Spec

Yes, between these 2 - it's only 8.9mm which would appear legal.

Hmm, very interesting... Usually with a resonance issue, you'd have to resort to - changing either the frequency which causes the issue (Bit difficult as the parts probably need to operate at the frequency) - add dampening - Change the mass of the part that's causing the vibration, or the part that's affected by resonance. Would be interesting to know what Lexus do about this. Have they told you which part(s) are in resonance ?

How much did you put on excess ? For me, I have put it at 1k. I think if you have a bingle in this car, it'd usually cost you a couple of K easily.

It appears that QLD allows a max of 15mm dia difference from original spec. For your front it's 2.9 which is ok, but rears come out to be -23.6 - I'm not sure this is legal... Are you sure the spec is 245/35 for rear and not 255/35 or 245/40 ?

I'm only paying $1200 with RACV. A lot depends on age, suburb & no claim though. I'm over 35, no claims and with these guys for the last 7 years. Also I have excluded all other drivers...

Is the vibration from the steering column ? Can you feel it on the steering wheel ? If so, it's probably wheel balance &/or alignment.

wait, sorry, i look the odometer.. is that in km? soz... i'm not sure if that's how i'm suppose to.... I circled what you want to be looking at oh, okay!! thanks!! is that there 24/7 or only there when driving?? ok, That's not the odometer ! That's the onboard computer displaying an estimate of range. The number on the right most part of the screen is the Odo. There's usually a trip meter also present on the right corner of the display panel( usually a small black button) , if you press that it cycles between Odo, Trip A and Trip B. In your photo, it's currently showing Odo. Fill her up full, note the number, then drive and when it comes up with the warning light,head straight for the bowser, fillup again and note the number and the amount of fuel. Then you can calculate how much it's sipping.

Wow, that is really low... I'd be interested to know how you're measuring 300k. I did a recent trip to Adelaide and on the long runs to and from Melbourne I got 9.3 and 8.9L /100k - i.e a full tank every 500+km On the short trips sightseeing (still not in traffic) I got 10.2L/100K. An IS 350 should be miles better than that.

You can think of it as Kryptonite if you want but its not................nor is it harder than ceramic. It would be done from factory if it were. Nothing beats good quality wax done from time to time. A good det I see, so it won't help Jay Jay's case. Only a good ol' fashion cane at the right time can sort that out :) Opticoat is expensive though. I use apply wax on my previous cars, but have now moved to sealants. I use Zaino, but I've heard Wolf and Nano have also got good products. Zaino (if applied correctly) can last 6 months on a garaged car and makes washing the car very easy as well. It does need a good clay before you apply it for the first time. If you're planning to do this by yourself - reserve at least half a day to do the job correctly !

Does Opticoat protect against deliberate keying ?

With your budget in mind, a new IS 350 seems unlikely. You can probably get a very low mileage (under 15k) at the price. Also the cars that you're comparing this to seem more in the 'Hot hatch' category. IMHO, R32 and S3 are the best in that category / price and I know of 2 specialist service workshops who can deal with these cars at almost 2/3rd the price of the dealership. With Lexus, it's more luxury than engine refinement, even the IS 350 has a slight engine whine which is audible inside the cabin. Engine refinement is more IS-F territory or the mad dream car LFA.

Yes, Lexus is generally cheaper to service than a German. I've owned both - German usually around 1200 to 1500 (It's the dealership's labour charges - it's significantly higher), Lexus is around 800 and that's for an IS-F. 250/350 should be slightly cheaper than the F.

You 18" wheels would have changed the rolling diameter, resulting in a speedo error which will also impact the odometer. That probably accounts for most of the difference you see here - you can calculate difference in rolling dia if you have the tyre profile of both tyres. Interesting! I used to have 17" wheels, FRONT tyres were 225/45 R17 ,REAR tyres were 245/45 R17, Now I have FSport 18" Wheels, FRONT tyres are 225/35 R18 ,REAR tyres are 225/40 R18 (these new tyres have a lower profile than before,) numbers above seem a bit incorrect - esp for rear tyres... the new R18 tyres are skinnier that the old 245 R17 ? Assuming that the old was 245/45 R17 and new is 245/40/R18 - the dia difference is just less than 1cm. This wouldn't lead to much speedo & odo errors - Anyway, I ran some calculations, it comes to only 0.6 meters over 450Kms of travel - i.e this doesn't account for your issue. It's likely that there has been some other change causing efficiency - new setup heavier than older etc. I've also seen some discussion threads on the rolling dia changing the RPM at which the engine revs - difference in the cruising RPM will impact the fuel efficiency - no calculations here, but 100km does seem like a lot...

You 18" wheels would have changed the rolling diameter, resulting in a speedo error which will also impact the odometer. That probably accounts for most of the difference you see here - you can calculate difference in rolling dia if you have the tyre profile of both tyres.

Few more difference - On the MY11 you can disable the electronic stability control completely for a 'session' (it will reset after an engine restart though). On older models (pre '09 I think), you had to do the foot dance. With MY11, you cannot override the Nav input restriction (once the vehicle is moving the GPS unit doesn't allow you to type) or perform telephone contact lookups (you can still speed dial). On pre'10 or '09 models I believe there was a hidden menu on the Nav screen which allowed to disable these by putting the car in diagnostics/technician mode.

From my driving experience - MY09/10 vs MY11. The ride of '11 is slightly smoother, it's not as hard as the '10. Also, due to the Slip diff, the back end is less bumpier under acceleration from a corner. I've only tested this on the road under normal (but spirited) driving conditions - I'm sure it will be much more pronounced on a track when driving in anger !

I've got an S4 and the battery life is pathetic when it comes to gaming on it :( I'm trying to look for some driving roads or some hikes & spots to photograph.

This weekend, I've to travel to Broadford of all places - not sure if there's something interesting there or nearby. I'll be there in the morning and have to wait till evening with nothing to do. Any ideas ?

I think I would take it - Even an electrical fault on this car will be expensive to fix.

Great to finally meet you all Some photos from the meet

We all set for Sunday ?

You can find out some characteristics using this site http://www.willtheyfit.com/ It will indicate how much the wheels dia changes, loss of wheel arch and how much it pokes out compared to previous. The only thing I couldn't find here was if the brake calipers will fit inside the new rim - not sure if that is just related to the offset value - perhaps someone more knowledgeable here might comment.

Yeah, does look much neater than the first one... Also, while seeing your first post, I just realised that these were the front tyres - these shouldn't affect your speedo. I think lexus speedo is tied to the back wheels.

Yes, i think every car manufacturer does this. A rough test is to drive under one of the Advisory speed detection lanes on the highways - think Hume and geelong ones have them. Driven several different cars on these and at 100kph they've always under-read usually between 92 to 96kph. From what I've heard in Europe the margin is between 10-15%, but in our Nanny state of Vic it's widely assumed to be around 3%.

Hi Tony...The guys at the tyre shop said it's ok as the aspect ration sill the same (235/40/18). I've driven the new tyre for about 2 weeks now. and it seems ok. I mean it's hard to notice if the speedo off, but when I do 100km/h on eastern freeway looks like my speed is the same like any other car around me hahaha. Preety lame method of testing huh? :) Hi Tony, The aspect ratio is still the same so it will not affect the speedo. I am definitely going to get these - can you show photo of the sidewall with the rim, I would like to see how much the tyre sticks out from the rim. Kuhmo has sent me pictures of the KU22 tyre but it doesn't show anything because it is not on a rim. It's not just the aspect ratio which affects the speedo, it's the Rolling diameter. In your case 225/40/R18 is 637.2mm and the new one 235/40/R18 is 645.2mm which will result in a -1.26% error. If the seepdo is calibrated correctly when it's showing 100/kph the car will be doing only 98.74 kph; a slight under-read...