Hey folks,
After much searching I recently bought a 2006 LX 470 in Silver from the original owner here in the Bay Area, CA. It had 179k miles and a full service history including recently having the master brake cylinder replaced and in the past having the steering wheel rack replaced at Lexus. It's in very good condition and I've spent the last few weeks getting her in even better shape. Here's a pic at Hollister Hills:
So far I've done:
Timing belt, water pump, drive belt, heater T's replaced by the folks at Toy Auto Clinic in Redwood City (highly recommended)
Drain and fill of the transfer case, rear and front diffs
AHC fluid flush
Cabin filter
HID headlight install, LED replacement bulbs elsewhere
BT45-TOY install
Stone chip touch ups
Hand brake adjustment
Greased driveshafts
The goal is to go on a few road trips this coming winter to Death Valley, Lassen Volcanic National Park and Tahoe.
I wanted a bit of advice on a couple of things.
Firstly one of the Yokohama Geolandar A/T's has a nail in it that apparently can't be fixed. Strangely one of the tires is more worn than the other three too, although they all have decent tread (doesn't look like the spare has been on rotation either). Trying to decide whether to: 1) try and find a place that has the Michelin Defender LTX's in stock 2) go with the Yokos again 3) go with Bridgestone Dueler at Costco (the cheapest option around $880 all in) 4) go with KO2s but have to go up a size 285/60/18s. Any recommendations? I plan to keep the LX pretty stock and only do some light off-roading, at least to start.
Secondly, the body work is really good apart from one area - the plastic armor. I can't figure out what happened to it (is this a common issue?!), but it's faded to a matt finish in multiple places all around the body (sides and rear) and it ruins the look to a trained eye:
Any recommendations on a Bay Area bodyshop that might be able to fix this up economically? Does the armor come off easily - eg. could I remove it all and take it to a shop to save some money?
Last thing is, I kinda like the look of the spoiler but mine doesn't have one. Are there any pros to not having the spoiler beside aesthetics? What does installing a spoiler involve? (drilling in to the tailgate?) OEM or one of the numerous prepainted ones you can get on eBay?
Thanks so much for the advice!
Cheers,
Francis
After much searching I recently bought a 2006 LX 470 in Silver from the original owner here in the Bay Area, CA. It had 179k miles and a full service history including recently having the master brake cylinder replaced and in the past having the steering wheel rack replaced at Lexus. It's in very good condition and I've spent the last few weeks getting her in even better shape. Here's a pic at Hollister Hills:
So far I've done:
Timing belt, water pump, drive belt, heater T's replaced by the folks at Toy Auto Clinic in Redwood City (highly recommended)
Drain and fill of the transfer case, rear and front diffs
AHC fluid flush
Cabin filter
HID headlight install, LED replacement bulbs elsewhere
BT45-TOY install
Stone chip touch ups
Hand brake adjustment
Greased driveshafts
The goal is to go on a few road trips this coming winter to Death Valley, Lassen Volcanic National Park and Tahoe.
I wanted a bit of advice on a couple of things.
Firstly one of the Yokohama Geolandar A/T's has a nail in it that apparently can't be fixed. Strangely one of the tires is more worn than the other three too, although they all have decent tread (doesn't look like the spare has been on rotation either). Trying to decide whether to: 1) try and find a place that has the Michelin Defender LTX's in stock 2) go with the Yokos again 3) go with Bridgestone Dueler at Costco (the cheapest option around $880 all in) 4) go with KO2s but have to go up a size 285/60/18s. Any recommendations? I plan to keep the LX pretty stock and only do some light off-roading, at least to start.
Secondly, the body work is really good apart from one area - the plastic armor. I can't figure out what happened to it (is this a common issue?!), but it's faded to a matt finish in multiple places all around the body (sides and rear) and it ruins the look to a trained eye:
Any recommendations on a Bay Area bodyshop that might be able to fix this up economically? Does the armor come off easily - eg. could I remove it all and take it to a shop to save some money?
Last thing is, I kinda like the look of the spoiler but mine doesn't have one. Are there any pros to not having the spoiler beside aesthetics? What does installing a spoiler involve? (drilling in to the tailgate?) OEM or one of the numerous prepainted ones you can get on eBay?
Thanks so much for the advice!
Cheers,
Francis
