deanshark

It's good that your mentality changed, and that you took the pics down. Just kidding. It's just now you realize how things really are. You sound like a different person. Before it was just that you recently purchased the car and you wanted everything done instantly and didn't give it enough thought. Now that you've had it a while you know everything that needs to be done before the things that you want done, that's the smart way. You didn't "let down" the people here. You just didn't have your mind set the way it should have been, but you do now. So I guess you already redeemed yourself. Some of the things for your "mods", parts wise, you can get from the junkyard for alot cheaper then new. The "pick and pull" yards are the best b/c you can walk around and get the parts you want, not just what they're gonna give you, such as seats, steering wheel, grill, and ya might even find some good exhaust tips, ya never know.
Sorry to hear about your ticket for tint, I used to get alot of those. I used to take it off, get it inspected, and same day have it installed again. I finally stopped doing that after getting 3 tickets in 2 weeks. Too much money. I used to have 15% on all my cars which you can still see through it if you're close, so I think "limo" is like 0-10%. Here in Ct. 35% is legal which is just a tiny bit darker then stock so if you use 30% it wont be much. Well, do your work right and you'll be happy with the results. Keep your mind set straight, pay your bills first. Good luck.

SaintNexus

^Thanks for the words of encouragement dean.

Did you see the bumpers that I posted?

What do you think of these:

http://www.versusmotorsport.com/#/listing/ls_body_kits/

^They're $89 each, and the material is Poly FRP material, which is really flexible, and not like fiberglass though.

Also, I'm looking into speakers and subwoofers; but don't know whats a good amount of Watts for the speakers?

Are 1600W good?

I'm looking into this: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...ml?from=857-49

And getting this Navigation head unit: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...-NAV418BT.html

v8will

Always look at RMS ratings for speakers. Stick to a name brand and you'll generally be fine.

Do you really need to upgrade? I found the standard system in my LS perfectly good and my old Polk MOMO subs and alpine amps have been gathering dust for years now. Too much weight to be lugging around

SaintNexus

^I've always wanted Nav, and my speakers are blown out. Having subwoofers would be a nice touch too, but I don't know exactly what else I need for them (something about a separate box with switches?).

What exactly are RMS and whats a good amount of it?

I see speakers with 20W RMS and 115W RMS, the higher the better, or what?

SaintNexus

These look good: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...ss-P45.4C.html

4'' Boss Speakers with 250W each (500W total), and 125W RMS each (250W total).

I think these will be nice. Costs $70 for 2 pairs.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

cheap aftermarket body parts both look like crap usually and 99% of the time don't fit properly, which end up costing you more in bodyshop labor.

aside from the fact that the car will look all kinds of weird with only an aftermarket front bumper...

speak RMS handling is only useful if the headunit or an external amp can come close to those ratings. you don't want to drastically underpower a speaker either.

SaintNexus

I was planning on getting the aftermarket front and rear bumper. It might look like crap, but when painted, it should look better. But I see what you're saying with the cost of labor drastically increasing the cost.

What's a good website that has body kits for reasonable prices? I've seen kits cost up to $6k; and I don't need anything that expensive.

I am planning on changing the head unit, most likely to the Kenwood Nav, which is about $600.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

define reasonable? most full kits are going to run $2k+, but you can go OEM+, oem front bumper and a UK-spec front lip.

a couple of stock bumpers can be picked up dirt cheap and will look a lot better (and a hell of a lot less tacky) than some crap aftermarket bumpers. especially if you don't get matching sides and more importantly, if you don't have the wheels/stance to match.

SaintNexus

^Reasonable, as in, under $1000.

The way I see it, I spent $4,200 for my car, and I don't want my modifications to be more than the actual cost of the car.

Are there are any websites that you can recommend for parts?

I found this place: http://www.lexuspartsnow.com/ <but they don't have any images, just a bunch of car part talk that I can barely understand. :[

As for body kits, I came across this one: http://www.bodykits.com/Lexus/LS400/...ons/Body-Kits/

I don't want it to look tacky (I am going to repaint the car, it's gonna run me about $600), and I've been trying to find the controller for my Air Suspension so I can lower it. So far there is about 3-4 inches of space, and I want it dropped. Wheels will come in later, that's probably one of the last things that I'm looking at.

I just want the front bumper and rear bumper. For the front bumper, I want something that doesn't have a place for your license plate. I want it to look nice and somewhat sporty.

If I have to have the bumper with the plates, I'd want something like this: http://www.bodykits.com/Extreme-Dime...100945/616032/

Without the plates, and this looks nice: http://www.bodykits.com/Extreme-Dime...100949/616033/

The bumper that I showed you originally, it's being sold at this website http://www.bodykits.com/Versus-Motor...W889FB/625436/ <for $250. Whereas the other link, showed the exact same bumper for 1/3 the price.

deanshark

No problem for the words, faith and determenation helps alot when working on cars. You asking me about the bumpers? I have absolutely no opinion on any mods for the LS. Although, some do look good to me, when finished. I'm a "stock" guy with my LS. That's one reason I bought it, b/c it's perfect the way it is. Before I bought my LS I had my 91 Grand Prix hooked up but those days are over for me, I matured. But, do what you gotta do, it's your car.
Oh, I noticed another thread you started where you mentioned this afternoon the lights came on, (trac, CEL, and Trac Control) but in this thread last night you said they went away. I don't understand, but I'll answer that thread here. If just the "trac" light is on then check your brake fluid, it's probably low. Also, you've been a member here for a while you should have seen this before now to get your codes; http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/intro/codereading.html

SaintNexus

^Yeah, I mentioned last night that the lights went away, but the last time I drove the car was the day before. I didn't drive it all day yesterday cause I was working with my dad and just stayed home afterwards. When I started the car in the morning, the lights went on.

Anyway, the 3 lights were on, but as I started driving, they all went away except for the Trac light. I have been noticing squeaking sounds when I hit the breaks at low speeds, so I guess the brake fluid might be low then. I will check be checking that out.

Thank you so much for that link. Only problem is that I don't have that short wire. I opened the hood, and checked the engine bay and found this little box that said DIAGNOSIS on it..



I opened it, and was probably the first person to open it in years..



Disgusting.

Anyway, I didn't find the check connector wire. Where can I buy one of those, Autozone?

deanshark

Wow nasty. You can also use the diagnostic box under the dash but the engine bay is easier. The wire you need is just a piece of wire, any gauge, any size. Even a piece of speaker wire would work.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

yeah...I tap out. any kit you get, be it $600 or $6000, is going to look like total crap with a $600 paint job.
to put it into perspective, that's more than the materials would cost for a proper paint job on a car of that size.

A knockoff bumper is goiing to be crap quality whether you pay 490 or $200 for it, it's the same item made by most likely the same manufacturer. In this case i'd just have a new OEM bumper sprayed to match the car, and detail the hell out of the original paint.

SaintNexus

Are you saying that the bumper will look like crap, or the paint job will look like crap?

I plan to get it done here: http://www.onedaypaint.com/our-promotions-2/ <unless I can get a better deal somewhere else.

The roof of the car is just fading away or rusting or something. The bottom half of my car is a cheap $10 spray paint job. How will getting it done professionally be bad to the garbage I've been dealing with for the past year?

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

have you ever seen the crap that comes out of those places?? not even CLOSE to oem quality, much less anything that i've ever seen resemble "decent."

and the answer to your questions is:
Both.

If you really want to make an improvement, save up for a couple more months, have the bottom panels and your new/used (oem) front bumper sprayed to match the rest of the car (monotoning it) and just have the rest detailled (as that can usually save pretty bad paint, or at least make it decent).

going rate for JUST a front bumper at any half-decent bodyshop in cali is ~$250-400 depending on where you go and what kind of quality you want. Consider you wanted to get the ENTIRE CAR done for $600 and you'll understand what level of quality (not sure if that word even applies here...) you're considering for a one-day type paint.