Joshohoho

I drove my 2007 IS250 RWD from California to Virginia. Got my car used, got a change oil and waxing done at Lexus before I left, had 80% tread left on tires and did not get the carbon buildup issue/symptoms before the trip. Anyway I'm listing down some tips and experiences I had before and after the drive.

-Only mods I have are F-sport exhaust and intake.
-Total Miles driven: 2832 miles
-Took me 3 days to get to VA, my job gave me 8 days to get there, so the remaining 5 days were free.
-drank 10 redbulls in those 3 days to keep me awake.
-had 32 quaker granola bars too suppress hunger and control my digestive system to not go number 2. I didn't poop til I got to VA.
-I dorve through 8 states(CA,AZ,NM,TX,OK,AR,TN,VA)
-Slept in my car 2 times to save money (lol I know I'm cheap but not cheap on my car)
-I only put 91+ octane gasoline on my car, some gas stations after Texas had 93 and I bought that.
-1 full tank of gas could go 392-425miles, I averaged 25mpg
-I used clear track tape on my bumper to protect it from bugs and rocks but I didnt cover the whole hood cause I got lazy. I got a a couple rock chips on my hood and I saw 2 pieces of flood fly off a truck but those scratches can be buffed our
-Gas is way cheaper here in VA, The price of VA premium gas is the same as regular gas in CA.

-I took the I-40 for the majority of my trip.
-CA=had a good driving scene through deserts and twisty highways
-AZ= same thing with arizona and I stopped twice there I noticed most of the girls there were fit.
-NM= had nice driving roads except when it got dark it was a straight boring highway. I had to turn my blue interior LEDs on and blast the music.
-TX=Well I've been to texas before but it wasnt very pleasant this time cause I rained the whole time through texas.
-OK=Im not judging the state if anyone lives here. The roads were boring and the weather was bad, strong winds and rain the whole time.
-AR=Weather got better but everyone was staring at me when I pulled up to gas stations. wasn't a problem.(im asian and im friendly) Until they saw my CA license plates and found out im in the military they were nicer and smiling LOL!
-TN=Maybe the best state I drove through. Roads were like beautiful through forests and hills. weather was nice. I gassed up at some back country gas stations and everyone was nice. cash register was nice too and after I paid they saw my plates and asked where in california and when I said I was in the military they were even nicer.
-VA= most of the roads on the TN/VA border have potholes. I'm glad I didnt lower my car.

-I have the F-sport exhaust and intake. they are only 4 months old. In CA my drive to work was only 5-10 mins. After driving to VA, I noticed My IS250 has a louder rumble at idle and at WOT. I know this exhaust is a muffled left muffler and a straight pipe right muffler so I don't know what happened but it sounds better.

-Never had the carbon issue before. but my car had the symptoms twice first in Arizona then in Texas. It was my first stop for gas and food. When I approached the stop light i felt the rough idle, so I threw it in Neutral. I drove with S-Mode on to make overtaking fun. After keeping it in neutral for a few seconds it went away. The same thing happened in Texas and didn't happen again. It wasn't much of a problem cause I was expecting it to happen from reading on the forums and throwing it in neutral made it idle normally. after driving 1 weeke in VA, I haven't experienced the carbon issue and I still love this car.

Here are some pics I took, I don't have a fancy camera.

after getting the car back from Lexus

the cockpit!

Packing the car. my stuff lowered the car like it had 3 people




Tread on my tires

This is what I used to wrap my car. Its called track tape.

Pics from my friend's car.

getting gas. my car looks good even though its dirty

track tape started peeling off after Oklahoma

iRyan

iTrader: (7)

nice trip i see....i had that same issue with my car when i drove a 6hr trip...i put it in Neutral n rev it a little and never had the issue again...you can bring it in n get it checked out

Joshohoho

I could but what I read on every carbon build up thread is that the dealer needs to pull up codes or replicate the rough idle before they do they take your car in to the fix. its not that serious so i'll wait til it gets worse.

My SA in san diego said to try to replicate it they rev the car past 4k RPM for 30 secs and let it off if it rides rough at idle after that they'll take it in. I tried doing that from sometimes but it never happens. The carbon issue is random.

laobo979

iTrader: (5)

Yeah I drove threw TN before too pick up an isf for a buddy. The people are nice cause they're packing heat lol. But the road are great cause you can see miles ahead of you . But West VA sucked haha...

Joshohoho

I went to Virginia not west virginia. Looks like they're all packing heat, thats how I think about all the states east of Texas.