Lexus ISF modifications / ownership thoughts. 

Good luck! You’ll love it!! I think the changes were too little too late and it just didn’t have the aggressive look or performance of the M/AMG. I mean you could also get a CTSV for the same price then too, so as always Lexus was a little too late with too little. But used market, it’s a great choice and the rising prices reflect it!

@@valdaviper1 I have an IS250 right now, ISF was always the car I dreamed about and probably the only car that will be the upgrade to my current one. I love the way how it looks, its bulletproof like you said, it just perfectly matches my needs. Your ISF looks perfect, I love the way you modified it. You did it with great taste, good job!

I think it didn't sell because the first couple years of this car was not good compared to an e92 M3. By they time they made it as good ~2011-2012, people already saw it as an also ran. The 08, and 09 don't even come with an LSD. That's not a good thing.

@@hamsterbrigade I think when it was released people didnt know what it was and what to expect because it was first perfomance car from lexus. The LSD you can put to the older models easily without any problems. It also has something m3 from that age didnt have - bulletproof 8 speed transmission and engine. Thats why for me every model of isf is great, not only the newer ones.

@@hamsterbrigade Very true. Plus the CTSV2 at the time got even more attention and was priced in line. Lexus was as Lexus always is, too little too late. But they are fantastic used.

Pho what year Isf what province in 🇨🇦 Canada

@@on-site4094 08 lol, I'm in BC. You?

I’m in Ontario

@@on-site4094 how does yours do in all that snow you get over there? Haha

That's why their resale is nuts, love this car but man it's still expensive.

Thanks for the kind words! GS460 is a great car, not a sedan you see too often anymore. I just picked up an old GX470 with 230k and it drives very solid, so any lexus will treat you right!

Thanks man! Much appreciated. Enjoy!

Much appreciated!

Thank you!!

Good luck in your search!

Thanks man! If you’re not already it in, join VA Lexus club on Facebook. Lots of Maryland Delaware and Virginia members on there

Thanks man! They are hidden gems!

Thanks man!

Glad you enjoyed!

Thanks!!

It's an amazing car no matter the year you get! I've had 2 dozen cars and can't bring myself to sell it.

@@valdaviper1 Had like 14 Aero Saabs, but when I got my hand on a 250SR by mistake, was thinking it's a diesel, was curios about them and was close to me, went to buy it from a lady around 9pm, when she started it... man I was happy, payed only 550 pounds as she didn't use it, that night was one the happiest of my life, even with a 250, since then for me... will be only Lexus, had like 200+ cars but nothing come close to a Lexus.

@@geobottech2406 They definitely last very well. 2 weeks ago I bought a GX470/Prado 120, an 06 with 230k miles. Just a fun truck to take camping and to the beach. The truck was dealer serviced it's whole life and feels in and out like a 50k mile car at most. Always enjoyed seeing Saab's but they are pretty rare here now.

@@valdaviper1 Nice to hear that, those are nice as well, take care of you and your Lexus :)

Nice man!! Hope you enjoy! Great cars

Nice man! Saw your post on the FB group the other day. Come out Sunday!

Thank you, great taste you have! Time for an LC inspiration next?

If it helps, I had my 08 for 3 years and loved it every day. The biggest differences were suspension(greatly upgraded with LCA bushings and coilovers), LSD(barely usable during daily commute), and headlights. They're all fantastic cars, and at this point majority have been upgraded anyways. Good luck either way!

@@valdaviper1 True man, I think people rubbish the 08 09s too much, most cars with lsd you put a better 1 anyway & if you're doing coilovers etc suspension isn't much of a concern, i way prefer the piano facia but not a deal breaker if the car is tidy etc

Thanks!!

Thanks for the kind words! Wishing you luck! Both are great cars!

Thanks Zachary!

Yes sir! and that 12.3 time was just catback and tune and decent tires. The one in the vid is an 11 second car no doubt. Just sadly way too much $$ to go any quicker than high 11's. It's a great handling car too, my previous video I went to autox with a bunch of corvettes and of about 70-80 cars I got 3rd best time of the day.

Glad I could help!

Enjoy her man!

Thanks!!

Glad you enjoyed!

Nice man! I always wanted an IPL too. I had an 04 and 08 G35/G37 coupe, and then a 12 and 13 G37 sedan, all of them manuals too. I have some videos of them up on here. It's very similar to the F, not super quick, but a great all around and performer for the money, very reliable, and fairly rare. If it helps you make the switch, I get better MPG in the ISF lol.

I think 18x9.5+45 with 265/35 square or similar seems to be the best for track as far as weight/size/fitment and cost of wear and tear. You could also ask RR Racing, or Figs, both who track and sell track items for their cars.

So driving it as a regular car in D and suddenly expecting crisp downshifts is not a great way to drive this car. It's a bit of Jekkyl Hyde where it can be a comfortable Lexus, but also bang gears, but not quite something in the middle. Especially annoying as it has 8 gears and it choosing the one you want doesn't work 8/10 times. Sport mode helps a bit, but it's nothing like modern sport modes, for any sort of enthusiast driving a quick pedal pull or shifting it into M mode and using the gear lever or paddles will be much better. The tune does nothing for the transmission settings. Pulling a paddle in D mode or smashing the throttle can drop 2 gears, but every other time it's 1 gear at a time. Overall though, there's commuting time and enthusiast time. Anytime I'm having fun I generally just keep it in manual mode. Will let you redline all day without shifting for you if you wish.

It’s a great daily man! I’m going on my 5th year now :)

Thanks man! Any year is fine really, there isn’t that much handling difference between them if you’re driving at say 7/10’s. It’s once you start pushing it hard at your traction limits that the LSD shines and provides more confidence and the handling can easily be brought up to 11+ standards with LCA, sways, and good coilovers. Simple example, my 08 at autocross had traction issues and I basically drifted and had a great time. With the better coils and LSD my 12 got 3rd best time ofnthe day, and it was a Corvette event(my last video). Ride quality too. I also made the mistake on my 08 of going cheap with parts such as the coilovers and BF Goodrich summer tires and thus those flaws showed. Same with brake pads, I tried oem pads and rotors and even autozone duralast ones which were amazing for low dust and price, but not great if pushed to the limit. But I also drove 30k a year then so I thought I’d save some money on the long term. As far as mileage, I bought this one with 50k last august, and about a year and 2 months later I’m at 67k or so. Would have been more but I had issues in the beginning with the tuned intake and it spent more than a few weeks sitting at random shops and being diagnosed, pretty much from September to January. But I’m glad I got it figured out. Hope you find one and enjoy!

@@valdaviper1 BTW as a sidenote, you deserve more views. Hmm.. the idea that any year is fine is comforting.. I'd just hate to always have upgrade envy for the 11/12+ though.. hmm. I'd definitely have to test drive one someday to see if an 08-10 is enough and isn't too stiff. Wow you've driven it about 17k miles in 14 months.. lots of daily commute or lots of trails/track-days, etc? Hmm.. I am intrigued though about the possibility of a 08-10 being viable for daily driving.. thing is- then the next decision is if i go for a stock ISF and mod it my way or find one with all the big mods already done like PPE headers, coilovers, etc.. Another consideration i've come across is, the older cars would likely have more wear on the parts due to age and such, plus they have been prone to other issues that were resolved on the 11/12+.. And then again- there's another thing, if i go for an 11/12+ I couldn't need to worry about upgrading to the LSD, or doing the suspension tweaks, money saved-albeit the money would probably be paid in a price premium for an 11/12+.. thoughts?. Also i had a question.. why'd you move from the 08 to the 12, you said you wanted to upgrade?.. are you always driving it at above 7/10's? like what made the 12 the one for you above the 08? I think ultimately for me to figure out =if an 08 is enough, I'd have to get behind the wheel to feel it.. I mean, can you blame me for really wanting a 11/12+?

@@CubanLegend561 2008 to 2014 they all had the same common issues, mainly the valley plate coolant leak and the stock header manifold cracking. They also had an issue of interior dash/door panels getting ruined which is still an active customer service program where they replace them for free. I use my car as my daily driver and lately my commute has been shorter. With my 2008 my first two years I lived further away so my mileage was 60k in the first 2 years, and then 10k the third. When I got my new F I had issues with the tuned intake so there were about three months where I drove it sparingly. I have not yet done a track day but I have done autocross and I do plan to go to the dragstrip as I did with my last one. You would be perfectly fine with a 2008-2009 as they are more common and cheaper. 2010 if you can for the LSD. At their age they would need new shocks anyway so coilovers would be a great upgrade. Minor handling improvement form the sways and LCA would help too. Unless you push it to 10/10ths you won’t really feel the need for an LSD. I spent three years thinking I did not need it but now that I have it, I can definitely agree that it helps in the tight corners and in wet conditions and absolutely at autocross or on a track. I loved my 2008 and the reason I upgraded was a few reasons: I wanted headers but I did not want to pay the related installation costs. They are $1800 at their cheapest, but you usually have to get $300 engine mounts, $300 ceramic coating, new O2 sensors and gaskets, pay the $600-900 install, and on older cars highly recommended to do the starter at the same time as its hidden by them. Ends up being a $4k+ project. I also wanted the updated LED headlights. I mentioned in my review that with my 2008 I wanted the updated headlight style and if you look through my past videos you can find those custom headlights. They looked fantastic but they did not achieve my goal of the best possible light output. I also had minor issues with them the first couple months I had them so even once they got fully sorted out I still wanted the best which are 2012-2014 style. The 2012 to 2014 also have the best looking stock wheel design, which often sell for $2k used compared to about $1k for the other ISF wheel options. Of course I wanted the LSD, but more than anything even when I first was interested in the ISF I wanted the white on red combination. When my 12 popped up for sale it was FBO with other goodies and was a good price. Other minor improvements were minor changes to the handling, upgraded steering ECU, interior Bluetooth music, dark trim on radio and cooler instrument cluster. Rather than blowing a bunch more money on my 08 I could upgrade for close to the same price to the newer one with half the miles. Last benefit is that the 2011 to 2014 models keep their value even better than the early ones and it’s kind of a bragging right to have the rarer models. In 2016 I bought my 08 with 30k for $30k and 3 years later I sold it for $23k with 70k more miles. That’s pretty good depreciation but the newer models drop even less, hell, with Covid all prices have increased, and I have zero doubt I could sell the car now for at least a few grand more than what I paid for it a year ago. Long story short, aim for a 2011 and up but find any one in good shape in the color combination that you want and just be happy. Pretty much everything is upgradable. Ultimately that is the reason why I went for my 2008, because of budget issues and I was thinking slowly I could upgrade it. But at a certain point a newer one made more sense. Plus another fun fact about me is that I have had 24 cars even though I’m only 32, are used to drive very high miles and switched cars pretty often since I got bored. But I like this car so much that I only got a newer one. I test drove a lot of newer options like the F80, ATSV, CTSV, RCF, C6, etc. It sucks for potential owners because the prices are relatively high but if you are a current owner it is great. Good luck!

@@CubanLegend561 To further stress the point. The 11+ ISF are rare and rather than a more common cheaper or newer F I wanted the best of the best year and color combinations with the best mods on it. In my experience the ISF is quicker than RCF even maxed out NA. Of course there are even higher quality modifications like titanium exhaust and equal length headers, better coilovers, super chargers etc. But no one I know with those mods daily drives their car as many miles as I do. As I mentioned in my video, I mod OEM+ and I want it to look as great as it can perform. I used to have somewhat stretched tires and more aggressive wheel specs, but those modifications only hinder the performance and make it a pain to daily drive.

@@valdaviper1 Hmm.. so if my budget doesn't allow it an 08-09 is fine, if i need the LSD and can save a little get a 10, and if I can stretch my budget go for the 11/12+.. I totally understand how for you at a certain point a newer one than the 08 made more sense. It's certainly comforting to hear you've got experience driving other cars, it reinforces the value of the ISF very clearly. I have been saving for a while now and will be at about halfway by the end of this year. So in about 2 years I should have a decent amount saved for a 11/12 purchase.. I think i can hold out until then, and if in the meantime a newer gen ISF is released, then that's even better news lol. As who knows how many 1st gen ISF owners will start selling theirs off for a new one, prices may even go back down! I totally feel your sentiments about OEM+ I used to have stretched tires on my daily but decided to go for a meaty squared up setup now for better handling in the daily drive.. OEM+ is also my goal with my ISF, I'll keep saving, and in the meantime, I hope to see more videos about your ISF! Thank you for all this advice, a read through it all very thoroughly and it has helped me further decide on which year ISF to save for. It's interesting to see the price you paid for your 2008 in 2016 , what price did you pay for the 2012 in 2019?

Hey Ryan, I had a silver ISF before and a black g37s manual sedan both with yellow calipers and black lettering. I actually sold my yellow F calipers to a buddy with a white ISF and they look amazing on it, so yellow would be my choice as it pops more in light than blue or gold. HKS coils greatly improve the ride. I had the Hipermax gt4, but the new HKS type S are supposedly even nicer riding. the springs for these cars I've heard really only stiffen it much worse. The stock 12-14 wheels were gorgeous and catch a nice premium. I used mine as a winter set because unfortunately the previous owner curbed them quite a bit.

So I wrote out a whole reply about my project but it's way too long to post, so if you have an email or something I'd be happy to message you. But TLDR: I had issues with wiring and condensation and average visibility at night, many of issues were due to it being a new approach with custom brackets and wiring and Depo halogen going to HID, the headlights were fixed over weeks of time but I still felt OEM HID with a good HID bulb are better. I am much happier with my 12 OEM headlights.

Hey man good luck in your search! I got lucky because it was only 2 months past warranty and always dealer serviced from first owner and under my ownership. My SA was great and it was Annapolis Lexus, highly recommended, ask for Joe there. But I doubt you will have luck getting it done free because it’s a goodwill thing for consistent customers.

I sold this car in February to an MD buyer. I believe he bought a house and put it up for sale for renovations. I'm not sure if it's sold though, I can put you in touch with him if you like. DM me on IG, my @ is same, russiancarguy

Good luck! So there’s an upgrade for the screen called Grom Vline. Adds CarPlay/android auto to the unit but reviews are only 75% positive, which for me is a no go. Some people report rear camera not working, or music not streaming properly etc. so for me the tech is not quite there yet. Not sure if Lexus produces maps for it still. Personally I never use the screen. My phone hooks up to a air vent MagSafe holder and I’m set.

Checking In. Do you have an IG I can reach out to directly? There are two in the area I plan to check out and wouldn’t mind picking your brain a bit.

Hello, to clarify, I had issues with the RR tuned intake, not the elbow. The tuned intake is recommended ONLY if you have headers and it goes with their tuned intake tune. RR themselves say if you don't have headers, there's no point. I had no issues for about a month into having the car. I bought the car with it and only began to have issues once I added the RR carbon intake elbow. It was sent with a wrong size coupler and thus we slightly damaged the tuned intake MAF pipe section(and who knows what else). I changed out the elbow back to HPS and kept having the bogging and low KCLV issues. I gradually replaced every section of the tuned intake with new couplers, new air filter, new piping, new intake vent hoses, new MAF pipe, new MAF, even changed spark plugs and did compression test and tried various gas stations, fuel cleaners and octane boosters. The low KCLV and me pushing it to be diagnosed broke a cam motor gear(scary stuff because they was a very loud inconsistent ticking, almost sounded like pebbles were in the motor). The bogging kept happening and 2 dealerships and 3 shops couldn't make sense of it. I spent way too much money and time and Ubers trying to diagnose it. It would also be crazy because it would go up to 2 weeks of driving fine with KCLV at 23-27 and then drop to 5-6 and bog like crazy. Eventually I just took the tuned intake off completely and went back to stock tune and stock airbox and stock elbow. Zero issues at all. After a month I added the tune(but for non tuned intake). Also no issues for a month. Then I installed the tuned intake. Instant issues the next day, even with all new parts. I said screw it and went back to regular airbox and the RR tune, but no tuned intake. The I added the fancy elbow last. No issues for 9+ months now..I've also raced against other FBO F's with the tuned intake. There was no gain either way. I'm sure there's gains to be had on a warm car and a dyno, but real world I think it may heat soak and was just not worth the headache to me. I couldn't trust the car for more than an hour from home and constantly had to keep the other intake and tuner with me in the car. Long story short, I'm in the minority(though not the only one) with this issue, but I don't like the tuned intake.

@@valdaviper1 Thanks for response. I've read about more people having issues and as you said not common but happens. I'm not installing the RR intake yet but if I get any issues I will remove that RR intake.

Thank you! He’s more of a mix, maybe 75% sheltie. But a fantastic dog. Super smart and low key. Great car trip buddy. Does the sheltie run but otherwise pretty quiet lol. Enjoy your 14, that’s a gem!

I didn’t replace the front sway bar, only the rear. No issues on mine thus far, but replacing the endlinks and bushings to tighten it up is a popular small mod as well. Easier to just real replace with the sway as it comes with those parts.

I mean with Covid, everything is. I was keeping any eye on C6Z and F80 and 996 turbo and Viper prices for my next jump and they all increased double what the ISF has in the past year. Anyone looking for reliable 400-500hp sedan will consider the ISF just for how cheap it is to own and repair compared to M/AMG options. I think for mine with my current 75k I wouldn’t take under $40k with the mods. Turned down a few $36-38k offers just this past spring. I even wanted a used MK5 Supra but they went from $48k to $55k used in the past year.

Saw this comment and had to follow up. I sold the F with 80k this February for just over $45k on one wheel set. The stock wheels I sold for nearly $3k. Covid helped but I think the IS500 and overall EV/turbo is pushing more people to NA V8’s lately.

Car*

Generally on automatic cars it’s a 12-15% loss of crank vs wheel horsepower. But I brought up more realistic numbers off a dynojet where most stock ISF’s get 350-360whp. Some get even higher if it’s not set up properly. Those same dynojets with FBO tuned cars show 390-410 headers/exhaust cars and higher with tune/intake and E85 mix. I did make a mistake saying it’s 350 crank but I edited the caption to mean wheel HP.

And thank you!!

No rubbing with this setup. Not sure that stock would be lower than HKS coils.

Congrats man! Really depends on your goals with it. More than anything, good tires help bring the most out of the car. May want to upsize to 245/275 rather than stock sizes. The front LCA bushings are a MUST. Lighter and wider wheels also help. Other than that a catback, tune, and some coilovers is really it all it needs. Headers are nice but pretty pricey for what you get. What year?

Yep, my folks live there! But sorry, I’ve since sold the car and new owner is in Gaithersburg MD area. Lots of F owners around if you join VA Lexus group on fb.

Nice man! We have a small F meet in Frederick this Sunday if you're interested.

At the click of 2 buttons I can make it headers/muffler delete loud, or stock silent with zero drone. See my other videos :)

Stiff*

Joel, It's the HKS Hipermax GT IV

Thanks man! As mentioned they’re the HKS Hipermax GT4’s. I love them

Thank you! The seats are stock. 12-14's had this option, I think 10-11 had orange and red inserts(not full seat) as an option also.

@@valdaviper1 Oh wow I Didn't know that sweeet!

Nice man! Good luck!

Check my later video, it’s the xforce varex catback

Have not heard of many with RSR. But everyone including myself with HKS seem happy. Mine is a daily.

Yes I do, thanks! @ Russiancarguy

I’m sure they have specs that will fit. You can check rays website. I’d look at the IS250 forums to make sure you get a spec people have no issues with

Sorry, just saw this. Not sure what grabby feel you mean, these cars have touchier brakes than say my CT200 or GX470. I am happier with the rotors and pads I run now.

@@valdaviper1 when I brake they work fine but just as you stop it squeaks and the brakes seem to grab hard. they then squeak as you release the brakes - when I changed the rotors and pads ( stock brembos ) it goes away for a while but is back again

@@SNORKYMEDIA I was not a fan of the Brembo’s. They grab nice and have good consecutive braking life, but they were too noisy with squeaks and very dusty also.