New Bumper Cover... Part 1

So, as the title says, one thing I had done at the Lexus dealer was to have the beat up original bumper cover, with all of its scratches and chips thanks to the previous owner, replaced with a brand new bumper cover from the factory. Being a Lexus factory part, the paint is absolutely perfect.

Beautiful!

But to stay absolutely perfect is not possible, not matter how much wax or sealant is applied, especially when the car is on the expressway often as it is in my case. But, I had, even before buying the car (but after seeing it), thought about getting certain parts of the car repainted so I had ordered several pieces of 3M clear protection film pre-cut for the ISF, from the US.

Here are the film cutouts for the bumper and mirrors.

On my GT-R, I had successfully cut my own templates, from which I cut headlight protection thickness 3M clear film, and then applied to the headlights. So, I figured that with lots of time and patience, application of the bumper piece on the ISF would be the same, especially because it was already pre-cut.

So, I took off the (required in Japan) license plate and its holder:

This must be the cheapest piece on the car. Will have to upgrade soon.

Those are some LARGE holes...

And then I washed the bumper and used a Zaino claybar to remove any dust, just in case:

After it was all clean, I sprayed the front bumper with the distilled water and baby shampoo mix:

The bumper film has yet to be peeled away and is sitting upside down on the hood

And then, as deftly as possible I removed the 3M film from its backing and tried to apply it to the bumper:

Was ok so far...

Finally got it on, somehow....

And then came the process of using the supplied squeegees to remove the activator fluid of distilled water and alcohol.

When I finished, however, I learned that 1) in getting the film to fit in some areas, I had overstretched the material so it would not fit in others, 2) despite my washing down the garage some dust had gotten trapped and caused some rough spots (redoing the application in places to remove this dust was driving me insane) and 3) some fluid just could not be removed.

What it looked like when I gave up...

Finally, after spending the entire afternoon doing this, as it began to get dark I decided to give up. The photo above was taken right before I walked away disgusted with myself.

The problem remained, however, what to do - could this be salvaged (I guess I could drive it around looking horrible until it was fixed) or was there another solution?

For the GT-R, I had also wanted to install some paint protection - I had bought a can of the 3M Paint Defender as well as a container of the Road Warrior Plus because I was concerned that I would not have the talent to cut bulk sheets of the 3M film to fit the GT-R.  But of course, for some reason I searched my garage and could find neither of these.

Finally I gave up, made some calls, and then found myself on Wednesday morning at a famous Porsche tuner in Yokohama, just 10 minutes away from where I live.

Stay tuned in Part 2 to see what I had done...

New IS200t Loaner!

So after the car's 6 month inspection, I decided to order a few parts to begin the process of improving the car. Just some minor tweaks. Yes, famous last words.

Anyway, because the car was kept overnight they offered me the use of a loaner car - in this case the new IS200t - four cylinder with single double scroll turbo (I think that is what Dino said, anyway).

The white one next to my car, with number plate 200, is the IS200T they lent me.

Since I'm not a motorjournalist, I won't bother with all the photos of the exterior and interior, etc. Just a few thoughts on the car itself compared to the ISF.

First, the car felt shorter than it really is. When I parked the car at home, I discovered that it barely fit in the garage, putting the rear wheels against the same bump stop as the ISF. I read somewhere that Toyota had engineered the car to be welded in more spots, and that they also used a new type of adhesive, in order to obtain better body rigidity. Makes sense, because my GT-R felt shorter once I had improved its body rigidity too.

Second, the engine I think is only mediocre. A car this class, I think, needs more power. I haven't bothered to check how much horsepower the car has, but at low speeds it is very Lexus like, quiet, but once acceleration happens the engine is working hard. Too hard, maybe? Still quiet but not the effortless power the ISF has.

Third, even in Sport+ mode I was not happy with how the car felt. Still overpowered and too light, although I think the suspension does a good job of a decent ride. Brakes were strong though.

Fourth, interior - I do like the new LFA inspired OLED gauges, but I think I still prefer 2 stand alone tach and speed gauges. Keep it simple.  The seats were too soft even after 5 minutes, too.

Fifth, exterior - I do like the way it looks. I do like the modern aero touches that probably came from the LFA, like this A-pillar "fin"... I think I saw something offered for the ISF which I will have to get eventually.

I like the way the front of the car looks. The rear, looks like it wasn't quite finished.  I found this, and if Lexus had offered an ISF based on the new platform and it looked like this, I may have gotten it.

why didn't Toyota offer the ISF in this new model?

Rear looks awesome!

Close up. See, that looks great!

In any case, in my next posts I'll show you what I got, and my impressions. Hint, one IS a TRD part...

GS-F Test Drive!

So when I dropped off my IS-F for its 6 month inspection, I took a quick look at the following cars:

The interior looked cheap. Same materials as used in the IS-F? Expected better from a GS!

The look is growing on me. Still think the rear quarter is weird though.

Turbo model! Curious to see how this drives...

 In any case, the next day I went to pick up the car:

And saw this monstrosity...

 But the highlight was when Ishikawa-san pulled this out of the garage:

Check out that license plate!!

Ok so I'm not as well dressed as Ishikawa-san. But very happy!

Forget to take a photo of the ultra-clear heads up display the car has!

Lots more legroom. Love the color actually!

Bit surprised that a real harness could not be passed through...

Same basic engine means, the car feels slower and less nimble than the IS-F

Looks much better though, I think.

Especially with these LED headlights!

Why they kept the brakes on the IS-F black....

Even from the rear, looks great. Hey, real exhaust pipes!!!

Everything in the car is much more refined than the IS-F, as would be befitting a GS sedan, and the power is fine. Not as urgent as the IS-F, but then again we are hauling around another 400kg I think.

What I was really impressed by was the ride quality - Sachs dampers apparently, the same manufacturer as that which supplied the later model IS-Fs.  I may have to eventually replace the early OEM Tokikos with the later model OEM Sachs in my car.

Meanwhile, I have a couple of mods coming up soon....stay tuned!

Easiest Mod Ever! Genuine Lexus IS (20 series) Door Weatherstripping

This is seriously the easiest modification I've ever done. All you need is the ability to apply a sticker and that's about it.

In surfing the web, I found several IS/IS-F owners had installed the Lexus (genuine OEM) weatherstripping for the GS.  Interesting, I found that non-Toyota owners were doing this mod too, including this Mazda Atenza Wagon owner. Seems to be a popular, cheap, effective and easy DIY mod.

The claimed benefits being, when closing the doors they sound more substantial, the additional weatherstripping helps to make the car even more quieter, and it prevents rain/water from carwash from accumulating on the B pillars.

Anyway I ordered from an online retailer and waited a few days:

Part numbers 67895-30020 (driver's side), 67896-30020 (passenger side). For RHD anyway.

Hardest part was making sure to apply on a clean and grease free surface. After using some cleaning items, I made sure that the length of the rubber strip matched up:

Making sure it lines up at the bottom.

 Warning, the strip is actually a few mm short. See below, make sure the top of the strip fits properly.

Here are the pull away tabs which reveal the adhesive underneath.

 Pull the lower tab away, revealing the adhesive on the lower half. Start at the bottom of the front edge of the rear door, and then slowly but securely apply the weatherstrip. That's it!

The top side looks like this. There is actually a small tab that needs to either be cut off or pushed behind the existing vertical strip.

As you can see the additional strip make the doors flush, except for a bit at the top

From a distance can barely tell. (And yes, I know the paint needs a professional polish)

Anyway, I then took the car out for a drive to see if I could tell the difference in sound.  Actually it was a 4 hour road trip with the family; I GUESS there is a small difference but likely a placebo effect. The biggest change is definitely how the doors sound when you close them now.  Interestingly, most Lexus owners reported the same thing in the links above; only the non-Lexus owners experienced a clear reduction in noise, telling us how well designed and built these cars are to begin with.  

And I suppose this also explains why the cars didn't come with them either. Oh well. To the next mod!

Trunk Interior Lamp LED Conversion

So in continuing to update the OEM lighting of the ISF, one light that seemed noticeably (and pathetically) dark to me, was the trunk lighting.

Here, at night, the OEM bulb lights up only the rear edge, you can't see what's back there deep in the trunk...

There are lots of options - sure I could find and use many of those LEDs found on Yahoo Auctions and such, but I wanted an easy to fit, and also one that actually was brighter than the OEM incandescent bulb.  So this time I turned to LEMS, known here in Japan for their Lexus specific tuning parts. They had a prepackaged, LED version of the trunk light module - so it would be a quick and easy swap out - no need for me to take my trunk light out and replace the bulb with LEDs.

It's plug and play. I didn't even open the instruction book.

Once you pull out the assembly (from the right side), the assembly hangs down like this. OEM bulb.

One clip is all that holds the assembly in place. Unclip the old, and clip on the new LED assembly.

Instantly - much better. You can see the details on the ski pass-through (compared to the first photo above)

Here is a photo my DSLR took in auto mode with the OEM bulb - the shutter stayed open longer than in the LED photo below, suggesting lower light intensity

Photo by the same DLSR - you can see how the LED provides much sharper detail around the rear shock assemblies and the edge of the rubber mat.

So now, I think I am addicted to these newer tech LEDs... the technology has improved so much since I experimented with LEDs on the GT-R.  Not sure what my next mod will be but perhaps there are other LED bulbs that can improve the IS-F...

Reverse Lamp LED Conversion

So on 4 January, while satisfying my OCD need to clean the less visible parts of the car, I decided to spend a few minutes during the afternoon, and later at night, to see how the latest LED bulbs compare to the OEM back up lights.

I had done substantial research and decided I wanted to find, and then try, the brightest LED bulbs possible.  A few years ago I had experimented with back up bulbs on my GT-R, and ended up installing an HID bulb - mainly because the GT-R only has one reverse light and in the dark it can be hard to see while backing up.

Anyway, the results were discouraging back then, and I still was not sure whether LED technology had improved to the point where such bulbs, even at high lumens, were comparable to good halogen bulbs. There is also the issue of the reflectors being designed for halogens which emit light in all directions versus LEDs which tend to shine light in one direction.

Flash forward a couple of years, LED technology seems to have improved - my research had found these as the (claimed) brightest T16 size LEDs available in Japan - in fact the retailer is a mostly Toyota/Lexus LED bulb specialist so naturally there was a price premium. However their claims of 900 lumens, being 340% brighter than a regular white bulb, as well as using Chip On Board (COB) technology (which I was totally impressed with in a mod for my GT-R), convinced me to take a chance and buy a pair.

They arrived the day after I ordered... thank you Amazon!

I first used a special tool I had recently picked up to remove the clips holding the lining to the trunk lid:

Interesting how Lexus uses Velcro ensure the lining stays flush with the trunk lid!

Yellow arrow is the back up bulb... note the wiring is held in by a clip. The clip has to be undone, otherwise there is not enough slack in the wiring to remove the bulb from the trunk lid-side housing easily.

iPhone photo comparison

So as the above photo shows, despite supposedly being 3.4x brighter and 900 lumens, the OEM halogen bulb on the left still seems to be brighter.  Or maybe it's the camera? With the naked eye the difference didn't seem this large.

Nikon DSLR photo

This above photo is more accurate as to how I saw it. I did try to do a comparison, by using my hand to shield each bulb in turn to see which lit up the back of the garage better.  (Incidentally, the halogen got hot very quickly but even these COB LEDs stayed cool...) But during the day it was hard to tell. From the perspective of a car behind me, the LED obviously looked whiter and cleaner.

iPhone photo at night

When I covered up each bulb in turn, admittedly the halogen seemed to cast more shadows than the LED bulb - implying that the halogen was indeed brighter.  I then opened the trunk to see how the lights would look on the ceiling of the garage:

But the difference is slight, I think. The LED seems to have a more focused light than the halogen, if anything.

But as I had come this far, and if the difference was indeed slight, I decided to install the LED on the right side as well. And then see how these lights worked when viewed in the back up monitor from the driver's seat - would there be an improvement?

Again iPhone photo, no flash, both LEDs installed.

Oh, and if you're wondering about that OEM ISF alloy wheel in the corner... well I hope to have a blog post about what I was doing soon enough!

Nikon DSLR photo, without flash.
Compare the brightness of these LEDs with the OEM LED bulb used to light up the license plate.

What's interesting is that, while from the outside the halogens do seem slightly brighter, from INSIDE the car, these LEDs clearly work better with the back up camera than the OEM halogens.  I initially believed the difference to be one of color - one can see clearly in the rear view mirrors that the LEDs provide a whiter light - but on the navigation screen, the light coloring and brightness seemed to be the same.... until I took a close look at what these following photos revealed:

Backing up - OEM back up lamps while braking

Backing up - same spot in garage - with the LEDs and braking... see the difference?

While the rear view camera appears to automatically adjust to get the brightest image possible, the LEDs (second photo) allow the camera to transmit a cleaner, crisper image.

Even without brake application:

OEM back up lamps, no braking

LED back up lamps, no braking

Everything is crisp and there seems to be more definition, and there is no yellowish tinge.

So my conclusion is that even if not quite as bright in relative terms with the halogens, to the extent these LEDs work well with the reverse monitor camera, I will use them until either someone comes out with an even more clearly brighter LED, or there is a need to put the halogens back.

Oh, and now that I've tinkered with some LEDs...I've begun to research what other bulbs in the ISF can be replaced with LEDs that actually improve the lighting. Stay tuned!