ILikeBlue

Using a turnbuckle seem to be a good solution. @Answer has used one with good success. It's also the least invasive in my opinion.

ljerr2

I like the solution as it seems robust, adjustable and reversible. It would be nice if it "looked a little more OEM" in my opinion. If someone can "commercialize" a fix for buyers to get a "kit" it would probably be welcomed by the ownership community!

Answer

yep, since it was added, bumper hasn't moved a bit, still lined up as it should

geckornr

Toyota and Lexus have built many cars over the years with sagging bumper issues, there have been plenty of complaints from owners, and corporate has almost never done a thing about it. Bumper separation and sag has been reported in 4Runner, Highlander, GX, RX, RAV4, Tacoma, Sienna and now our IS. And those are only the ones I knew about personally. My first GX 460 and both of my 5th gen 4Runners had bumper gap/separation that I pointed out to the dealer many times. They shrugged it off.

Toyota and Lexus tend to act concerned and humor customers, and then say, “Oh sorry, there’s nothing we can do.” “It is operating as designed.” “This happens sometimes.” Ultimately, they have gotten off in every one of those scenarios and I’m not aware of them ever issuing a solid remedy that addressed customer concerns.

I really hope the IS situation is different but I do have low expectations considering their history with this issue.

arentz07

My wife's last car was a G20 330i M Sport, so I am pretty familiar with it. I think what makes me even give it a chance is the chassis. That car, even though it was "just" a 330i, felt super planted and confident. Now, it did take me some time to get used to the steering, as it was a variable gear ratio steering system that felt far different to me and also was vague. But, once you come to grips with it, it is fun to chuck into some turns. So, I'm thinking... add the B58, and we have a good car on our hands. However, it does come with some BMW-isms, like fake sound pumped into the car that can't be defeated (in the case of LCI cars, it CAN, but at the expense of the exterior exhaust sound - they should not be connected IMO), aggressively-calibrated start-stop, and a weirdly touchy brake pedal that makes it nearly impossible to stop smoothly. But, overall, these feel like nitpicks. It is a good car.

Now, do I prefer it over the IS 500, at least, the mental image I can conjure up by smashing our old 330i together with an X3 M40i I drove? I don't think so. The IS is super chill, but I think it just wakes up more when you ask it to get up and go. It's like having two different cars. And yet, it somehow fits - it isn't like Lexus faked anything or digitally augmented the driving experience in a noticeable way, like what you would get in a modern BMW. Sure, there are things I love about the G20 3-series - the cabin looks fantastic and feels premium, and it feels like a rigid, thoroughly modern car to drive. But, it also can feel a bit like BMW is compensating for something... what with the faux engine sound, the flashy ambient lighting and giant screens, and the exaggerated exterior style (e.g., the silly amount of dark plastic on the rear bumper). Is that worse than having an oUtDaTeD car like the IS? That's up for debate!

Anyway, bumpers, or something... (Clearly I have thought about this a lot, since I was actually considering the M340i for a while.)

It is sad to read what @geckornr wrote about this happening prior - it seems that maybe Lexus are taking it more seriously this time, but then again, maybe not, based on how the fix is performing.

Renault

Same, it was a hard decision for me but ultimately the 500 won out. I often suggest the m340 to most people who ask about which car in this segment to buy, but for my purposes I really like what the 500 had to offer. It's like how I use Android but tell anyone who asks me just to get an IPhone.

cyfi66

Character is the main reason I like gas cars at all. Its really the defining difference between ICE cars and EV's in my opinion. I think you are seriously minimizing how important it is. Just my opinion though definitely to each their own!

ILikeBlue

Don't get your hopes up too much, but I did just order some components to see what I can figure out. Give me a few weeks and I'll see what I come up with

cyfi66

What ideas did you have? I just bought the drivers side bracket so I could prototype some ideas. My initial thought is a block that fits into the bracket under the clip to apply more upward pressure on the bumper cover right under the clip. But I don't have an IS500 and I am just going based off the pictures I've seen so far.

ILikeBlue

I just bought a couple different turn buckle style things that almost look to be plug and play to what we need. I'll update more once I get some time to poke around with them

ljerr2

Man, that's awesome. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!!!

G30540i

I know I'm going a bit off topic, but I thought you could code that out with an app like bimmercode? I'm pretty sure I did it on one my various loaner 330i's I would get whenever one of our Bimmers were in the shop! 🤣

G30540i

Have you ever experienced long term BMW ownership?We've had 6 of them and would never own them again out of warranty. Our E46/E90's treated us pretty well into six figure mileage, but our G30 540i and our G05 X5 have been pretty bad outside warranty. I would gladly trade a sagging bumper for any of our recent maladies.

540i : AC Evaporator repair $7000+. whole dash has to be removed, Oil Filter housing leak $2000 - intake manifold that has the water intercooler removed so it's a crap ton of hoses and wires. I DIY a bit but those 2 were too much. Wife's X5 oil pump went out over $2000 to fix. Now BMW put out a TSB that they put the wrong transfer case oil in their 2019 xDrive G series vehicles, normally it's easy to drain/refill the transfer case to prevent another $5000+ repair, but BMW decided to put a transmission supporting crossmember in the way of the fill bolt so you either pay the dealership $500 to change the oil OR you have to buy a $300+ jack adapter so you can hold the transmission up without breaking its plastic oil pan. If you're going to lease and dump I would recommend BMW wholeheartedly, but I'm an old school 48 year old that wants to drive an ICE for the next 10+ years (don't want a hybrid - pretty sure the next IS is going to be hybrid only for the high performance models, look what they did to the RX and LS, can't stand appliance boring electrics and you can't hide that they weigh over 1000lbs more than other cars, also seeing how BMW has absolutely ruined the 5 series with the G60 and the 3 series is next on the chopping block) and after being burned heavily by BMW recently, the IS500 fits the bill.

wthrman2

To be honest, I was holding out on the Service Bulletin before doing anything but given its outcome, I may have to go pay a visit to Answer and see how he did his fix and then be able to apply it to mine if the separation gets worse. It is pretty annoying we have to take care of this issue ourselves but as they say, no one looks after oneself as ourself.

Mine is not bad at the moment and I would not require to go through the turnbuckle route quite yet but I will keep that in my back pocket for when/if the situation gets worse as obviously Lexus is not able to provide us with an effective fix (at least for now). To make matters worse, I am 99.9% sure that Lexus Canada would not even apply the service Bulletin stating that Lexus USA and Lexus Canada are 2 separate entities and there is NO WAY Lexus Canada would invest time and money to address the bumper separation on the 50 IS 500 they sold since 2022 (lol)

arentz07

Ah yes, I would love to buy a car which also requires me to pay more money for an app that I have to install on my phone to customize a feature that should be customizable with a button or infotainment option. Yes, more cars like that, please.

But to answer your question, yeah.