Lexus Ls460 Plastic Side Sill Covers

SH20 · October 13, 2015

As you LS460 owners probably already know the body side sills are plastic and merely cosmetic with no integral strength. They are held in place by clips and the kick plate trims. However the procedure and sequence to remove them (for repainting) eludes me. YouTube and Google produced zero advise so have any forum members had the need to remove them I wonder. if so could you let me know how to tackle this job. I also want them off to rectify the metal sill flanges at the front jacking points where careless technicians have misplaced the swing arms of two poster lifts and buckled the sill seams. I intend to fit jacking plates which I made for my last car a Jaguar XJ Sovereign, (See pic).

Anyway I hope someone out there might have removed the sill covers.

Cheers, Steve

runsgrateasanut · October 13, 2015

interesting - are they welded on?

Tulpen · October 13, 2015

I'm taking my 460 for its annual service in a couple of weeks. I use a Lexus garage and I'm quite friendly with the Service Manager. If you don't mind waiting, I'll ask him for the lowdown.

SH20 · October 13, 2015

Hi Stuart, the picture of the jacking plate as I said shows the plate on my Jaguar XJ Sovereign. In this application it is the second version of the original which I had on a 4.2 Jaguar XK. On the XJ I made a L shaped bracket and bolted the bracket to the sill. The round plate spins on and off by a threaded stud with a large stainless steel spring washer so there was no chance of it backing off. The two small holes in the round plate allow a special spanner I modified with corresponding studs which fit into the two holes in order to tighten the assembly. I wanted a very quick way of jacking my cars up at home with my trolley jack instead of having to crawl about and locate the sill flange. Moreover the Jaguar garage I used always new they had to use the four round plates for their two poster lift. They were idiot proof really for the technician to use and it guaranteed there would be no more crushed sills or damage to my plastic sill covers. So I will use these on the front jacking position and if I can will do the same at the rear jacking position, however I have seen the large hard rubber egg sized cones at the rear and I am assuming garages use these to raise the car at the rear as they are bolted to the floor pan. Unless these rubber cones are something else !!

Steve

SH20 · October 13, 2015

Hi Brian that would be really useful as the sill cover removal is on a long list and I've plenty to get on with. I've just been sent a service plan quote from the Lexus dealer I bought it from. A three year plan (3 annual services) can be had for £1286 after a 7.5% discount or £37 per month for 3 years. The car had a big 60K service, spark plugs etc prior to picking up the car so this service plan offer will cover the next intermediate service, the one after that being a bigger service schedule and then finally another intermediate service to end the plan. Seems like a reasonable deal to me.

Tulpen · October 13, 2015

Steve,

I live in Holland, so the service plans are a bit different. Here, Lexus are running an offer called the 'Red Carpet Treatment'. Providing that you have your servicing done at a Lexus dealer, they will collect your car - no matter where in Holland you live - leave a dealer car, then bring your car back when it is ready. They will, also, recover you from anywhere in Europe (including UK) if you have any problems. This deal is good for the first 10 years of the car's life. Do they do the same in the UK?

My car is just coming up to 90,000km, so I'll have the same service you did.

I've had the 460 for 3 years and I'm finding it just as reliable as the 400 I had for 15 years. Since the last service I have put in fuel and washer fluid - nothing else, and I check everything once a week. The Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) means I don't have to remove the valve caps and the pressure has remained constant all year. It just doesn't use oil.

The LS (all models) are wonderful machines.

SH20 · October 16, 2015

Great to hear your 460 is as reliable as your 400 Brian.

I've not heard of the red carpet treatment but I'm new to Lexus ownership but it sounds a "nice to have" facility. I'm losing pressure in my near side rear tyre (brand new) at the minute despite the Lexus dealer I bought it from fitting 3 new tyres as part of their pre sale work along with the 60K service and new front discs and pads. It's a little annoying that it is a new tyre and the loss of pressure is only 2psi over any two days. I'll sort it out and hope it's not the TPMS part that's casing the loss. I doubt it's corrosion on the inner rim as the wheel is fine.

Re Sill covers or rocker panels as Lexus call them. I sent an e mail to Lexus UK asking about technical info that is available for other manufacturers either as cd rom discs or through technical help lines direct with the manufacturer. They replied and said the detailed info is available but by subscription and sent me the link www.lexus-tech.eu. I registered and paid £3 for one hour's access. Didn't want to pay £2400 for a year's subscription !! As long as you type in your chassis number it brings the LS460 icon to click on. This then opens the entire repair/service menu for the 460 and I found the rocker (sill) procedure and the front and rear bumpers which I also want to remove for repainting. Great detail and was worth the £3 because the sill covers are complicated. Front bumper looks straight forward due to fewer fixings but the rear bumper looks involved due to the number of hidden grip type fixings. At least I have some idea now and will start with the front bumper first.

I'm sure this link is not new to experienced Lexus owners but it takes the guess work out of removing parts with hidden fixings. Perhaps Brian you could still come back to me after you speak with your dealer when you have your service. He might take a sharp intake of breath and say your don't want to go there !! ha ha.

SH20 · October 17, 2015

Progress made today having removed one of the sill covers for repainting. Not so difficult after accessing the on line tech support of Lexus by subscription. Shocked to discover at least 2 lbs of grit. dirt, general muck lodging inside the sills but I doubt if they have ever been off before in this 8 year old 460. Very well designed in the way they hang/fit into the steel inner sill, very accurate but simply use of push fit plastic fasteners made it easy to remove the large sill cover. I'll take the other one off tomorrow and then pass them to my favourite paint shop in Leeds. Much better to have them painted off the car than on the car.

Photos attached