jhpcat

Good morning all. I have decided to cosmetically restore my 99 LS400, as engine, suspension and drivetrain are all solid. I am going to buy new leather covers, new headlamps, rubber moldings, etc. and have the car repainted in its Pearl White color. Head to toe. I love this car and its the best car I've ever had. Only 197K miles on it and I only use Genuine Toyota Parts. Only other car I'd keep with 197k on it would be a MB 300. Now that I am taking this plunge, I want some input as to where I can get the best pricing. I have been using OEMSTOP.CAPITALTOYOTA.net where they give about 27% off on this stuff. What do you all suggest? Thanks for your guidance.

Peacebay

Amayama is typically the lowest cost supplier, however I've noticed recently that many parts are not in stock any longer, plus the shipping cost sometimes eats up any savings experienced on parts.

Discount parts monster is also excellent and is usually has lowest priced out of the domestic suppliers. Shipping is quick too.

jhpcat

Thanks Peacebay. the Monster is better on every part. In fact, Amayama is 2 1/2 time higher on the leather. OUCH! But I love the Monster. Thanks for sharing this with me. You saved me about 5%, from the 27% I had been getting. That equates to about $75 bucks. Thanks again!

Sin1UZFE

Rockauto.com usually has denso and aisin

spuds

Amayama will have parts nobody else does.Ive found it a good deal with shipping IMO.

jhpcat

I dont understand Amayama. THey show that the leather seat cover (7107250240A0) is about $1751.00 USD. At Monster Parts the same iterm is only $765.00 USD. I pulled 6 or 7 part numbers and all seem to be at dealer list or higher. What am I doing wrong?

YODAONE

First verify that parts are even available. Just because a price listed doesn't mean not discontinued.

peterls

As you can see from my activity, I have been buying parts lately like there's no tomorrow. What I noticed is that there is no hard and fast rule, especially if you are looking for OEM. Sometimes, Amayama cannot be beat, even with shipping. Other part(s) you may find is heavily discounted at an online Lexus dealer, probably because our cars are getting old, there is less and less of them and they are trying to get rid of them. I have seen parts that used to list for $700, discounted to $400, which made them as cheap as Amayama.
With all that in mind, here is how I do my parts shopping:
1. First find out who makes the OEM part, and see if you can find that one on Rockauto or Amazon or elswhere (e.g. for bearings there are web retailers that specialize in bearings only). I bought new struts there (KYB Excel-G) and they worked out perfectly well, and were cheap too (all the talk about Excel-G being different from OEM is at least in my case - nonsense. The ride is perfect and smooth as butter). OEM wheel bearings are made by KOYO but good luck finding those (at least for 1st gen LS).
2. Check out Amayama for their OEM price. Sometimes it is much better than you expected.
3. Check "lexuspartsnow.com" - they are usually among the cheapest and have a good stock. If something is not available on their website, I get worried. Also, their shipping is fast and reasonable.
4. Check E-bay - there are honest sellers there having parts at prices similar to amayama, but with no shipping or waiting. Obviously, all the warnings that apply to E-bay still remain (check out the seller's feedback and so on)
5, If it is bearings of any kind, you don't have to order OEM - there are others making them as good - SKF for instance. Will it last as long as KOYO? I would venture a guess that it will. But only SKF and hardly any other brand. Still I'm aware of my limited knowledge, so I opted for OEM from Amayama since the price is almost the same anyway. (SKF is expensive)
6. Finally, you can sometimes buy used, if you think the used one will be as good as new. For instance, IACV used costs around $50, while new is around $600. Even if used one is dirty, all you have to do is clean it (provided it can be opened!), maybe replace the bearings (ten bucks for SKF), and you are good to go. Saved yourself 500 bucks.
7. Last but not least, when prices are similar, say, on Amazon and Rockauto, I tend to trust Rockauto more. They seem to know what they are selling, and I hope they wouldn't send me junk. So far it worked fine. Amazon doesn't care nearly as much, so they are mostly a last resort for me, even if their price is a few bucks better sometimes. (tip: if you are logged into Amazon, they will check all your cookies, meaning - your browsing history, and adjust the price of what you are looking for accordingly. If you just started looking for something, the price may be higher than if you already searched on other web sites. That's another reason I don't like them.)

spuds

I got my OEM wiper blades cheaper at amayama with shipping than ebay could do.So I agree,shopping all the sources is the way to go.
Ive seen unobtanium parts available at amayama.Like some suspension parts nobody else will have.Also price parts there from all their warehouses,they vary widely on same items with costs plus shipping,no rhyme nor reason on that.

We are lucky to have the availability on these cars that we do.