Hello everyone (from Down Under),

Thought I'd share my black 08 IS250 Prestige with Enhancement Pack (Aussie). Purchased new & left untouched up until about a month ago.

Shares the garage with my other toys. A 94 JDM MR2 turbo (2.2L GT35R etc) & S8 FD RX7 (mild port, GTX35R etc). Those car & their "builds" were pretty stressful to say the least (strokers, rotors, big turbos, fancy IC setups, cracked blocks etc). Learned over the years how far to take things & really didn't want to do much to the IS250. Thankfully, they're such an excellent platform & come up pretty nice with well placed mods. Cheap too if I'm honest, but not tacky (I hope).

Sold one of my cars (a CL9) to a friend who didn't quite have enough to cover my asking price, so since he ran a window tinting business, I had him tint the RX7, Dad's IS350 & my IS250 to help cover some of my losses.

First "mod". 15% window tint.







Had some wheels (Trafficstar style) laying around doing nothing (from a previous car), but wasn't quite convinced whether or not to put them on the IS250 as they weren't staggered. 19x8.5 +35 all round (225/35's). Thought it'd be perfect up front, but fail in the rear since there's some pretty aggressive rears going on the 2nd Gens. There was serious gutter rash & some fading on the polished lips of the wheels so that didn't help. Not really into spacers either. Took a close look & realised 1 of the tyres were not reuseable so thought I could "fatten" up their appearance with the widest rubber recommended for a 8.5 wide rim, so fitted some nice new 255/35 Falken FK452's. Machined the lips while I was at it to get rid of the rashing.

The appearance of "dish" was a concern for me as the wheels were black with a polished lip. So did some online searching whilst on the trains & discovered the whole "Plastidip"revolution.......lol Not so easy to find this stuff in Sydney, but eventually tracked it down along with a can or two of the ""glossifier".







Now onto suspension. Didn't think springs would drop it enough, so thought I'd need to fork out for coilovers. Then I spoke to some local IS owners who seemed happy with their choice to go to Tein S Tech from coilovers & mentioned the ride was still good. I have a pregnant wife, so comfort is really important. Luckily, stumbled across some barely used Tein S Tech's for sale @ a bargain price (cheaper than ebay). The owner went for coilovers, so couldn't be bothered seperating the springs from the shocks so he gave those too. Easy installation since no spring compressors were needed. Shocks turned out to be in better condition than mine Took about 3hrs to fit & went along without too much drama. Accidentally broke the wire for the ABS/VSC, but was able to fix that (no biggie). Also blew one fuse when removing the rear trim. Pretty easy afternoon though.

Grabbed a rear ducktail wing, prepainted from ebay & secured it with the provided 3M tape too. Highly recommend it. Paint & fitment were excellent.









A week or so later, had my GFX front lip painted & installed. Wasn't as easy as I expected, but am very happy with the results.













Yes.......I know it's @ the bottom of the barrel as far as "fitment" goes, but I'm content with it. Was contemplating spacers, but was talked out of it on the "will this fit" thread. Doesn't rub @ all (tyre seems close in places though) & it's a relief not having to do any guard pulling or cutting on a Lexus. Did my share of that on the others toys.

Looking to do a proper photoshoot in the coming weeks. Maybe even one with the MR2 & RX7.

Only other plans I have is to get a nice intake & delete the resonator. Bit ricey I know, but V6's sound so nice with a bit of roar.

Comments & criticism welcome.

Cheers,
Jay

 

Wow, very nice....amazing work with the wheels.

 

Looks great

 

how does the car ride on the S Tech's? comfortable?

 

Looks good! I agree about exhaust, I'm changing a few things on mine too

 

The ride is great. More firm & flat footed than stock for sure. I've heard mixed reviews about them, some say they're too soft, but I personally don't agree. Love how they have rubber sleeves around sections of the springs to prevent unwanted knocking sounds or vibration.

Wouldn't want any stiffer, so Road Magnets would probably be too harsh for me. Keep in mind I have 35 profile front tyres on 19's, so that has an affect too.

 

Had the resonator deleted today. Can't hear it from in the car, but it sounds ok from outside.

Sorry for the photo bombing, just trying to get some quality shots of the 2IS before the Wife scratches it.....lol


Couple more from today:

 

Well I've completed everything I had planned for the IS250. Fitted & installed a ram air intake. Sounds okay. Not loud/boyracer like. Whilst outright power wouldn't have improved, it's more responsive. Did take a few days for the ecu to relearn itself though & it's now running noticeably better than ever before. Did end up trimming the drivers side cover & factory duct, but it all came out nice & neat.

Also had the car serviced & a wheel alignment done now that the suspension has settled.

For anyone interested in knowing, with Tein S Techs, I ended up with 1.7deg negative camber rear & 1.9deg negative front (standard shocks).

Final celebratory picture whoring:

 

looks good great progress shown....i like that you did the calipers black also...brings out the wheel more

 

looks a whole lot better with the GFX lip!

 

First update for 2014.

As convenient/economical as plasti-dip is, haven't been happy with the rubbery finish. Also wasn't quite content with my non-staggered wheels, since the rears tucked in far too much. Had a bit of "happy money" so snapped up a set of discontinued BuddyClub P1 II Plus (wtf is up with the naming convention) in much nicer size/offset. Black on black wasn't my favourite on the Lexus either due to the chrome grille/badging/surrounds. Width is spot on & the offset is a little bit on the aggressive side for a 2IS.

Specs:
F -19 x 8.5 +22
R - 19 x 9.5 +22

Happy to say it doesn't scrub at all (although my rear tyres have a bit of stretch). Guards aren't rolled. Tein S Tech lowering springs (natural camber). Weather sucks so car's dirty.













Weather's sucked for the past few weeks, so the car's dirty. I also purchased a GFX rear lip which will be painted/fitted at the start of May, so I'll save the detail for then.

 

Finally installed & fitted my GFX rear lip. Fixed the alignment on the m2 exhaust too as it'd have burnt off some paint. Took a few quick snaps @ lunch. That's all I plan to do with the IS so I'll call that little project complete. Very happy with how it turned out.

 

Shaking off my photography rust (amateur @ best) with some pic whoring: