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!

Long Overdue Update - New Tires and TPMS!

So I know there are at least a few people out there who read my other blog who may be wondering if I do anything at all with my Lexus in the way of mods, repairs, or improvements.  Truth is, other than regular maintenance, not much. Not surprisingly, this is a solidly built car which I use on the weekends for family stuff, so I keep the mileage down and of course the neighbors happy that it has the OEM exhaust still.

Of course, I always keep it as clean as possible.

Although, I did finally decide to get new tires.  After doing some research, I decided to go for the spiritual if not actual successor to the Michelin Pilot Sports tires which were OEM equipment on the car - the Pilot Sports 4S. 

Unfortunately, if you know anything about Japan, buying tires from regular tire shops is expensive - easily twice in dollar amount than what I would pay back in the USA.  And as stated in my last post - about 18 months ago - the local Lexus dealer wanted about 80,000 yen per Pilot Sports 4S! So, I did what anyone in their right mind would do - find the best prices for the tires I wanted on Amazon and Rakuten. Rakuten to the rescue, so I pulled the trigger and had the tires delivered to my house last October. 

They came nicely wrapped in industrial clear wrap (and yes I checked the manufacturing date, but since the 4S came out recently, not too worried about "old stock").

Just making sure...

But of course since my garage doesn't have the right tools to replace tires, I made an appointment at the closest Tire Fitter outfit to me.

I didn't get many great photos of the outside of the store:

So you can see the nose of my car peeking out. 

But they let me watch as their team went to work - not unusual for Japan, I was in and out in about 10 minutes! It was akin to a racing team pit crew at work. Everyone knew what the others were doing, and everyone focused on one task. 

I found most gratifying that they actually bothered to wipe down the wheels when done, to minimize the dust on the wheels (don't worry, I saw the cloth was clean lol).

They also agreed to install the tire pressure sensors for an updated aftermarket Tire Pressure Monitoring System, as the older one had indicated a battery failure in the left rear wheel. 

Some assembly required - of the sensors and valve stems:

Just in case I labelled in Japanese to eliminate any chance of error

This new one did not require me to let air out to trigger the match up on the small LCD display - it was pretty much automatic.  Further bonus was how ALMOST OEM the display looks, with its slightly bluish crisp white numbers. 

If you recall, a few years ago I had Ninomiya-san at BeAmbitious install the older version of the display when I replaced my scratched up wheels for some used OEM ones that were in better condition.

Older version

See the difference? Two buttons, plus bigger numbers. Bonus was that since I think it was the same company, I simply reused the wiring that Ninomiya-san had done for me. So a literal plug and play.

So what's next? Well this all happened last October.  I just had an oil change at the dealer, and there is a small detail that bothers me, so I may ask them to fix it next time I am there, which should be in a few weeks.  Stay tuned!

Flat Tire - A First Time for Everything

Yes, it's true - in my over 20 years of driving I've never had a flat tire. Until just last week, when on the way home from Yokota Air Base, my Chinese made "RUPSE" Tire Pressure Monitor System started going bananas.  In the past, on a hot day it had indicated a problem, but when I parked the car and drove on a cooler day, it was fine.

So when the TPMS started flashing again indicating a fault in the right rear tire, luckily I was going slow enough to pull over and take a look. The right rear tire looked fine, but just in case I looked at the other rear tire and... yep it was pretty flat (the sensors had been switched left to right on installation. Oh well). Tire gauge indicated a 1.5 when all other tires were 2.5.

As I was hoping for a slow leak, I pulled into a gas station, had the tire inflated back up to 2.5, and then drove home. The TPMS warning went away, but then as I approached my house I noticed the air pressure number for the right rear (in reality the left rear) tire dropping. And of course, the next morning the the tire was flat with the rim on the ground, with only the rubber of the tire between it and the ground.

So I went off to work, and during the day called the dealer to see if they could help. Their idea was, with a slow leak I could either inflate the tire myself (or mount the spare) and then drive over, and they would see if they could repair the tire. So that's exactly what I did - I left work early, used a portable electric pump and filled up the tire, and drove to the Lexus dealer, thankfully only about 1.3 km away from my house.

After enjoying the free drink and snack, they invited me back to the workshop to check out what was going on.

Super clean, wish the Nissan dealer was like this too...

 Surprisingly, they found a nail in the tire, but that wasn't the cause of the leak. When they dunked the tire in soapy water, they found the source of the leak.

Looks like something wedged in there. 

 Luckily, because it wasn't on the side of the tire, it was repairable.

But look at what it was!

Broken off knife blade!

It appeared to be a broken off utility knife blade.  So they plugged up the leak and told me it was a temporary fix, and sent me on my way.

Now, I DID ask about what tires to get next - the car is on Michelin Pilot Super Sports, and while those are still in stock, for not much more I could get the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S, which is the follow on model to the Super Sports. Unfortunately, the dealer wanted about 80,000 yen per tire (or about $800 each!) while I could shop online and get each tire for less than half that price. So guess what I'll be doing soon...

Except of course I have other expenses in my life right now, so as long as this repaired tire holds (the dealer showed me I have about 4mm of tread life left until each tire hits the wear bars on the tire), I'm going to try to hold out...

A Short Trip Up To Nagano... and the Prince & Skyline Museum

...and the Prince & Skyline Museum!

I'll post more on the museum itself on my R33 GT-R page later, but wanted to include some photos that just came out right!

Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures are VERY green this time of year, and with a bit of rainfall the scenery was even more interesting (check out the clouds) and pretty.  Bonus was all the fresh air...

Found a neat bridge with red railings. Had to stop and take some photos! 

Found a look out point a few kms later...

Here was the view... the kind of green I don't see in Yokohama!

Another nice bridge

Still think the carbon lip really balances the car...

Towards the end of the day, found this road...

Had some fun on a gravel road....

Got out to check it out and what a great picture here

Of course this will need a wash....

 Anyway it's been a while since I drove this car so much (over 450km in one day) and this blog also needed an update.

Until next time...

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!!