Red93sc400

Over the last 2 days I have visited 6 local, very reputable body shops here in CT. Now, granted CT is no California, a wee bit more conservative however there is an aftermarket and loads of car shops, etc.

Well, as you know, I have been contemplating replacing my front bumper cover with perhaps a kit cover. The 93 Red SC400 is just about in Mint condition everywhere. Red93SC400 is a working car running 80+ miles per day. There are only two paint dings on the passenger door but no dimples. My main issue is that the lower front airdam which is a black rubber material is slightly wavey. 4 of the body shop guys think this is a result of some fomer tow where the tow truck kinda over flexed the bumper cover.

I went to each shop, showed them the car. They really like its looks. Now here is the hard part and the part that concerns me alot... these are all various qoutes....

"Why would you want to mess with a mint condition Lexus?" "Those kits are junk, we have installed many of them, the gelcoat is lumpy, they do not fit well." "If you put that front end on that car you WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO HAVE IT TOWED without destroying kit front end. In fact it will not even be able to go up on a flatbet with tow cables." "You would drastically reduce the value of you car" "Your current rubber airdam is flexible, all of these (referring to the 2 pictures I was showing them) are solid and fibreglass, I give you 3 month before you are back here having it repaired cause you hit something or nosed out and cracked it on an incline" "Look you have a mint car, leave it that way and put one of these things on it when and if you ever have real damage, until then I would not go that route, those aftermarket kits are trouble and break easy, especially with the long low nose of your car." "Ok whats next, you gonnal lower it? Yah? With those nose kits you will be building a snowplow. Hit a lump of hard snow at speed and kiss the front end goodbye."

So....

All the shops said they would do it but tried like hell to talk me out of it. There was not one of them very entusiastic about the kits. Your thoughts on this matter.

Lastly, do remember that these shop guys are all pros. Honest and essentially turning away work by taking this stance and giving such advice. I perhaps think that when so many say the same thing in slightly different ways, you gotta listen to some extent.

importtoys

Honestly...They are pretty much right............ When building a car you weigh the pro's and con's. They have very valid points but Its YOUR car and you know what YOU like. Now ask yourself if its worth it. Many say yes and many say no...But its all up to you.
Maybe not the advice you are looking for or expected to hear (this coming from someone who sells performance parts ) But its the truth. You are lucky to get advice like that from a brick and mortar shop that makes most of their money from labor... I personally like to think that people have thought of all types of scenerios,good and bad.......BEFORE purchasing parts.

Again, You know the risk associated with front end body-kits...you will have to learn how to drive with them on.
Its sometning that will be on your mind every second til you get used to it.....bottom line. But it can be done in a short amount of time.
The kit that is on one of my cars(non Lexus) is ALWAYS on my mind...and should be, considering the cost. Its a great feeling to get a 'thumbs-up' from people or when you see another car like yours and the driver gives a thiumbs up or wants to talk to you about your car.....Even those that 'pretend' not to see you
So, evaluate the pro's n con's and do what you want...and build what you like...remember you are the one that drives it and pays for it....It's all about YOU.
Good luck with your ride.
~IT

BTW:There are towtruck drivers that know what they are doing...I've never seen a car that couldnt be towed in some way.

MadMaxSC400

I'm thinking about later-gen side skirts and having the front bumper cover replaced with a stock one, then repainting it and painting the front spoiler like they do in Japan, then put a protective strip on the bottom of the spoiler. I really like the 1st gen front end for some reason

black sc

This is the conflict I have had also. I was considering putting a body kit but, had second thoughts. I have had a body kit and fortunately for me there was no problem with it. Most body kits are made from fiberglass. That means if your car is lowered and you hit front. It is most likely going to crack or have some damage. If you have seen a car with a cracked body kit. It looks a lot worse than a car without it.


Also, fitting a body kit is a concern. That is a problem that most body shops do not like. It takes them a lot of time to figure and fabricate it to fit.

So, if you can take the good with the bad. That is great. However, for me I am stopped thinking putting a body kit. Besides, I see too many Hondas and Acuras with them.

Manaray

Red - For the most part, they are right...but the part about the lumpy gelcoat...they must have installed some JUNK kits because I've never seen lumpy gelcoat on any kit from a good manufacturer (even on the Honda side).

The towing part is a lie...I have friends that own towing companies like Importtoys said, a lot of them know what they're doing and can do it right.

Now, the part about your SC having a long front end and whatnot is definitely true. If I owned a SC, that's one MAJOR concern I would have. But then again, I've been driving lowered, body-kitted (??) cars nearly my whole life...I've learned a few tricks over the years...

Again, like Importtoys said, it's up to you. It's your car and it's what you like. If you REALLY want a kit and you understand the downfalls and are willing to deal with it, then do it.

But if you're looking more for practicality, then the body shop guys are right...hehehe...he said "snowplow"...yeah, out here in Sourthern Cali, we don't really need to worry about that too much.

DIrEctQL

First, body kits don't always make your car look good. Then, the body kits for the SC aren't too far away from the stock look. I have +97 (I think) has the side, front, and rear skirts already. Looks lower than other SCs and it's no body kit. Get the stock skirts and viola. I'll show you a picture when I lower my car with 18" rims in the summber. I'll aslo wax the car and you'll have a show-car right there. It's simple. The body kits are actually bad for the car. They are lower, usually bigger, and finally there is no performance gain from them. Infact, you might loose performance.

You better get coil-over suspension. Ohh wait, I bet you weren't planning on that. Most poeple who do bodykits don't do much other performance. Making your car look fast without actually making your car fast is a streight riceing out your Lexus. I am sure the reason why these people told you not to do the bodykits is because you do have a Lexus, no need to the body kits. It's not just another Honda out there. You don't need to stand out!

Bean

iTrader: (1)

I have to disagree on the bodykits looking like stock

Compare something like the Do-luck or Bomex kits to stock and they are so far off its crazy...

I want the doluck kit with 18s, tien coilovers and a 18x10 in the rear with a 4" lip

DIrEctQL

Okay, so they somewhat do. They only tend to extend few curves or add some nasty fat side-skirts. No offence for those with Bomex.

Bean

iTrader: (1)

with that argument, then all bodykits should never be used since they still 'somewhat' look stock... hell no one should ever visually mod their car because everything still looks stock... hell rims look like rims right since they're circular and have spokes right? so no point in buying aftermarket rims... hell why not just use wheelcovers

The only bodykit mod that I can think of that totally takes the car to a different level of design is the AB-flug Supra, the blue one...

I have yet to see "most" bodykits look like stock, maybe I pay attention on a more detailed level, but Do-luck sideskirts are still sideskirts, but they look TOTALLY different than stock skirts... and the same goes for most bodykits I see, and this includes the front bumper, rear bumper, etc

DIrEctQL

Hmmm, read my first post again and think about it really hard. I was reffaring to SC bodykits. Here is a line just for you: Most bodykits for SC are pretty simmilar to the stock 97+ SC.

Manaray

Ah, but even the AutoCouture kit, which IMO is the least "abrasive" looking kit, makes the SC look MUCH BETTER than stock. Though it may not be a "stand out" type kit like the VeilSide, it definitely doesn't look "stock".

...but I agree that it's rather "ricey" to just do nothing but visual mods to a car (any car IMO)...for me, the body kit was 2nd to last in terms of mods...for me, the first thing is suspension and wheels, then a body kit, then engine work...usually, I would do engine work 1st or 2nd but I wanted to wait for a "off the shelf bolt-on" supercharger...that way, I can take it off w/o any permanent modifcations to the engine...(since I bought the car new).