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Just over a month ago I bought this 2003 GS430 Sport as a daily driver so I could keep the miles down on my other cars and also have a little bit of a project, It was my son that got me looking at Lexus as a comfortable V8 cruiser and the fact that he'll probably buy it off me in a year or so..... I was looking for a lower miler Mk2 GS Sport and wanted the much rarer 430 V8, this popped up and although I didnt like the look of it that previous owners had done, I could see through it all and many weeks of work have been completed to change it back to standard.... So here are 5 pics of when i bought it... Awful tints, wheels, smoked rear lights, non sport grill, no rear spoiler and a pair of drainpipe exhausts that droned And then 5 more pics with freshly sourced re meshed grill and spoiler newly painted, a new set of red rear fogs, new set of standard Sport refurbed alloys, The exhaust now mdified to not drone and smaller tail pipes, awful tints removed and the MOT must have been done by Stevie Wonder in January as many of the front suspension arms were beyond road legal so these have been replaced. It now looks and drives as it should, I've still to source the rear side window "Sport" stickers that I guess will be like rocking horse doodoo to find but it now is soooooo much better in every way....

Noticed a rattle at idle, soon discovered that the near side rear exhaust heat shield had let go of 3 of the 4 fastenings and it was now sitting on top of the back box. Eventually managed to release one of the support rubbers then dropped the bracket off to allow a bit more movement to get to the fixing bolts above the back box. A quick spray with WD40 ensured the 10mm nuts came off the studs without shearing. Fitted some oversized washers then back on with the nuts. Refitted the support bracket and rubber support and no more rattle. The other side was fixed the same way around 8 years ago so has done really well to last 26 years being only mild steel but bearing in mind the position above a nice warm exhaust not too surprised.

So this is our filter after 20,000 miles. It'll be getting changed every 10,000 going forward. Seems odd to me for such an inexpensive, critical item they would push it to 20,000 miles.... yet the cabin filter is every 10,000miles.

Your understanding is wrong Alan. You should have watched the Prime Minister make his statement. You can check out what he said on Google or Youtube or BBC i Player etc.instead of issuing incorrect statements on this Forum. I am not amused.

Nice RC!

I couldn't remember if I had posted any photos in this section, anyway just in case it's an age thing I'll post up some since the new wheels were fitted.

I have a CTEK, no problems at all. Every review I have ever read is full of praise, and even though it is more expensive it is deemed to be good value. I can only speak as I find 🤗

Thanks Mark, that is so helpful. I do not have a panel removal tool, but as I am self isolating at the moment this will give me something to do:)

Sorry, without going through your previous posts, have you removed and resealed the roof bars? Here's my watery adventure.

^^ Agree. There may be some exceptions but I'd always recommend going to a professional rather than letting the garage do it. A colleague has a new BMW which allegedly has a coating applied. It doesn't bead - at all! No doubt either nothing has been done, or it's been done very badly without correction beforehand too. He paid £450, and wants to know why my NX looks so different...which is simple,, it's because mine was done by a pro and fully corrected first. Gave it a Spring clean yesterday, and although I spent quite a while doing it, it was actually very easy to bring it up like new. I do look after my car though, no bomb-site hand washing cowboys allowed! https://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/topic/123081-nx-spring-clean/?tab=comments#comment-1120915

Many thanks for all the replies, I am certainly glad I asked the question! I had always thought that this was the case, but could find no written proof. It is surprising that the 450H Owners Manual does not refer to it. Thanks again.

I used a automotive locksmith to sort me out a key ...most towns have them . First I bought a genuine used Lexus key off eBay, took that to the locksmith, he cut a fresh key using my original as a template, then put the transponder internals from the eBay key into the newly cut key and programmed It and only cost me £80.

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather today, and the inability to go and do much else, I decided to give my NX a full Spring clean. The rain over previous weekends has meant little or no chance for any cleaning, so today was the first wash in five or six weeks. Living where I do in rural Wiltshire, rest assured it was on the 'bloody filthy' side of dirty! The car had a GTechniq ceramic coating applied professionally when new. Starting with a thorough snow foam using Bilt-Hamber Auto-Foam, the car was then decontaminated using CarPro TRIX , washed using Bilt-Hamber Auto-Wash, and dried. Wheels were cleaned using Bilt-Hamber Auto-Wheel. The glass was then sorted using Autoglym Glass polish, before going over the bodywork with Koch FSE to remove any remaining water marks. I chose to use a liquid wax that I haven't used for ages - Bilt-Hamber Hydra Wax. This is a carnauba based product that I've had good results with previously but for whatever reason it has sat neglected on the shelf for years. Anyway, it is easy to apply and remove - as with most products less is definitely more - and has given a nice result, albeit without the flake 'pop' that I get with c2v3. Moving onto the exterior plastics, these were treated with Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel (the same seemingly everlasting bottle I've been using for at least ten years!) before the Winter wheels were finished and treated with Bouncer's Looking Sharp wheel wax. Tyres were then dressed using Bouncer's Dress to Impress. Finally it was time to give the engine bay and door shuts a quick tidy up. although they weren't in bad shape considering. Anyway, that was my day - and very enjoyable it was too! 😁

Can't fault that regime you can be proud of the results ;love the colour Dave

I have not heard or read a bad review/comment Vlad. Go for it I say.

I think I may need another beer before I go over that again! Actually I like the idea of no money and everything being free, if that could work, I'll take that new LS500 please.

Stupid thought for the day - why can't we just GLOBALLY suspend the use of all money? We go to work so that we have money to spend on various things including our bills. That money goes to someone else so that they can repeat the process and pay their bills etc., etc., and on and on, ad infinitum, all the way up a huge chain. If I don't get any money I can't pay my bills, but that should work all the way up the chain too, so that the next in line can't pay his bills and so on, ad infinitum. If no one uses money, no one needs money and so no one owes anyone anything for a temporary period of time. We all have whatever we have and the world financially 'holds its breath' so to speak, for, say, 12 months, and then begins to breathe again and we all still have what we had before. After all, it's not like these businesses were failing due to a bad business model or bad management. Why should a virus put a good viable business to the wall? The vast majority of the global population will come out of this at the other side and will still want to travel; still want to go to the pub; still want to buy furniture and so on and so on. If there's a need for a business now there will still be a need for it after the crisis - only the banks and stock markets will make these businesses fail, not the virus. We're talking of governments borrowing hundreds of billions of Pounds/Dollars - surely it would be better to use no money rather than going into a century of debt? And just who is it that has all these eye-wateringly vast sums of money to lend to us anyway?

My rhubarb is also sprouting most handsomely.

Yes, my blueberries are well in bud!

Took the car to a friend who has his own diesel business and after a lot of cursing and slide hammer use the injector came out replaced the copper washer and car is great now.

well I don't know for some weird reason my rhubarb crowns have started, almost cropping these past few days ............ anyone else got some good news ? Malc

Never use a hybrid to start another car unless it's another hybrid. In a normal car the battery is only used to crank the engine. Once it fires and the alternator is spinning then its the alternator that supplies all the car's electrical demands and if there's enough 'spare' capacity it will also keep the battery charged. A starter motor in a conventional car will draw upwards of 300A when cranking the engine, which is why when jump starting a car you always get the engine of the donor car running first before attempting to start the recipient car; firstly to stop the donor battery from going flat and secondly, if the donor battery isn't quite up to the job, the recipient car will draw power from the donor alternator, not the battery. Hybrids don't have alternators; they charge the 12V battery from the 288V traction battery via a DC/DC converter that steps the high voltage down to around 14V. The DC/DC converters cannot supply anywhere near as much current as an alternator and if the recipient car tried to pull such current from it, there would probably be a big bang and all the magic smoke inside the converter that makes it work would escape and it would be a very expensive job to have some more magic smoke installed

I got a 5 watt solar panel and an obd plug and wired them together so the solar panel delivers 12v to the 12v battery. I use on both the Wife's and my car if we leave them for any length of time. I just prop the panel up on the dash and plug it into the obd socket.

if your sitting in the drivers seat , on the right hand side edge of the vanity mirror i used my panel removal tool to release the 2 lugs that hold the mirror frame in place , when you are releasing the clips apply a little pressure to the mirror pulling it away from the visor it will then unclip, then slide the mirror unit to the right to remove it. if i can find the pictures i took i will post them up for you

Not a big fan of Tom Jones but since he stopped dying his hair black and engaged with getting older his voice on the Leonard Cohen song is for a live performance pretty much up there with the best.

Writing from Lombardy, I say it has not to be underestimated. Even most of people will solve situation with light symptoms of usual influenza, the troubles are for feeble subjects that develop a viral lung infection that needs intensive care, and at the moment all intensive care beds are already occupied by people that let free them dying or after many days; so, soon people will not be cured: the logic of lockdown here is to slow down the contagion to have more time to free intensive care beds and save someone more, hoping that with summer temperatures virus will fade out (at least till coming of winter). A different approach from UK where government admitted the lack of IUs and the consequent dead of more feeble (mainly elders) who has the disgrace to fall ill and not able to get better by themselves. Estimated death rate is about 2% but it depends in every individual immunity system and there is no a real cure at the moment even if some antivirals or other drugs seem to be somewhat effective.

This is not the flu. It is more contageus with 1 person in average passing it to 3 others. Deathrate in Italian ICś at the moment is almost 9%... These are figures readily available on the internet. I am writing this in Holland and we are some 1.5 / 2 weeks behind italy. Overhere it is spreading at an alarming pace and lots of people now know someone with corona or from hearsay. Over 50% of the people on our IC departments is younger than 50 with a good healthy boy of 16 as youngest. we are some 1.5 weeks behind italy and i think the UK is some 1.5 weeks behind us. I am not optimistic.

From what I have heard by some 'experts' on radio 4, this is not the pandemic that will see us humans culled in any really larger numbers, but the irrational nature of human panic (as individuals and as a society) will create much more long term damage to local and global economy. I heard that last year 10million USA citizens caught flu, and 44,000 died. No one closed off the USA last year, but any of us UK citizens could have caught the flu and brought it home to see of any of my elderly or weak relatives. There is a book called 'The Great Mortality', which is based on fact, written by an academic, and presents the facts of bubonic plague and the transition to pnuemonic plague, and then the seperate plagues which have rattled around for many a century. It is not a dry academic book (by the way) In terms of optimism, there will be winners, there will be losers, and unfortunately some people will get to meet their maker earlier than expected (same as the flu epedmics we get from time to time), and in the meanwhile the level of world pollution has dropped because not so many Lexus drivers burning fuel or planes whizzing around the world. So for the moment the atmosphere is one possible winner. I work for a small Telecoms business, we are mad crazy at the mo with customers asking how we can help their staff work at home, but Ican see in about 3 or 4 weeks the bottom will fall out of new business as so many companies small and large will have other worries rather than buying better Internet connections or Telephone Systems. For sure glad I am not running my own training consultancy like I was 15 years ago, I would have been wiped out business wise. So anyone running their own company has my sympathy/thoughts/best wishes

Well, from another Malcolm... I am the CEO of a small group of companies and we have already approached our bank for support under the emergency cashflow funding package. They are treating these loans like normal business finance and demand all the director's financial details to support the loan. Not user friendly! Today may make things clearer as the Chancellor's statement later is supposed to be about how the money will be provided to workers. We will see. Reverse PAYE has be talked about.

We are at this time grasping out for some picture of what is to come with very little in the way of tools or weapons to combat the threat of this virus . The reaction to invisible threats is to run and hide and paint a picture of the worst possible scenario.,to that end the powers that be worldwide are taking unprecedented steps to contain the threat and create a stable society to regiment the fight to survive. Hopefully this will buy time until we find the weapons to eradicate this threat to our humanity, there will be all kinds of scenario's being painted and blame cast everywhere as to how the situation as come to this but there are signs already that this pandemic can be contained and eventually defeated . The present casualty lists for the countries infected are variable and erratic depending on what measures were taken at the start of the infection ,Italy being a prime example of too little too late and Singapore very precise and swift intervention the rest are scaled on response and location and the ability to cope. The original epicentre is now reporting no new cases and the rest of China likewise apart from imported ones but the signals coming from China support the case that this virus as a time span that can be tracked and hopefully that is the key to defeating it until a vaccine is developed. Yes there will be a sea change in Society but I think too the good and it will bring reality to the young that was brought to the young after the second world war and the fact in blazing letters that "Tomorrow is promised to no one".

interesting to hear an " expert " yesterday advising that whilst the anti viral jab is possibly a while away there are current drugs in process and available that will LIMIT the symptoms of sufferers and aid recovery that's probably the best we will get for now ..... that's pretty good I think The following is a bit of a rant and for this I apologise upfront, turn off now if you don't want to read it NOW as to businesses carrying on, well, my online travel business where I sell almost 100% flights hasn't sold anything for about 2 weeks or more The office support I have, sales, marketing and IT are in limbo ... the cleaner too I'm a member of the FSB and neither they nor my accountant are able to give me a single indication of when and how the Govt might be making these promised Grants available ............. the Govt hasn't told them ...... ok it's early days BUT cashflow is king in all businesses and quite frankly zero cash in and lots of cash out really isn't a good scenario ... especially when from times past I just do not believe the Govt is capable of actually getting those monies out to the businesses Words words words ............... reminds me of legally guaranteed Research and Development Grants about 14 years back, my then business ( green roof growing stuff ) paid out lots of dosh to Ove Arup for very very fine world class research and for me to be told by the Authorities to simply just " f..k off," they aren't paying it out in cash even though they were legally obliged to do so My belief in Authority actually doing what they promise wanes a little THE GOOD NEWS HOWEVER there will be lots of new jobs up and coming for the 1mn school leavers etc in the .............. CARE SECTOR ..... so don't despair, conventional business as we have known it might not survive BUT there will be jobs a plenty ..... just got to find someone to pay for them Malc

Nah it will be OK..... some of us will be f#'ked of course due to being in a car crashes or electrocuted, killed by bored relatives that don't like losing at monopoly or abducted by aliens as usual. Aids, Sars, chicken flu, mad cow disease or crazy Dave who lived round our way who used to steal kids so we were told didn't get us..... but nothing has had a massive impact on us really since the Spanish flu... and in those days being short because you didn't have enough to eat or kicking the bucket because you had TB or arsenic poisoning from green wallpaper that you just had to have in case the neighbours saw you had last years blue Wallpaper still up (what a fu#@king liberty). But its 2020 we are (for the most part) warm and dry in our homes with little or no damp causing respiratory problems, we all have enough food and maybe enough loo roll in the cupboard to see us through (there is always the SUN newspaper otherwise). Of course it could be the end of civilisation as we know it. But what is to be done anyway....... Its like standing in the sea watching a wave about to hit you you can panic or just watch it hit you either case there is no getting away from it... Distilled down to the very essence of the situation Chaps Stiff up lip and carry on. Either way its my Toyota Celsior and if i get the "Rona"..... i'm going to die in the car and instruct the wife to set it on fire ... I am going out like a viking

I’ve had various versions of the paint and trim treatments over the years. Autoglym LifeShine is the only one I’d pay for again, though Mercedes Supaguard was good too. You can usually get it for about half the usual asking price. We had my wife’s new SEAT Arona done for £199 last year. If I was buying new, as opposed to leasing again, I’d go to a specialist detailer for something, rather than let the apprentice mechanic do it in their lunch break!

It's been a few months of ownership now and I realise the lexus protection paint pack is not as I thought it would be. So off I went to my local detailer and after one week I have a full Ceramic coat and It looks awesome. Highly recommend. VID-20200111-WA0010.mp4

Couple of days ago I got a letter from Glasgow council regards my burst tyre running over pothole saying they will not reimburse it! F..ing bastards! But I will get in touch with them again! They say they check roads 12 times a year and when it was last checked the road was fine so Glasgow Council is not at fault, the letter says last time the road was checked on 22 of November and I hit that pothole on 18th of December, so they were not aware of that pothole but somehow on 20th of December the pothole was properly fixed that tells me they knew about it and planned to fix it, am I right to think that? Something doesn't up! Any advice? As I am rubbish in writing complain letters but in this case I think I am right! Thanks