Tango

There's been no reply as yet, perhaps it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear from this side of the pond

You rascal..... They're certainly different. Mine's rolling on the 17" version of the one in the first pic at the mo, as with mucho disappointment I discovered my Volks Racing wheels from Japan that have only been on the car for 6 months, had no coatings on the wheel at all The polished lip on both front wheels had started to show signs of pitting, so the most likely culprit is brake dust as the rear wheels were OK. The inner rims were just bare machined alloy and the outer rims were highly polished, but apparently the technique uses some kind of powder that fills the open pores in the alloy and when polished imparts a chrome like finish. After removing the centres (they're two piece forged construction) the rims have been refurbed to repair the slight kerbing I had on three of them, and were then scrupiously cleaned and the outer lips repolished (without the powder which seems to be part of the polishing kit) before spraying the whole rim with three coats ot two pack clear laquer. Japanese manufacture improved by British workmanship.....got them back today and I now know they're better than new .

Done....

Tony...Guy on the US LOC forum complained about handling and tyre wear on his IS300 and got this reply: As long as the alignment is within specs...you WILL get inside tread wear. That IS normal for the handling characteristics of the car. As the tech said, there are no camber plates available. Just be VERY sure that the car has not been wrecked and the tech aligns to SPEC! The toe setting on front & back is also very critical to premature tire wear...go to well know & GOOD alignment shop known for good & honest alignments & watch from a little distance ...some tech that are jerks will lean / hang on car to make the spec "appear correct" on your "printout sheet that they SHOULD give you for your records...they are lazy & either don't feel like doing it right or don't know how...I was a GM Tech for 18 years & Lexus tech for 3..so I DO KNOW the tricks! LOL! Just be aware that no matter what ..inside, front tire wear is to be expected. It SHOULD NOT be to bad though. Make sure to rotate your tires front to back & back to front about every 7,000 liles or so. You SHOULD be able to get pretty good mileage from GOOD quality tires & stock rims....or rims with the same "offset" as original. I think I put 28k on mine first ones. The Goodyear Eagle GSD-3 is a GREAT tire on the IS! Having had mine for over 6.5 years...I have see, read & tried many tire. A 225/45/17 is a perfect size. Even the 215/40or45/17 is as good. AIR PRESSURE is also critical! 33lbs! I was going to put him (the original guy who cried for help, not the one that posted the above), in contact with you, but thought I'd leave the decision to you ..especially after reading the other post Perhaps there's an opportunity to market your settings in the USA...they obviously haven't got there yet. http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...c=37724&hl=

Well I told them it's nothing to worry about but they still reckon the gap weren't there before it went into the garage. So it could just be they never noticed before and now they have! Looks fine to me, and looks like the wheel would benefit from a rim protector Don't like the use of clip on balance weights for alloy rims though...is this acceptable practice?

Purely exploratory

I've replied to Mark on the LOC post, but as I said he may have had my car before then

No offence taken. I'm happy to share all the info, including the OEM settings which were provided from a very nice guy in the Lexus GB group that has been getting a lot of unfair criticism lately on the LOC forums . He wasn't obliged to provide the details, but went out of his way to obtain them..... It will be interesting to see the readings on my car from the new TDI equipment.

No wonder I couldn't find it at Japfest

I still have the intention of swopping the 225's on the front for 235's because the former look really stretched on the 8.5J. Looking at the current set up though the outside edge of the 225 tyre only has 5mm or so clearance from the plastic inner arch lining on full lock, so I'm guessing the 235 will rub unless I use a heat gun to slightly modify the arch liner :rolleyes_anim:

Your correct in that new rims will change the front set up to give 10mm more inner clearance (the inside of the wheel to the strut housing) and extend the outside edge of the wheel by the same amount, and change to the rear set up will give 6mm more inner clearance and extend the outer edge of the wheel by 18mm. My set-up gave 1mm more inner clearance and +13mm to outside edge at the front....at the rear -5mm inner clearance and + 21mm to outside edge. My widths are 8.5J and 9.5J. My front tyre is 225/35/19 and is slightly undertyred for the 8.5J...really needs a 235 but the 225 only just clears on full lock. Rears are 275/30/19. My Eibach drop is 1.4" front and 1" rear (35.56mm & 25.40mm). I would say your proposed set up will be fine whereas their suggestion only increases the built in discrepancy of your speedometer reading to actual mph. There should be no problem with 255/40/18 on the 9J rears.

Can't let that one pass...the second generation Lexus IS also has a silent timing chain system

Just changed both rear tyres on my daughters Corsa because they were looking just like your first pic, fortunately when they were off they didn't look anything like the second pic, but guess it wouldn't have taken too long

Would have thought that outstanding traction was the last thing you needed

It's supposed to be the short term memory that goes first The 850 cc standard Mini had drums all round, the 997 Cooper had discs on the front and drums on the rear but the front discs were smaller (they were really bad I understand) than the later 998 Cooper and the 1275 'S'. My 'S' was very modified, lightweight bodyshell (not from rust), overbored stage two Janspeed motor, etc. but the only brake mods were harder front pads and rear shoes, supposedly anti-fade. It had wider Minilite alloys but they were still only 10" diameter so the discs were still tiny in size and bulk so no wonder they got hot enough to boil the brake fluid in the cylinders. It drove exactly like a go-kart. The steering wheel connected you directly to the road with nothing in between so you felt every contour in the road. Great fun to drive, but looking back it really was a tin box with a wheel at each corner...hate to think of the safety aspect, just glad I survived driving it for four years

...and just hope you are in a situation that enable you to modify your driving style to compensate when you encounter both fade and boiling fluid When I encountered both in my (original) 1275 Mini Cooper S it was after a 'spirited' drive and at a severe right hander at the bottom of a long and twisty steep hill. The overshoot of the bend dropped about 25 feet down an embankment and onto a railway line. I hit the brakes approaching the bend and foot went to the floor, no hydraulics at all Thank fcuk for Alec Issagonis and his design for that legendary go-kart as I managed to get round the bend when really I shouldn't have. After a brief stop the brakes were back to normal, but as my memory serves the adrenaline level and the heartbeat took a while longer. Apologies for the war story...but regarding the relationship between pad and disk, the effect of drilled/dimpled/cross cut or grooved (or any combination of those) must therefore have a bearing on the braking efficiency. Presumably the selection of the right pad with these type of disc must be pretty critical to get the best out of the pairing?

It's dead quiet inside, except between 2000 and 3000 rpm when it resonates..trouble is that's my motorway cruising speed in 6th gear

Took 3 months by slow boat from Japan but my Tanabe cat back system arrived this week.. Took all of 15 mins to change it for the OEM one...but the guy fitted it was pretty experienced

Anything for you bazza in time .... Truth is over the years there have been so many projects the stickers could say.. Maintained by wim Developed by wim Written by wim Referred by wim Diagnosed by wim Monitored by wim But the best of all is just simply...... Set by wim Ha-Ha..amazing what auto suggestion can do as the Eibach logo at the bottom of the screen flashed in my peripheral vision 'The Will to Win' and I swear it looked like 'The Wheel to WIM' ...perhaps I need the optician...

I'm only teasing. leave tigger alone

You just Hijacked it to say Happy Birthday to Tony , and the threads original contents are getting more viewings from the new posts. So more people are reading about the subject. So there . You're very rude and obviously too lazy to start a new thread , but obviously not enough to post twice....

What day do you think would be best to attend? Oi.... Stop hijacking TK's thread...Happy birthday btw Tony ...catching me up

Thanks ER, may be it was due to the high reflective of the dark colour. I wash it every 3 or 4 days with water. Photography is my other serious hobby. ...and you like your sounds too I understand , you must have the Mark Levinson System in the car?