I crashed my red/black 2002 after 70,000 miles in May. Rolled over twice, ended in a ditch, top was up so I was lucky, broke a rib, lots of cuts and briuses. Surely if the top had been down I would have been decapitated. Have now bought a black/ivory 2005, 35,000 miles. Can the experts on thsi forum say how the newer model differs? So far I have noticed a slightly different navigation system, and it rides better on its runflats than the 2002 did. I later fitted the 2002 with Michelin Pilot Sports, but the 2005 factory runflats seem to be just about as good. Any information would be much appreciated.

 

Hello and welcome to CL! I am sorry to hear about your accident and the important thing is that you could have looked like the car. Glad you were "lucky" even though it sounds like you were banged up pretty good too.

You've had two of the best colors in the SC! Congrats on your new purchase. Be sure to vote for your favorite color combination in the SC on our Poll going on now.

Ironically you and I must be cousins some way! I had a red 02 and now have a black 05! I had a red/ecru 2002 for a few years and last summer got a crazy offer for it I couldn't refuse (it only had 29k miles) and sold it. I couldn't live without an SC and bought my current 2005 "Ebony" Pebble Beach (red interior)

The changes (officially) are as follows:

Run Flats (optional) are all season
Lexus offered it's second Pebble Beach Edition (2004) in Black/Red in limited numbers
Suspension slightly different-revised shock absorbers
Navigation system changed in 2005-more details, larger DVD database
Bluetooth (my favorite new feature on the SC for the year)
No more Lexus Link Assistance that was previously available

Unofficially, one of the biggest things you'll notice searching for cars between a 2002 and a 2005 is the wheels. Center cap stars widely available at dealers during launch...MOST 2005's were fitted with the stars in lieu of the "dinner plate" style wheels, although some dinner plates were still available. I'm not sure the exact time these caps were available, but I know that I started seeing them in late 2003, then 2004 and very popular in 2005 to where the dinner plates were almost extinct. They were not different wheels, just had different caps. They are call "twisted" caps. If you have dinner plates on your new baby and you want to change the look, I'd highly recommend these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS...item20b1c70e52

Hope this helps. Welcome again...and please post some pics of your new car. Any modifications you plan on doing? Wheels, iPod, 2006+ rear tail lights are some of the more popular first modifications. Also navigation disc update.

 

Any body have any pics of the chrome star caps instead of the pie plates? Those look interesting.

 

LOl...thousands of pics are out there...search is your friend!

This particular wheel is from my 2005 Pebble Beach. I chose to illustrate the contrast in the parts. Notice the wheel itself started with a chrome version of the 2002-2005 wheel at the factory, then instead of putting the "dinner plate" style cover in the center, they put a graphite colored twist star instead. All other SC's either have a all-alloy silver colored wheel + cap or all chrome was optional upgrade. This wheel came like this from the factory for the PB and is the only one like this.

Next an all-chrome on this red SC. Nice! Lastly of the 2002-2005 styles is an all-alloy wheel on the black sc.

Note: The "dinner plates" are more polished than the outer part of the rim and give a slightly more shine than the regular alloy twist stars once they are installed. So, if you are looking to improve your dinner plates, the most bling would be to either buy chrome twists and mix the colors or swap out the wheels for chrome upgrades, or a different lexus OEM chrome wheel. If you just hate the dinner plates and want the twists, understand they will not be as shiny. Some folks have bought the chrome twists and installed on the alloy wheels and like the look (do a search, someone posted the look).

The 2006+ had a more straight star than a twisted. It's a completely different wheel in fact. See last two pics. Two different "shades" in that too. Chrome optional upgrade or the graphite/silver was standard. Really nice...but all chrome is my fav!

First pic the white SC with chrome...appears to be "all chrome" but lots of people just added the chrome stars center caps to allow wheels on this particular wheel since the outer part of the wheel is a little more shiny than the 2002-2005 and looks better that way. Last pic is the standard 2006+ wheel which has a slightly more graphite polished center star cap than the 2005's which makes a nicer looking wheel IMO. Again, the center caps can be switched out. I have seen lots of local 2006+ cars with alloy wheels and the center caps. Looks nice! Once again, it's a different wheel altogether from the 2002-2005 so don't try to mix-match the caps with different wheels!

Hope this helps.

 

scdroptop, thanks for all the detailed info and the photos. It's late niight now, but tomorrow AM will compare my wheels to the photos and see which ones I have. Meanwhile, let me amend my descriptiion of my 2005, the official color is amethyst, not black. In bright sunlight it is a very dark purple, almost black, with sparkles. Rather than explain what amethyst is, I generally describe it as black for shorthand, but to a true SC430 enthusast I guess that is a bit of a lie ..... Very attractive whatever you call it.

By the way I have all the instruction books, etc., salvaged from the wrecked 2002 amd will send them to anyone who can use them.

 

Turns out I have the dinner plates, although they are more like platters. They are certainly not as attractive, IMO, as some of the photos shown. But the rest of the car is so spectacular, especially in the sunlight, that I am not sure it is worth changing them. I would consider different wheels if I could secure a significant reduction in unsprung weight. Keep the same tire size though.

 

Well, good news about the Twilight Amethyst Pearl color-very nice and rare too! Love the color!!! Some people even call it purple, burgandy, etc. Do a search on autotrader you will see all kinds of names for it! LOL

OK, dinner plates are easy to update with the center caps...you could go chrome and have a nice two tone wheel with these for about $100 shipped from eBay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS...Q5fAccessories

Or, just order the silver ones from Sewell:

http://lexus.sewellparts.com/accesso...-2002-564.html

they are quite pricey from Sewell...$161 each for just silver but you can get all four chrome on eBay for much less. I think the chrome would look nice on your car!!!

Park Place has them for $130 each in the silver:

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...ke=20&model=SC 430&year=2003&graphicID=8935215&callout=6&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0

You may check the forum classifieds as well and regularly check eBay for the silver ones if you choose to update them. Very easy mod!

Good luck, and don't forget to post some pics of your TAP SC!

 

DS...to CL members its just $122...need to make sure you've created an online account with us and be logged in to view preferred CL pricing.

Darrel