SmthgWickd

PLEASE READ..... MY G NEEDS HELP! STOCK GS IN NEED OF DIRECTION....
Hi all. I am fairly new to this club and have already found it to be a wealth of information! I have recently bought my 1st Lexus!!!!!!!!I feel like Kevin Spacey in the movie American Beauty. "Ahh, whos car is that out front?"..... "Mine! 1998 Lexus GS400. The car I've always wanted, and now I have it. I RULE!"
I am very infatuated with this car! I have a silver 98 GS400 with 260 000 km on her. It is all stock (loaded with all the options)and needs a little tlc in some areas but is otherwise a beautiful car! I recently took it to a shop to have a front end knock looked at as the car made a knock noise going over bumps (not every time...just sometimes). He told and showed me that the car needs suspension. Now I have priced out oem struts and they are about $500 canadian for all 4 struts. I believe this is a job I can pull off at a friends garage. Anyhow, as it needs to be replaced, now would be a great time to install aftermarket suspension. How would the ride be affected oem vs aftermarket. I was also thinking of droppin her a few inches but dont know the best way to go about it. Doing the suspension, I also want to replace any bushings that may be worn. I noticed that it is common to replace the control arm bushings.
Here is a list of the things that need to be fixed:
-Knock in front end (as listed above)
-Leaking steering fluid from steering fluid pump (needs pump replacement)
-Rear passenger auto lock not working
-There is a strange noise coming from use of brakes. It sounds like its coming from the master cylinder area and/or sounds close to the firewall in front of the driver.
Here is a list of the things I have planned to do the car:
-Tint......maybe..... I have seen a few on here without tint and it looks clean. I just hate the glare. I am very picky on everything, and have been sitting on the fence, pondering, tint or no tint... and if i do tint.... what %. I have already spent many hours looking at the silver gs thread trying to decide on how dark to go....if I get it done at all......I guess if this is my life's hardest decision right now...than life can't be too bad I was also thinking of starting a thread to tell peeps to post some pics of their tint and let us know what %. That would be useful for indecisive people like myself!
-Bodywork....complete paint job as she has a few blemishes
-Mats, carpeted w/logo as my car only had the drivers mat---are there any good all weather mats available for our cars?
-Car Audio overhaul. A JL w7 or two depending on the size I choose. MB quarts competition series separates. A pioneer reference series deck. audio control three.1 and/or epicenter. and the amp ive been holding onto.... Soundstream class A 10.0
-Bigger, badder rims. 19's maybe....20's... maybe 18's, I am not sure yet.
I would like to do other performance mods as well to boost up that whp! I was thinking new air intake, mod exhaust, and whatever else I can do to beat that little spooled jeta that blew the doors off me on my first race ....0 for 1.
I know this will take lots of time and $ but I want to have one of the baddest gs400's on the road. I am currently using it as my daily driver and will continue to do so. Here is a list of things recently done on the vehicle by the previous owner, within the last 60 000 km, before I had bought it: rotors, pads, battery terminal posts, inner tie rod, clutch bearing, valve cover gasket, alternator, left rear spring. The car has been on synthetic since about 200 000km. Timing belt was done @ 110 000 km.
Any and all ideas/input would be MUCH APPRECIATED! I do have to take care of the suspension first. That is where I plan on putting $ into first. Second... the steering fluid pump. Third.... take care of that awful brake related noise. Or maybe have the bodywork done third. I may fit the tint in anywhere from 1-3 on that list if I could just make up my dam mind
Thank you in advance to the people in this forum.....much love!

SmthgWickd

By the way, I just love this commercial!

DavidCBY

Always make your repairs before you make your upgrades.

neegroy

iTrader: (19)

true that man truee that!

do what needs to be done for the car to drive than do the upgrades lol

Sevenevez

iTrader: (2)

Thats the Most "Responsible" Quote on the Forum

1sWt2GS

iTrader: (6)

for tints, 20% front, 5 % back.

or 20% all around anything lighter and its see through.

SmthgWickd

Totally agreed, which is why I gave a priority list at the bottom of my post!

SmthgWickd

I still have to decide if tint is even going on this beast. I feel that tint looks old school. I had 15 % on my Corolla when I bought it brand new in 98. That was back when I was trying different things, and smokin funny things, and actually required the privacy in my ride. Now the only reasons I would tint is 1) to reduce glare and 2) for cosmetic purposes. Look at how clean this Lex is lookin tint free: http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h6...G_9605copy.jpg

SwayNV

^^^ Both would look better with tint.

I don't do anything illegal in my car, but still like the privacy.
As well as reduced glare, reduced heat (especially on the leather seats after sitting in the Texas heat all day), and it just looks a lot better. Just my opinion.

SmthgWickd

I do agree with you and that would be a third reason to tint: To prevent UV damage to the interior! Great thinking!