My First Ever Lexus LS400!

[J4AVX]

Hi All

I purchased my first ever Lexus LS400 in Dec'18. Been browsing these for a while and I've always loved the 90's Japanese styling! Finally decided to buy one and absolutely love it! Super smooth and soo much luxury!

Just thought I'd introduce myself and hope to share happy moments with you all 😄 Some pics attached - its completely stock and have some plans for new wheels and coilovers soon.

Look forwarding to speak to you LS400 enthusiast and get some ideas/tips!

Jav

 

[The-Acre]

Welcome to the LOC!  You now own one of the most refined cars ever made!

[Daveyboy20]

Welcome! The forum is friendly and knowledgeable and the cars are phenomenal! Mine is a 98 that looks just like yours.  So far I've fitted 18s to it, de-boxed the exhaust and modded the airfilter. I'd love to lower it a little but coilovers are the only option and are about 750 quid - more than I can spare!

[Nick W858]

Well done, same year and colour as mine, bought mine as a one year 'experiment' but that was about 16,years ago now and still got it - great cars - enjoy!

[Stupot]

Welcome aboard, I know your going to enjoy your ride.

[Cotswold Pete]

Best car you'll ever buy is an LS, and the Mk4 is a great car. 

[J4AVX]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

I'd really like to change the wheels, but to be honest I've never done this before so its an area I'm looking for some advice. I've looked at coilovers on eBay....but they are so expensive?? any reason for this? (£600-£700 quid!)

Also, would love to put on some nice Work Euroline DH alloys (like the ones in the below pic) but again I've never done this and sounds like I need spaces/arches rolled back etc? :| worried that is may impact ride quality (which is one of main reasons I got the car)...as you can probably tell I've been browsing the US Lexus forum site and love the VIP look

[39buss]

VK is a Newcastle registration so probably came from Newcastle Lexus originally.  I've never seen that one advertised up here so maybe been out of the area a while, who knows with cars.!  

[Malc]

2 hours ago, J4AVX said:

worried that is may impact ride quality (which is one of main reasons I got the car)

if this is one of the main reasons you bought the car it escapes me as to why you would really want to change any of the set-up 

Malc

[The-Acre]

3 hours ago, Malc said:

if this is one of the main reasons you bought the car it escapes me as to why you would really want to change any of the set-up 

Malc

I couldn't agree more. The original setup is designed to give you the best ride possible, and it does.  I once put new wheels on my MK4 LS400 but changed them back after 20 miles!

[Cotswold Pete]

Agree with others, the 400 was designed to have the right amount of tyre wall between the rim and the road, and with good tyres you get the best ride to road holding you can get (IMHO).

My local mechanic says more customers with low profile tyres are having to replace one of more rims at 5 or so years, due to out of true rims thanks; to the Kiss of The Pothole.

Maybe if you are still keen, see if you can get someone to photo-shop your car with modded wheels, because if you like the look, then thats good by me.

I do like the look of some of the modded LS I have seen, it's just I prefer original stylee, but then I run a 40 year old record deck and still like having the cassette in the LS, jsut so I can listen to cassettes.  One reason moving up to a 460 would be a downgrade🤣

[J4AVX]

I love the ride but would just be nice if it had a nicer set of wheels to give it the full package! The wheels are a bit basic in my opinion.

I like everything about the car...but just not the wheels...that's just my opinion!

Ride quality is not something I'd be willing to sacrifice for a set of good looking wheels.

@Cotswold Pete I absolutely love the colour of your LS400 - I've seen one on eBay recently... I would love to have this colour

Anyway thanks everyone for your advice

[J4AVX]

On ‎2‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 2:14 PM, 39buss said:

VK is a Newcastle registration so probably came from Newcastle Lexus originally.  I've never seen that one advertised up here so maybe been out of the area a while, who knows with cars.!  

I think the guy I bought the car off said he went to Edinburgh to purchase the car - about 3 years ago. I bought the car from West Midlands. Car was up north for most of its life

[Cotswold Pete]

50 minutes ago, J4AVX said:

@Cotswold Pete I absolutely love the colour of your LS400 - I've seen one on ebay recently... I would love to have this colour

 

When that photo was taken it did look lovely, now it has a key scratch down one side, and a dent in rear near side pillar (tree strike), but it still looks great when washed and waxed.

My previous Mk3 was silver, and that looked brilliant when waxed.  I really wanted a bronze Mk4, but fell in love with the blue when I saw it.

[cruisermark]

Hi

Nice car there - I used to own a blue one with grey leather many years ago.

Regarding the wheels  - have you considered buy lexus alloys - the following have been tried in the past:

1. Lexus LS430 alloys
2. Lexus SC430 alloys
3. Lexus LS400 DHP alloys
4. Lexus GS300 sport alloys

worth a consideration.

[Daveyboy20]

Here's mine before I sorted the exhaust. These are SC430 wheels 👍

[J4AVX]

17 hours ago, cruisermark said:

Hi

Nice car there - I used to own a blue one with grey leather many years ago.

Regarding the wheels  - have you considered buy lexus alloys - the following have been tried in the past:

1. Lexus LS430 alloys
2. Lexus SC430 alloys
3. Lexus LS400 DHP alloys 
4. Lexus GS300 sport alloys

worth a consideration.

Thanks for the comments!

Yes, I've also considered SC430 alloys - they look ace on the LS, although I've read that I'll need to put spacers on in order to fit those?

[J4AVX]

16 hours ago, Daveyboy20 said:

Here's mine before I sorted the exhaust. These are SC430 wheels 👍

David - really like your set up. those SC430 wheels look really nice!

Couple questions

1.  Are they 18s?
2.  Standard suspension?
3. How's the ride quality with your current set up?
4. Direct fit or did you need any mods/spacers?

[BigBoomer]

I guess it depends on the sizing of the wheels you mentioned and if they are available in LS sizes.
From what I can find the following sizes fit the 98 LS400 without any mods to body or suspension.
Tyre                      Rim                      PCD 
225/60R16 97V    7JJx16 ET45       5x114.3    
245/50R17 97V    7.5JJx17 ET45    5x114.3    
245/45R18 97V    8JJx18 ET41       5x114.3

I test drove a couple of 400s before I bought my 430 and one of them had 18s fitted, and to be honest I couldn't tell much difference to the one that was on 16s.
All three 430s I tested had the 18s, including the one I bought, and I don't consider it even mildly uncomfortable.
Yes, you can feel the road surface a little, but only if you concentrate.

[Daveyboy20]

2 hours ago, J4AVX said:

David - really like your set up. those SC430 wheels look really nice!

Couple questions

1.  Are they 18s?
2.  Standard suspension?
3. How's the ride quality with your current set up?
4. Direct fit or did you need any mods/spacers?

They're 18s and the suspension is stock.  I fitted different tyres so that the rolling radius was the same as the original 16s. Ride quality is still wonderful - obviously not quite as forgiving over very rough roads, but generally speaking it's not a noticeable difference.  I did need to fit hubcentric spacers and went for a trusted quality make (Japspeed) to ensure it's safe. Set me back more doing it like that but I don't want to compromise safety for the sake of a few quid! I had to trim a few mm from the front studs to get them to fit.