DarkSeph

Hello everyone, I'm a new member here and recently bought a 2012 IS250 in Deep Sea Mica (33K miles). Got a great deal and am happy with the car, but it looks stock and I'm too Asian to let it stay that way.

I had a 2004 Honda Accord with a Kaminari Lip kit all around, Audi-style LED/HID's 6000K, Smoked out Altezza Tail-lights, 20% Tint all around, with black wheels and an in-dash custom system with multiple Pop-out TV's.







So, I got sandwiched in the middle of a 5 car collision on the highway coming back from Las Vegas. Got a nice insurance settlement and bought the Lexus via Auction! Here's how it looks stock right now:



So here's what I plan to do with the car:

1. Rims (Already purchased 19s, Curva C7 Black). Hopefully these fit without rubbing or disturbing the smoothness of the ride..



2. Viper Alarm system that controls the entire car through my phone (Already purchased)

3. Custom lights: The headlights already have the sick LED strip so I probably won't be changing them out. Do they make custom tail-lights for a 2012, and if so is it worth it to buy if I plan to do a 50% smoke-out anyways?

4.. Body Kit: This is where I am having issues. Finding a kit that will fit a 2012 seems very difficult, it seems everything is made from 06-11 for some reason. I have a very good paint guy, and at first I wanted to do a full ISF Conversion kit but it would cost me about $1500 total for parts and labor. Now I'm on the fence for what to do on the body style. A lip and rear diffuser would cost much less, but at the same time I don't want my car to be too low (curbs were my worst enemy when I had my Honda), and I definitely don't want to attract cop attention. I figured the ISF style still looks sporty and stealthy, but it's still stock. I'd like to hear what everyone has done and any recommendations (pictures would be nice too!).

5. Grill: I'd like to put an all-black sporty mesh looking grill on top and bottom, what's the best one to get?

Thanks guys, I will be bringing the car home from the Auto Body shop this week and starting on all this so any feedback is appreciated!

pmanliu

iTrader: (4)

11-13 share the same front bumper, so the kits are interchangeable between those

the facelifts are as follows:
06-08
09-10
11-13

ISland350

Lip kits are pretty hard to come by for ur model year...the bulk of the kits you are seeing are for 06-08,
09-10 pretty rare, 11-13 even rarer....just do full Aimgain

davidma415

iTrader: (1)

Is this true? I was talking to someone about ordering an Auto Couture lip and they said they only produced it for up to 2007. Apparently the 2007 and 2008 front bumpers are different?....

ISland350

yup his post is spot on...side skirts and rear lips should fit tho from 06-13

lysis250

iTrader: (18)

I don't see why you would want to change the tail lights, in my opinion they are even better looking than the ISF tails, people usually upgrade to the 2011-2013 tails, and I think that smoking them will be a bit ugly but that's just my opinion but do what you like. As far as lips go you are very limited for the front, the rear and sides are the same from 06-13.

DarkSeph

What do you guys think of the 09-11 IS-F STYLE FRONT/REAR BUMPER FULL CONVERSION KIT?

It's about $900 off Ebay, but it seems pretty professional. And buying it all together rather than finding a front and back lip separately and also an all-black grill would be convenient... This would 100% guaranteed fit on my car, right?


Strongly considering buying this since the lips do appear to be a rarity (and I didn't see a single one I really liked on Ebay) for the '12 model year. I like most of the styles I've seen on this forum, but none of the Ebay ones look as cool! XD Still having fun browsing though!

Anyone seen a Deep-Sea Mica with ISF Bumpers before? I haven't! =D

lysis250

iTrader: (18)

It's abit what you like, I personally would not do the ISF conversion, what I would do is change your front grille to the FSport grille and add the 2 FSport lips, for sides and rear I would just go with GFX. That will be nice and subtle and looks good.

Gerb

how much was it 20k?

DarkSeph

Thanks for all the input guys, I ended up buying the ISF Conversion kit from Ebay. Overall, my favorite look is something similar to how ISland350 has his setup. But here in California that would get me pulled over and ticketed in an instant, so I'm going with something a little more stock while still being sporty. Now what do I do about a front license plate? I don't think the kit comes with it.

The F-Sport additions were going to be my next choice, but you see a lot of those around and very few ISF's so I wanted mine to be special! =)

The car ended up about $19,000 before anything added on. Then about 5K on upgrades, maybe more as time goes along!

Anyone have any customizations in the dash? That is probably my next order of business, if possible to switch out the Navigation system and do some Fast & Furious type upgrades!

Lastly, 19's should fit OK without any influence on the smoothness of the ride right? The recommended tires that I bought were 235/35R19, 255/35R19.

Edit: Any cool accessories as well? Maybe a small trunk spoiler or an F-Sport badge?

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

Tires and wheels should be fine. I was customized to the fullest here in CA and its bit or miss. Just can't drive like an idiot.

Take a look here. https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...or-thread.html

DarkSeph

Is there any way to have the current Speed show up on the screen digitally in numeric form? Or is the Speedometer the only indicator? I don't like how it only shows in multiples of 20 on the gauge.

lysis250

iTrader: (18)

Speedo is the only way, that I know of, but I think you shouldn't be doing Fast & Furious type of mods to a car like the IS. You own a Lexus so keep a Lexus but to each their own. If you want to do those kind of mods you should get another Honda.

BoyOhBoy

iTrader: (9)

You should be good modding out your car completely as long as you're not pulling with your loud exhaust on every light. I'm surprised you pulled on the trigger so quick on the wheels without doing much research on sizes BUT I hope it fits. 235/35 and 255 should be good on a 9.5 and 10 or 10 and 11. Not sure the kinda look you're going for. I don't claim this but generally, it's been known in the scene that officers tend to pull over cars that look like they belong in the racing scene or cars that look like they're up to no good. But if you're driving at normal speeds, while stunting, they usually won't bother you, especially here in San Jose, CA. Idk why I feel like blacked out tail lights with 5% window tints would be a red alarm to many officers

BoyOhBoy

iTrader: (9)

As for the grille, maybe an f sport upper and lower OEM sporty look or a lx-mode upper and lower grill. Make sure the LX-mode fits 11-13 though. I know f sport does