Hey just got a heads up on the company that makes OEM HID ballasts and assemblies for lexus/toyota. So I am buying from them. About $160 a pair. Once installed and working I will let you guys know whats up.

how are they different then the aftermarket ones? do they mount differently, integrate into wiring differently, or is the quality just higher but same basic style?

I said I would post when I had them installed and working. This prevents allot of let down and risk of others buying at risk of my word. I would rather be the guinea pig. Even though I trust my friends recommendation quite 100%.

So youre buying from Denso? Theyre the only company that makes ballast for Lexus / Toyota. And just a FYI there are no OEM ballast that use 9006 plugs, so unless youre doing a retro (swapping projectors) or using rebased D2S ~ 9006 bulbs OEM ballast wont work w/ your OEM headlights.

Looking forward to your work and findings!

Cheers,
Kermee

Yeah hope they work.

My OEM battery (Panasonic) finally died today. Amazingly it lasted 8.5 years! Dropped a new one. Reset the windows and sunroof controls. Surprisely all the radio chanels retained. All good now!

^^^
mine is a blizzard pearl 2004 with the panasonic batter (original) still going strong...
i added water to top off the reservoir when i noticed the car had trouble starting...
great batteries...

besides that, i touchpainted some area of newly founded paint defects... love this truck

My afternoon consisted of having to replace rear calipers, pads, and rotors. My passenger side rear caliper had a decent size leak that I noticed yesterday afternoon. Not to mention the rotor was in terrible shape and the inside pad was nonexistent.

Ordered new calipers last night they came in this morning but before i picked them up I got a notice by the city that my vehicle was going to be towed by the end of the day because my leaked brake fluid was staining their concret. I mean I noticed last night, did my best to stop the leak, ordered the parts last night and today they noticed the leaking fluid and gave me a whopping six hours to do something about it.

In the end, had to drive the vehicle (wife had taken my car to work) to the store to pick up the calipers using the E Brake since I had little to no fluid left in my lines, luckily its a 2 mile drive. Got the parts and some fluid and went to work in the hot Texas afternoon. All this to avoid a forced tow by the city. I had planned on doing them this weekend when I do the front cv axles and lower ball joints. Gotta love city government sometimes. Not.

Overall the job was not very hard, I got lucky with the rotors slipping right off. Thought the rear passenger rotor was in bad shape little did i know exactly how bad it was.


Glad I caught all this before the wife was driving around with a car full of kids during rush hour.

They were going to tow you because your vehicle's brake fluid was "ruining" the concrete??!? Wow.

Remind me not to live where you do.

How does anyone let their rotor get that worn down??

Because there was absolutely no indication that there was an issue. I gave the wheels and brake system a once over at the last oil change (2k miles ago) and everything was fine. I had planned on doing pads in the rear in the next month or so, so I figured I'd give the brake system a good inspection then. Brakes worked like a charm until this week not to mention its the wife's vehicle and she is not as keen to things that don't feel right. The inside pad (where the actual caliper piston comes into contact) had come lose and fallen out due to a failure of the retaining clips and causing the piston to contact the rotor directly and she drove it like that for a week not noticing any change in her brakes, again not keen to these things. Not to mention it is all city stop and go traffic. When she finally did say something didnt feel right I drove it around and couldn't notice anything either except when braking while in reverse and the wheel turned. Then only when the caliper began leaking did i notice the rotor.

Thats how I "let the rotor get that worn down".

Today, getting CV boots replaced (Clear Choice), last week changed out a bulb for the passenger headlight (that's when I found out I needed hood shocks) and will buy a exhaust tip...

^^^ Sweet color

today i touched up a few rock chips and i am currently taking a lunch break during a total clay bar of the whole truck. wow my paint had some nasty stuff embedded in it. atmospheric stuff on the flat surfaces and road tar and junk down low and ALL OVER the back.

once i finish claying it is going to get a super heavy coat of wax before winter.