Painted my brake calipers blue using G2 caliper paint. Standard color. It's a deep royal blue color, almost identical to the rear Hybrid badge on the rear passenger doors, actually a really nice shade to it, very glossy as well. Not goofy looking or something that looks like it was done from a spray can.

All in the prep. Took hours to prep, then about 3 hours to paint. I had the calipers/brackets off and actually found after a couple coats it was easier to keep the caliper brackets back on the car. Pretty subtle honestly. It will make cleaning the calipers way easier now plus protection for the winter..etc. Red would have looked good but figured blue because of the hybrid theme.









-Nigel

 

Keep it going, wrapped the Fsport trim piece on the dash. At first I bought a bunch of the OEM trim pieces but they are all on back order status with no ETA. So I figured let me wrap my piece. I was hesitant only because I like to keep the stock parts but after seeing it's just crappy vinyl wrap from the factory I just wrapped over it using 3m Ebony Metallic wood. It's more gray/black than brown as shown in the pictures. I blame my overhead lights. I'll get pictures of everything when I pull it outside. I will be doing the front and rear window control pieces to tie everything together. Should bring a little bit of class to the inside and less plasticky look to everything. If I have enough I might try the center console up to the shift lever.


Stock F-Sport

WTF kind if pattern is this??lol

wrap job from the factory

3m ebony metallic wood

it's not this brown

this is a much better representation of the color, grays and blacks



I'll post updated pics over the weekend.

-Nigel

 

One passenger side trim piece down. Hoping the rest go faster. The tight curve at the bottom and the curve at the very tip are a little difficult to make nice and no creases. But looks good. Hoping the next one goes faster. I think this one took me an hour and a half to do with how I was testing out which direction I wanted the vinyl and trying to also figure out the cutout for the window switch after I removed it. I found that not having the vinyl going all the way down to where your finger goes was better.






-Nigel

 

Nice wrap job.

 

^Thank you! It's fun. I'm eagerly awaiting my rx350 bi-xenon projector retro fit and diode dynamic elite fog light retro fit here hopefully shortly...

Finished the wrap and got a little console cubby thingy. I wish it was spring so I could be installing my JDM oem rainvisors, blue f-sport lowering springs, and the retrofit! ARG!












-Nigel

 

Oil cartridge be-gone mod. This enables you to use spin on oil fitlers!

Parts used:
Oil Filter housing: 15609-0T070 (15609-0T060 is an older version where the oil filter housing is round, new version comes to a triangle so the oil drips down)
Engine oil Seal (2) : 96723-24020
Union for Oil Filter housing: 90904-04006
Bolts (4): 90105-A0452 *Some people reuse the existing ones but they are only $1 so I just replaced them.

Lexus Filter: 90915YZZN1 (Supersession(s): 90915-YZZN1; 90915YZZF2) Note that I also ordered filter: 90915YZZF1. This is a larger filter. Seen in the picture below: I'll be using hte YZZF1 filter due to it being longer.








-Nigel

 

Next delivery over the weekend was my RX350 bi-xenon projector retro fit which includes diode dynamics elite series fogs (yellow)!
This will be a nice winter project. I'm also sending out the orange reflectors in the headlights so that they can be made clear like the EU/ROW countries. Tobias posted a picture showing that behind the reflector it lights up orange/amber so for states that require inspection like me, as long as there is orange the reflector can be clear or amber.

I tested the DD elite fogs and wow. Quality is insane. I'd argue better than OEM honestly. There is a significant feel to them! Very yellow, very wide beam pattern. I'll take pictures here in spring. I tested the amber accent lighting feature and that was nice. I'll be wiring that up to the parking light/DRL so that way the accent lighting is on while the DRL in the headlight is on.

I've attached a picture of parts ordered. Some of the wiring is not needed but I figured I'd rather order things like the DIY d2s connectors and amp extensions incase I needed them. But there is probably about $50-60 worth of stuff that possibly won't get used. My fear was to have the headlights open and as I'm doing something realize that I need something else and don't have it, then ordering and waiting for it..etc.
I'm going to keep this as OEM+ looking as possible. All wiring will be done inside the headlight so you shouldn't see any ballast/amp connectors coming directly out the back of the headlight. (Will probably be under it) and mounting the ballasts hopefully on the bottom of the headlights. No fancy halos or demon eyes...etc. It's not really my thing. I want reliable headlights that don't have all the extra gimmicks and wiring and potential failures later on.













-Nigel

 

Picked up some aspherical EU rear view mirrors. When I did power folding mirrors on my RCF an added bonus that I wasn't even aware of was the glass was aspherical which provides a much wider viewing angle behind you. It's wonderful. Think of your passenger mirror but better. Now it's on both the driver and passenger side.

I was looking for these and noticed a set on eBay because of the vertical dotted line that Lexus uses to show these are aspherical.

Came all the way from Latvia. Was shipped on Monday and i got them on Wednesday! Super fast. I will put these on the car to show the different in angles. I'm still waiting on stuff to get painted and I'm leaving for a trip this week so it might be when I get back. But here are pictures of the mirrors. And two examples of what aspherical mirrors are when comparing them with normal flat mirrors we get in the USA.














-Nigel

 

Got new plates for the CT and also Cusco power brace. Figured spend the hundred more than the Megan brace and get superior quality. Cusco never disappoints.







-Nigel

 

Just like all the other Lexus models that have no spot to put the phone that makes sense... I figured there has to be a way to have a better solution in the CT. Since it's going to be my DD, I wanted my phone in an area that was easy to use and look at. Normally I put it in the cup holders and then it sits there...

Thanks to Lexus and making a pointless cubby in the console I figured there has to be a way to utilize this spot. I own a 3d printer and was trying to design some wedges that would fit the cubby.

I ALMOST bought the OEM lexus bit that holds the phone, but man is that thing ugly and looks so bulky. PLUS, when you turn the phone towards you it puts it at a weird angle. Which is odd. And it doesn't work on newer phones unless you buy a 3d printed part for $20 bucks. I wanted my phone to be able to tilt, turn left and right and most of all be able to adjust the angle so that when I turn the phone I can angle it so it's facting me and not slanted at an odd angle.

Here is my progress:

Bunch of wedges I started printing and testing fitment.



This is the all metal camera mount that I purchased. VERY stout.



This was just testing. I used my old samsung phone since I can't take a picture of my actual phone on the stand. Wedge is also too big and doesn't fit great.



New mount printed in Prusament black PETG. I did 3 parameters, at .15 layer height at 40% infill. It's much heavier than the test pieces I made. Very solid.
The mount tilts forward and back, spins 360 degrees, and the clamp rotates. ALL adjustable with allen wrenches. It was very tight from the factory and almost needed two hands to adjust. Once I loosened it up a bit I can now do everything with one hand and it's still quite firm.



This is with the phone in landscape turned left. You can see it's covering the buttons in the center.



This is the phone flipped the other way. and actually, the way I'd use if I had the phone in landscape. All buttons accessible and also the heated seats behind it.



This is how I would have the phone 99% of the time.



I also slid the phone down more in the mount. I'm not sure why I didn't have it like that in the above pictures.



Still making tweaks. I'm printing end pieces so that I can pull the slide open without much effort. Also adjusting the spring tension. It comes with two strong springs. I am more than likely removing one as two is very strong and requires force to open it when it's on the phone.

-Nigel

 

Got some JDM rear headrests last week. These are a much-improved visibility for the rear window! I can now see the rear little windows behind the passenger seats. Best of all they don't need to be lifted to put the seats down like the taller US spec ones.

The posts are SLIGHTLY wider than US spec seats, so you just have to squeeze them in and slightly bend them in. Once you do this, they slide right into the existing seats. I believe with US spec seats they are angled slightly different cause you can see that the rear headrests are slightly pivoted. I might play with the idea of adjusting the posts or headrest base so that it sits flatter, but no one is going to be sitting back there anyways....









-Nigel

 

Got another set of JDM head rests. This time a full complete set of front/back. This is the suede material. The ones above are leather and match almost perfectly with the seats. These suede ones I feel are going to be a darker black. But they are sooooooooooooo soft. I am baffled why Lexus didn't offer this material here in the states. So much better than the nuluxe crap that we got.

ALSO bought an OEM JDM rear cup holder for the back seats. I have another one coming from japan so one will more than likely go up forsale.









Installed in the back:





-Nigel

 

Do you have a website where you ordered the JDM rear cupholder? What is the part number to the rear cupholder as well? I really love what you have done with your CT!

 

I just browse Japan Yahoo auctions. Normally I just try and narrow the search down but 90% of the time it's what is recommended they think is associated with what I am looking at is the direction I end up going, and then hope I find what I'm looking for...lol

I've been searching for the cup holder now since I got the car in July... The funny thing is I actually have another one the way. There was a ton of interest on FB so I'm going to see if I can keep searching and finding them. I'm fairly certain I will be able to source them once I get certain criteria/logistics worked out. The one I posted above is in excellent used condition. The second one I have coming is brand new. If it does turn out to be brand new and with all accessories, then I'll probably try and reach out to my contact and see if I can get more of them. If that's the case, then I'll probably start taking a list of seeing if people want it. There's no part number with the booklet that came with it. I thought for sure it was the number in the lower left corner but it wasn't when I searched.

It's still going to be $200+ and shipping, however, it's going to be WAAAAY less than the Lexus Boutique price that they charge below:




Appreciate it. Here in spring I'll post some updated pictures once I install everything on the car. Got a whole stockpile of stuff in my basement..lol

-Nigel

 

Took the cheap plastic air bag out to put in a nice leather wrapped air bag cover. While I have things out I decided to wrap the lower trim piece to go with the door pieces I already have wrapped and my glove box trim piece.

The last picture shows that I wrapped the steering wheel control trim. Not sure if that's too much or if I should keep it black? Thoughts? Left side or right side looks better?

Leather on left, plastic on right.










-Nigel