chikoo

Right. If you want a +10 to become a +35, you need to shave 25mm off the inside wheel hub surface.

ttiangco

Hahahahah i know. He must have gotten it twisted.

syzygy

Slap on F-sport front and rear sway bars as one of your first modifications. Handling will be markedly improved. Body roll is severely diminished. It's a night and day difference on the IS350.

I don't doubt at all that your 5 was handled better than a stock IS350. There's an absurd amount of body roll that comes with the IS350 stock. That said, the F-sport front/rear sway bars can certainly do wonders.

D-Boi

iTrader: (5)

They are gorgeous and fun to drive cars, but they are way too expensive to maintain, i learned my lesson with buying Audi's and BMW's.

Evitzee

Agreed the German's have the driveability part down pat.....but not so much in the reliability department. I am adament in the old motto, "Never own a German car outside of it's warranty". I choose to give up some of the driving pleasure for better reliability with most Japanese products, especially over the long term.

potatosink

I had mine redrilled a little to fit 5X114. so far no vibration.

ttiangco

So i found adaptors, BUT they are 1 inch or 25.4mm thick..Im guessing that would act like a spacer and then, it would put my at negative offset??

516IS

iTrader: (12)

Those are nice wheels, if you get them to work on your IS, otherwise if it is too much work to make them fit, sell them and get new ones for your IS... Remember, your Wheels should match your IS, not the other way around. Anyway, Welcome to CL, and your old Ride was hawt!...

chikoo

yup. you are correct.
+10 offset + 25.4 spacer = -15.4 offset.

OPTiK

Rear sway bar will make a dramatic difference at noted above. There's a massive thread floating around about this.

Yeah, my IS250AWD doesn't really warm up unless I'm driving it.

Stock tires are the worst for road noise, but a good set a tires may/may not have you rethinking this one.

ttiangco

what are the stock tires?
They had on michelin pilot sport a/s plus

omgswifty

iTrader: (5)

damn nice 5 bro.. this has the same twin turbo I6 as my 335 right? love the m5 front n rear, tricked me for a second. looks so damn mean. you will notice that repairs and maintenance is far more wallet-friendly with the is350 =). Not a slow poke either. There are superchargers available if you have a need for speed

chi123

iTrader: (12)

So overall, are you liking the IS350 more than the 545i or is it the other way around? I was considering an '05 BMW 545i with 42,000 miles on it but decided not to do it since I heard it gets lots of little problems that cost loads of money to repair. And the value of the car was also a concern, the sticker price was $67,000 but 5 years later, it's being sold for $21,000. By the way, that's a nice 545i you got. If I would have got it, I would have done the same thing as you did with the M5 bumpers and the quads. With BMW's, there's so many options to mod them but not with the IS.

ttiangco

Thanks bro, and no, it had the 4.4L V8. Stock 325hp and 330TQ. I was lookin to jump into a 535i, but decided to stay away from BMW for a little bit. My car goes into a Lexus dealer tomorrow for the first time of my ownership. We will see what kind of things Lexus comes up with.

ttiangco

Its so hard to compare the 2. 2 totally different cars. The only thing im really missing so far is the space in the rear. I also dont understand why Lexus doesnt have an option for fold down rear seats. The Lexus also seems more creakier? I hear more sounds daily driving and going over bumps, its like the interior is shifting a little bit. I love the 5 series. If you really want to get into one, jump into a 550. Better motor, and less problems. I WOULD own a BMW again, but this time I wouldnt own it outside of warranty. The value? Well thats just vehicles in general for you. Personal cars are never an investment. And actually theres not too many things out there for 5 series. There is easily alot more items for isx50, although im surprised to see some items in my mind, way over price. A quick example is any lip kit for the isx50. It seems just for a lip is in and around $400. I paid $800 SHIPPED for my M5 replica front, rear and side BUMPERS. The quality was great and the fitment was better then oem! Anyway, im happy with the is350. Ill be modding this one for sure.