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Finally got a 430...and it IS actually a "widow held onto it" beauty. Low miles.
After endless "best car ever" YouTube videos, I'd been looking for a 430 as a comfortable daily commuter to join my classic SC400 that's mostly a weekend car. After some questionable "as is" sorts out there and many-owners cars I bypassed, I finally found a holy grail, a low mileage one-owner no-accidents that was kept garaged and maintained, but rarely used by a widow after the owner died.
How do I know it's not a used car story? Because I was able to review and hold the original titles and a notarized copy of the original owner's death certificate with paperwork that transferred ownership to her, along with all the service records at a Lexus dealership. It was also sold to the people I bought it from, it's not an auction car.
It's 2004, silver and grey interior with dark red wood, no problematic nav, no expensive air suspension, but does have parking assist, rear sunshade, heated and cooled seats, everything else I wanted for reliability. I also love that the grey leather looks contemporary. And it only had...91,000 miles. For a cost of $8000 cash.
The only things wrong with it were it needed new shocks, which I had done with Spectrum OEs, and a new AFS sensor, the bracket had broken. I did that myself. I flushed and changed all the fluids, and changed out the PCV valve. Nothing big to sort it out.
No rust anywhere. Pristine, one tiny door ding on the passenger side and one 1/4" bumper scuff. I don't think the passenger and rear seats were ever sat in. The driver seat was conditioned properly, no wear to the leather. Finish is coming off the wheels a bit, but I can get a new set.
A Lexus dealership and an indie shop (Jeff's Lex-Toy in Londonderry, NH, highly recommended) have looked it over and found nothing else wrong. It's now my daily driver, and is a nuclear hovercraft. So smooth and silent, amazing acceleration on the highway. I'll probably put in a strut tower bar to tighten it up a bit in corners, not that I can find a Tom's Racing anywhere for it.
These are not stock photos, these are the real interior of the car. It looks like it just left the dealership.
Why cheap for a low-mileage LS430 with no issues? Small, family dealer and service center (important, people won't take their cars for service to a place that is a used car ripoff) that had quality cars, but was in a mostly blue collar northeast town. A RWD luxury boat is not the sort of thing that moves, so I was able to bring it down quite a bit. If you're still looking, they're out there!
I love driving this thing, and hope to have it for many, many years.
I have the Ash leather and I love it. Skip the Tom's bar and go for an Ultra Racing, off eBay. I'd say skip the strut bar all together and go with the UR rear sway bar as many of us had.
Thankfully without nav, you can really upgrade the stereo for modern functionality. I used the Beat Sonic kit and am running a double DIN Pioneer unit and just upgraded all the speakers... sounds so much better. Search and you'll find plenty of information.
The biggest thing is the timing belt and water pump... have they been completed yet? If not, that should be your first course of action.
The Ultras are good to go, then? The "ships from Malaysia" gave me pause on those, but the price was right. And I will look into the rear bar, thanks for the advice!
Oh yes, the stereo is a spring project. I'd found a BeatSonic wood trim cheap, but it's too light a color, so I'll be selling that and probably just getting the black. My 23 year old SC400 has a Kenwood CarPlay screen with a phone mic above the visor, so will definitely be upgrading this to some decent double-DIN setup. I know how expensive the original nav can be to fix on these, plus it's just outdated.
Timing belt and water pump done, yes! Apparently at the 90K mark. Thing was taken care of.
Originally Posted by Romanova
I have the Ash leather and I love it. Skip the Tom's bar and go for an Ultra Racing, off eBay. I'd say skip the strut bar all together and go with the UR rear sway bar as many of us had.
Thankfully without nav, you can really upgrade the stereo for modern functionality. I used the Beat Sonic kit and am running a double DIN Pioneer unit and just upgraded all the speakers... sounds so much better. Search and you'll find plenty of information.
The biggest thing is the timing belt and water pump... have they been completed yet? If not, that should be your first course of action.
You want the Beat Sonic kit in gray, it is a PERFECT match and OEM quality in its fit and finish. Well worth the price, make sure you order from BS directly and not CarID or any other vendor.
I have the UR bar, read more about my ordering experience here; https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-sway-bar.html It makes a nice difference, though a lot of it will depend on the quality of your tires and how you drive the vehicle.
You going to tint the car? Would look great with some tint IMO...
Agree with Romanova skip the strut tower brace it wont do much for the 430's double wishbone suspension. I would look at the tires first and foremost.
The car may or may not need new tires but if the existing rubber leans more toward comfortable ride than responsive handling any sway bar upgrades will be a waste of time as well.
Okay, that surround looks NICE, Romanova. Yeah, I'll be ordering that.
Will definitely read that other thread as well, thanks again!
How I drive, well...let's just say if it's a learning ECU, the throttle response is definitely out of grandpa mode now, and I've been using the manual shift for probably the first time in the vehicle's life. I've been actually surprised at how it moves on a high speed highway merge for a big car.
I do like to keep it somewhat tight in corners, the SC is glued to the ground. I know this isn't a coupe, but if I can deal with body roll a bit, all the better.
Tint...NH law sucks, unfortunately. No tinting on the driver and passenger side front windows, only the rear windows, and no less than 35% light visibility. No limo tint. Some lawmaker made a fuss about cops needing to see the driver or something. Otherwise, I'd love to get it tinted, it would look great.
@bradland, it doesn't need them yet, but the wheels are a bit rough, so I'd be looking for something new that will fit those big front brake calipers, I know about that. Refurb Lexus wheels aren't outrageous, they're currently 17s, not sure about changing size.
Also undecided on tires. From Toyo, I see, I can put Proxes 4 Plus, Extensa HP II or Versado Noirs on it. I love Toyo's performance on other vehicles, I have T1Rs on a sleeper Honda, and they're the best tires I've ever had. I had Proxes 4s on it and the treadlife was atrocious, they wore down ridiculously fast. I do want handling, but also don't want to make it noisy for long highway cruises. So...still shopping around and doing research.
Its a nice touch to swap all the interior lights and under-mirrors with LED's. Grab a nylon tool set - I use mine all the time.
Its still an old car so small things will pop up - I just gave my rearview mirror switch a quick cleaning, hood and shock struts etc. Lol air up the spare tire.
One more mention. If the car is an 04 NON Mark Levinson, you need the Beatsonic adapter to make the new head unit work. That single year is missing some brains in the harness and BS was nice enough to reverse engineer an adapter for about $200. So keep that in mind.
Its a nice touch to swap all the interior lights and under-mirrors with LED's. Grab a nylon tool set - I use mine all the time.
Its still an old car so small things will pop up - I just gave my rearview mirror switch a quick cleaning, hood and shock struts etc. Lol air up the spare tire.
Great find though!!!! Rack up those miles
Also done, the LEDs. That was also the first thing I'd done with my SC400, too. The only ones I've not swapped are the rear personal lights, as I love the dimmer "reveal" when a passenger opens the door. Every LED I've found flickers a bit on the ramp-up on those.
And, uh, yeah, the hood struts, you're right about those. I just got StrongArms for it, as it started to descend when I was changing the PCV valve, and I like keeping my head where it is. Trunk struts seem fine, those open more, I've heard Figs are decent if those start having problems?
Sure doesn't feel like an old car, that's for sure! It also looked like the queen of the royal ball in a Lexus service bay next to a bunch of RX SUVs.
One more mention. If the car is an 04 NON Mark Levinson, you need the Beatsonic adapter to make the new head unit work. That single year is missing some brains in the harness and BS was nice enough to reverse engineer an adapter for about $200. So keep that in mind.
Good to know, I hadn't ordered yet, and will be sure to snag the right one. Thanks!
You want the Beat Sonic kit in gray, it is a PERFECT match and OEM quality in its fit and finish. Well worth the price, make sure you order from BS directly and not CarID or any other vendor.
I have the UR bar, read more about my ordering experience here; https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-sway-bar.html It makes a nice difference, though a lot of it will depend on the quality of your tires and how you drive the vehicle.
You going to tint the car? Would look great with some tint IMO...
I recommend this kit as well, lets you update the car with modern tech. For tires definately go with the MXM4s. I had them originally on the car when I bought and they were soo quiet. I replaced them last month with P7's and I hated them, swapped for the new Primacys and it rode like it used to.
11-17-18, 08:31 AM
Finally got a 430...and it IS actually a "widow held onto it" beauty. Low miles.
I've been actually surprised at how it moves on a high speed highway merge for a big car.
Trunk struts seem fine, those open more, I've heard Figs are decent if those start having problems?
