has anyone attempted to fix up their ES350? im planning on first changing my lights to HID and i'll work from there. possibly LSD and lowering the car. suggestions?

also, has anyone taken off their front license plate and noticed that the manufacturers or dealers drilled directly into the bumper? how do you make it look nice afterwards? i dont exactly want to drive around with two holes in my bumper.

 

All dealers tack on a black license plate holder, which requires 2 holes to be drilled into the front bumper. And then the license plate goes on top of the plate holder, which most likely requires another 2 holes drilled into the bumper. So in the worst case, you may end up with 4 holes on the front bumper, which is what I have right now in my ES300. Bondo and touch-up paint may be the solution to patching up the holes, but the paint job won't be nearly as nice as you would like it to be. IMO the best solution to fixing up the license plate holes is to get the entire front bumper repainted, which could cost anywhere between $300 to $500 from a decent independent body shop, not a Lexus/Toyota body shop which will most likely cost much much more.

 

I really hope some after-market company will come up with a body-color front license plate holder. I just got yesterday a set of chrome-on-chrome Lexus license plate frames. That black license plate holder on the front is too wide/big and shows up from behind the license plate frame. I got a confirmation from Lexus that plastic is not paintable and even if I try, will peel off in a week or two.

BTW, has anybody found any aftermarket stuff for ES350 yet? I know its too yearly, but I can't wait to check out what they will come up with (really want a cool lip spoiler that will not require any trunk drilling).

Also, I thought lights are HID?!? Unles you are talking about fog lights which are not. Lowering the car, are you serious? Are you talking about ground fxs, or the actual lowering?

I want to personalize my ES350 as well, just need to find what is reasonable so I would not take away and cheapen the look of it.

 

HIDs were optional on the ES, werent standard

 

Any type of suspension modification WILL destroy the ride quality of your Lexus, or for that matter any car. All these parameters were figured out in the original design of your car. If you don't mind ruining the ride, then more power to you.......I certainly won't do it!

 

My body shop prepped my black front license plate holder and painted it to match my body color (tungsten silver). It looks waaay better now!

 

Can you please post a picture? So they just took off your original front license plate holder and spray painted it? How long have you had it spray-painted like this? Do you see any peeling? Since I have the same Tungsten Pearl, do you need to give them a color name or will they require a special paint code to match it? If such required, can you share that code with me? My local body shop told me it will cost $25 to get it done, but they were not sure about plastic plate holder, so I had to ask my dealer about it.

I'm also seriously considering a very light tint on all the windows (even so its illegal for front windows in Jersey). I called one of the top places in here, those guys been around for a very long time, highly recommend by my friends, and specialize in luxury cars, and they charge $199 for the whole car with a guarantee!!!

Regarding HID, they are standard with even basic Premium package, and I was under impression that Lexus doesn't even make non-premium basic msrp at all?

 

thanks for the feedback... i didnt get the HIDs when i bought the car but now i want them... i was told i need more than just bulbs.... i believe im going for OEMs H7s

 

My old MSM did not have HID. It is an option that appears in only some of the PP+ packages. Same thing goes for Parking Assist with the UL.

 

Wow, I can't believe that the dealers are drilling those holes in advance. Here in NV, they don't pre-drill any of the bumpers and give you the option of whether or not you want it done (obviously I chose for them not to do it!)

 

i found some plastic plugs that i used to plug up the holes... now i jsut got 2 black plastic circles on my bumper.. it looks better than the 2 screw holes i had before.. if anyone is gonna ask me.. i'll tell them its my infared sensors.. ahaha...

 

I had them not drill mine, but there are still dimples for where the holes should go. Kind of annoying. . .

 

I see. Than, I got PP+ with HID, rear side airbags and additional heavy duty mats.

 

touch-up paint the plugs...cant hurt!!!

 

touch-up paint FTL