jcat_350

Well, I decided to start a thread to track my (slow) progress on modding my ES. I'll be documenting not only just what I do but also how it's done along the way so that it hopefully can be used to guide others. It doesn't seem like there's much in terms of the modding scene amongst the ES guys and from what I can gather it's more because it's an unknown platform more than anything. I come from the 2GS/Mustang school of aftermarket where those guys can't leave a damn thing alone on their cars, so hopefully I can spread the love on the ES side of things. The first thing to consider is that underneath the body, we essentially have a V6 camry with different spring rates and shock valving...that's it. Therefore, anything the Camry guys can do, we can do too, and make it look better

First things first, here's what I'm starting with:

2007 ES350 base model
~66k miles at the moment
-no nav, halogens, not even heated seats, factory 17's on S8's ()



My plan is to aim for somewhat of a mild VIP/EXE/OEM+ theme, on a budget. Retaining the luxury and comfort of the car while adding to the appearance. I feel the car is quick enough, so there won't be hardly any performance modification done. The car as it sits admittedly is a bit rough paint-wise; previous owner was a female and it shows all the typical signs of neglect. I'm going to start with a nice heavy coat of wax to protect her during the winter, then a full on polishing/detail will be done in the spring.

The first thing I ordered for the car was a set of 35W, 4500K H7 HIDs from DDMTuning. Lots of people have lots of opinions on DDM and I'll say their quality has dipped slightly since they moved operations to china, but I've bought probably 10 kits on multiple different cars for them (including my previous E500) and have never once had an issue and that's through 100° New England summers and -10° New england winters. Those were ordered 10/7, I expect them by the end of the week as they left Chicago last night. I also will be ordering a set of 9006 35W 3000K for the fog lamps. Those of you living in areas with adverse weather conditions will agree with me that 3000K are very nice to have.

The other thing I'm currently working on is trying to secure a pair of Magnaflow 14851 mufflers. Seen in the video below, they're compatible with the V6 Camry, and I've read plenty of reports of people using them on our cars. These are not intended to be used as a performance modification, more to add a bit of curb appeal sound-wise and to give the rear end some eye-candy with the nice shiny mufflers poking out. That and my stock muffler tips are rusting haha

http://youtu.be/WbFf-KhMJ-Y

Beyond that, below is a wishlist of things I hope to accomplish over (a long) time with the car, including what I've bought already. Bold and red means ordered, crossed off means installed.

Lighting:
-4500K HID low beams
-3000K HID fog lamps
-Silverstar Ultra high beams
-Venza white LED footwell lamps
-White projector LED parking lamps
-White projector LED reverse lamps
-White projector LED puddle/courtesy lamps on mirrors
-LED Turn signals (front and rear)
-Light smoke/tint on taillamps (just to dull the red on the black)

Exterior:
-Paint nasty grey grill center gloss black
-(Possibly) 2010-12 tail swap
-Lip spoiler on trunk
-Full body paint correction (followed shortly by autobahn/aerotect paint film)
-Magnaflow 14851 Mufflers
-Upgrade to some form of OEM 18's possibly


Interior:
-Replace damaged rear passenger window switch panel
-35% tint (tint's illegal in RI...can usually get away with 35%)
-Upgrade factory door speakers
-Add single 10" sub/amp in trunk pulling signal from factory sub
-Black JP curtains
-Black JP neck pads for the rear seats

It's an ambitious list for sure, and will take a while to complete, but like I said it's a wish list. Getting ready to buy a house and paying off student loans isn't going to help either. Ah well, we shall see what happens.

leenguyen9

I like your ambitions man! I have a 2009 es350. So far exterior wise, I've tinted my windows, had my rims painted black, and blacked out all my emblems. Performance wise i've just removed my resonator and added some magnaflow mufflers. Its not anything loud, but it has a really nice growl to it when I drive. Keep us updated on your car!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDwQb...ature=youtu.be

This is a quick vid of sound.

jcat_350

sweet man! That's exactly the sound I'm going for, I don't think I'll go for the resonator just yet though. How is it drone-wise? I'm in the thing 45min each way to work every day, some hwy some city, and I don't really want to ruin the nice quiet ride until I step on the happy pedal.

I'm starting with the lighting since frankly, it's the cheapest and easiest to do haha. Then I'll start piecing other stuff together bit by bit as I find deals on it. As of now for all the lighting stuff I have ordered in red, I'm only into it for ~$225 so far, so it's really beginning as a budget build.

leenguyen9

There's barely any drone at all, I didn't even try to listen for it until you asked, haha.

Yeah I'm in no rush to continue doing all these things to my car either. I like to enjoy modding car slowly. I haven't even touched lighting yet, I really want to check it out after you have yours in.

jcat_350

it'll probably be a couple weeks before everything comes in and installs will only take place on weekends for the most part, but I should have the low beams going in this weekend at the least.

I always do lighting first on every car I buy. Even if it has OEM HIDs, I explore changing the bulbs or adding HID fogs and adding LED wherever possible. Mostly exterior, I don't tend to mess too much with the interior which is lucky because the ES already has LED damn near everywhere inside haha

jacobjohn

very nice, ambitious check list! Are you going to keep the ugly DRL/High's? I was planning to change mine..just can't decide what to do...
i was thinking about changing them to CREE LED's, but i will lose my High beam functionality...

edit: or would CREE LED's be strong enough to be used as high beams?

jcat_350

there seems to be some disagreement on this. IMO, LEDs in the high beams are a dealbreaker for the no-DRL function. You can put a relay in to let them run all the time as if your high beams were on, but after further research they're really not bright enough to be used as high beams. Chances are, you could use them on an empty dark road and they'd help, but the light would probably get washed out as soon as another car comes.

I'm going to start with Silverstar Ultra's, and see how it goes from there. It's more a problem of the fact that the DRL's run on a lower voltage current so the filament never fully gets lit...because of the way halogens work (work their way up the color spectrum as they heat up) they get stuck in that midpoint which is the dull DRL color we all know. I've had yellow halogens in my old GS's high beams, and even though they were really bright yellow on high beam, they were still dull in DRL.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

Best of luck on your journey! Its always great to have people engrossed into their cars. Hopefully you don't finish all the mods within the year like I did! Although, it'd be awesome to see a"Sport/Stance" ES350 in my opinion. I'm biased though since that was my route haha

1sWt2GS

iTrader: (6)

come back to the dark side!

jcat_350

I've seen a few on the google, and they look so nice I'm shocked nobody with more disposable income than I has done it. Your camry is ridiculous btw man. Serious for sure. I wouldn't be devastated if I made it through this list in a year's time. This is mostly the cheapest stuff. Lowz and/or wheels/tires will be probably the last thing I do to it, unless some crazy deals come along.

hahaha i wish man, I wish.

SickES350

iTrader: (-1)

have fun. sounds like you've done your research properly... i'd like to see what the outcome is.

jcat_350

I think I actually saw your car pop up in a google image search once or twice. Mind posting a pic of how she sits now? I think it's important to show this community that these cars CAN be modded fairly easily and can look really really good.

I've definitely done the research...I've been in the game for a long time now haha, owned everything from mustangs to Mercedes and everything in betwen...never left a single one of them alone even if it was just HIDs or something small.

jcat_350

Wow...ok...called the Toyota dealer nearby my office and they don't have the footwell lights in stock..they can order them for me, at $23.50 a piece! Ridiculous. So, doing what I normally do, I found it online at only $12 each!

http://parts.olathetoyota.com/parts/...component=Lamp

Shipping is a bit high at $11, so the total is $35. I'm going to check a couple other dealers around here and see what I can come up with.

1sWt2GS

iTrader: (6)

no LED interior swap?

jcat_350

everything in the interior for the most part (domes maps etc) is already LED on these...I've gotta double check the doors to see if there's any courtesy etc. that I can swap but it's almost all done from the factory.