colour.

Well Done!! Hope that article shames them!

You are right, my mistake optimax is 98.

Somthing I didnt mention, I used to use it in my Corsa :D and started having stuttering engine problems shortly after. Back to normal fuel and my Corsa was all good again

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You got me worried now! :o

Excellent Review! :D

As far as I know Optimax is 98RON and BP Ultimate is 97RON.

I have tried Optimax and havn't noticed any performance or economy improvements - but my car did have a stuttering problem when I accelerated and by filling up with Optimax it has reduced it dramatically!

eBay ones are good too! :) xenondepot is the seller

The ultimate solution is HID but they are very expensive.

I have also tried the Xtreme White bulbs from Autobulbs direct and didn't like them - they were distinctively blue.

Sounds very intriguing! :D

Hi,

I already have Tom Tom 3 with the sppedcamera updates from Pocket GPS Word. I would just like to know what the origin b2 can detect that the Tom Tom add-in can not?

Does the Origin b2 have a better speed camera database?

Thanks,

Anees :)

Anees

All the hassle aside for a moment! Did they look good on your car in real life? Were you happy with the design/style? Are the head turners or just another set of joe soap 18" wheels

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The fact that the wheels look FANTASTIC is the only thing that stopped getting seriously pi**ed off!

They look AMAZING on the car. I've had loads of people looking at them :D :D

I think they are amongst the best looking wheels for the car!

Good Luck Mr Singh!

Could put your dad as the main driver and policy holder with you as the named driver? This should reduce insurance alot but its not strictly the truth if your the person that drives the car the most.

Spiggot rings? Are they like spacers Anees? Alteezascott banged his straight on and not a bother! U said u were lowered are you sure that that a 30mm drop Anees, because if the lowering aint done right it can really make a mess, and from what u were describing in another post it sounds like u had a nightmare

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With Gordon's help I can see light at the end of the tunnel!

These things are send to try us and *** I've been tried! It is alot of messing about! I PM'd AltezzaScott before I bought mine and he had an offset of 38 and said they were fine - but he did get a small rub when he tried full lock.

Spiggot Rings are not spacers they are small rings thet fit flush with the wheel mounting surface and help centralise the position of the alloy on the mounting surface. Because the IS is 5 stud I was told not to bother - but I'm not sure about this.

I don't think its a problem with the lowering since AltezzaScott's car is much more heavily modified and lowered more then mine I think.

As Gord said the arches will rust if your paint cracks behind the arches. No prizes for guessing who this happened to and had to have the bit behind the rear arches resprayed?

The current situation is that the alloys are now off my car. I have some standard 17"s on that look TINY! LOL The Tooras are off at an engineering place getting machined down to as close as possible the correct offset. The engineer won't take off more then 3mm becuase otherwise it would weaken the wheel. So with a new offset of 41 and rolled arches I hope the saga is finally over!

Should get the wheels back very soon I hope. I also had some crappy cheap tyres that had a soft sidewall that didn't help! My new tyres which will be fitted when then alloys are put back on are Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3's which have a stronger sidewall.

Good luck.....I hope you don't need it!

Should be ok then mate! :D Especially as your car isn't lowered. Also if you do get a small rub you can always get the arches rolled - its not expensive to do (just finding someone with the machine can be a pain)

How did you get them in et40? I thought the closest offset for the Lex available for these alloys was 38?

Anyway please keep me updated with how you get on and I hope you don't have the same trouble as me!

Also....the alloys have Spiggot Rings which I didn't put on because I was advised not to by the tyre place. Are you going to be using them? I was told that Jap cars don't really need them - but I'm not really sure if this is right.

I have the same alloys - I had to get mine rolled.

What offset are your alloys? Mine were et38

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and you dont clean it 

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HA HA!

The beauty of green is that the car has a lovely rich shine that even when its filty it still looks clean (until you get too close )

prolex sell them michael, and Anees from this site has just had his fitted, he likes them to, and i must say thay look factory fitted to  :D

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Yep....as Gordon says I got a set. :)

I have the Veba ones that Prolex sell and they are flush fit. They do look factory fitted and seem to work well - but I've not played with them properly yet.

They look good on my car because its a dark green colour so the sensors are hardly noticable.

Yeah there is another way for cheaper car insuarance........

Find a cheaper car a Honda Civic or a corolla, im sorry but at 19 thats very young imo to own a is200 & being a student, you gonna be working as well? When i was 19 i owned a mazda 323 & then bought a Civic ESi auto, i & my friends thought that was impressive for my age back then & did i say insuring it was quite expensive back then even for a honda civic? im 23 now btw & would never pay more than £2k for insurance for any cars.

I do know a student came to uK from HK few yrs back, his dad bought him a JDM celica VVTLi when he was 19, dunno how much he paid for insurance but not cheap, now few yrs gone by now 24 y/o he wants his dad to buy him a 350Z cos he got bored of the Celica!

You can always move to NZ or australia, there are lots of students form other countries there! some people there with Altezza or well known JDM sports cars are VERY young & still at college so insurance & japanese cars there must be cheaper than in UK.

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I actully completely agree! When I was at uni I had a Mazda 323 too! :D

I hope I don't sound patronising saying this - if so then I appologise. I was thinking its pushing it abit at 19 with no claims to get a Group 15/16 car. You are better off getting a NICE Toyota Yaris (group 2) very cheap insurance to build up your no claims. I know its not the same but it is better in the long run. In fact I am planning to do the same to help build up my own No claims.

I got one through the post last week. Think I might go for it. If nothing, just to show them what a real car looks like. :P

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I’m actually going to be going with my mate. We were thinking it would be funny if we turned up in a Lada or something and had a slip with us saying we only understand German!! My mate has a BBC Press badge too –so that maybe interesting ;)

I think we will probably go on the Saturday 2pm time – it is 150miles from my house so I ain’t gonna want to be there for 10! :ph34:

With stupid insurance prices it is little wonder that their are so many drivers risking driving without insurance :tsktsk:

If your dads also got no claims either that could help you then I'm afraid its looking bleak. :(

How does the BMW marketing dept work? I would fire them all!

Surely they work out who to target for these kinds of events based on careful planning and research?

They must identify people they know are able to buy a new 3 series when it is launched based on financial information?

If so then WHY ON EARTH have I just got an invite!? :o :D

Being a young driver I have no chance of buying one - but I am definetly gonna go however!! :D I wanted to go on the Lexus Track attack but didn't want to risk messing my Lex up! Here I get to trash a car round a track and my Lex is all nice and safe! And its all on BMW!

Thanks BMW!

Hi mate,

Welcome :D

Somebody of a similar age (22). The car is group 15 as far as I can remember so insurance is not going to be cheap! I am with Churchill and can use my dads 5 years no-claims since it is insured as his second car with the company. I am classed as the main driver. Insurance is just over £1100 which is not too bad - but I don't really build up my own no claims and I am not insured to drive other cars - but it will have to do for now! :(

I have a friend that has a black IS200 and is 23. He pays £2500 insurance! He is also with Churchill but has only been driving for 1 1/2 years. I think you are looking at around £3000 for the insurance considerng your age!

To be able to afford, fuel, service and mantain an IS at your age whilest are uni is very impressive!

Also forget the IS300 - nice car but I think it may be too much - alot of insurance companies refused to quote me on it! Its Group 16/17

AND A TIP!

Whatever you do........escapt this site before its too late........ otherwise the whole of your student loan will be spent on the car. You find that the kind people here have all these wonderful things that you are compelled to buy! You spend more and more money! Save yourself - its too late for me! I am now one of them

I got some cheap ebay Hid styleee lights today, they are to replace one of the broken fog bulbs but i put them in the dipped lights to see what they are like, i will try and get some picures of them on friday night at work.

They look very white when you see them looking at the car however from inside the car they look a little blue but still totally different from the yellow ones that where in there, A question here as well, are the OEM bulbs made by sylvana (sp) as my american friend says these are very popular bulbs in the US.

The site i got mine from is HID type bulb site the service from here is very good ordered them sunday night and delivered wednesday by FED EX.

One thing though they are not as bright as the OEMS the pictures on the site of lloking at the fron of the car is true but the ones looking from inside the car seem a little untrue.

Hopefully when i get paid next month i can get me some real HIDS!!!

Hope that helps you some.

Nick

Where did you get your HIDS from do they have seperate starters.........i hear it is better if they DONT have the seperate starters.... does anyone know if this is right?

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Thanks Nick

I got mine off eBay mate from a seller that specialises in selling HID kits. With the strong pound it didn't cost me THAT much. PM me for more info.

Thanks for the offers of taking the pictures of the bulbs you found - they look pretty nice. How much did shipping cost?

stop being so fussy  can you see them from in your car      ho and a update on you car mate, its still green     

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Ok sir!

Like your new Avatar Picture mate! You or the person that showed you how to do that must have had great taste! :D

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old pic that one must put new one up soon not green mind you

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You can't fool me mate! I know you really wish your car was green! Get Steve to do you a respray - then you can have gold badges too! :P

Hope to see your garage up soon!

stop being so fussy  can you see them from in your car      ho and a update on you car mate, its still green     

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Ok sir!

Like your new Avatar Picture mate! You or the person that showed you how to do that must have had great taste! :D

Thanks Colin! (Fountain of all knowledge as usual) :D

The HID's have NO blue tint at all - just clear white light. I have seen members with 6500K HID's and they look alot bluer then mine - mine are just pure white light.

The reason I asked about the colour temp is because those cheap eBay bulbs you can get from Canada are rated at 6000K, so they may be worth a try - but another member (who has the same HID kit as mine) has tried them and said they look yellow compared to the HIDs.

Guess I should stop being so fussy! Hopefully I can pick up a cheap set of PIAA extreme whites from eBay otherwise I think I'll just get a set of the 6000K rated bulbs from the Canadian eBay guy - they are still much better then the OEM ones!

Thanks for the help guys - er......painting them blue is not something I'm considering!

I guess the reason I want them all similar is because I'm fussy!

I have considered PIAA bulbs - but they are really expensive i.e Extreme White Plus bulbs cost £84.99 for 9005/9006 from Speeding!! I don't want to spend that much on occasional bulbs.

One thing I'd like to know is is the colour temperature of Halogen bulbs comparable to HID temps?

For example if I bought 6000k rated Halogon bulbs would they look similar to 6000k HID's? I ask because even the PIAA Extreme White bulbs only have a colour temp of 4000K.

Hi,

Recently I bought a 6000K HID Light kit for the main headlights on my car. They are lovely and bright and give out a pure white light without any hint of blue. Fantastic! :D

Trouble is that the other OEM bulbs looks horrible and yellow. What bulbs have other members put into their sidelights/Fogs/Main Beams? I got a set of Ring 501 sidelights that don't really make much difference.

I understand HID and Halogen are a different technology so I won't get a perfect match, but I want some bulbs that at least look a similar colour.

I have tried the X-treme white bulbs from AutoBulbsDirect.co.uk as recommened by a few members but they look WAY TOO BLUE compared to the HIDs. I have also tried the ones from the guy in Canada and they seem not too bad - but do look yellow. I don't want to spend stupid money (£60 - £70) on bulbs for lights which in all honestly are not really used that much.

Anybody got some suggestons?