IdleSerge

Hello CL! New here! 26 out of the PNW!


I needed a daily. Shopped around for a few months and looked up many LS400/430s/ Q45s/GS300s and even some CTS-Vs but I kept coming back to one in particular...


After weeks of talking to the seller, I decided it was the one I had to have--so I booked my flight for the very next day and I was off to San Diego...





After some delays at the Airport, I finally got to my destination and was picked up in style to say the least--S-Class S550:





Anyhow, the car--2003 Lexus GS300 SportsDesign


Exterior: Toyota Team Europe Front Lip, JDM tails, JDM power folding mirrors, HIDs, jdm window visors etc


Interior: custom perforated 100% genuine red leather with blk leather piping, all 4 seats with massagers.


Suspension: Megan Coils w/pillow ball mounts, front custom air cup kit with steel braided lines etc


Wheels: Leon Hariditt custom tailored to fit under fenders...need to take some measurements to find out actual specs.


recent maintenance: Royal Purple Differential, A/C recharge, New brake pads, recent tune up, timing, water pump and thermostat @220k...car currently has 268k...but purrs like a kitty!


Car was designed to ride DUMPPED and damn it was a smooth ride!





Made the transaction and I was on my way!





I was already 3 hours behind so I went straight up to Chino Hills near my Hotel...lucky a friend was near by for some coffee and waffle mamich





Chilled there for a little while and off to bed I went--got up early the next morning at around 5am to beat that morning traffic...I swear ppl don't sleep around here lol traffic wasn't terrible but there was cars on the road.

Made a slight detour and headed to San Jose--got to see this BAD **** in person :drool:








Picked up a much needed buffer thanks to the boss man!





Continued up to Redding that night and got there early evening; plenty of time to rest and start the final 8 hour drive home...everything was going smooth...too smooth...





Then luck strikes...





Cause:








Oddly enough tho, it couldn't have happened at a better time...Was literally driving thru Bend OR right next to a discount tire when I felt the change; pulled in and sure enough, tire was done. This is where things got fun...they wouldn't stretch tires, surprise (this was before I knew the wheel was cracked), found spare but no tools to take aftermarket lugs off, they wouldn't take it off for me since my spare tire was 2003, so I buy new tire but now they won't take it off since I don't have Mag lugs, Toyota has them but wont deliver. Need to call cab but an older gentlemen offers to give me a ride, cool! Get there and back, wait in line for 45 mins just to tell them I have the lugs, wait another 45 mins for them to actually dismount and mount tire and after about 4 hours of setbacks, I'm on my way...


Got Home in one piece after that--the car did well overall esp the motor. The trans might need some attention or it might be due to some engine codes that popped up (o2 sensors and some vacuum leak). Shifts are smooth but there is a slight hesitation upon take off after doing a California stop...also managed to rip the wiring off one of my fogs so I'll need to fix that.





My plans...or I mean hacks--OEM BBK, rear bags, improved management, tint windows a tad, custom trunk flooring, sounds system (nothing cray) and above all, maintenance...and when this motor does decide to take a **** I'll opt out for the Supra TT 6-Speed Swap


1st things 1st; I needed to dismount the wheels to see what I was working with:





3 of 4 have been previously repaired





Luckily I have my spare 18X9 +30 and 18X10 +38 XD9s





I'm digging the idea of running 245/40 in the front with less camber and a slight roll (currently just cut) and maybe some 265/40 for the rear

IdleSerge

A little stumped here--these are both the rear wheels; notice that the disk on one is higher than the other...





Pass Rear:





Driver Rear:





He did say he had em built to fit the car so maybe that's the reasoning...
Oh the OEM wheel was CLEAN lol:





Kinda glad I didn't look at these tires before...or else I wouldn't have drove on em...but that was stupid as well :/


Still holding air btw:





Anyways, had to rep FFC and threw on some finishing washers on the plate along with the polished decal!





XD9s are one and gave here a quick bath:






And that was the beginning of my journey--Now I'm here to club lexus to figure out wth I'm doing haha


Edit: a look into the interior ignore my "searching for potholes face" I5 needs a little work:

mveale

iTrader: (5)

Welcome! What part of Washington are you in? I'm in Vancouver.

The car looks awesome man! That red leather is so good...

Anyway, sucks that the wheels have been abused. Seems like a re-barrel might be in your future. You said 3 of 4 wheels have been repaired before, is the one that hasn't been repaired the one with the different disk? Maybe the wheels were in a nasty wreck where all 4 wheels were damaged, 3 were repairable, and 1 wasn't, so they replaced it with what they could find (hence the different disk).

IdleSerge

Thanks for the Welcome Boss!


I'm located in the South Easter part of WA about 4 hours from Seattle.


Yea, the red leather is starting to grow on me


A re-barrel is definitely in the books but prob not till the spring--also want to run more tire on them since a 215/35 and a 225/35 was just way too much stretch and not enough side wall lol

mveale

iTrader: (5)

Nice! Tri-Cities area by chance?

And I'm with you on the sidewalls, I like to have a little bit of padding from road imperfections, haha. I'm running 225/40R19 on an x8.5 and a 255/35R19 on a x10.

mlracing

Red leather.. it's not OEM right? Never seen before

nyc80rick

as stated before red leather looks good

IdleSerge

Precisely! Very close to the Tri-Cities.


The wheels where built to fit the car perfectly to the PO's likes therefore he wasn't really concerned with the wheel specs but I believe the fronts are 19X10 while the rears are 19X11. Offsets are somewhere along the lines of +10 fronts and +5 rears...


Correct! 100% custom--PO spent a good amount of change on that alone lol



Thanks man!

mveale

iTrader: (5)

Nice! I grew up in Hermiston, OR, which is about 20 minutes south of Tri-Cities.

IdleSerge

Ah yes, I have a few friends from that area!

SoCal Cyco

iTrader: (20)

more pics of the interior!!

tiger4life

iTrader: (16)

Those offsets you are guessing at aren't right. If you are tucking the rim at those widths, without pulling (just a roll or shave), the fronts max out around 19x10 +28 and the rear around 19x11 +28. Of course the numbers change if you pull or have more than stock camber adjustment. I have 19x11+24 rears and my wheels hit my shaved fenders. A old member ran 11 +0 on a shaved fender and needed 10 degrees of camber so your rears are not 11 +5. Those wheels are probably 19x9 and 10 based on the tire sizes. I run a 255/35 on an 11 and I feel that you would definitely know if it was a 235 on an 11. The stretch would be ridiculous and I don't think you would have drove that far on them. Car looks good though, hope you get the ordens back on soon. If they are 9 and 10, you may want to step up to a 235/35 front and 245/35 rear if you can fit it. Some will say 225 but the GS is heavy and I would worry about bubbling (due to too low of a load rating for that size) or your new inner barrels cracking due to the thin tire. But the 235 won't stretch a lot so you may have to do the 225. No way I would run 215 though unless the car literally just sits in the garage.

IdleSerge

I'll get around to it soon!



Thanks for the through response--that's extremely resourceful info right there; thank you for that boss!


I'm on the same frequency as you are--the numbers I listed didn't seem right but it was what was pitched to me when I purchased the car. Either way, I will dismount all ****ty tires, take some measurements and make some calculations.


The tire sizes you listed are exactly what I was looking into getting--maybe in Nittos since they seem to run a little bigger than most. I was debating getting 40 series but the ordens will more than likely be my show wheels


As far as alignment settings, I don't know if the PO had corrected the camber if at all even tried lol but a camber kit is in the near future. I intend on running maybe -3° in the front and -2° out back at most. really depends how the ordens fit under the fenders with the bigger tire size and nice roll/pull.

tiger4life

iTrader: (16)

The car is great as is. I would really try a 225/35 or 235/35 front and the 245/35 rear. A 225/40/19 matches the stock 16 inch tire height but you will have no stretch at all on a 9. You should stick with the 35 series, 40 series on a GS is for 18's. Also note that pulling GS fenders without dimples is not easy so I would avoid fender pulling unless you don't mind bacon fenders or plan to respray afterwards.

IdleSerge

Thanks for chimming in Boss! Def need to look into the Ordens and see what width they really are. A 235 in the front would be awesome and a 245 rear sounds very appealing.


Yea, rolling/pulling the already cut fenders is gonna be a PITA but if I want to fit more tire and less camber, it's pretty much a must :/ I like bacon, just not on my fenders.