The previous owner of my 2001 LS430 beat the crud out of this piece. Can it be replaced without too much of an investment? When I bought the car I overlooked it. It has bugged me ever since. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Almost any piece of something can be replaced on a car, just a matter of how much and how difficult. I'm not 100% sure, but I think that the cover is called the center bezel and you can get w/ or w/o Navigation, in your case w/ navigation. I believe that part is close to $400, factory price.

Given the location of the piece, and how the dash is, I would hope that you don't have to remove the whole dash top to get to any screws on the piece, or it's a big job. If not, I think it's just some pop-rivets that would hold the plastic piece in, so the mechanic would just pry the piece open gently, or use some sort of grappling tool to hook through the back, then extract. If so, shouldn't be too much labor to replace. $500-600 perhaps???? still mucho money for replacing a piece of plastic.

 

You can always dismount the bezel yourself and paint it. Others have done it here and word is that it comes out pretty nice. Or take it to a pro to have them do it.

 

its just plastic, hopefully a dealer would be able to sell you one or go the easy route and just repaint it.

 

i need one too, i don't want to paint them. i done it to my previous car and i want to leave this one stock.

 

If it's that easy, just yanking out, then:

1. repaint it
2. get the piece for "junk yard"
3. buy from any online OEM store (i.e. irontoad.com, actual dealer)
4. buy from dealer and install yourself
5. have the "pro" do it

Seems you have several choices, but now what's the cost? New part is $400. Here is link:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...layCatalogid=0

you'll need part #17 with navigation

 

Just follow my guide to remove the center dash. The 01 is very similar, I believe one of the location of the screw is different that is all.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=288777

I would go the route of painting it first as currently, its painted plastic so try to get a matching paint color. If it looks ugly, then get a replacement. Its worth a try and could potentially save alot of $$ for other mods. I would suggest if you are taking the dash apart, might as well install a lockpick or a Vaistech module to save labor when you do want to install it later.

 

Great information. Thank you all for your help. Right now it is difficult to justify a $400 piece of scratched plastic. I need to see if there are correct paint colors to match my interior. Thanks again!

 

With any "touch up" paint, even if you apply it correctly (in thin layers, not one big glob) there are always variances in color or tone. Plus, with reflection of light, you'll always gets an uneven look. If that doesn't bother you and all you want is to have the color back, then touching up should be fine. Hope all works out and post some before and after pics. so others with same problem can get an idea of how well it works.