A Bit of Center Console USB Charger Cleanup

 Inspired by the cigarette socket USB charger thingy I got for the GT-R, I purchased another but in the standard black color for the Lexus - the blue anodized one was almost twice as expensive - and since this is hidden away anyway...

Same USB-C charging cable as the one in the GT-R (there were 2 in the package)

Ever since I got the car, I had used a rather large cigarette socket charger that had two regular USB-A sockets, into which I plugged in a USB-A to USB-C cable.

What a mess

After installation of the new one, I realized it is so short that I could shut the cap!

But with two cables plugged in - one USB-A for the cell phone charger, and the USB-C to Lightning and USB-C for guest phones...

Now I can actually put stuff into the center console like drinks!

Here is a closer look at what I removed

I guess it still works, so I won't quite throw it away just yet...

Updating My Car Cleaning and Detailing Knowledge!

So it has been a while, but yes I still have the Lexus as my daily/weekend driver – going strong with no problems.  And so much so, I haven’t bothered to make any mods to it, both in the name of keeping the Toyota reliability as well as not finding any real inspiration to mess with a very good car.  This, combined with my crazy workload this year, means I haven’t had time to really touch either of my cars.  

Here is the item for my testing today, the SUMAHO Mamoru Kun product (rated a 9H in hardness on the JIS scale)

Recently however, I was checking out the parts review section on Minkara, when I came across a series of owners of different cars talking about a product, originally designed to protect cell phone displays, that was proving to be effective against protecting the piano black finish that seems to be increasingly popular these days in car interiors, against scratches, dust, and for some people, reducing the appearance of fine scratches. This spray, called SuMaHo Mamoru-kun, also is supposedly good at protecting the glass Navi displays from dust and scratches. (I suspect this is some kind of ceramic glass coating spray…)

I even found one review where the reviewer also recommended using a certain brand of microfiber cloth, along with purified water, to do the initial wipe-down, before applying the Mamoru Kun spray.

As I am never one to shy away from a good idea, I went out and got the coating, the microfiber cloth, and the purified water.

Translated as Super Strong Cleaning Cloth.  To remove stubborn oil stains, fingerprints, accumulated dust.

Sealed to keep dust free.

And most importantly, Made In Japan quality!

Japanese purified water. Actually tasted pretty good...

 

While the IS-F really doesn’t have any piano black touches – at least mine does not – it DOES have this silver carbon finish, as well as the now dated touchscreen. So I figured, why not try this out next time I am waiting in the car to pick up the wife or kids? Might as well keep up with the newest advances in car cleaning and protection, right?

Such an opportunity came up just today! Luckily I had already collected the items I needed, so...

Opened Mamoru-kun to reveal this tiny spray bottle and some cloth

Water on the Super Strong Cleaning Cloth

Maybe a bit hard to see, but the touch screen was a bit dirty, so I got to work...

Meanwhile the instructions are SO Japanese. Manga-easy to read...

After cleaning, spray on the product:

Then use the smaller of the included cloths to spread around. Let dry. 

The package contained 4 of these tiny cloths

Result is hard to show by photo. However on the silver carbon part, I could see that it was immediately much shinier. I am guessing that the spray stuff is a ceramic sealant. 

Hard to tell, but just wiping the dried sealant off, I could immediately tell the difference as the cloth moved around much easier.  Super slick!

For comparison, I did not apply this liquid on the silver carbon on the front doors. 

yep, felt strangely rough compared to the sprayed surface

And I am glad I did not spray these, it is tactile evidence that the spray stuff works! The center console feels super slick, and I think some of the small scratches are much harder to see. 

Lighting isn't outdoors like yesterday so...
(yeah I don't know why the ignition switch seems to be green either)

And the final result is - as you can see, super clean Navi screen - to be expected - but what was very interesting was, because this product is designed for cell phone screens, as a side benefit to leaving the surface super slippery as described above, it also means that fingerprints are not easily transferred to the glass.  Whatever oils do end up, can be easily wiped off with a microfiber towel. 

And, if you look very closely at the screen, while the surface seems very smooth, clean, and smudge free, I can see which parts of the screen seem to have been used more... maybe. Or just bad lighting.

In any case, I am curious to see how long this lasts. Will report back - this car has been neglected, cleaning and detail-wise, for too long so I am eager to get back into checking out new techniques, tools and products. Stay tuned!

LEMS Carbon Fiber Lip Spoiler Install

So this is indicative of how long it's been since I last updated this blog (for real, not the sticker stuff in my last post) - this mod was done last July 9 (2017!!)! So over a year ago! Sorry friends, but obviously I don't do much for this car compared to the GT-R so updates don't seem as urgent...now that the car is off warranty (as a CPO car, it had a comprehensive warranty that expired in August 2018), I'm itching to do some stuff to bring out the car's best.

Anyway, soon after I bought the car, I was researching the various types of cosmetic mods - such as carbon fiber front lips (and other body part) options, and stumbled upon LEMS. There are other companies here in Japan that do Lexus stuff too such as NOVEL and ThinkDesign but each seems to have their own speciality. For example, ThinkDesign has some very tasty interior parts, and NOVEL has the market cornered with race developed engine and suspension mods.

The car without the carbon lip spoiler

So one day I was casually looking at items on Yahoo Auction, and found the item below, being sold by LEMS themselves (I could tell as the Seller ID was different but the address was LEMS).  The lip spoiler was being offered for substantially less than retail price of over 220,000 yen, so I figured maybe it was a one off or maybe slightly damaged.

When I got the box, it didn't inspire much confidence on the contents.

But yes a genuine LEMS product, with these instructions...

Wow. Gorgeous weave. Too bad this is on the UNDERSIDE and can't be seen

I had my friend Alessandro come over to help. 

The white stuff is clear silicon, not glue!

The lip spoiler is very well made. In fact, I could have simply slipped it on and it would have stayed on. But I went ahead and used some silicon as you can see in the above photo. First, I didn't want any water accumulating. Second, and more importantly, I was concerned about scratches to the bumper paint.  So we just slipped on the lip spoiler and I think there were a couple of screws on the outer sides, and voila!

One of the easiest mods I've ever done. Didn't even need to lift the car up (had jack stands ready just in case)

Really makes the car look better!

Verdict - great mod! Makes the front end of the car look much sharper and lower to the ground. I've only scraped a couple of times in tower parking lots as I'm going up or down a steep ramp, but the scratches aren't noticeable.

I'd say the problem now is, I am very tempted to add more carbon to the front of the car... it can certainly use more of it!!

"New" Wheels (Part 3)

So I was really eager to pick the car up! And not just because of the "new" wheels...

So in addition to getting "clean new" wheels put onto the car, I decided to use this opportunity to resolve another issue, one that had been bothering me ever since I bought the car.

WHAT IS THIS BLANK SWITCH??

Why did Lexus do this? I mean, since this car was equipped with all of the options, should they not design cars to use up all available switch space?

So I found on eBay this "Rupse TPMS for Toyota."  I was naive in that I thought that all Toyota switches were standardized, but more on that later.

First, I had Ninomiya-san contact a tire fitter who took the tires off the wheels, and install the sensors.  He then hooked up the display unit in the car.

I'm happy to report that, for about $100, the electronics appear to work perfectly. Not only do I get fairly accurate tire pressure readings (off by 0.1 bar according to Ninomiya-san), but also the temperature in Celsius! Very cool.

The problem, as I alluded to above, and you can see in this photo, was that the display size is 34mm x 23.5mm. The blank switch, however, if 40mm x 22mm. So while it holds itself in place, there is a noticeable gap on top and bottom.

After some research it appears that these dimensions are the size for Honda switches. Figured it was too good to be true. But not all is lost. I've already figured out a way to, at very least, make this look better... I think.

In any case, and more importantly, the car looks fantastic now with the "new" wheels.

Amazing how NO curb rash improves the looks!

Even two Italians (Dino and Ennio) thought so:

Ennio was in town, helping Dino get his BNR34 ready for the annual GT-R Magazine meeting

In any case, I also had Ninomiya-san install ONE MORE ITEM. And this one is AMAZING. Check back for my report on that!

"New" Wheels (Part 2)

So as you saw from my last post, I found some used wheels in good condition, with near new tires. My task has been to clean up the inside of all the brake dust, as well as to remove the scratches in the chromed parts, to the best of my ability. Granted, I bought those wheels last DECEMBER(!) so this project has been taking me a while.

With my current wheels, they collect so much brake dust and the dust is really hard to remove. No matter how many times I wash and use chemicals, or even special brushes, the dust just accumulates. There appears to be a "crust" of brake dust that just does not want to come off, and makes it easier for more brake dust to accumulate.

The purple stuff is brake dust MELTING away...

Specialist tools to get all the brake dust. I've never had to use this on the GTR. 

Yuck!

Anyway, there is a reason why I don't have this problem with the GT-R. You see, whenever I get wheels for the GT-R - whether the original OEMs that came with the car, or the RE30s I had for a few months, the TE37s or the LMGT4s I used only on the track, I always, when new/clean, apply this:

I love this stuff. You can buy it here.

Before I applied this, however, I wanted to make sure the wheels were absolutely the cleanest they could be.

A bit of brake dust here, so

I used some detailing clay to remove what I could

I was surprised to find this much still embedded!

So while the clay was certainly helping, after doing all 4 wheels, I still felt like I hadn't gotten rid of all I could. So, I ordered this stuff from the same place that makes the wheel "glass coating":

Which is basically a super strong acidic solution, much stronger than the off the shelf purple stuff I normally use

I now felt my wheels were clean enough, so I applied several thin coats of the glass coating:

With iPhone in one hand, pretending to apply with the other...

Why all of this prep? See my next post as to what I am doing with these wheels!

"New" Wheels (Part 1)

One of the problems with buying used, even a Certified Pre-Owned car, is that not everything is perfect, at least cosmetically.

For me, the biggest issue I spotted were the curb-rashed wheels - this was because other items like rock chips in the bumper, hood and mirror covers can all be written up as normal "wear and tear" - but curb rash signifies poor driving skills.

I get annoyed every time I see this on my car (so all the time....)

And, yes because I am sensitive to how others view me as a driver (especially when driving a nice car), I want to make sure that people don't think I can't drive without scraping ALL FOUR wheels.

So, I searched on Yahoo Auctions for some OEM wheels with as little damage as possible  - which was easier said than done, actually.

Finally, however I found a seller who not only seemed to be selling some clean undamaged rims (one small spot had some rash), but also was running on almost brand new tires (Michelin Pilot Super Sports) - he claimed only 4800 kms on them.

From the photos, it looked like a good deal - even the tires alone would be expensive (if new) and so I figured that together it would be a decent deal (i.e. get clean free wheels for the price of the tires).

From the Yahoo Auction page

From the Yahoo Auction page

When I got them, however, of course they were not as perfect as the seller claimed. Good condition yes but some light scrapes were visible so I had to buff those out using a combination of PoorBoys 2.5, 3M Perfect-It, and some good old elbow grease:

Before

After

Have to give credit to not just this 3M product, but some PoorBoys 2.5 vanishing compound too... oh and yes my PorterCable machine!

Still, they look great from a few paces away and clearly way better than the wheels on my car now.


Also, it appears he was truthful about the tires - the tire code shows that the tires were manufactured the 8th week (last week of Feb) of 2015, so these tires are relatively new and 4800kms - in Japan - makes sense especially if these tires were manufactured overseas (so if imported, would be on the car around late March, and I bought these wheels in August, so about 800kms per month?)


I noticed, however that there was still some brake dust hiding between the spokes and even though I used some clay to try to remove, it just wasn't going as quickly as it could:

Not very efficient...

So, I decided to try a chemical solution:

The purple stuff is the melted iron/brake dust, apparently...

Truth be told, the chemical did not remove all of the brake dust, so check back in Part 2 for my additional efforts. The wheels are presentable, sure, but not perfect... yet...