Hello - New Owner As Of Yesterday :)

[Essex chelle]

Hello I'm chelle and I have just become an sc430 owner 2002 Montrose blue with cream leather - didn't like the wheels so changed them straight away!! Traded in my beloved fiesta ST which I'd modified quite dramatically in the 15 months of ownership!! Was sad to see it go but well time for a bit of luxury, I'd like to say my mid life crisis is over but I'm already looking at mods including lowering!!!

So any tips? Anything I should look out for? My car has full lexus history with servicing carried out every 10k it looks like its been a motorway car has had lots of TLC. :)

[Stuart Aspey]

Hi Chelle, welcome to the site. I've got no advice for the sc, other than enjoy it. it's an amazing looking car. hope to see you at some of the meet ups!

[Essex chelle]

Hello thanks for the welcome, last year I attended all the ford shows with my car on the stands, which was a first for me and I made some great friends through local regular meets with the ST owners forums however STs are very common I have yet to see another SC on the road so can't imagine there's too many local meets for me to attend?

[Stuart Aspey]

Hehe, most of our meets appear to be for Lexus owners of all models, but i'm sure its a nice feeling knowing how few sc's there are on the road.

[IHgs300]

Hello and welcome Chelle, post some pics when you get chance. We like pics.

[RayKhan]

Welcome, nice colour combination you got.

What wheels did it have and what have you put on it.

[Essex chelle]

Hello it had the original wheels:

I went to a wheels specialist near to me who put various that would fit the car onto stands infront of the car for me to decide and after driving there thinking there's no way I'm going for black, I chose, yep you guessed it:

My OH has his own detailing business and today spent hours and hours cleaning him, yes it's a him and his name is chad - coz his numberplate spells it in a sort of way, however this is temp as my private plate is currently in process of transferring over :). My OH worked his magic and he is now gleaming and wheels have protection coat on them, also ordered new lexus mats from dealership and some clear plastic ones from Halfords to put down on weekends as the boy has footie :(

[Stuart Aspey]

Very nice pictures, thanks for showing it off to us. It does look good on the black rims.

[alphacat]

Like the car and the interior . I have a black and ivory 2005 (6) model but always liked the dark blue.

Not sure about the wheels. They look a bit ..... but certainly better than the original disc type dinner plates.

I will never know why they fitted them.

Enjoy it, I am sure you will there is no better way to travel on a summers day and it doesnt get much worse with the roof up either.

Then again if you liked a Ford St then you have come a long way.

[Essex chelle]

My ST wasn't standard I modified it dramatically, had an incident last night was out with the girls and pulled up at traffic lights two young blokes in an ST pulled alongside and were all over the car, smiling I was so tempted to do a take of that car commercial - bev kev one lol.

Anyway got a problem with the car I think, when driving about 50mph on straight road the car seems to drift all over the place, I've got out all the paperwork tht came with it and notice on last years MOT an advisory for front suspension ball joints having play in them!!!. Now the dealer we brought from put it through MOT last week before we picked it up and told us no advisory on the car!!! Can't look ourselves as MOT been sent off to the DVLA for plate change!!. Also the brakes seem very grindy, I'm gonna get car booked in for both to be inspected this week, oh and since I posted last we also needed a new Battery as the car died on us!!! Apparently on testing two of the cells were dead :(.

[Derek870]

Yuck the originals were rough! Looked like Halfords specials, love the rims, would look good on my new toy lol

[Essex chelle]

Thanks mate, yes I agree the originals are awful, personal choice but for me it was one agreement with the OH when we purchased it that they went and were replaced before we even got home that day lol.

[Essex chelle]

Well I've had the car for just over a week now and I love it - today was nice and sunny so couldn't resist my first topless drive - got a few strange looks coz its still cold but a lot of double head turns too - not seen another yet on the road too - cant wait for my private plate to be transferred now to finish it off. One question when driving with roof down and front windows up should the rear side windows come up too? Coz mine don't. I drive it in sport mode too as I find it handles the road around here much better I'm getting around 20mpg around town and my journeys are all less than 10 mins! Can't wait to take it out for a longer drive soon!!! It's booked in this Thursday for laser wheel alignment also to have rear brake pads inspected as I've nothing in he paperwork showing when they were last changed and I know there's a light that would show if they were low but you never know if its been disconnected at some point, had someone check the suspension ball joints and they are fine:).

[Paul_G]

Hi Chelle, no the side windows don't come up with the roof down. 20 MPG round town is about right, you can get around 30 on a long run....btw suspension on these beasts aint the best, not for our earlier cars anyway :(

[namnoc]

Did you notice another blue 430 behind you on Thursday???

[Paul_G]

No, where was this? Or were you talking to Chelle?

[Essex chelle]

Did you notice another blue 430 behind you on Thursday???

ha ha was it you? I wasn't driving my OH had just taken it for laser wheel alignment, he said you were behind him near on all the way to our house he pulled in to a turning thinking you wanted to stop for a chat about the car but you continued on lol.

[Essex chelle]

Well as I mentioned above had the wheel alignment done it took four hours and needed 10 adjustments apparently the back wheels were well out - got told to take it outta sport mode now too and will see better fuel consumption, is this true? What do the majority of you use? the suspension ball joints were checked and yes one is deffo gonna need replacing its booked in end of the month. I have one major gripe I'm not happy with and that's the way the car mists up all the time!!! I've tried numerous settings but my windscreen is a mare I end up opening my window!!! What is the auto setting all about? and I also realise I miss a hatchback for a rear wiper lol.

Other than that I'm in love with the car very very muchly :)

[Essex chelle]

Oh and forgot to say my numberplate is now through and on the car - went for range rover size back plate which fills the whole plate area - was advised this at the numberplate centre and I'm glad coz it looks very nice a bit bigger also had a slightly larger gap between the words MAX and the last four digits - should add MAX is both my OH and my sons name, we brought the plate when he was born and he will inherit on his 18th birthday! Everyone gets confused and thinks I'm Maxine though ha ha.

[namnoc]

Yep, it was me, I was on the way to a meeting so couldn't stop, but I guessed it looked like I was following :)

[Essex chelle]

We wondered if you had just picked the car up from quirks dealership on the a127 as they had one identical up for sale the last couple weeks.

[namnoc]

I bought it off them the week before but by chance then had to come back for work.

[Essex chelle]

Oh right so it was their one! that came on their website the day after we brought ours and would have snapped it up if we had known!!! Quirks have a very good reputation here, I test drove a silver one and a bmw from there the weekend before I brought mine, but made silly mistake in dilly dallying over laying a deposit and then went back few days later to find it sold!! Obviously was meant to be a Montrose blue owner lol :)

[Rory]

Welcome Chelle, what did u do with the original alloys? Been after a set for a while

[Paul_G]

In AUTO mode my screen clears really well, also if you turn on the rear/front heated screens you'll notice the fan speed increases and gives a better demist. Has your car been sitting a while and got a bit damp perhaps, this might mean a bit more moisture to get rid of in your first few weeks.? I don't use SPORT mode, plenty quick enough in standard. Agree a rear wipe would be good, but not sure how that would fold into the boot :)