whysub

I recently purchased a set of 5 LS430 wheels to go on my LS400 whilst I get the DHP wheels I have on it refurbished.

Had a look around google and found the actual process of refurbishment isn't the same. Found a lot of services (including mobile) simply move the tyre away from the outer rim, blast the wheel face and then prime and paint the face. Most charge around £50 per wheel (one or two much more expensive).

I then found a place that offers a drive in/drive out service (though you have to leave the car with them for a couple of days-they have secure storage). Tyres removed, wheels acid dipped to remove all paint and lacqeur, then kerbing repaired where necessary before being powder coated, then primed and resprayed. new valves are fitted, tyres refitted and wheels balanced. Been quoted £45 per wheel for this service-so much more that a repaint for the same money, so getting one set done next week.

Only thing is, do I refurb the 430 wheels (which have excellent tyres)or the DHP wheels (with poor tyres)? Both wheels suit the car but can't decide which ones to do and keep, and which set to sell!

Thanks mudguts for reviving a long forgottren thread-and how did it take you nearly 6 years to finally get an LS?

I hvae not owned that many cars (but loads of bikes) and had company cars for 10 years or so-usual rep mobiles so won't include those.

My list is

1963 Consul Cortina (in 1976)with all fur interior, RS ford alloys, slipping clutch.

Company cars then until 1986.

Mk1 Golf GTi (1976 model left hand drive 1600cc). Dissolved into a pile of iron oxide over the course of the 8 months I owned it. Fantastic fun though

1982 Volvo 244 DL. Dull, thirsty but 100% reliable

Fiesta Diesel van. Written off in accident after a year. Hatefully slow and smelly

Ford Escort 1600 cc Estate. 450,000 miles when sold. A dog

Ford Capri 1300cc Auto. Dreadful from it's hand brushed gloss white paintwork to the grease infused seats.

Vauxhall Cavalier SRi (1986 model) Brilliat car-thoroughly abused mechanically, and never a bit of trouble. Fast but not too comfortable.

Saab 9000 (Abbott Racing Conversion)-big turbo, staright through exhaust, circa 300 bhp at the wheels. Mental-smoked the (cheaper the better( tyres from low revs in third gear. Sold because too big for the new wife.

Clio diesel (x2). Wife broke the gear boxes of both.

Audi 80 Sport. Nice car-comfy and fairly fast, economical too.

Merc 190E (proper factory AMG model). Bought unseen on eBay with a crappy description. No other bidders. Thought IU was buying a cheap basic 190E to find it had full leather, air con, AMG body kit, wheels and AMG modded motor. The start of my love of auto boxes too.Nice to drive but such harsh suspension.

VW T4 van-turned from a rusty dented (but mechanically healthy) wreck to a nice looking day van. With the help of the T4Forum, eBay and scrap yards it now has a Subaru WRX interior, DVD players, motorcycle tie dowen bar, alloys, lowered suspension and two tone paint. Not going to sell this.

Jaguar X300. Utter rubbish. Nice ride but everything broke-seats, suspension, ignition, air con, leaky boot, cloudy headlights, oh the list goes on. And all in the space of two months too.

1995 LS400. Defginately the nicest car I have ever owned and not the most expensive. Apart from the Saab 900 and the LS, everything else above cost me less than £500 each, and all were sold or scrapped for roughly what I paid-depreciation freee motoring-aprt from the Jag-the repairs cost me more that the price of the car. There is no such thing as a cheap jag!!!

I have bought two cars in the past that were advertised as Cat C insurance losses, and I paid a lower price accordingly. Both were simply panel damaged, and both were repaired using panels obtained from scrap yards.

Nothing recorded on the log books when I changed V5 details to mine. Not sure if they were recorded on HPI but seeing as they were both cheap to buy I didn't bother. I sold them cheap too, advertising them as Cat C (although no idea if they were recorded as so).

I would never be put off by a car being Cat C or Cat D-I just hope others are so I can get a good car cheap.

There are some great repairers around-you just need to ask around.

Its wheeler dealers with Mike Brewer and Ed China. Love that program been watching it for years :)

I can't find that edition anywhere-I have watched it on youtube some time ago, but it doesn't appear on there now.

The LS400 featured in Series 4 Episodes 11 and 12 where Edd fitted HID lights, replaced the suspension arm bushes, fixed the stereo LCD (replaced the LCD panel), and repainted the bumper. They even sold it for a small (£192) profit.

My radio without the backlight, but working perfectly otherwise a mate (who loves playing about with electronics) said he would like to have a go repairing the backlights.

He fixed my TomTom Rider so ingeniously, but I'm sure the radio will be a challenge.

If he manages it, I'll put it up for sale on here. I spent ages looking everywhere for one before Dale_V sold me one on this very forum.

Well, that was so easy! Once the gear lever panel was out and the vents removed, it took literally 5 minutes to swap the radios over. The worst part was putting the first screwdriver between the leather and wood panel.

So now my radio has working backlights-funny how something so simple makes a car so much nicer to drive!

thanks for the advice-I'd never have worked it out without it.

Glad to see that you are going to repair it-doesn't look that bad IF (and that's a big IF) you can source used panels and bumpers. Looks like the Celsior on eBay will make a great donor car (actually it looks a decent enough runaround) especially if you can get it for the scrap value of it as the ad suggests.

And you should still have a few quid left over once the car is repaired to the standard you want for the odd tank of fuel.

Where abouts are you?

Jim

Essex, just outside Braintree

1)Using 2 flat screw drivers...........remove these and your done.

miq

Thanks Miq-sounds pretty much the same as the MkII in getting the trim off which is what I wanted to know.

I have managed to aquire a radio with working backlights (cheers Dale_V) but need to know how to remove all the trim in my 1996 car to swap them over. I've found loads of pictorials for the removal of the MkI and MkII sets. Is removal in the MkIII similr? I just dont want to break anything by not following the correct sequence, or putting the screwdriver in the wrong place.

Thanks.

If it was that close to me I'm afraid curiosity would get the better of me, and I'd have to go and have a look.

Can you imagine what the "custom interior" looks like? Acres of fur perhaps?

............the guy who did it noticed the brake pipe, starting at the rear as well as on the front. I think the previous owner must have a someone dodgy to give it an MOT, I mean it was frighteningly bad corrosion on those pipes.....

My '96 is immaculate underneath with no obvious corrosion. However last year the brake pipes had to ne renwed as they had corroded badly-no obvious holes but they were perforated like a teabag. Replaced the pipes with stainless now.

My steering wheel is unmarked after 230,000 miles. My car also has the DHP wheels, although it does not have the suspension to match. IMHO I think the DHP wheels are the nicest looking factory wheels you can get for the 400.

My 1995 LS has now done 226,000 miles and the steering wheel is unmarked, as are the seats. I have seem many other LS's with over 200K on them that are the same as mine.

I got a puncture on my Suzuki bike the other day-a 10mm hole punched cleanly right through the centre portion of the tread-too big to repair safely (in my eyes at least). I wondered what the really loud "bang" was!

So that was a new tyre, £10 wheel removal charge (1 nut to undo), and a few quid for balance, valve and tyre disposal, so total of £147 for a tyre that will last no more that 4,000 miles.

Got chatting to the fitter and he said that they no longer fit tyres they do not supply-the likes of Black Circles are doing the trade any favours, and the saving to the consumer he reckons isn't that much overall. From hearing about the bikes he owns, he was no minimum wage monkey!

There are quite a lot of used tyre places near me, and all gaunrentee what they fit as having no damage or defects.

God works in a mysterious way!

The bloke that "won" my car on eBay didn't show up, and rang to say it was because he couldn't get insurance (despite him assuring me that there was no problem with anything before I accepted his bid).

So I can keep my LS400 after all.

Maybe this and the brief and failed ownership of the LS430 is there to prove I have to keep this one.

Had to pick up my broken down Fireblade this morning and on the way home I dropped in on my mechanic mate to find the 430 on the lift partially stripped. Bad news as basically the air suspension is shot (maybe due to non-use?) and I saw there is lots of oil on the rear units and the front have signs of leaking at the top when the cover was removed. He said he checked the ride height when I took it in and found the rear offside unit was an inch lower than the left, and when pressing the ride height switch he thought the compressor was a bit on the noisy side. All four tyres are badly cracked and perished on the inner wall (not obvious from my initial check) so all need replacing. Likewise the front pads need replacing as near enough down to the limit. And a couple of interior bulbs are out and thats was all the bad news.

He hasn't done the MOT as it won't pass because of the tyres but mechanically he says she is perfect.

So I was faced with a dilemma-fix or not? I can hardly complain as I got the car very cheaply. We discussed the suspension options-the choices are either to replace like for like with original Lexus units or remove the whole air suspension system and fit normal shocks and springs, either Lexus or aftermarket coilovers. All options are going to be expensive, and not just the parts but labour costs too.

He really likes the car and said he has spent a few hours checking all the lexus forums with regard to the suspension issues. He has some ideas for the car and speculatively made me an offer for it as it is. I thought about it-figuring the costs of the suspension, 4 new tyres and paint repairs tyres means more outlay than I had wanted to invest, plus the time it will take to do, so I accepted his offer.

I've actually come out with a hefty profit as his offer was a fair bit more that I paid out-all it has cost me is a few drinks for the borrow of a towcar and trailer and a few hours of my time. Sure he may well fix it up and sell it on but doubt he will as it seems he really likes the car enough to do this work for himself. Trade discounts, contacts and his labour being free will keep his costs down.

Sadly my LS400 was sold on eBay last night (buyer got a great car) and the guy says he will pick it up on Monday :( so will have to look for another now. 400 or a 430 will be a difficult choice, but in no hurry.

This week if I had fallen into a bucket of t*ts, I would not be coming out sucking my thumb!

Have a look here for your cigarette lighter problem:

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/488111-ls-cigarette-lighter-fix-tutorial.html

Poor excuse

I should have taken some photos of it-just to show it off here!!

I recon it was £800 no mot & tax standing a few years. Higher or lower????? with envy

Not that cheap (unfortunately) aas the owners son did have some grasp of values, but well, well, well under book price. This allows me some money as contingency should something be awry.

No photos as car with mechanic-and I'm working away next week, so won't see it for ages!

Result! best pint youve had in the pub ile bet.an early one will be cheap road tax aswell good luck with it Mark

Even better luck being in the pub as I no longer drink!

It's a 2000 model so cheap tax-and my insurance will not be any different from my 400.

And here is the link to my LS400 on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1995-LEXUS-LS400-Mk-III-/250805029963?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item3a65250c4b

I've been looking to do something with my LS suspension wise, or maybe buying a car with it already done.

I saw a mate last night who said his girlfiends cousins mates uncles sisters nieces son (or something like that) had an old Lexus for sale cheap and did I want to have a look at it? I thought why not and he arranged for me to see it this morning. I went to the farm today and to cut a long story short the bloke told me he was selling it for whatever he could get for it as it is his father car. he has now decided he was not going to return to the UK and no longer wanted the car.

The seller told me it's been in his barn for over three years or more, but was started and driven around the farm regularly (but only for a few miles each month) but the car isn't wanted by him or his family (the two Range Rovers and the X5 parked by a barn is probably the reason why not) and he wanted it gone. I was expecting to see an old GS or LS, but it turned out to be an early LS430. He left me to look around it I checked everything an it all worked, and apart from corrosion on two of the wheels and a few deep scratches it was OK. He came back and said did I want it because I could have it for £xxxx (I'm not saying how much, but when I say cheap, I mean really cheap)

I nearly bit his hand off. I returned with cash and a mate with his car trailer and the seller gave me the service book and a number of receipts, 4 old MOT's and the V5 showing his father was the second owner and had the car since 2003. tax ran out in August 07.

The car is now with a local mechanic for a once over and a service before the MOT.

Going out to the pub IS beneficial sometimes!

So my lovely LS400 is up for sale (it's going on eBay later tonight) but basically 226k, service history, DHP wheels, excellent out and in bar a few marks and scuffs on the front bumper, the radio backlight not working and the brake pad warning light on all the time. MOT'd and Taxed to.

Thanks for those pics J. I kept meaning to get some photos of the cars Jay has had in to paint. He had a VW-Porche race car transporter in for a bare metal respray-it was 50 years old and as solid as a rock-no rust or rot anywhere. Aalong with that he had a single seat VW race car (I'm sure he said it was Nikki Lauda's first race car). And any number of any all steel '34 five and three window Ford coupe's he has sprayed.

Indeed, the estate looks a bit dubious but I have never heard of any incidents there-maybe some of the neighbours scare people off! There are some great companies there with some rteally talented people working for them. Can't think who on the estate did the Cosworth conversion on an old Mini, but by God it shifted! Jay has painted some of the most exotic of cars, and is seriously interesting to talk too about cars of any sort.

Craig Bradbrook has a unit there )opposite Jay's), and he is a fully trained Lexus mechanic-sorted out the brakes on my LS by getting the diagnosis right and charged me £100 to replace all the brake pipes which were perforated, but not dripping fluid. A few other reputable garages said it needed a new master cylinsder and servo. He had a beautiful BMW M5 in there a few weeks ago-all space framed and the engine bay fully detailed and shining like a shiny thing.

Sorry to hear that-bloody kids (I'm sure i wasn't like that when I was younger).

I can highly recommend a repairer in Wickford, Essex-Jay Adams at Unit 4 Andersons Ind Est, Lower Park Road, Wickford (tel. 07957625094) he's done a fair bit of work to my VW van, well worth giving him a call (tell him Colin with the T4 recommended you)

If I recall correctly when I asked about the remote fob that came with my car I was informed that the '95 model came with a Scorpion alarm as standard but NO chip in the key.

My 95 MkIII had at sometime in the past had this alarm removed but everything still works using the key. Had a couple of replacements cut for £12 at a local locksmith, and they both operate everything.