Flat Tire - A First Time for Everything

Yes, it's true - in my over 20 years of driving I've never had a flat tire. Until just last week, when on the way home from Yokota Air Base, my Chinese made "RUPSE" Tire Pressure Monitor System started going bananas.  In the past, on a hot day it had indicated a problem, but when I parked the car and drove on a cooler day, it was fine.

So when the TPMS started flashing again indicating a fault in the right rear tire, luckily I was going slow enough to pull over and take a look. The right rear tire looked fine, but just in case I looked at the other rear tire and... yep it was pretty flat (the sensors had been switched left to right on installation. Oh well). Tire gauge indicated a 1.5 when all other tires were 2.5.

As I was hoping for a slow leak, I pulled into a gas station, had the tire inflated back up to 2.5, and then drove home. The TPMS warning went away, but then as I approached my house I noticed the air pressure number for the right rear (in reality the left rear) tire dropping. And of course, the next morning the the tire was flat with the rim on the ground, with only the rubber of the tire between it and the ground.

So I went off to work, and during the day called the dealer to see if they could help. Their idea was, with a slow leak I could either inflate the tire myself (or mount the spare) and then drive over, and they would see if they could repair the tire. So that's exactly what I did - I left work early, used a portable electric pump and filled up the tire, and drove to the Lexus dealer, thankfully only about 1.3 km away from my house.

After enjoying the free drink and snack, they invited me back to the workshop to check out what was going on.

Super clean, wish the Nissan dealer was like this too...

 Surprisingly, they found a nail in the tire, but that wasn't the cause of the leak. When they dunked the tire in soapy water, they found the source of the leak.

Looks like something wedged in there. 

 Luckily, because it wasn't on the side of the tire, it was repairable.

But look at what it was!

Broken off knife blade!

It appeared to be a broken off utility knife blade.  So they plugged up the leak and told me it was a temporary fix, and sent me on my way.

Now, I DID ask about what tires to get next - the car is on Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and while those are still in stock, for not much more I could get the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, which is the follow on model to the Super Sports. Unfortunately, the dealer wanted about 80,000 yen per tire (or about $800 each!) while I could shop online and get each tire for less than half that price. So guess what I'll be doing soon...

Except of course I have other expenses in my life right now, so as long as this repaired tire holds (the dealer showed me I have about 4mm of tread life left until each tire hits the wear bars on the tire), I'm going to try to hold out...

Disappointment... in the Lack Of Tuning Parts!?

So coming from the GT-R world, where there are plenty of magzines and "Mooks" (Magazine+ Book) which are literally catalogs of tuning parts available for the GT-Rs, I've been searching for something similar for the IS-F.

Something like this:

I see these for the Civics, RX-7s, GT-Rs, even Toyota Crowns and
Celsiors (=LS400) and Altezzas (IS200)... but NOT the ISF

It turns out that, as Lexus has only been in Japan for the last 10 years, when they did begin selling them the two "new" models were the IS and the GS, which were clumped together in a lot of the Japanese press.  So I finally found this:

FYI, the LS was already sold as a Toyota (the "Celsior") and the SC was sold as the "Soarer" and even the previous IS was sold domestically as the "Altezza."

In any case, I eagerly ordered the Mook (from a used bookstore) hoping to find some cool parts I hadn't come across before on the Internet.  Strangely, no matter how hard I looked, I also could not find a "Volume 2".... ok this is not a good sign...

It arrived nicely wrapped not just in clear plastic, but also this protective foam:

I eagerly opened it up, only to find:

ARGH! My eyes!!!

What kind of junk is this? And then I really wasn't expecting anything IS-F related, but then:

Sorry, but what IDIOT would run around with these heavy cast wheels?

The other wheels they had weren't much better either, at least for me:

Yeah not for me.

It's really strange - with the RB26 GT-Rs, it was almost required to change out the wheels to something more aggressive, fatter, and bigger.  With the IS-F, I think the OEM BBS designs are all great, even though I have yet to see the versions other than the ones on my car now.

In any case, it means that, other than OEM items, I will have to rely on these shops for cool aftermarket parts, at least here in Japan.

Let me know please if there are others outside Japan I should know about!!

Meanwhile, I guess maybe they didn't make enough numbers of the IS Fs to make it worthwhile to publish more dedicated magazines and books? Although this really was Lexus' first supercar...?

My First USDM Mod!

So for some reason, the Lexus First Aid Kit was one option not available in Japan, either as a factory or dealer option.  But it was available as an individual option for all IS models in the US.  So I had to buy it in the US and have it sent over.

Here is the part number for reference.

Biggest problem for me is where to mount it. It would make sense to mount it where it's readily accessible, i.e. in the passenger compartment but I don't see where?

On the other hand, there are plenty of nice nooks and crannies in the trunk where it fits.

I think I've seen it mounted like this in a video review somewhere

But this is more out of the way - not sure of the letter ghosting but it must be function of the camera

I actually have another USDM option arriving soon too... stay tuned!

New Remote Engine Starter Remote! (and vanilla ice cream...)

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, this car came with all of the possible options, and most of the dealer installed options.

One option it came with was the remote engine starter.  The technicians at the Tokorozawa dealership, which did the CPO inspection, decided that the remote was acting up but simply needed a new battery.  My local dealership, however, thought otherwise and went ahead and ordered me a brand new remote!

So I dropped off the car on a Saturday morning, and as it was a typical humid and hot August day, was treated to an iced latte and some ice cream:

I then proceeded to briefly discuss the rest of the work order, as well as discuss future plans for the car, with Ishikawa-san, the dealership's  head of service.  I then arranged to pick up the car the next day around noon.  True, for just the remote it might have taken just a few minutes but I was having some other work done as well.

So on Sunday, I walked the twenty minutes to the dealership, was welcomed by the pretty ladies at the front desk, ushered to a booth and chair and then - yes, more ice cream!

On Saturday I enjoyed a iced latte and vanilla ice cream,
today it was ice oolong tea and ice cream. 

After a few minutes, after I had cooled down (the drink and the ice cream, people!), Ishikawa-san came over and presented me with this:

I'm tempted to leave the plastic on, and never use it
 - or else find a nice leather case...

This nifty Lexus logo engraved device allows you to remotely start your car's engine. It also allows you to lock and unlock your doors, find your car in a crowded parking lot (as if this blue wasn't obvious enough) and in a very Lexus way, the LCD readout also tells you the interior temperature of your car.  I note that on the current Lexus cars, these features are now available on one's smartphone. Nice, as I really don't want to carry this thing around with me in addition to the key...

Since the prior owners didn't live in a super cold place where it snows all the time, like up north in Hokkaido (and further I can't imagine driving this car in the snow...), I can only surmise that maybe they used this feature to get the engine running in the morning to cool off the interior? Especially as I had surmised that, given some faded plastic in front of the windshield, the car was probably kept outside? 

In any case, I immediately had to try it out. I learned the hard way to read the instructions first, but after I did that, it was indeed fun to start the car without being inside it! I was able to hear how the car sounds when it starts up, from the OUTSIDE where, I think most will agree, it sounds very different...

Anyway, this was just ONE item I was at the dealership for.  My next two posts will go into detail about my other reasons for dropping the car off over the weekend...

The Candidate - CPO 2010 (Color Code 8U1) ISF

So here are photos and a thorough description of the car.

As a September 2009 car, the base price when new was: 7,800,000 yen.  This car has every factory option [pricing listed herein]:

- 19 inch forged aluminum wheels (made by BBS, hand polished) - 87,150 yen
- Pre-crash safety system (using millimeter wave radar) + radar cruise control (with braking control) - 147,000 yen
- Moonroof (tilt and slide) - 94,500 yen
- Clearance sonar (parking sensors in front and rear bumpers) - 42,000 yen
- Interior: "silver styling fiber" on center console, door window switch panels, etc. - 39,900 yen
- Mark Levinson Premium Sound System (tuned exclusively for the IS F) - 194,250 yen
- Cold climate package - rear fog lamps, windshield defroster, etc. - 16,800 yen.

In addition, when you buy a car in Japan there is the mandatory "recycle fee" of 14,530 yen.

When you add this all up: 636,130 yen. And then added to the base price of the car,  the total is: 8,436,130 yen!  Not cheap at all, I think the USDM models had better pricing (especially when you consider the exchange rate at the time...).

However, not only does this car have every factory option, it also turned out to have the following dealer installed options (with pricing, just FYI):

Interior:
- ISF Exclusive Floor mats - with F logo (94,500 yen)
- Instrument panel box - replaces the ashtray and cigarette lighter - so this car is a non-smoker car! - (16,800 yen)
- Trunk mat - (17,850 yen).  There are actually two other trunk mat options - a "trunk cushion" (50,400 yen) made with urethane foam cushion as a bottom layer, and a "trunk tray" (28,350 yen) which provides a water proof surface and which can also be folded in half to partition the trunk space.

Top is the "trunk cushion" and the bottom is the "trunk mat" my car has.

Trunk net on top, "trunk tray" on bottom, showing how it folds in half to provide a space behind to hide stuff

Exterior:
- Side Visors - to reduce wind noise and prevent rain water from entering when windows are slightly opened (29,400 yen)
- Door edge protectors - body color (10,500 yen)

Safety & Utility:
- Wheel lock nuts (10,500 yen)
- License plate lock bolts (3,150 yen)
- Remote starter- to get the A/C or heater running remotely on hot/cold days before entering the car (84,000 yen)
- Drive Recorder - dash cam with main unit hidden in glove box (52,500 yen)

Umm those are expensive wheel locks...remote starter is cool though

When all of these options are added up - parts alone with installation labor not included:  319,200 yen!  This means that, combined with the base price and factory options, the car, when new, cost at least 8,755,330 yen!  This does NOT include various other fees like the ETC (electronic toll collection system) set up fee, required insurance, etc.  So whoever owned the car before me, appears to have been on the wealthy side?

Other dealer options which the car did not have include (as judged from this 2009 JDM catalog):
Interior:
- "clean box" - a cloth garbage bag (with anti-microbial properties apparently) that fits into the front door pockets (or can be hung off behind the front seats)
- premium ashtray - fits into center console cup holder, made of "bone china" with LED light up (12,600 yen)
- basic ashtray - fits into center console cup holder (2,625 yen)
- hangar (leather wrapped) - clips onto headrest stays of front seats, for jackets and neckties (10,500 yen)
- front sunshade - (15,750 yen)
- trunk luggage net (11,550 yen)

Definitely going to get the real leather wrapped clothes hangar...

Safety and Utility:
- 3 kinds of baby/child seats (42,000 - 63,000 yen)
- "Snow cap" - plastic tire chains (16,800 yen)
- Emergency signal light (rechargeable type) - two versions, one for the center console, the other for the  "luggage room" (trunk?). Both are 21,000 yen each, and get their power from the car.
- Rescue tool (for the center console) - cut seatbelt, break glass, etc. (2,415 yen)
- Emergency reflective triangle (2625 yen)
- Car cover - waterproof type (46,200 yen) and flameproof type (29,400 yen)
- 8cm adaptor - to play mini CDs (for Mark Levinson stereo equipped cars only) (315 yen).

Still that is an interesting "signal light," may have to get it...

Then of course there are the various dealer applied wheel polishes, paint sealants, and tire coatings, etc.

I don't plan on buying most of these "missing" dealer options, but it sure is interesting to know what was available at the time.  Readers of my GT-R blog know that, I will likely first fix up any scratches and dings on the car, make it perfect, before exploring what's out there in terms of aftermarket parts, whether Lexus brand or otherwise.

So this car looked very good. However, the asking price was more than what I wanted to pay.....but I emailed a request for an estimate anyway.  The very next day I got a call from my local Lexus dealer, less than a mile way....

It turns out my local Lexus dealer did not have this CPO car in stock (they had a blue RCF in stock, however), but it would be possible to get it... why don't you come down and we'll talk they said...

In my next post, I'll detail what I learned when I went to the dealership...