alexmoore

Hi Everyone!

I am happy to announce that I've just purchased my fiances dream car(2005 Lexus SC430 Pebble Beach Edition) which I will give to him on Christmas! It is in fantastic condition at 111K miles, and of course had the pre-purchase inspection done on it, all systems are in great condition.

I would really appreciate some tips on how to care for a Lexus SC430 and anything I should know as a new Lexus owner.

The only issues I've had since purchase(yesterday) are possibly some previously blown speakers and the stock head unit has a CD jammed inside it. I heard that many of the stock radio CD drives have broken after years of use. I plan on installing a Pioneer touch-screen head unit for bluetooth capabilities and style so the head unit isn't a worry for me, but the speakers do bother me. Any experience with replacing the Mark Levinsons and/or upgrading them?

A few other questions for 05' and 07' pebble beach owners with the red interior.. the red floor mats seem to take on a lot of dirt. When I purchased the vehicle they were pretty scuffed with black. Can this be cleaned? Any tips? I can take the vehicle to get them shampoo'd, will that work to remove it? How do you care for your interior?

Very few cracks in the red leather but they do exist. Any care tips for the leather?

Any care tips for the red interior or the black diamond paint?

The car currently runs on non-synthetic oil and is changed every 3K miles. Is this the best way for the car to run?

Are there any asthetic upgrades you guys suggest for the vehicle? Any performance upgrades you suggest, if only to increase the life/longevity of the vehicle?

Relatively new michellin run flats are on the vehicle. On the drive from San Diego to LA they didn't bother me while picking up tread, but I know it does happen. Should these tires stay on the vehicle? Pros and cons?

Any tips for longevity on the vehicle so far as mileage and asthetics go? I plan on keeping the vehicle covered as well as regularly washed.

Driving tips? I know I'll definitely be watching out for islands/curbs as this vehicle's visibility is slightly hindered in that aspect.

Thank you in advance for any information you can give me as a very new Lexus SC430 owner.

Alex

tromly

Wow, what a great gift, welcome to the club! You purchased the best car made by Lexus! That red interior is to die for!

DarthSid

Alexmoore welcome to the club. You can look into purchasing the Beatsonic Integration device that will allow you to keep your OEM speakers, amp and wiring. The speakers sound like they're blown. Which speakers are bad? Three thousand miles on oil changes is too frequent. Manufacturer recommends oil change ever 5K miles, but your call. Try Sewell Lexus Parts to see if they stock or can still get the Pebble Beach floor mats. Become a member of Sewell and you will be privileged to great discounts when you buy from them. You just need to provide your Club Lexus member handle.

mrblister

Welcome great choice.I am biased I have same year same model same color. Bought it new mileage really is correct as of 12/22/14 [ 7475 ] Lots of mods see my signature

DarthSid

Alexmoore I checked Sewell Lexus Parts and came up with a hit for the Pebble Beach Floor mats. You need to select the 2006 SC430. Refer to the attachment. You may have to call them to verify if the mats in your color (red) are available.

Harold57

Alex,

Congratulations on the purchase. Your fiance is one lucky guy!

With regards to whether the mats are cleanable, it depends on what turned the mats black. Get some carpet/upholestry cleaner (comes in a spray bottle or can) and see if that will take it off before just flat out replacing them. (Just follow the directions on the cleaning product.) I've done it to ours lots of times. Takes about 10 minutes.

The speakers can be repaired (do a search on the forum and you'll find a few methods). Typically, a jammed CD can be removed by pressing eject and whacking the dash or the side of the console to dislodge it. (Unfortunately, it doesn't always work, so I've found out.)

Welcome to the forum.
Harold

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

I would almost suggest getting some new black mats for the car. The red looks cool when clean, but near impossible to remove deep stains/scuffs over time and it will look like ****.

At least the black will be a nice contrast to the top half of the black dash and won't show dirt as much.

FLYCT

Welcome,

Door speakers can be repaired with new foam kits. Do a search

Michelin run flats are the best of the run flats as far as ride goes. Keep them for now.

Get OEM Black mats for sure. They don't show dirt, clean easy and cheap to replace.

alexmoore

Thank you all for the helpful suggestions!

I have created my account with Sewell + applied my Club Lexus discount.. seems a very handy tool to have!

I got the car professionally detailed today and am happy to report that the black scuffs on the matts were removed. The car looks absolutely beautiful. I am considering purchasing both the black floor matts and the clear floor matts to protect the red/black OEM matts.

I am going to go with the Beatsonic for the integration with the OEM Levinsons!

I have been listening to the speakers and am finding it diffucult to decipher which may need repair/replacing.. when I am on the radio everything seems to be working okay(not the best sound ever) but when I plug in my phone to the aux-tape cable every single speaker sounds blown, the entire sound is muffled. I have the IPhone 6. My friends IPhone 4 sounded a lot better, but still slightly muffled on the top-end.

Does this not sound very strange? Let me know if anyone else has experienced something similar to this.

Any suggestions on how to decipher which speakers may need repair?

Thanks in advance!

Alex

mrblister

The aux tape plug in cassette has always sounded muffled its not a very good quality audio sound its not cd quality. If your going with a new radio then the beatsonic is the way to go. I on the other hand am using my original radio with a vais sat radio interface and a vais slb-3 Bluetooth audio interface so I can stream my iphone music direct to my car via Bluetooth or I can also stream from internet apps like Pandora etc. My car is seldom out I use it only in good weather so my radio is fine I have all of the audio I want am fm sat cd internet Ipod blue tooth on iphone to make and receive call