ISF's come with 19" wheels and tires from lexus, 19x8 and 19x9 I think!, so its designed to be ok with these size wheels and tires, just so you know....sorry to hear about your troubles with this car, I saw this car for sale when I was shopping for my F a few months ago, hope everything works out for you

 

OK, thanks. I think they may be wider than normal, at least the rear tires. But I haven't seen the car for over a month so I cannot confirm the tire size at this time. Good thing you didn't buy this car, dodged a bullet on that one!

Now I have to have the car towed to Lexus dealership, and I think they are going to take over with the repair, I hope this is over soon! Thanks for the comment!

 

sorry to hear this. In the end this kind of BS can happen with any used car, but I will admit the crazy paint, lowered suspension ,and wheels would have been a deal breaker for me. You had to have known whoever had this car before you played with it a lot. When I was looking I was just looking for a low mileage, unmolested, untuned, prisitne car. I payed 42k for my 2010 but it only had 21k miles on it and was pretty damn near perfect.

 

Did you get your car back yet?

 

OK guys and gals, I got the car back finally and its nice to have it back, but I have to bring it back because it is still making the same noise it was making before the rear diff blew out. Around 20 to 30 miles an hour, when the car is rolling and I am off the gas, as I reapply my foot to the gas pedal, it makes a soft "thud" sound. I'm trying to figure out what this is because I thought the new diff would solve this problem.

Turns out whoever messed with the car, messed up the airbag wiring and the electronics in the steering wheel as well. My warranty covered some of it, but had to pay about $550 out of pocket for the airbag rewiring work because obviously that should not have been messed with. I am going to bring it back to the Lexus dealership on Monday to see what the "thud" sound is, any ideas?

I took some photos of the wheel size because the wheels are still scraping against the body on some dips and angled turns like into and out of raised parking lots.

I am trying to decide if getting 18" wheels with all weather tires would be the best idea since I live in a major city and do plan to drive the car in the winter snow.

Lexus quoted me $4000 to put the car back to factory suspension! Right now it is lowered on Tein suspension. Should I consider BC coilovers in order to raise the car back up? I think this would be much cheaper than $4000.

Also, can anyone help identify these rims:


REAR TIRE

FRONT TIRE


UNDER THE CAR

 

From your pics you have stock tire sizes. So most likely you have wheels that have a very bad offset for our cars. I don't see a "stretch" on your tires so you may have stock type width as well. In my opinion I would get new wheels and tires with the right offsets. You can keep your lowered suspension if you find a proper wheel and tire combo.

Update:

It also looks like you do not have your rear fenders rolled. Having this done will help with the rubbing IF you want to keep this combo. The front fender liners can be modified to alleviate the rubbing as well. However, if I were you I would just buy a proper wheel and tire combo. Heck I would even go stock and powder coat them black.

 

The wheels don't look too crazy really. I think having the fenders rolled is worth a shot as stated above.

Also, if you do decide to go back to stock suspension, you can probably pick up a used set of stock springs for very cheap by posting a wanted in the classifieds forum.

 

If you get your fenders rolled then it will resolve the rubbing in the rear as stated. BC coils will allow you to modify the height on a fly but you can honestly find another F owner willing to trade their OEM for yours if you really want it back to stock. beats the 4k overhaul.

As for the steering wheel controls, I would see if you can lift the steering wheel controls and see if the harness underneath is unplugged. or tapped into for something else. Or maybe the steering wheel was changed and wasnt put back properly. Remember the F steering wheel has the F sign on the bottom. Here is a video for assistance. There is a thread that says it could be a bad clock spring https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...working-2.html

 

buy stock springs for like 100 dollars and put them on. it will be back to stick height. tein springs are used on stock shocks. easy and cheap fix to t hat

 

Noticed you don't have mufflers, is it possible that the thud you are hearing is the exhaust not properly aligned and its bumping up against something? I would look into that. Also, on some other cars I've owned I noticed that when being lowered on stock shocks with lowering springs, the control arm bushings that were fluid filled would sometimes leak or break open and cause a thud sound as well, usually when going over dips or bumps in the road though. Not sure if the lexus bushings are solid or not. Also, I've experienced a thud sound from a diff bushing that went bad on a 350z of mine (again not sure if the ISF has a solid diff bushing or not) but check that out as well. Good luck!

 

What did they say when you took the car back?

 

You are correct, due to the exhaust delete, the exhaust pipes are no longer attached properly to the car, and are bumping when I touch the gas.

I was considering Borla exhaust, I want something that sounds nice and deep, not tinny. And I don't want to spend more than $1000 including installation. Any suggestions?

To address the lowered height issue, I have ordered BC racing coilovers. I am deciding on which exhaust system to do. Lexus wants around $1000 to go back to factory exhaust, but I think the factory exhaust is far to quiet. I really was considering Joe Z exhaust but have trouble justifying the $1600.

 

I already had the wheel wells rolled and it did help a lot. I am finding now the problem really is with the front of the car scraping on speed bumps, and road dips, especially at high speed.
The shop that did it did not have the specific machine for rolling fenders so maybe it could have been done better, but I still think the overall height of the car is my real problem at this point, so hopefully my BC coilovers will do the trick, I will update soon!

 

Buy a borla and put it on yourself. It's a brainless install.

 

Not everyone does their own car work. I live in a big city in an apartment, I don't have a garage to do the work.

And I would easily prefer to pay someone a couple hundred bucks to do it correctly, rather than attempt it myself when I have zero car repair abilities.

I think your statement was unnecessary and slightly ignorant. I'm not upset, just filling you in on forum etiquette.

Cheers!