SH20

I really like that LS400 wheel you have just purchased Stuart as well as the Merc wheels. Were the Merc wheels original steering wheels as an option or were they bought as an after market accessory?. Like you I use E Bay all the time as my first option if I'm looking for something specific. I was told a new wood/leather steering wheel for a 460 was £1200 plus vat plus fitting. No wonder E Bay is so successful, the prices just can't be beaten especially if the seller is using make an offer as a means to a quicker sale.

I must first of all say the German Company who dismantled a 2007 LS460 for spares and advertised the spares on E Bay really do sell some quality bits. Normally there is always a risk on trim items and scratches etc are not uncommon. This wheel though was in great shape. I bought the wood leather steering wheel in Grey and with the correct colour wood sections for only £200 after I made an offer on it. I had it saved in my watch list for a few weeks before deciding to offer on it. It arrived in two days. Not bothered that I won't be able to use the heated rim but I knew that before I considered swapping the wheel. Ever since I bought my 460 I thought how much better it would look to have the wood/leather wheel but they are not a common part second hand and I hadn't seen any listed in the UK for sale on E Bay. The wheel had no fittings, air bag or switches, just the bare wheel. When I asked my local Lexus dealer to swap it over they simple said no chance. We only fit new parts they said smugly so I rang Lexus Carlisle where I purchased the car and asked them if they had a problem swapping over a genuine Lexus used part. No problem at all they said, when would you like to bring your car in. Nothing really to do with buying the car there I don't think, just a firm who wanted to help and earn a bit of labour. Although 140 miles away from Leeds it was something I considered. After all I have my service plan with them. However I decided to fit the wheel myself, what's the main issue to think about?, the air bag of course but having removed my driver's seat (side air bag) and followed some basic precautions about disconnecting the battery I thought the steering wheel would be a very basic and purely mechanical operation to carry out. It took 30 mins in all to swap it over after removing the air bag and releasing the centre nut. I bought a universal puller for £14 from Machine Mart knowing the wheel was unlikely to come free easily. I was proved right. Without that puller it would have been impossible such was the loud crack I heard after the splined taper finally gave up. From there it was a few screws to transfer the wheel's switch packs and refit the wheel back. No warning lights because the battery was disconnected and left for 20 mins to allow for any discharge. This is crucial to avoid the possible detonation of the air bag when unplugging the 2 wires at the back of it. All in all a nice job to do and makes the interior that bit smarter.

Hi John, yes Cruisermark is referring to me. I removed the driver's seat from my 460 to have the excess folds of leather that were a result of the original owner spending 8 years sliding into the seat due to his huge size. Trimmer I used did a great job here in Leeds but be careful these seats are very heavy and you must disconnect the battery and let the car stand for 10 mins before you disconnect the yellow air bag wire connector. No need to split the seat in two as the base cushion can be removed from the frame. A new seat cover is £1350 and the heating element is part of the leather cover, not something that would be easy to remove and be refitted into a new leather cover made from scratch. A good trimmer would need to see if the heating element can be un picked from the various layers the original cover is made up from. The seat photos show the before and after. There are other multi connection blocks under the seat for all the various electrics and the yellow multi block is a two stage disconnect, it's like a two stage separation before it separates. As far as finding a used seat on e bay or the like, then be prepared to be disappointed. Very few 460 cars are being broken for spares. To find one would be hard but if you did be aware that salvage guys know exactly how valuable LS460 spares are to them and a second hand seat would be over £1000 at least . NB it helps considerably to have the rear door open when removing and refitting these seats. Remember very very heavy. Good luck with the refurbishment Steve

For a long time I just totally ignored Lexus as a brand albeit I knew the original LS set the world alight back in 98. My working life was spent in the motor trade, in particular body shops as an insurance Engineer and my first real passion was for the 3 Bentleys I had over a 10 year period. Then 3 Jaguars, various models and finally last year saw the light and started looking at the LS460 and only the LS460. I could kick myself for not having this car years ago. I handled a number of insurance claims for the LS400 and was always impressed in the way it was put together. I bought mine used from a dealer and paid out £1700 for an extra 2 years warranty and yet don't expect to make a single claim based on the last 7 months use of this remarkable car. Apart from the common glove box lid issue where the swage line didn't line up, although I fixed that quite easily and a lot of excess folds in the driver's leather seat cushion, again fixed that by removing the seat and handed the cushion to a trimmer who removed the excess folds of leather this car has been the best car I've owned. I don't normally have need to use the kick down function of the gear box but every now and then I use it just to put a smile on my face. Buy the 460 or 600 I don't think either will disappoint

Although this item has no practical use I just love it and is totally related to my own 2007 LS460 as the samples tie in to the 2007 model year my own LS460 was built. Used no doubt by Lexus showrooms or Lexus sales people if they were visiting a customer who was considering buying a LS but couldn't get to a showroom. The top quality sample materials of semi aniline leather, ordinary leather, wood trim and paint finishes must be one of the finest kits any salesman could wish for to indicate to a customer the quality materials Lexus used at the time. The fact that the paint finish of Siena Red is in the kit pins the box of samples to around 2007 or thereabouts. It's the size of a small suitcase and covered in black aniline leather with it's own bag too. Bought it on E Bay for £59 as the sole bidder. I agree that I am a bit anal about this sort of stuff but I know quality when I see it and if I ever sell my LS I would gladly pass the kit on to a new owner. I guess the picture with the samples fitted in the lid would be how a salesman would finalise the choice of a customer by showing them as a set.

Go to You Tube and type in Lexus mirror glass replacement. You come across some examples of flipping out the mirror glass only.

Thanks Tulpen, I must have missed that confirmation the headrests will change position if a car comes too close from behind. Cheers Steve

After 4 months ownership I thought I had a full understanding of my 460 by now after reading everything in the hand book pack. Yesterday I was stationary at lights in the middle lane of a 3 lane road with the outside lane being a right turn filter lane. I moved forward a little to allow a car to get past at the start of the filter turn lane and watched him carefully crawl past me with only inches to spare. The next thing I saw was "man in a white van" come speeding up in the outside lane clearly with a view to passing me as well and my first thought was he was going to clip my osr corner. I held my breath and suddenly felt my headrest pad touch the back of my head. It had come forward on it's own as the van came with an inch of my car and I quickly realised the rear bumper sensor must have triggered a pending impact instruction to the headrest. As soon as the van passed the headrest returned to the original position. How clever is that?. I can assure you I didn't do anything or move my head backwards, the headrest came forward to minimise the distance between my head and the headrest. The next day I searched the manual and couldn't find any reference to any sensor that would do this. Anyone else had this happen?. I knew Lexus were clever and this just reinforces their attention to detail.

Don't consider removing either front seats out of a LS460 unless you have had a good breakfast, they weigh a ton !!. Although only 4 floor bolts and 4 wiring block connectors, incl the seat air bag connector, the front seat takes a lot of strength and manoeuvring to get it out of the car, more so if it's the driver's seat in my case as the steering wheel gets in the way. The battery needs the negative terminal disconnecting to allow the air bag circuit to discharge in about 10 mins before the air bag connector is disconnected. If you do this you won't get a warning light coming on to detect an air bag circuit has been activated. I decided to tackle the slack in the leather of my seat base cushion. the previous owner used to slide in to the seat thus pushing the leather sideways and after 8 years created some excess folds of the semi analine leather cover. What a job to get the leather cover off the seat foam, nothing complicated but lots to do before the leather cover came away and the trimmer could un pick the stitching and remove the stretched leather folds. The seat heating element lies between various layers of foam and fabric which are all stitched together as part of the leather cover, it's not separate so if your element fails it's a new leather seat cover at £1350. So you have to tread carefully when pulling down a front seat cushion so the element doesn't get snagged or the fine interlaced heating element doesn't get accidently cut. Anyway all done and at £45 for the trimmer a very cheap fix although it took me 3 hours to strip and rebuild the cushion incl getting the seat in and out. NB: 19.3.2016 - Re read my own thread and realised I hadn't included the after shot of my driver's repaired seat cover after a local trimmer got to work on taking out the excess folds of leather after nearly 9 years.

If you haven't read or seen this book by Chester Dawson then I would say try it. It's a fantastic history of Lexus and it's association with Toyota and if nothing else it explains how crucial the USA were to Lexus in their pursuit of a world player in prestige car manufacturing. It's a warts and all tale of amazing achievements and some significant failures with micro detail that, at times, can get a little heavy. I read it while in hospital recently to pass the time. My daughter bought for me off Amazon. The profits Lexus achieved are eye watering at their peak and covers the recalls, the law suits even the name Lexus was challenged by an American Company called Lexis who took Lexus to court just days before the official launch of the brand, sales brochures, US dealers who had all their branding completed, forecourt signage, business cards printed etc etc. Anyway I have only owned my LS460 for 4 months and was amazed at what Lexus started in 1989 and achieved over the following 25 years.

Hi Scribe, I started a new post 1st January 2016 titled "Detailing Training? Worth Every Penny". It opened my eyes to paint correction and as a novice I learned what to do and what not to do. Have a read if you search for the original post. Top Tip try and invest in a power washer and snow foam kit and always "clay bar" the paint prior to any serious attempt to remove fine polishing scratches accumulated over the years. Always degrease the polished areas after machine polishing before you wax a car. Remember polishing and waxing a car are two different things. Machine polishing is really the only way to remove scratching in the lacquer top coat. Clay bar picks up all the fine contaminates that stick to the bodywork over time and you can always feel them if you pass your hand over the panels, it's like ultra fine grit you feel but can't actually see it. Good Luck

Spending a full day with a full time car detailer who showed me the basics of paint correction was very useful. Although some professional detailers might consider I achieved what they call a "reflection polish" result I did in fact remove all the swirl marks in the top coat after a fairly aggressive initial cut. I believe certain darker colours help with showing off results after machine polishing such as red and black whereas silver and white for example are colours, in my opinion, which are harder to show pin sharp results. I'll do another finer cut of the top coat in the spring when it's a little warmer but for now my 9 year old paint on my 460 is looking a lot better from when I purchased it in Oct 2015.

Hi Pete, yes the kit I bought was to use my ipod nano, I have no need for the extra function which comes in the slightly more expensive versions on offer at Xcarlink as I don't use an iphone or android equivalent. I have a bluetooth enabled phone in my car but it is just that a phone without the clever apps etc. Yes I fitted the box of tricks in the lower portion of the centre console, it's about 3.5 x 2.5 x 1 inches and comes with a bracket and Velcro tape so it can be positioned where and how you want it. The main lead is long enough to get from the rear of the in dash audio unit to the console. I fitted the extra Y harness so I didn't lose the use of the 6 disc cd player. Works perfectly, no hiss or extra suppression required. Of course none of the above is needed if you buy the LS which has the built in ability to plug an iphone or android device but I'm not sure when Lexus fitted that function, maybe 2008 or 2009 onwards. Cheers Steve

Be aware Simon, the seats require the negative terminal of the battery to be disconnected if your remove either front seat. You must wait at least ten minutes before disconnecting the yellow block terminal after you disconnect the negative terminal to allow the circuit to discharge. This precaution will stop the possibility of the seat air bag going off as you undo the yellow air bag block connector under the seat. Four floor bolts and two other block connectors plus the seat belt anchor bolt in the side cushion will allow your to remove the seats but watch out they are very heavy. Sorry can't help with your main issue. I do know the leather seat cushion is a time consuming job to remove if you have to replace the heating element. Steve

Hi Peter and welcome, I bought a LS460 last October, a 2007 model. Like you I was a bit surprised that there was no interface for my ipod unlike later models which has a socket to plug in a iphone and the like. I prefer to listen to my music via the ipod kit which I fitted in an hour. The internet company I bought the kit from is called Xcarlink and the kit cost £104 including a separate Y harness that LS models need if you want to retain the use of your in dash CD player. I did a post on it a month or so ago. The in dash audio needs to come out which is very easy to remove, don't try removing it without going in to You Tube and type in "Audio removal LS 460 for repair". You will be surprised how simply it is without risking any damage to trim etc. The photos show the unit and Y harness and you can order one with the additional iphone function so the music you have on your iphone will play normally. You will need to select the unit as a 2003 onwards so the correct 12 pin block terminal is sent as part of the kit. Regards Steve

The yellow block terminal is the air bag connector and is a two stage release for safety reasons. First press of the white clip allows the yellow body of the block connector to slide back a little. Pressing the white release clip again allows the two halves to separate. Negative side of the battery needs disconnecting first and the vehicle allowed to stand for 10 mins while the residual current in the circuit drains. The yellow air bag wiring/block should be re connected while the negative battery lead is disconnected to avoid any accidents with the seat bolster air bag going off accidently. Moreover the air bag warning light may appear after reconnecting and a reset may be required by a dealer. Info supplied by Lexus Carlisle.

Hi all, A Senior member previously mentioned the upper side bolster air bag Re: Removal of a LS460 front seat. He also advised to disconnect the battery before disconnecting the air bag wiring block terminal, one of four electrical block connections. The issue for me is the actual separating of this air bag block connection. I want to eliminate some excess folds of leather that have developed over the first eight and a half years in the previous owner's hands (see pic). To do this the seat needs to come out so as to remove the seat base leather cover. I can then pass the cover to a trimmer I've lined up. He will unstitch the offending panel, cut away the stretched leather and then sew back together. The assistance I need is how to unclip the air bag wiring block connector. It's different to the 3 other block connectors, they just took seconds to separate. The yellow air bag block terminal has a little clip arrangement but pressing that in only allows the yellow body to slide a little. There must be another step before I can separate the block. I'm sure it's because it is the air bag wiring but this little block is stopping me in my tracks. Any thoughts?

Hi all, anyone removed door handles on the LS460?. Saw a You Tube clip on a GS model which showed the loosening of a torque bolt on the front doors, access via a grommet in the door frame and then levered off the little cap next to the actual pull handle. The front handle was then pulled and slid backwards and the handle came away. Rear doors needed the door panel removing and the unbolting of the door lock, bit more fiddly. Not sure if the same applies to the LS460 as there is a lock barrel on the front doors behind the pop off trim in case you have a flat battery in your key fob. Any assistance would be gratefully received. Steve

I use a DAS 6 Pro, 1-6 speed settings, fairly light and easy to handle/control. Comes with two backing plates but again out of preference I also use a 3" (75mm) plate for the tighter areas around my car. 5" plates (125mm) are great for bonnets, boot lids, larger areas etc. Go to a website called "Clean Your Car" which sells everything you would ever need in terms of machines, accessories, car cleaning products etc, it's got everything. You can have next day delivery and is an online company based in Huddersfield. I use them regularly.

The paint top lacquer coat is considered softer than say VW's top coat which is much harder. On average the depth of paint including the lacquer coat is around 125 - 140 microns with the top coat being around 60-70 microns thick so with the best intentions a modern car has a limited number of "cuts". When cars are polished with cutting polishes you are removing lacquer to get the swirls and fine scratches out. Normally you would use a first pass cutting polish and then a second pass with a finishing compound and even an a third pass with an ultra fine polish if necessary. The cutting pads should be considered carefully as the range and choice is massive. Normally a medium cut pad will be used to make a first pass commensurate with the cutting polish, moving up to finishing pads and ultra fine buffing/polishing pads. Avoid massive speeds and too much pressure on the cutting pad face when polishing. For novices stay away from rotary polishing machines which simply spin and are used by professionals with wool cutting pads but these take a lot of handling due the higher temperatures they generate. As stated in the post stick with Dual Action (DA) orbital polishing machines although it takes longer to polish paint work and generates less heat but are easier to control. Do small areas at a time e.g tape up 1-2 foot squares to operate in, on a bonnet for example. It concentrates your efforts in one area and you can judge the results better against un polished areas. Take your time as it's tempting to move too fast around the panels. Degrease all polished areas once happy with the cutting/finishing and then apply a quality wax/sealer to protect what you have achieved. A detailing spray is then all you'll need to maintain that shine. You Tube has more paint correction clips than you can shake a stick at and gives lots of useful guidance. Happy detailing Hugh

My 460 windscreen took a hit last week in the most difficult of places, right next to the roof - Screen pillar moulding. Typical bullet strike about quarter of an inch diameter. The last thing I wanted was for some inexperienced fitter taking my screen out so I called out the preferred supplier of my Insurance Company for an opinion as I wanted it repairing. All Insurers say you can have an OE screen if you insist on using a dealer but they then stipulate the monetary value they will pay which is a fraction of a genuine Lexus screen, hence my wish for a repair. "No chance of a repair there" the fitter said when he called at the house and inspected the bullet strike. When I pointed out the impact point was right on the 30mm limit from the edge of the screen he wasn't interested in trying a repair. Although the roof moulding would need to come out which runs from the base of the rear screen all the way to the bottom of the front screen he wasn't interested in even attempting a repair, something my Insurer would have welcomed. No, he was all for fitting a new screen, asking what the problem was if the Insurance Company were paying. Before he witnessed the steam welling up inside me I told him to leave. I didn't tell him I was a retired Insurance Engineer who looked after my employers financial interests. I decide on principle to have an attempt at repairing the screen myself. I even left the roof moulding in place for fear of damaging the clips and/or the moulding itself. I bought a screen repair kit, one of those £5 kits off E Bay and watched every You Tube clip to see if these kits were worth a go. I know the photo will shock some of you as to how close to the edge of the screen the damage was but the plastic post which the resin is poured in to was centred over the impact crater, just. The roof moulding was lifted slightly without causing any damage. Do these kits work?, Yes in this case. I can still see where the impact point was but I would say as a percentage it was 90% successful. At least my screen is ok till the next time. By the way that isn't a crack in the screen it's the outline of the dash speaker.

Front and Rear LS460 Rubber mats £67.62 incl vat from Lexus dealer in Leeds. I know you are looking for carpet mats but sometimes it pays to check with a dealer in case you are pleasantly surprised as I was when I wanted some winter rubber mats.

Mark is right Phil, my 2007 LS460 would not accept a bulk transfer of my contacts because my head unit would not talk to my phone even though I paired it at the first attempt. It was the local dealer who went into their Tech Support system and when I told him the model number of my phone he printed off all the Nokia model numbers which detailed which Nokia would do a bulk transfer, my model was listed as NO BULK TRANSFER. It wasn't really a problem as I just entered every contact separately and now my phone book appears when I want to dial a contact. Doesn't matter what make of phone you have it's all about the model number and whether it will or will not do bulk transfers. Your phone is one that won't bulk transfer but it will accept single entries one at a time and they will all be saved as your phone book. Boring I know transferring the details of every contact but unless you want to change your phone it's the only way you will load a phone book. If you change your phone at any time check with a dealer if your new phone will do bulk transfers. Steve

Hi Mark, the ipod is being charged when in use and when I turned off my audio the ipod screen image of a battery being charged was clearly visible whilst my engine was running. So it must be being charged when the engine is running even if you are not listening to the ipod. There are 2 kits for Lexus and the website allows you to select 1998-03 kit and a 2003 onwards kit. This is solely to reflect the 2 different wiring blocks for the wiring connections for earlier and later models, see photo. I suspect your 430 will require the type 2 connector block. The ipod kit will be the same apart from the wiring block that fits into your audio head set. If I had to purchase the Y harness to piggy back into the car's harness I'm sure you will too unless the 430 has a spare audio port in the audio head unit. Again the site will be able to supply the earlier 98-2003 Y harness Hope this helps

Previously posted a couple of photos of an online ipod kit I bought including an extra "Y" harness so I could piggy back onto the cd changer port and not loose the use of the cd changer. I fitted the kit this morning and was fitted in 1 hour and 5 minutes from opening the car's door to closing the car's door and this included the very easy job of pulling the audio unit out of the dash. There is a great You Tube video of a bloke removing the LS 460 head unit which made it idiot proof for me and required only the tools I've shown in the photo, nothing else. Don't try removing the audio head unit without looking at this You Tube clip first unless you already know how to remove the audio head unit, you'll just be guessing and remove stuff that doesn't require removal. The ipod works perfectly and scrolling the audio mode button on the steering wheel takes you through the radio bands, the cd changer and into the ipod mode. It's so easy to flip between the cd changer and ipod. Without the extra Y harness you would lose the cd changer function as the audio head unit only has one port which is normally occupied by the original wiring harness connection. Cost of kit was £104.68p including the extra harness and delivery. Good value I thought.