I finally had some time to wax my car and while I was going over it I thought how I was happy with most of the money I have spent on the GS. This thread might be a good place to start if you just picked up a GS.

Would do again.

1) TRD strut bar- It looks great was on clearance < $149 shipped> from sewell Lexus

2) L-tuned areo kit- It looks great and was on clearance, fit and finish excellent a great DIY to start with <349 shipped> from sewell Lexus (these may be out of stock forever?)

3) L-tuned springs and shocks- yes on clearance, They are not a agressive drop, but for $299 they were a great choice for my daily driver. stock looks silly to me and coilover were a little out of my buget at the time.

4) 18" rim staggard setup- 20"s look so much better, but I deal with Missouri roads so I need a little more sidewall to take the punishment. I like the 17" OEM rim, but these set the car off quite a bit.


4) HKS Exhaust- great overall sound all the bolts needed and a even install, love them still after 10K miles.



Mods I would not do again.

1) SRT intake w/ ECU Great design, just too much noise for me. I dont have track times from before and after I just know when I go WOT I want to be able to talk on my phone at the same time.

2) Ebay black chrome emblems They look great for about 1 month then they fade thats why they are only $40



Mods I want to do

1) PI torque converter. chance of me doing it 2%
2) LSD 3.73 rear end 2%
3) Forced induction. more likely do this in a project SC
4) 01+ tails will do this summer!!

I only have the "buget mods" listed I hope others will add what they think is a good buy or not.

D

 

agree, except I would do the SRT again too... not much noise for me( in fact, I think it sounds good)....

 

Good thread!!!

Would do again:

- HKS Hi Power Exhaust (bought used on ebay for around $150 shipped)
- L-Tuned Aero Kit (bought on clearance for around same price from same place as ksu1988)
- K&N Intake (bought used on ebay for about $200 shipped)
- Bilstein PSS coilovers (paid about $750 + shipping, and absolutely love them!!!)
- 19" wheels (my first set of wheels, bought them used, and was in my opinion a good investment as a first set, especially for use as on a daily driver)


Wouldn't do again:

- Buy my car on ebay, because not knowing how bad the paint really is before buying it sucks!!! (and I will end up paying alot of $ just to get a fresh coat of paint)
- I will definitely NOT try to DIY touch-up on my paint again, even if I am bored, out of work, with a lot of extra time on my hands...because even though I knew I was going to repaint the car eventually, I think I made the blemishes more noticable now

Future plans:

- Fresh coat of paint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- TRD Strut Bar
- Drilled/slotted rotors w/ painted calipers
- new leather interior (mine is getting old)
- new set of 19" staggered rims
- miscellaneous LED bulbs
- new steering wheel
- Fresh coat of paint x 10000000000.....!!!!!!.

Otherwise, Im pretty happy with the mod decisions Ive made to date. I love my car, and my mod choices have been pretty practical to date.

 

this is one interesting thread, i think we have similar threads before, but this is good contrast

mods i do again
- ap racing (real braking is necessary for this car)
- jp taillights (looks so damn good)
- jp grille (hate the stock grille, and this is the only one i like)
- apexi (best looking and souding exhaust out there imho)
- trafficstars wheels (best bargain on wheels i have ever had)

mods i won't do:
- tein ha and flex (what a pain on my back)
- suspension braces (marginal gain, but effective 10% of my driving)

 

I guess it's my turn. I have a GS300 so keep the difference in mind.

Would do again:
$1000 Tein Flex Coilovers- I bought used from LEXSOOS. Only had 5k miles or so, great condition. Hands down the best thing on my car right now. I keep up or even overtake pretty much any BMW thru the twisties.

$600-800 HID lightingt- This is a MUST for any luxury car in the modern day. When i see someone in a E90 5-Series with halogens....I just give them the "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???" look . Personally I custom fabricated HID bi-xenon projectors into my headlight housing. Not only is it needed for a classy car, it also helps BIG time when driving at night. Makes it much safer for you

I also have HID foglights that I bought from a friend for $50. This is more of a cosmetic thing than anything else though. Anyways, they look great

$100-120 Stainless Steel Brake lines. I have the goodridge brand. This makes such a BIG difference in brake feel. It also reduces the amount you have to press the pedal to get the car to stop. Right now, I just tap the pedal and my head lunges foward . Personally I love responsive brakes, I don't know about the rest of you guys. Whenever I drive anyone elses car now, the brake pedal feels like I'm stepping into a puddle of mud.

$400-500 SupraTT Brakes- I got these used from someone on this forum for pretty cheap. I haven't installed them yet because I'm still waiting on my new set of rims to come in that will clear the calipers. From what I can see though, this thing is a monster. At least 2x the size of the stock lexus brakes. So this should be a good sign for me

$350 L-Tuned Mufflets- I got these used from someone on ebay. They sound great and installation was a simple bolt on. Took about 10-15minutes. This gives the car a much meaner exhaust note. Comparable to the VQ35 exhaust note....aka G35's, 350Z.

Things I would not do:

Hmm, well I do a ton of research in to the stuff I buy for my car before I dump the cash down on it. Anyways I have a few small quibbles.

$150-200 Short Ram Intake- Personally I have the AEM intake which cost me $160. I feel that it dropped my bottom end torque pretty bad. It made up for it in the top end though. It got so bad that I couldn't even spin the tires off a launch anymore. Also, breaking traction to do some doughnuts was pretty much impossible. Needless to say, i put my stock intake back on and the bottom end is back.

$3-5 Cheap LED lights- I got some cheap quality LED's for my sidemarkers and some exterior lighting. Horrible quality. 4 out of 6 quit working after a month! I recommend you to buy some quality units to prevent this situation. The money of the LED's is not what bugs me. It's changing them out. Serious PITA!

Future Mods:
Boost in the summer. Should wake up the 2JZ a little bit

CarPC into my car. Why spend $1500 on a standalone Alpine or Pioneer headunit when you can build your own for less. In this case a computer is 20x more versatile than any standalone headunit will ever be. Plus did I mention it costs 1/2 of a good standalone?

Put a system in the trunk. I need some boom to be able to take the car to a car show

Vertex body kit. Ditto to the car show thing.

 

I have tried to think of all my mods before I actually do them so I do it to my liking. With that said:



L-Tuned body kit (Sewell Special) Great deal and still stock-ish that flows great.

Tanabe exhaust (red special) Good deal and great sound

Tein CS coilovers (Carson) Great switch from the L-Tuned springs before.

Supra TT brakes (classifieds) Good deal, good stopping

Rotora slotted rotors w/ lines (Rotora) Great deal and look great too.

AbFlug lip (Dee) I know of one person that has this in CF besides me. I think 2-3 are in the US in FG.

01 Tails (glen special) Good deal and upgrade.

Premeire Mobile Clear Bra - protect your GS!


Maybe change:

iForged wheels aero - only reason I say this is that I would probably have gotten the brushed instead on the hi polished. If I was to buy wheels right now, I would probably go for some Trafficstars, Works, or Volks.

Waiting install:

SRT intake (red special) We will see on this one.


Wouldnt do again:

L-Tuned suspension (Sewell) Didnt lower it that much and was just ok. Everytime I looked at it I got mad at the height and thinking that I "should have just went coilovers!"

 

I agree with blacksc400 about the SRT Intake. I'd do it again and I like the sound it produces, makes my V8 sound like a V8 should.

 

I agree the SRT is way to loud for me too, thats why I sold it

 

I think my style have changed through the years, so I can't say if I would do a certain mods differently. What I like now might not be what I use to like or what I am going to like in the future.

I like "pushing the envelope" everytime I do something else, it makes for something unique.

 

What I would do again:

-Torquemaster plugs: Only about $20 more than the Denso irdiums. So far no problem
-Polarg M4 lights for parking light. The stock color defines ugly. Doesn't look good next to HID
-TSX projector retrofit: I love the cutoff of the projector. Though I put one too many washers so my output hinders a bit.

What I WONT do again:

-TRD rear sway bar: Not bad, but the bar feels weak. No problem though because I'm getting custom ones made

Future:

- Finish up my audio system
- maybe get front strut bar

 

Good thread...

Mods I'd definitely do again:

-Clear foglights (I love clear...thanks for the swap, PandaGS)

-PIAA Super Plasma GTX for the clear fogs (looks good to me, nice and bright, and they have a tiny hint of red in them which looks cool since my car is dark cherry...the overriding color is bright white with a hint of blue which match the HIDs...again, thanks Panda for the tip)

-Clear sidemarkers with LEDs (looks great at night, cheap lights though, you get what you pay for)

-JP Tails with LEDs (love the clear signals and backup lights, my turn signals look great at night)

-Chrome rings (a CL favorite ...but I like them on my car, since my car is...

-...debadged, only leaving the center Lexus emblem (I've always loved the debadged look in the rear on most cars, including the GS...I'd remove the Lexus emblem too, but when I did, the rear looked too plain, so I put it back on and added the infamous chrome rings)

-19" Sterns w/fat setup (love the meaty tire, because I sometimes crash into some killer potholes, need the protection...and I like the Stern rims, they have nice lips, they're clean, understated, and they match my car well, and I got a great deal on them off the internet [$985 shipped with hubcentric rings] which left me plenty of money for other mods...would buy again for my first set of rims, but my next set will be something a little more aggressive, and unfortunately wayyyyy more expensive)

-Goodyear Eagle GS-D3s for the 19" Sterns...very happy with these tires: nice protective strong sidewall, excellent in the rain, really keeps the car in check even on slippery services when I'm hustling around a turn...and decent wear, even with my occasional burnout...they slide a little early in the dry, but it's a progressive, catchable, 4-wheel drift slide (no surprises) so it's easy to control with the throttle...I'm quite impressed with Goodyear's high-performance, all-season tire

-Daizen Sways (controlled the body sway and body roll pretty nicely, can really hustle around turns)

-Daizen Bushings (for sure I'd buy these again, steering was much more precise after the install, able to really place the car in a turn now)

-Chrome tips for exhaust (just looks better than stock, but now ready for the Tanabe Medallion Touring exhaust...but it's on backorder )

-SRT Intake (at first, it was too loud...Mo built me a silencer box that quieted it 25-30% at part throttle, and since then, I like it alot, especially at WOT...a real attention getter...plus better highway throttle response )

-Torque Converter (oh yeah, baby...'cause there's nothing like a good burnout...this is my first V8, so I am enjoying it match all that tire smoke with that SRT Intake roar and it's an adrenaline rush for sure)

-relit the whole interior of the car with brighter Polargs and some LEDs...makes the interior look 3 times better with bright clear light (thanks Dave and Rom for all the advice)

-installed bright-white LEDs in the rear trunk bar license plate light (makes the car look crisper at night in the rear, subtle but noticeable)

-upgraded the bass in the car by adding a single 12" sub in a ported box with an amp to the existing system...gives me some nice lower end bass (but now I want two 12s, as I want even MORE bass now, but don't want any of the associated rattle...hmmmmm)

-added tweeters to the rear deck because I wanted more highs from the rear...it sounds much better to my ears to have highs pushing in from the rear as well

-took off the faded 35% tint, and installed 20% tint...looks better now, especially with my tan interior

-MaxiView blindspot mirrors...saves me from having to look over my shoulder when switching lanes, really shows the blindspot well, highly recommended http://www.maxiviewmirrors.com/

-2 small Lexus emblems to go around the empty rear section of the rear window (looks good to me)

-TTE Lip (love it, completes the front)

-LTunedSides (love the clean lines of these)

-LSportline Rear (matches the TTE lip and LTuned sides very well, love the complete look of this familiar CL kit...it's the perfect kit for me, the EXACT look I was going for)

-Verizon hardwired handsfree kit for my cellphone (hate having to use one hand while driving to hold the phone, and not fond of headsets)

-chrome/painted license plates for my personalized tags (love them, completes the front and rear for me)


Mods that I'd maybe do again:

-RMM Grill...love the look, but the fit is terrible...don't know if I'd order it again

-Tein CS w/EDFC...sometimes not as stiff as I want, but the ride is nice...I still crash into bumps at times, probably a mixture of the sways, and 19" rims...also finding replacement single shocks is a pain, so if just one blows, you're screwed..EDFC is nice though, cockpit control is deluxe, but not a major difference between softest and stiffest settings...maybe some other manufacturer's coilovers would be better suited for me, though I guess I'd lose the cockpit control

Mods that I'd never do again:

Due to being a CL member before I even purchased my car, I have NO MODS that I wouldn't do again. The expert advice in CL has prevented me from retracting any of my mods. Yes, there are two mods that I'd probably think harder about next time, but, honestly, today, I'd do both again even with their shortcomings (the Tein CS and the RMM Grill). For me, their pros out way their cons.


Things to do:

-Tanabe MT exhaust (late summer?)

-upgraded brakes as soon as these current rotors get worn out, which will be soon

-aftermarket headunit with Navi (whenever, no hurry)

 

whoa thats a lot of mods kevinGS!

 

And 80% of those mods were done within the first 4 months I bought the car. Damn this place!!!!!!!!

 

I dont regret any of my mods. I also did alot of homework on here so I have yet to make a bad choice.

 

My black pearl emblems came from ebay but were genuine Toyota parts. Not the cheapest set I found on ebay but over six months later, they still look great. I think the key is to get the genuine OEM part.