PMacvilay

Well, it's not really a "build thread," but I'll be updating my car's progress here.

I've always wanted a car that had an aggressive look to it - The 2002 Es300 is NOT an aggressive looking car (IMHO), but I've had this thing for almost 4 years and 80k+ miles and absolutely love the car. I hate driving other people's cars because I'm just so used to this car. When I'm driving their cars I just feel out of place. This car is my baby. So basically, my goal is to give the car a bit more of an aggressive, masculine look.

I'm not very knowledgable when it comes to cars , so if I ask a question that may seem pretty obvious to some of you, please don't dog me....

MODS:
Front: 50% 3M Tint
Rear: 35% 3M Tint


NEAR FUTURE PLANS:

-First, I want to get the front "L" badge, rear "Lexus" and rear "ES 300" badge removed.

-Second, want to get the badge-holes covered and painted to match the car.

-Third, I want to have the front grill painted black to match the car and then have the front "L" badge put onto the painted grill.

-Fourth, I want the door handles to be painted black to match the color of the car.

-Lastly, I want my Duraflex VIP lip kit painted to match the color of my car.

Duraflex VIP Kit

(L-Tuned or WeatherTech)
Window Visors
Sunroof Visor



"WHEN I HAVE MORE MONEY" PLANS:

(Stole this from Megafast13 - his headlight setup )
2006 ES330 (HID) Projector Headlights
2006 ES330 Taillights (Maybe)
3K Putco JetYellow Fog Lights
LED Strip DRL's

Lowering Suspension

Work VS-XX (I wish)
Gold BBS LM

Lexmex

Welcome to the Club.

DixonPai

iTrader: (3)

Welcome to CL, your Lex looks clean, happy modding

PMacvilay

Thanks guys, the car looks a lot cleaner than it actually is...

So I decided to go with the WeatherTech Side Window Deflectors because the L-Tuned ones were a bit too expensive and I got a special deal when I bought these and the Sunroof Wind Deflector, which actually don't come until next week (stay tuned for that). Anyway, here are some pictures...


(Crappy iPhone 4 pictures)
Here they are leaned up against my dad's 2001 Lx470



BEFORE:


AFTER:
It started to get dark out so I had to pull the car into the garage to take pictures.

Front Shot:


Rear Shot:

DRACO A5OG

Welcome

PMacvilay

Thanks, Jim!

So I was sitting at home with nothing to do (trying to find another reason not to do my homework - I really need to stop procrastinating!!) and decided I'll de-badge this sucker. So I went to O'Reilly's and picked up some bug and tar remover.


TOOLS:
- Cleaning Spray
- Bug and Tar Remover
- Dental Floss
- Hair Dryer
- Fingernails (R.I.P.)


BEFORE:







DURING:

SOAKED the badges with the spray...


My little brother came out to see what I was doing and asked if he could help, so I told him he could handle the hairdryer. (Don't you love Mom's hairdryer?.. )





AFTER removing the emblems:


There was a LOT of 3M tape left on the trunk!!!


I stopped taking pictures after a while because my hands were getting dirty and I wasn't going to keep drying them and taking pictures and drying them and taking pictures and blah blah blah...

I soaked the leftover 3M tape with the bug and tar remover. I couldn't find my plastic putty knife so I just decided to use my fingernails to scrape off the remainders. This worked well, but only to a certain extent. I grabbed my laptop, did some more reading and found that WD-40 worked pretty well for other people and decided to give it a try... and whatdayaknow- the damn thing worked...



FINAL RESULTS:



All in all, I'm very satisfied with the new look of the car. (Although Mom was pretty upset that I de-badged it. - She probably thinks I'm going to sell the car later and doesn't want to lower the value of it. Oh well, she has her car and I have mine.) It's surprising how something so little can "improve" the looks on your car.


TIME TO CELEBRATE!:
(Chocolate cake Mom made, Chocolate Ice Cream with brownies, Whipped Cream and Animal Crackers - Delcious! )

97-SC300

iTrader: (17)

Looks good man!

Lexucan

Yeah, it sure does! I love cake and ice-cream!

BTW, that 4ES looks pretty sweet too!

imherenow

m not a fan of de-badging ..but i guess it depends on ones taste..but the car is nice and clean too..u have some good exterior and interior shots ..
now ur making me hungry for ice-cream :P

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

^We can say the same about your 'custom' taillights...

Anyways, looks good, clean up the rear end a lot on these cars.

Scour eBay for the 05+ Projectors... i've seen TONS go for <300$ shipped. pairs & singles.

Usually the ones without ballasts/bulbs are cheapest, but an aftermarket kit will fix that. Plus 5+year old HID bulbs tend to get tired anyways. The tails would be a nice touch too - but harder to find unfortunately...

GL with the rest!

EEngineer

whenever i get my car painted, i debadge them
good job!

now go turbo the car!

PMacvilay

Thanks, guys! I have already gotten a few compliments on how much cleaner the car looks without the badges. Not everyone is going to like MY car, but it's MY car and this is how I like it - to each his own.

Hah, the ice cream and cake was awesome!

@01LEXPL Thanks for the tip! Finally found a decent pair for a decent price!

@EEngineer I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that. Turbo?... you supplying the funds?


Well, after doing some research and FINALLY finding some 2006 ES330 Projector style HID headlights for a decent price I decided to choose the HIDeXTRA D2S Canbus HID Xenon Conversion Kit over the XenonDepot Xtreme Digital HID Conversion Kits.


If you can't tell, I'm kind of excited..

Well, It was a hard choice. Both had very good reviews. BUT, both the HIDeXTRAs and XenonDepots had some bad reviews where very few people had some flickering problems. They both looked very nice as well, but I read of a few complaints on the HIDeXTRAs not using the TRUE kevlin temperatures, whereas XenonDepot claimed to be using nothing but it. So I found myself stuck, until I came across HIDeXTRAs latest 50% off AND FREE SHIPPING offer. How the h#$% could I pass up that deal?!

After my long search for these headlights I decided it was only necessary to compliment the HIDs with Putco Jet Yellow Halogen Bulbs for my fog lights.

Now all I gotta do is wait for these things to come in.


On another note, my WeatherTech Sunroof Wind Deflector is supposed to come in tomorrow! I'll have an update for you guys with pictures and everything as soon as I install it.


Thanks for looking!
P

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

I like your style - quick to the point.

PMacvilay

@ 01LEXPL - Thanks!

Couldn't wait to get out of class to pick up the new stuff.
They FINALLY came in!




They will be going on this:

(Yeah, it's bright out and this may not be the best angle to show the sunroof withOUT the visor, but I'm sure everyone knows what these cars look like withOUT them... And I just thought this picture looked pretty awesome.)



INSTRUCTION:
Not to difficult, probably took me 15 minutes to do this.




THE FIT:
(Looks like theres a gap, but it's actually sealed very tight.)






I really like how it looks, another easy upgrade that gives the car a little more umphhh
While you guys are reading this I'll be installing the Putco Jet Yellow Halogen Bulbs. I'll probably have another update for you guys later tonight so I can show the difference between the two lights. "Well, how are you going to do that without the stock fogs in?" Good thing my brother has the same car as me.
(I'm actually planning on taking my headlights and retro fitting some TSX HIDs in there and putting it on his car. Anybody with some cheap lights?)



Thanks for looking!
Until next time!
P

"BYE!"

(Notice the WeatherTech Side Window Deflectors)

PMacvilay

Now it's time to install the Putco Jet Yellow Halogen Bulbs!!

BIG THANKS to CL member steviej for the 2002 Es300 Fog Light Replacement Writeup!

First thing I did was raised the car, just like he said, and put it on jack stands.
NEVER trust your jack alone!



Next I had to locate the 10mm bolts that held up the plastic shield.



Then REMOVE them of course, using the same technique as him by not removing the middle plastic screw so I can swivel the shield back and forth.



Being extra careful not to get any oil on the bulb, I put on some gloves.



Next I located the plastic cover to the foglights, twisted the thing to open, and gently pulled it open.



Finally I took out the white wire to the bulb, moved the cover out of the way, unlatched the spring clip and took out the bulb.



Once again it started to be a PITA to take pictures and clean up, and take pictures and clean up, and blah and blah and blah. So just do the same thing to the other side, then replace everything!


Stock vs Putco Jet Yellow Halogen Bulbs:





After about a minute:
(I'm not sure if these also take a while to charge up, but I've seen a lot of people let their headlights charge)




After about 5 minutes:





Final product:



On the ground:


Another AWESOME, very cheap upgrade! At least I thought so... After letting the car down I was really eager to just drive my car and be inside of it and show off the fogs, but as soon as I tried to start the damn thing... CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK and a smoky smell. I did some reading and these are the main things that helped me potentially find the problem:

2002 Es300 Starting Problem

Another Humming Sound

So, one thing I decided to do was wait and see if water got into the starter or whatever. After about 15 minutes I went out to the car and tried started it again.
Good news: NO MORE SMOKEY SMELL!!
Bad news (?): No clicking, just a humming sound.

I came back inside and did some more reading. After another 15 minutes or so I went out to the car and thought about having my brother come out to tap on the starter to see if that was the problem, but just decided to try starting the car again.
Good news: The car tried to turn over
Bad news: It didn't quite get there and didn't start.

So here I am just giving the car a bit more time to sit and if it doesn't start I'll try messing with the starter. If it does, lets hope this is not a recurring problem, then I'll just let the car sit in the garage over night and pray it doesn't happen again.In the case it is *knocks on glass (knock on glass, save your a$$) that this is a recurring problem, I'll check the starter to see if anything is loose or if it needs to be changed.


Thanks again for reading,
P


EDIT:

So, since the lights, radio, etc.. was working I was DAMN sure it wasn't the battery... wrong-
Charged the thing, took this picture next to my brother's car, then drove around:
(If the fogs need to charge up, they're not charged. just took this picture quickly before driving around to test the visor- works awesome!...)
I'll take more pictures later...

(Sorry these aren't the best pictures, it's cold out and I didn't want to do a photoshoot with a huge camera- iPhone4 camera ftl.)


(PS- can the mods change the actually Thread TITLE to "WISCONSIN guy's "build" thread" Thanks in advanced!)