"New" ownership Cost/Experience

[Sonu]

I picked up a 2003 SC430 last year and wanted to share my experience with the members of the form. It might help out someone looking to purchase one of these cars.

The car was advertised on Facebook. It was fairly standard except for the full stainless-steel exhaust and Rays Forged 19” wheels from a 370Z. It had just over 70k miles on it. I did come across a few issues during inspection but nothing serious. There was a bit of paint bubbling up on the roof, tyres, brakes, and rear ABS rings needed replacing. Otherwise, it seemed like a nice straight car. There was no rust underneath that I could see. So, I made an offer which the seller accepted, and I drove it back home on a temporary insurance cover (didn’t want to start driving the car until the above issues were fixed).

Issues: Most of the issues I encountered are well known, or to be expected on a car of this age. 

• ABS rings: This is a relatively easy job with the correct tools. The upper control arms require a decent ball joint splitter to separate from the hub assembly, and unless you are removing the drive shaft from the differential end, you need a spanner extension because a socket and wrench won’t fit in the space. The new rings are less than £10 each and the dust caps were about £15.  
• Tyres: I have decided to go with Yokohama Advan mainly because I got a really good deal on them. They were around £600. 
• Speakers: This is something I did not check during inspection, but all the speakers in the car were blown. I was able to rescue most of them using the Simply speakers repair kit, except for the front right which was completely dead. Replacements from Lexus are over £300 so I decided to make some 6”x9” to 6 ½” adapters and stick a couple of 6 ½” 8 Ohm speakers from some floor standing HiFi units. This entire repair was only £40 since I was able to sell the working front left speaker on eBay to recover some of the cost.    
• Headlights: The headlight aim was too high. The car has two ride height sensors units. Found the front one to be faulty while troubleshooting. A replacement unit from Lexus is over £300. I decided to take a punt and order a £20 replacement potentiometer unit which was meant for IS300. Swapped the faulty unit and it worked just fine. 
• Brakes:  To me the floating calipers look horrible. So, instead of swapping the discs and pads with standard units, I decided to splash out a bit on the brakes. There was a set of GS450h  F-Sport calipers on sale in Lithuania, on eBay. I ordered this set, new pads, plus 350phi brackets, and Centric discs from the US. A bit of paint and some powder coat on the calipers and the results are as follows: Total cost ~£600 after selling the old calipers. 
• Paint: It is a bit tricky to paint the roof without taking the rear glass and all the rubber seals out. I have done the best I could by peeling back the trim as far as I could to get the paint underneath. The cost was around £100 
• Infotainment: The standard navigation unit looks very dated on these cars. Replacing the headunit can get quite costly on this car because of the adapter alone that you have to purchase over £300. I have installed a Garmin 76 and a wireless reverse camera instead. Aux out from the Garmin is hardwired to the factory headunit. My phone connects to the Garmin via Bluetooth and I can play anything I want from my phone on the car stereo using this setup. This setup cost me £290.    
• Service items: A full service kit from Lexus, plus transmissions oil, brake fluid, differential oil, sparkplugs, timing belt, water pump, the pulleys, tensioner, v belt, power steering fluid came to £480. I have not done the spark plugs, W pump and the timing belt yet, because the belt is not due until next year. 
• Power steering Rack: This was unexpected. While doing the transmission fluid change I noticed a torn inner tie rod end boot and some fluid coming out of it. The end of the rack was leaking. Upon phoning a few specialists I discovered that this is a £500-£600 job. I decided to take the rack out and send it to a specialist. They charged me £225. The power steering reservoir had lots of black baked on oil. I wanted to clean it, but found that the plastic mesh inside had big holes in it. There was no way I was going to clean it and put it back. Ordered a new one from Japan for £95 delivered (Local dealer wanted £150 and the delivery time was the same). Threw in some new inner and outer track rod ends, power steering rack bushings, lower ball joints, geometry setup. Total cost was just over £500. 
• Windscreen: A mysterious crack appeared on the windscreen. It was replaced through insurance. Paid £100 glass access. Autoglass wanted £1200 for a private repair. 
• Miscellaneous: New matts, Key case, Some new tools etc were around £100   
• Suspensions: This ride of this car in my opinion is quite bad. The steering feels like it is attached to the tyres with a rubber band. Over potholes the entire suspension feels broken. There is too much nose dive during braking, and yet the car feels hard and unsettled over small road imperfections. I have ordered some new control arms and a complete bushing kit. Along with the ISF rear sway bar, and an aftermarket front 32mm sway bar for a GS300. Hopefully I will get this done in the next few months (unless I decide to sell the car).This work is going to set me back just under £700 after I have had the geometry etc redone. 
• Possible upcoming issues: The car was purchased towards the end of Feb last year. It has taken me nearly 12 months to get the above work done. With a full time job and two kids I only really get a bit of spare time on Saturdays. The VSC light has come back on. First time since the ABS rings were changed. Noticed an O2 sensor heater circuit fault and there was a zero point calibration error logged in the computer.  

Driving experience: 

I have only done ~400 miles in the car. Mostly town driving and short motorway trips. The exhaust on the car is quite loud, to the point that it is audible at cruising speeds. Around town it is definitely fun to listen to, especially with the top down. Kids definitely love it with the roof down. Compared to an IS250 which I own, the engine feels very strong, but the gearbox is a bit sluggish. Otherwise, as I already mentioned, the ride is terrible. Would I buy one again or recommend it to a friend? A car this old is probably not for everyone, if you can find a later model with low mileage then maybe, but otherwise no.

 

[Malc1]

good to read things are now looking up as they say 

presumably you did lots of research on this specific car before purchase ....  interviewed the owner ?  checked all the service records and MOTs ( on line even ) and then decided to purchase this 20 year old beauty 

Having done your homework and a year of fettling  .......  and some more ..... , you now will hopefully have many years of wonderful trouble fee, enjoyable motoring .  which the kids will love too😅

Best wishes

Malc

[Glyn Jennings]

Wow, thats a lot of work. When I bought mine 18 months ago it had only 7400 miles on it. It had just been in to Lexus for new timing belt, tyres Battery and radiator. Consequently I did pay probably double that of a high mileage example but still less than it’s worth. In the time I have had it it has been mechanically excellent.   The only fault with it was a blown speaker in the drivers door which I repaired. You obviously can buy a cheap one as a bit of a project or pay a lot more for one that is fully sorted. Great cars either way.

[Neil E]

Well that was an excellent thread starter piece. 

Some of those maintenance and repairs on an old SC430 are to be expected as you said but I think you were a little unlucky with a few on the list.

Good idea to use some 8ohm speakers from home hifi spares to match the LM set up.

Once the suspension, steering and pedal lag is addressed,  I think you will see what a good thing the SC430 can be. The later suspension was a significant improvement, a decent set of coilovers can help transform it to something that behaves quite well for convertible.

[Sonu]

Malc - It was more like, "ooh that sounds nice. I'll have it sir, thank you very much" 😛

Glyn - That service must have cost a pretty penny from Lexus. I went for a mid-priced one thinking that you have to spend a bit of money to fix up an old car regardless of the cost. 

Neil - I am sure I could have continued driving it as is with some new tyres and brakes. Even the PS leak was not that bad enough to make the fluid level drop quickly. I went for the most cost effective option when repairing the sound system. Don't really listen to music much.  There are a lot of really nice HIfi speakers that use 6 1/2" and 4" drivers if someone wanted something fancy. 

I'll see if the bushings etc make a difference, not willing to spend the money on coilovers yet. Might try increasing the preload on the steering rack a tiny bit to see what that does. Is there anything else that can be done to improve the steering?

[Malc1]

9 hours ago, Sonu said:

Is there anything else that can be done to improve the steering?

You mention the slight PAS leak ..  has this a likely remedy to improve your handling maybe !

Malc

[Neil E]

16 hours ago, Sonu said:

Malc - It was more like, "ooh that sounds nice. I'll have it sir, thank you very much" 😛

Glyn - That service must have cost a pretty penny from Lexus. I went for a mid-priced one thinking that you have to spend a bit of money to fix up an old car regardless of the cost. 

Neil - I am sure I could have continued driving it as is with some new tyres and brakes. Even the PS leak was not that bad enough to make the fluid level drop quickly. I went for the most cost effective option when repairing the sound system. Don't really listen to music much.  There are a lot of really nice HIfi speakers that use 6 1/2" and 4" drivers if someone wanted something fancy. 

I'll see if the bushings etc make a difference, not willing to spend the money on coilovers yet. Might try increasing the preload on the steering rack a tiny bit to see what that does. Is there anything else that can be done to improve the steering?

I'm sure the steering will be much sharper after the bushes and arms are replaced. It's a convertible so there will always be some flex in it but the uprated sway bars will provide a more positive cornering experience. I noticed it more at the back with the ISF ARB upgrade than the Aristo front bar. It's well worth doing if you're looking for a little less drama through the quicker twisty bits.

It's a lot more expense after everything else but I would also consider the merits of swapping the struts whilst you have the car off the ground. Just about everyone agrees adjustable coilovers are the best upgrade for the car ...and fancy speakers, I might look into that. 👍   

[Localhero]

A great post👍I have pretty much done all of your list on my 2005 with 63 k when I bought it, have also replaced front speakers with a pair of Arcam speakers off an old i fi, I have had coilovers fitted but at about £1k however as rear shocks were £350 a side to replace to me its a no brained also had full respray (which it did not need,) so about £6/7k spent on the car, to put this in perspective my brother spent £ 80k on a porsche 911 and had a few issues and found the dealer not very helpful  so decided to sell it back to them losing £8k in 6 months🤔

[ElectricBlue]

Evening All,

Reading the above with interest as mine is now out of storage and is to be my daily for the foreseeable.

My my main focus  is on ride comfort and quality, I'm not a fan of so called 'sporty' handling mods that make a harsh crashy ride. Can the coilovers be set to improve or match the ride of the standard set up? Is there a recommendation for a make of coilover? Is the attached suspension set up available as a kit does anyone know?

Thanks in advance. Nick

[Localhero]

15 hours ago, ElectricBlue said:

Evening All,

Reading the above with interest as mine is now out of storage and is to be my daily for the foreseeable.

My my main focus  is on ride comfort and quality, I'm not a fan of so called 'sporty' handling mods that make a harsh crashy ride. Can the coilovers be set to improve or match the ride of the standard set up? Is there a recommendation for a make of coilover? Is the attached suspension set up available as a kit does anyone know?

Thanks in advance. Nick

That suspension kit is available on eBay and price seems to vary quite a bit? The normal recommendation  for coilovers are meister Rs  I went for Bc racing recommended by the company who fitted them they are suspension specialists and sponsor their own rally team! There are 32 stiffness settings and fully adjustable ride height, total cost for 4 shocks plus laser alignment and corner balancing was around £1100 and I am well chuffed with mine, one little tip is to cut a hole in your rear carpet above the shocks makes them easier to adjust and fit, i will try and post some photos if I can find them I also have quality wheel spacers,Stew

[Localhero]

Couple of piccies

[ElectricBlue]

4 hours ago, Localhero said:

That suspension kit is available on ebay and price seems to vary quite a bit? The normal recommendation  for coilovers are meister Rs  I went for Bc racing recommended by the company who fitted them they are suspension specialists and sponsor their own rally team! There are 32 stiffness settings and fully adjustable ride height, total cost for 4 shocks plus laser alignment and corner balancing was around £1100 and I am well chuffed with mine, one little tip is to cut a hole in your rear carpet above the shocks makes them easier to adjust and fit, i will try and post some photos if I can find them I also have quality wheel spacers,Stew

Thanks for that...most appreciated. I know a couple of suspension guys, I will give them a shout.