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Suspension is nice. Not as nice as my mom's (I put Bilstein 5100's on her front). Tires seemingly feel like marshmallows and don't stop as well. Get what you pay for I guess. Should have gone higher end on tires but the suspension is fine. It is obviously higher. I have a de facto road course on the way home every day (hairpin turn, increasing radius turn, decreasing radius steep uphill curve, after a long series of sweeping turns). It handles fine.
Mileage 279k kms. Replaced drivers side f.axle cv boots with oem.
Sawed out rear stock shocks and replaced with Bilstein 5100s.
‘Creatively replaced backup camera using old housing and new “guts”.
Replaced rear washer hose from rear AC Evap area to nozzle hose fitting in the rear door.
Re-attached muffler heat shield.
Replaced all oils and did drive-line lube service.
Ready for towing season!
I’m no fan a chrome, let alone chrome plated plastic. That being said, I decided to change the look of my GX by covering up the OEM Chrome. Here are a couple of pics to get the visual.
This is pre buff... I removed the badges when I first purchased the GX. Getting rid of the Lexus badge was my intent ( not a fan of badges ), but the rear emblem is sunk in with 2 holes, so I chose to replace it with a Black Pearl Emblem from a RX series. Not a direct replacement. Had to cut on pin off.
Pretty self explanatory, from chrome to body color.
Trying to show the rear and the wheel centers in same shot. The next to go is the window moldings.
I ordered the paint online, bought about everything else from local auto stores.
After a good day to cure, I wet sanded and then polished. Started with 800grit ( maybe a little too aggressive ) then jumped to 1000, 1500, 2000. After the 2000grit, I used cutting compound for removing 2-4K sandpaper, then a finishing glaze. I used a DA polisher, but could have used my hands on such a small piece. I”m no painter or body guy, so reasearching all of this and coming up with your own system is a great idea. I burned thru the clear and paint on the left edge while wet sanding, so yeah do not do what I did. Lol. I want to add that I used a Dremel with a sanding wheel to grind down the plastic that holds the emblems in the center caps. Looks like they melt the plastic pins from the emblem to hold them into the center caps. I used a acrylic glue to reinstall them.
All in all, I’m very happy with the results.
This is what it took to paint the chrome covered plastic on my GX. I had the 600 grit for sanding in between base coats. Did not need to do this. The 400grit is for scuffing the surface to get a good bond. I simply read the instructions on each can and did that.
While getting oil change at toyota dealer, i requested associate to balance and rotate the tires as i had my car riding rough and steering was wobbly. Soon tech found that passenger side Inner and outer tie rod ends were bad and they quoted me $800 for that. Went to the indy and he put it on a lift and told me its bad outer tie rod end and bad bearing. I got OE parts and got the job done and took for alignment. GX feels much better now and no wobble or steering wander.
But after alignment and balance it started going a little to left instead of straight, I took it back and they swapped the front tires (left to the right and right to left). After that its going more to the right just a little ... i guess it should go straight... $450 later still clueless....
This week I started to get the maintenance up tp date on my 2007. Just bought it with 158K on the clock.
New rear shocks
Differential fluids
TC Fluids
air filter
cabin filter
removed broken skid plate bolt and re tapped
changed oil to Mobil 1
adjusted parking brake
new rear height sensor linkage
greased driveshaft
lubricated spare tire cable
Tming belt
Water pump
tensioner
Roller
thermostat
new coolant
I’m almost ready to enjoy the new ride. It needs a thorough detailing.
New battery. I had planned on replacing it in February (I do a 3-year schedule on them) but it had other plans...
The water level in it was fine - I suspect the large number of harsh speedbumps I encounter in the new job (seriously people - are they all truly necessary??) broke some portion of the lead plates loose, where they fell to the bottom and shorted out one or more cells.
AutoZone wanted $159, plus taxes, environmental fees, city fees, and so on. But the local Lexus dealer got me one for $173 (which was about the same as AutoZone) but it has a five year84 month warranty instead of their three year warranty.
It's worth checking with your dealer on some stuff - they can be competitive for items like tires & batteries.
Now to reprogram the seat memory, the sunroof auto-close setting, the nav destinations, the radio presets, and so on..
New battery. I had planned on replacing it in February (I do a 3-year schedule on them) but it had other plans...
The water level in it was fine - I suspect the large number of harsh speedbumps I encounter in the new job (seriously people - are they all truly necessary??) broke some portion of the lead plates loose, where they fell to the bottom and shorted out one or more cells.
AutoZone wanted $159, plus taxes, environmental fees, city fees, and so on. But the local Lexus dealer got me one for $173 (which was about the same as AutoZone) but it has a five year warranty instead of their three year warranty.
It's worth checking with your dealer on some stuff - they can be competitive for items like tires & batteries.
Now to reprogram the seat memory, the sunroof auto-close setting, the nav destinations, the radio presets, and so on..
Chip H.
I find the dealer is almost always cheaper on spark plugs and oil filters.
141K and my Alternator decided it had had enough. I purchased one from EBay, 250amp. I read that they usually give out around my mileage, so I have been expecting it. Late last year I watched a YouTube video on the replacement and the fella suggested some extended reach ratching wrenches... I purchased those off the link he provided at that time. I have used those wrenches so many times since and now I actually used them for what I had originally purchased them for. Lol
Swapping out the Alt sucks, but not a big deal.
Cleaned inside and out. Rainxd the windows. Didn’t care much for the gold trim so I black plasti dipped all the gold trim emblems. Tried to find a muffler tip but no luck and got to find a way to fix my front trim where my running boards were replaced by previous owner. It’s driving me nuts
Originally Posted by JuLeX47
A very popular thread in all the forums I've been in. I'm surprised it's not in here yet. Well the title says it all.
Painted my front skid plate. Attachment 461754
05-01-18, 06:50 AM
