SH20

Has any member removed the full length roof rail mouldings on their 460? I know they are clipped in front to rear but would like to know how they lift out, easy? difficult? do the clips break etc. I have a bad bullet hole in my front screen and it's right next to the A pillar section of the moulding. I want it repaired but can't accurately measure if the damage is 30mm from the edge of the windscreen as the moulding needs to come out. I'm loathed to have a new screen fitted due to the extensive de trim needed and if the Insurance Company's nominated glass specialist has any real experience of fitting 460 front windscreens.

Although I rented an hour's on line use of the Lexus Technical Manual for £3 today, the technical drawings and remove and refit process didn't actual tell me how to separate the actual centre arm rest/lid from the centre console itself. It looks like the hinge mechanism hides behind the rear vent panel somehow. Has anybody ever had need to remove the centre arm rest lid. I want to remove mine either to replace it or have it re coloured due to wear and tear where your arm rests naturally when you drive the car. There are some minor defects too in the leather's surface. Not a regular event but if someone has split the lid from the console I would love to know what to do. Thanks to anyone that might reply with some tips.

Hi Ambermarine, easy to see that from a photo, I would agree, if the rubber wasn't there they would be a bit hazardous with wet shoes.

You're right Mark, the individual small rubber nodules protrude through the aluminium plate by an eighth of an inch. The aluminium plates are also at least an eighth of an inch thick. I've driven 50 miles today and no issues at all, plenty of feel and grip, no slipping. Moreover the original plastic accelerator pedal which is still in place on my car was quite smooth and there was more chance of your foot slipping on that one if wet than this aluminium version. The previous owner's size 10's had rubbed through the carpet immediately to the left of the original foot rest. We've all seen that before when the car gets on a bit. I cut a piece of virgin carpet from under a rear interior sill kick plate trim and patched the bald area today. Just another little tidy up completed. Each to his/her own, I respect anybody who might have a different view on the Lexus none genuine pedals. Bear in mind Lexus have fitted their own aluminium pedals to the latest LS460 F Sport with rubber nodules too.

Mark the actual seller is a firm called autoalliance who is clearly an E Bay seller so if you can't see them using E Bay type autoalliance into Google and his own website will pop up. Steve

Like it and much less involved. I guess you have the wood grain at right angles to the sill flange otherwise I guess the sill flange wood be like a log splitter. I have my set up permanently fixed for speed and for on the road use. You use the same trolley jack as mine for garage use but the mini trolley jack I have in the boot is much smaller but does the same job if I'm on the road. In my view any car over 2 ton needs more than a scissor jack or variation of a scissor jack.

Mark, I have the 460 and the E Bay advert wasn't for the 460, it mainly referred to the GS range but if your accelerator pedal is the same as the 460 then it will still fit and the brake pedal will be a standard carry over from the 430 I'm sure. The foot rest also just sits over the existing foot rest of the 460. I used double sided car badge tape and cut down the bolts to give the impression they were bolted to the floor. Steve

Hi Mark, understand what you are saying. I worked all my life in the motor trade so adapting stuff never really worried me even if it is an accelerator and brake pedal in this instance. The original plastic accelerator pedal is still in place and the new metal one simple secures with 3 self tapping screws so no actual interference of it's operation. The brake pedal required four 3mm holes drilling in the original metal pedal once the rubber cover was removed. The aluminium pedal is shaped to conform with the shape of the original pedal and the four 3mm nuts and bolts hold it very securely. Obviously the foot rest doesn't do anything other than allows my foot to rest on it. I had the front bumper re painted for a second time at no cost other than the original invoice I paid. Removing and refitting the bumper for a second time was much quicker because I knew exactly what to undo. The paint match was much better and was worth another attempt at colour matching. The last area of paint I'm doing is the 6 body mouldings. These were fitted as a sub assembly at the factory and were painted elsewhere within Lexus because of the way the chrome strip is secured to the body of the moulding. Heat is used to fuse the chrome strip to the moulding. Plastic mouldings which share the body colour cannot be high baked in the factory's paint ovens due to the much higher temperature the steel body shell is baked at. As a consequence it is not unusual for coloured plastic parts to be slightly off colour even when brand new. My car is Sienna Red but the body mouldings are a darker version of Sienna Red and are the original items fitted over 8 years ago. The side mouldings can be removed very quickly and will be re painted to match the body colour. Thanks for the interest Mark

Bought some aluminium foot pedals on E Bay for my Lexus. Came from Hong Kong in 2 weeks and at £15.99 with free postage I thought just can't not fit them. Simply to fit they transform the foot well area I think. Drilling the metal foot brake pedal took the most time about 30 mins. Click on photo to see all 3 pieces, for some reason the accelerator pedal appears chopped off the image but if you click on it, it expands not sure why it's done that. Steve

Hi Guys yes Verbout is right, my round steel jacking plates were for my benefit mainly but it's true, the monkeys who call themselves technicians have previously damaged my Bentley Arnage and my Jaguar XK when they have mis aligned the two poster swing arms and hadn't located the lift's pads on the sill flanges thereby causing sill flange damage (bent) and damage to my plastic sill cover panels. I decided once and for all that when my car goes into the main dealer I was going to insist how and where to raise my car thus guaranteeing no more damage because they couldn't be bothered to raise the car correctly in the first place. Didn't have any issues with the Bentley dealer or the Jaguar dealer ever again. I do take my wheels off every week for cleaning and the speed of wheel removal is very quick because I'm not struggling to locate my trolley jack on the sill flanges. I spent half a day when I bought this LS460 repairing the sill flanges which were basically flattened by incompetent garage staff.

You need a set of these which I made and have adapted them to suit my last 3 cars incl my LS460. I don't like scissor jacks so I carry a small mini trolley jack in it's own case should I need to swap a wheel. Steve

I'm afraid you, like many other genuine customers, are the victim of the far too regular "Up Sell" of garage's taking the opportunity to sell more labour and parts. The communication issue is nonsense and the garage are hoping there is a chance the customer won't know a thing about repairing cars and when someone challenges them suddenly it's a cross wires excuse. All garages, in my opinion, franchised or not encourage their staff at one level or another to actively explore sales opportunities and MOT issues are the worst example as suddenly the customer is made aware of a problem and it needs fixing to secure the MOT certificate. It makes my blood boil as to what has gone on in the past and will continue in the future. Typically brake pads are often quoted as getting a bit thin during routine servicing in the hope a quick "OK you had better do them then" from the customer. The menu pricing often used by the trade enables them to quote a fixed price incl parts labour and VAT. The customer is then having to make a quick decision without knowing enough about Up Selling. I handle the arrangements of my wife and daughter's servicing/MOT needs as we use a Citroen franchised dealer for both Citroens to preserve the service history of both cars. At no time do I ever let them know about my working life in the motor trade and sure enough each year I get the call to advise me of tyre issues , brake pads, exhaust and wheel alignment. They hate it when I say I will come down and I want them to show me what the issue is. Too many times I have said "leave it, there is nothing wrong with the vehicle" and then they try and claim it was just an advisory notice. Bear in mind if a technician works a bonus payment system it's in his/her interest to look for extras so they earn more money as well as the dealer or garage. No wonder people complain to the likes of Watch Dog.

Removed front bumper recently on my 460 as part of a general refurbishment of a number of areas. I removed the sills and rear bumper and had them painted by the same body shop I have known for 20 years. Really good colour matches for both the sills and rear bumper. I handed them my front bumper which they painted but this time the colour was well off when I refitted the bumper especially where the bumper meets the front wings. It's Sienna Red Mica Metallic and as a retired Insurance Company Assessor I thought I had been lucky with the sills and rear bumper matching so well. Took the car to the body shop after refitting the bumper and it was clear for all to see including the foreman painter the colour was off. Blending was something I was never going to allow as I've seen enough blended edges re appear after 6-12 months. Edge to edge painting is always a risk but when I asked if the colour coat was mixed and used immediately I was told they had mixed enough colour coat for all the parts they knew I wanted painting over 2 weeks and conceded that the last of the mixed base coat might have gone off sitting on their shelf. The shop is going to re paint it but be aware that if the base colour coat of these modern water based paints is left to stand too long and not used immediately once mixed they can go off and the pigments can start to break down. The two pack lacquer top coat is rarely a problem which is a solvent based mix but if it's covering a base coat that stood too long the chances of a good match is poor. It's a pity given that the other parts were successfully matched. Some paint manufacturers who supply body shops with their mixing schemes may have a few variants of the base coats but in my case the mixing scheme they use only has the one variant of Sienna Red. It's a lot of work taking off and refitting panels and frustrating when your are in the hands of an individual with a spray gun in his hand. The body shop I use is a bonus based shop which is never good when painters need to beat the hours allocated to them by the work shop controller and can lead to short cuts being taken.

My mistake Norman. the actual company who sell branded Lexus pedal covers are autoalliance a company who sell on e bay. I've sent you a PM. Cheers Steve

Sorry I'm late getting back to you Norman. The company is definitely Aliexpress who sell the Lexus pedal covers but I ordered them via E Bay. Suggest you go into E bay and search for Lexus branded pedal covers. A few will appear without the Lexus logo but keep searching and I'm sure you will come across the branded ones which is a four piece set for the 430 which I believe has a foot operated parking brake pedal. I have no need for that piece but I'm confident the 3 other pieces will fit. I'll send you a PM and see if I can copy the E Bay advert. You can always purchase from E Bay as a guest if you don't have an E Bay account. Regards Steve

Hi Norman. that was a quick delivery from Hong Kong. I ordered a set of Lexus branded aluminium pedal covers from Hong Kong last week. Four pieces for £16, accelerator, brake and foot rest covers and a foot operated parking park pedal which is surplus to my needs. Suspect the set is for a 430 rather than a 460 but I know they will fit. Found them on E Bay but it was clear that the supplier was through Aliexpress as the advert format was very much what I've seen when I sign in to Aliexpress. I'll post a pic when I fit them. They look the part with the Lexus logo etched into them but won't know how good they are till I get my hands on them. Steve

Thanks Brian I will look out for that ducting you mentioned. Steve

Thanks Steve for the info, sorry new to this forum so could you advise how I PM my e mail address to you. I would like to see the exploded diagrams. Also I was seeing e mails in my MSN account advising me that members had posted a reply but for some reason they have stopped appearing so I never know who might have posted a reply. I have to go into the forum and look for the threads I have started or replied to. Have I clicked something I wonder which prevents this notification in my MSN mail box? Regards Steve

Does anyone know the steps to remove the driver's seat. I need to have the seat base cover stretched to remove a lot of stretch and sagging of the leather due to the size of the last owner who slid into the seat and pushed the seat base leather towards the centre console. Over 8 years of this constant inability to drop himself into the seat he effectively was pushing the seat cover sideways and thus causing a lot of folds in the leather. A trimmer I know has agreed to un stich the cover and re work it to get rid of the excess stretch. I just need to remove the seat, separate the base from the upper section so I can just hand it over to him. Regards Steve

Hi Norman. no I haven't ordered them yet. I see it's a Hong Kong based company, one of the biggest in the world I've found out. I'm busy with other stuff on my car but will get some when my to do list is completed. Have the wheels away at the minute being fully refurbished. Cheers for the info Regards Steve

Bought my own LS460 5 weeks ago. Same Lexus Dealer maintained from new, one owner with 61K, Sienna Red with the beige interior. Cost £14K and the dealer did the 60K service, put 3 new tyres on it and front and rear discs with new pads at their expense before I bought the car. New 12 month MOT. I had observed a number of issues with the car but the dealer in fairness said "we can't spend any more on the car as the profit margin was on the floor". I knew the car was a good one for the age (2007) and mileage so I bought it. At this price with 12 months Lexus warranty they are like hen's teeth to find. I took a service plan out at £37 a month for the next 3 annual services and the next 3 MOT's. I will be purchasing another 2 years Lexus extended warranty next month which I think is good value at £1695 before the offer runs out at year end. The 2 year extension will run from the expiry of the 12 month warranty the dealer gave me. I have posted a number of specific posts relating to the car, mainly what I consider improvements or aesthetic changes and just wish I had bought one several years ago. I knew of the reputation of Lexus having spent all my working life in the Motor Trade but never experienced any of the cars until now. I drew up my to do list on my car as I have done with the previous 3 Jaguars and before that the 3 Bentleys I owned. This Lexus however knocks all of those cars into a cocked hat because of what I have discovered in 5 weeks during my own mini restoration. The smallest design details have impressed me during the dismantling of various parts/fittings and I have 5 items left to do on a list that started with 31 areas I wanted to sort out. This was not 31 defects but 31 things that I could improve. Things like front and rear bumpers, plastic sill panels removed, stripped down to the absolute degree and re painted. Wheels refurbished, new exhaust trims in the rear bumper replaced, mud flaps, fitting special jacking plates to the sill flanges to aid wheel removal at home or on the road. There was no mechanical or electrical car issues, it's all just about how the car looks. Prior to buying the car I noticed a localised paint job on the front near side corner of the bumper. It was poorly painted and the black rubber rings around the parking sensors were now red due to the fact the bumper was left on the car and the sensors were left in place. I knew the bumper was coming off eventually due to the stone chips I needed to resolve and after 3 weeks I removed the bumper. I had noticed the off side headlamp was misaligned slightly and as an ex body shop man I knew there was more to this and true enough once the bumper was off I could see a piece of the headlamp case was missing where one of the 3 bolts would normally hold it in place to the body work. There was no damage to the inner panels at all and I quickly worked out the car had taken a light impact to the side of the bumper just under the side of the headlamp. At £800 who was going to buy a new headlamp? not the owner who I'm guessing hadn't made an insurance claim. So the monkey who worked on the car used a number of none Lexus fittings including a horrible product called "Dum Dum", a black rubberised flexible gap sealer to try and secure the headlamp. I bought the proper Lexus fittings etc and repaired the headlamp case successfully. I didn't go running back to the dealer shouting the odds, I spent £4 on the right parts and it took me an hour to repair the headlamp case and now it's repaired correctly. This to me is car ownership and I enjoy putting stuff right or back to how it once looked. The car is eight and a half years old and the previous owner was not a car man or was sufficiently interested in his own car to care for it, nothing unusual there I guess. In summary: A Truly Great Car with brilliant engineering too .

Hi Norman, yes found the badges as you said via aliexpress, cheers for that. Steve

Hi Norman, if you have the internet info of the Company in Hong Kong could you pass it to me. Was this a company you saw on E Bay? Regards Steve

Hi Brian, hadn't thought of that so went out and removed the cable tie and the massive owners manual pack but no, it still hangs lower when the glove box is empty. Refitted the cable tie and the lid stays up when I shut it. Steve

Like the thought process here Cruisemark, you have a good chance of sorting out your speakers for a fraction of the cost of new ones. I always try and think logically about fixing stuff but like you said knowledge is key and those with the knowledge who pass it on are really generous people who want us all to share what they know even if they are half way round the world. Steve