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Going to start this thread and steer away from my LS430 Buying Rant thread (https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-shopping.html). This will just be a general account as I move forward into LS430 ownership and tackle various maintenance and cosmetic issues, which I assure you will be quite boring.
I'm still getting a feel for the car and generally trying to get it as absolutely clean as possible. It is well kept and the dealer did a decent job of prepping it for sale, but there are a lot of small, overlooked areas that I will be addressing. Today, I started with the trunk. It presents well with perfect carpet, two cargo nets, a full tool kit, and an empty first aid kit which I will replenish with fresh supplies. I pulled out the spare tire to check it's condition and found a gently used 18 inch Bridgestone with a 2008 date stamp on it. The wheel itself also showed signs of being used and was a bit dirty. There was some residue on the inner portion of the wheel from previous stick-on weights.
"But Romanova, no one is ever going to see the damn wheel!" Well, lets clean it anyways. Cleaned it up with Chemical Guys wheel cleaner and GooGone for the residue. Then I used 303 Aerospace protectant on the tire. Spare Before Spare Before Spare after
While I was in the trunk, I applied 303 Aerospace to all of the seals and the inner plastics on the tails. Oddly enough, I can't find a VIN sticker on the trunk. All of the other panels on the car have the VIN sticker but not the trunk. The lines and finish look spot on so I'm not sure if it's been replaced or maybe there wasn't a VIN sticker on the trunk?
Looking forward, the most immediate concern will be the 90k service, which I will be pricing out. In my younger days, I would tackle this myself but 60 hour work weeks put a hamper on my desire to turn wrenches for something like that. The car needs some minor things which I will begin to order ASAP, including a kit to polish the headlights.
Did a few tweaks with Techstream. Seems like the original owner had ALL of the fun stuff turned off. In fact, in the supplemental documentation that came in the owners manual there is a checklist... with everything fun turned off.
Oh, seems Lexus thought of everything. Was surprised to find a snap in place cover for the OBD2 port. All about the fine details...
Headlights aren't bad but they are a little hazy. Either someone did them before or they are just starting to turn. Knocked out one this morning using a few flavors of Chemical Guys polish, and then a few coats of Chemical Guys sealant. Will do the other soon.
V34 followed by V36 then sealed with M-Sealant. Did it by hand because they weren't too bad. I'll probably use an orange pad on the other side to see if I can make it POP a bit more. Will have to reapply the sealant every few months but since it will spend 99% of the time in the garage, further UV degradation isn't a concern.
V34 followed by V36 then sealed with M-Sealant. Did it by hand because they weren't too bad. I'll probably use an orange pad on the other side to see if I can make it POP a bit more. Will have to reapply the sealant every few months but since it will spend 99% of the time in the garage, further UV degradation isn't a concern.
Nice! i haven't tried those polishes. I just have Meg's stuff.
My car is going to sit in the sun unfortunately at work but not at home. I'll be reusing a sealant quite often.
So, a 2006 with a cassette deck? WTF? Does Lexus know their older, target demographic might still have this antiquated technology? I think the SC430 came with a tape deck all they way until 2008.
I'm 37 years old and haven't had a cassette since about 1994 or so. My first CD player was a portable Emerson that took 6AA batteries and it only lasted about an hour. Well, I was curious how tapes sounded so I jumped on eBay and ordered one of my favorite albums of all time. It sounds so good, but in a terrible way... that constant 'cassette hiss'.
Nice! i haven't tried those polishes. I just have Meg's stuff.
My car is going to sit in the sun unfortunately at work but not at home. I'll be reusing a sealant quite often.
So the car has pin-striping that goes fender to fender. It's painted on top of the clear coat and is fading pretty horribly in most places. This is good, because it means the removal is that much easier. I took some off the passenger side already with some polish and a pad, by hand but a few parts were just too thick. Today I decided to see what an aggressive pad/polish combo could do on the thickest portion. Using nice, even pressure and letting the pad and polish do the work, it went through the thickest portion without issue. Now to do the rest of the car to fully remove this.
Will do the passenger side tomorrow or the next day. Noticed that the previous owner waxed it at some point a few times... little bits of residue on some of the seals and what not. Will eventually give the car a quick pass with some clay, then a very light polish, and the sealant. I really want to take the wheels off to detail them and then clean up the wheel wells and the fender lips. These are always overlooked. Honestly it might be a bit overkill, but I'm chasing perfection and this car will likely never see serious rain or inclement weather during my ownership.
In other news, it's going to a local independent Lexus garage on Friday for the timing belt service. Will be a relief to knock that off the list. I've got shopping carts full of stuff and various online retailers, but I really need to wait until the TB service is complete before I dive into anything else.
Will do the passenger side tomorrow or the next day. Noticed that the previous owner waxed it at some point a few times... little bits of residue on some of the seals and what not. Will eventually give the car a quick pass with some clay, then a very light polish, and the sealant. I really want to take the wheels off to detail them and then clean up the wheel wells and the fender lips. These are always overlooked. Honestly it might be a bit overkill, but I'm chasing perfection and this car will likely never see serious rain or inclement weather during my ownership.
In other news, it's going to a local independent Lexus garage on Friday for the timing belt service. Will be a relief to knock that off the list. I've got shopping carts full of stuff and various online retailers, but I really need to wait until the TB service is complete before I dive into anything else.
So much more to come!
Looks really good!!
How many miles on your LS? I gotta get my TB done also since mine hasn't been done either and the car is at 60k.
78k. Since it's 11 years old and has been in the Houston climate, that's enough for me to change it. I'm going to keep the original belt just to check its condition when they are done.
Toyota and Lexus Join Mille Miglia For The First Time
Slideshow: A five-car lineup spanning more than five decades of Toyota performance and engineering will tackle one of Italy's most celebrated automotive routes.
Romanova's 2006 LS430 build/blog
