IS Motor Racing Reviews, Post your experience of ISMR here!

Hey guys, i have had nothing but flawless service from these guys. Good pricing too - but make sure you mention that you are an Altezza Club member (only IF you are a member )

Examples of their workmanship and their strict disciplines is when they installed my coilovers. They reset the whole setup no less than 4 times before letting me drive out of there.
Indy's also incredibly in-tune to our cars and engine and can spot problems by just listening to the car idle! More on this Matt?

Just had my major service at ISMR friday. This included the timing belt and waterpump.

All i can say is great feedback, Booked in for the next day and when i got there it took less then 3hours to complete everything.

Sydney City Lexus had never replaced the transmission fluid and it was black. (Should be RED)

I'd highly recommend their service and are top guys.

That's a quick service!

Yup, sit upstairs for a bit or have a nap and it'll be ready. LOL

Here's what my timing belt looked at 125,000km's. It had started to tear and looks like someone had taken chunks out of it!

Damn that's kinda scarey!

That sucks with the tranny fluid being black!

Did Lexus specify that they replaced in it on your last service Simon?

Seems like the exxy Lexus service is only for the chocolates and courtesy car more so then the actual servicing of the car hey

My IS300 has about 122k kays on it by memory this certainly reminds me that I need to order the servicing kit from Nick (along with a Supra BBK also)

How much did ISMR charge? Did Paul do the servicing? And did they give you a discount when you mentioned you were an ACOA member?

Well looking at my service invoice from sydney city Lexus it does state "replaced automatic transmission fluid".

The service if you supplied your own parts would cost u $350.
Providing that you have radiator fluid, oil filter, Motor oil.

I didn't have those so it costed me $750 and for that I recieved oil filter, radiator fluid, 2 loads of transmission fluid and royal purple 10w40.

Sorry i wasn't aware ISMR was part of ACOA. GRRR!

So $350 for labour to fit the parts and replace the fluids?

If so that means they charged you $400 for the oil filter engine oil tranny fluid and coolant?!?

Should be approx $40 for filter $70 for engine oil $40 for coolant $60 for tranny fluid which only works out at around $200ish?

I know everyone rave's on about ISMR and it seem's they do good work, I went there twice and on both occassions was very disappointed with the customer service, felt like they were not interested in my business and promised call's by Indy were never made to me to tell me about pricing - all I can is shop around, try Powertune aswell - you may well be surprised!

So $350 for labour to fit the parts and replace the fluids?

If so that means they charged you $400 for the oil filter engine oil tranny fluid and coolant?!?

Should be approx $40 for filter $70 for engine oil $40 for coolant $60 for tranny fluid which only works out at around $200ish?

Shane,

5 Litres of Royal Purple + Oil Filter = $176
2 loads of Gearbox oil = $176 (First time they put it in black, So they had to empty and redo)
Coolant = $44
Timing Belt Fit = $350

Adam,

What were you trying to get a quote on? if it was on a saturday they would have been packed out. Booking is essential.

Luckily it worked out in my favor.

I'm interested to know what people think they gain by putting $176 worth of engine oil in a completely stock engine ?

Are you going 20000k's between services?

If you think it performs better than a full synthetic oil at half the price you are absolutely delusional.

There are about 2 members on this board who seem to drive thier car hard enough to warrant it, the occcaisional squirt between lights at brighton le sands does not count.

I had stone black tranny oil at 80000km and everytime I change my oil its black haha.

I've tried Motul, Fuchs, Mobil, Shell, Caltex.

Motul is great car is very responsive ($100 for 5L)
Fuchs wasn't too bad.

But I went back to Caltex just because its OEM oil.

By the way IS300 take longer to do the service due to less space to work with.

For the record I use Castrol Edge 5w30 for daily and 10w60 (both around $60 5L) if I think the car will get extended abuse. Oil change and a filter before every event (dyno session, track day, drags etc).

Keep in mind I ask a lot more of my stock internals than most.

LOL, I don't think you'd gain anything. Only reason why I opted for it was that I had a ticking sound from the engine bay. The purple had some chemical in it that would prevent friction?

How long does this stuff even last? 5k or 10k?

Oh and Wez,

Did you run through the gears once you put it in?
I saw them. Put transmission oil in. click thru all the gears. empty. re-fill. Then it was red.

I didn't do it. Josh did but yeh car felt so much better to drive afterwards

Yeah that price seems a bit steep to me for engine oil man.

I run castrol edge 5W-30 in mine with a trd oil filter and that costs me $70 ($30 for the oil on special and $40 for the filter)

A full sythentic oil will last at least 10k kays, I change mine every 15k kays.

I have a Fuchs lubricants rep on site for the Co I work for (we consume approx 10000L of oil per week) and have had my engine oil samples sent to the lab for an analysis and at 10k kays the lab technician response was the oil was still performing within the specified range and will last another 10k kays. Basically they heat the oil up to operating temperature and check the viscosity.

Was trying to get a quote on a 110,000km service and also do the belts /water pump - went twice over two weeks once on a wednesday, the other on friday - and soory you shouldn't have to book into a place for a quote....

Also just to throw my 2c in - all oils are the same I rekon, how can you really tell the difference, I've had Castrol from Lexus and now Mobil 1 from Powertune and can't tell the difference....


Shane, if you want to call up Powertune, let me know before hand so I talk to them first to look after you!

The problems with full synthetic oil, is once its been overheated past its tolerances it loses all its protective properties, semi synthetic or mineral is best if you push the car hard. This is coming from a tutor of mine who has been heavily involved in Rallying for the last 10 years.

I used Total 5w30 last service i did, and its been awesome so far, stayed golden and crisp right up until now( 5 months since service) and would probably go another 5000ks easy, going to use Castrol EDGE next though, can get it cheap through work.

Sorry but the tuner that informed you of this information is misguided.

Any oil that is pushed past its tolerances loses its protective properties, but synthetic oils have a much higher threshold.

Synthetic oils are much much better if you push the car hard, as the synthetic ester properties which bond the molecules together do not break down like a mineral oil at high temperatures or under high shear stress conditions.

Why do you think Group A touring cars JTCC cars use synthetic oils?

Synthetic oils perform better in cold/hot conditions, offers less co efficient piston bore friction (reduced fuel consumption & a bees dick more power) over a conventional mineral oil, the only negative is the initial purchase price. But over a period of 12 months the synthetic oil would pay for itself with the slightly reduced fuel consumption.

Thanks mate but I will most likely get my timing belt done locally here in Newcastle, was curious to see what the prices charged to install the timing belt and water pump.

indy has always looked after me, and given me a good price on everything. I leave there every time feeling confident and have yet to be done wrong by ISMR. I've done quite a few track days, and my car has a hard life - and honestly it hasn't skipped a beat. I've never been lead wrong by ISMR so i can recommend them with some qualification. Even with all of my brother's cars - no complaints. Paul and Indy are both very good mechanics and very accomplished in my own opinion.

ads200 you're absoltely welcome to your opinion..but to 'badmouth' a workshop because they didnt call you back is pretty ridiculous. People forget things don't they. You might be slightly bitter... i can understand that. Reggie, Thundbird2, Questlove, me and BrianJ and formally Serran have all been ISMR customers, and all our cars ran track days and daily driving without a single problem. Surely that stands for something?

IMO good maintenance is worth good money, take what from that what you will but my stock motor-ed IS200 has seen trackday upon trackday including many laps at stupid oil and water temps without a problem.

Each to their own though!

Oh and Charlie,

Theres photos of Serran and your car all over the place! LOL

I am not bad mouthing ISMR at all, I only stated my experiences with them- just stating facts. Yes indeed many people are happy with ISMR and this is what lead me to ISMR in the first place because they have a good reputation - I just felt disappointed with the lack of customer service and was also recommended Powertune and as such decided to go with.

This thread is about your experiences/reviews of ISMR and that's all I have done....Like you said each to their own!

just thought id put my 2c in.

the IS200 roughly takes 3-4L of auto oil and they are about $40(4L) from toyota, so i think they over charged you with the oil.(and yes you need to run it through all gears to attain the correct fluid level)

also did they change or even offer to change your cam and crank seals??
its common practice to at least advise the customer that you have the option to have them replaced, other wise when they start leaking not only do you need to pay for the labour to have it all removed again you may also have the replace the timing belt again due to oil contamination

also serviced saahils car a few weeks ago that has had the last 3 services done at ISMR and checked the air filter for him and found it to be almost blocked and completly black because they were too lazy to take the strut brace off and check it!!

also i would advise anyone with an IS200 to have their timing belt checked(at the very least) at about 100 000kms and wouldnt leave it on there any longer than 130 000kms, simons one is now the 3rd one i have seen that has started to fray inc my own which i need to do in the coming weeks.

also this is just something i came across on youtube

OIL DYNO TEST

very interesting results. will give nulon a go next time i do a service and let you know.


cheers josh

Yup I saw that filter its was pretty dirty ey . Got a K&N Air Filter now Josh so will get that sorted soon

Those are some pretty interesting results on the Dyno ... 11Kw diff between Nulon and Mobil 1 on the EVO.

Let us know how you go ... I dunno if we'll notice much on the 1GFE's though