Lexus GS430 - The (un)project daily driver

About a year and a half ago, I was in need of something practical for occasional commuting, junkyard runs, and a planned long distance road trip, so I bought this thing:

It's been pretty reliable, but is coming up on needing some work, the planned trip has fallen through, and while it is reasonably comfortable, I have come to learn that I hate driving SUVs, even with the increased visibility. Thus started a rapid search for something that is more fun to drive.

I was originally leaning towards buying a Miata or something else little and sporty (and may still do so), when I remembered dculberson had had a 2001 Lexus GS430 for sale. I got a hold of him and found out he still had it, so about a week and a half ago, ran up to check it out. Needed a bit of work, but it drove so nice, and the price was right, so I bought it. The drive home was a little loud due to the exhaust leak, but otherwise, the car was a wonderful highway cruiser. Here it is in it's new home:

Last weekend, I got under the car, and fixed the exhaust leak with a gasket that dculberson had included with the sale. The shop that had attempted to fix it in the past used RTV and a universal flat gasket, instead of the donut style gasket that it should have had. There's some erosion at the flanges, so I'm not sure how long the gasket will hold, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. Either way, it's better than the hack fix the shop did. I also polished the headlights. They are not as good as new, but are much improved. This is also my first car with HID headlights, and I'm very impressed.

It was throwing 5 codes, 2 related to O2 sensors/cats, and three for evaporative emissions. I cleared them, and suspect the O2 codes will not come back now that the exhaust is fixed. The evap codes will probably come back, I'm guessing there's a bad hose or connection under the hood, and will take a look in the next few days.

The stereo is the trouble prone Mark Levinson, and it has actually worked intermittently during our recent warm weather, so I've been able to hear how nice it is when working, so rather than try gut and replace it, I'll either send the amp in to be fixed (the trouble spot for these), or just hope it gets better as the weather gets warmer, and wait until fall to have the amp fixed.

There's also an occasional noise from the front end accessories, I may do a little diagnosing myself, and fix it if it turns out easy, but for this, I'm more inclined to just take it to a shop to be taken care of.

I'm hoping this doesn't devolve into a full blown project car, since it is supposed to be my daily, but in the short time I've had it, I've been amazed with it. I plan on keeping it until it either gets too expensive to practically maintain, or until I've saved up money for a much newer GS or IS.

Next up, new wheels and tires, as I've learned Michelin X-Ice tires are not that great in warm weather and lots of water on the road.

Stock wheel size is 16x7.5" with a 45mm offset, with 215/60R16 or 225/55R16 tires, and optional size is 17x7.5" with a 45mm offset, with 225/50R17 tires.

There don't seem to be a ton of 16x7.5" aftermarket wheels, unless I go with the really cheap generic options, or go with some of the more expensive stuff, so if I stick with 16" wheels, they'll probably be 7" wide.

I haven't decided for sure between 16" or 17" for my non-winter wheels. I'd like to retain the comfortable ride, so that tends have me leaning towards 16, but I'm thinking the sidewalls are tall enough that 17 would still be reasonable. If I go with 16" wheels, Kumho Solus tires seem to be the leading option, and for 17", Michelin Pilot Sport A/S are the likely choice.

Also planning on buying from Tire Rack, so I can get everything mounted and balanced for free and save some cash. Here's a few I'm considering, I could use some opinions:

17"

Sparco Drift (in bronze):

Enkei GT7:

Motegi MR131 Traklite (again in bronze, but I could be swayed to a different color):

16"

Enkei M52(Hyper Black - which doesn't look all that black to me):

American Racing AR904:

Enkei Compe - I really like this style, just not 100% sure it's appropriate for the car

Any thoughts? Any suggestions for other wheels?

anything simple with 5 spokes. Those tracklites look nice for sure.

NoPermitNeeded wrote: anything simple with 5 spokes. Those tracklites look nice for sure.

Agreed.

Im also watching this to see how it works out. A Lexus is o ln the list for potential daily when the mazda finally says "berkeley you!"

I like the stock 5 spoke wheels that came on the 1st gen IS300. Might be able to find a set on craigslist if you're not against used.

350z wheels work well on the car

I may head to the junkyard on Saturday and see what's up there. One of the nearby yards has 3 GS300/GS430s, and a some LS400s. I also think I need to check compatibility, as I seem to recall some LS model years may not fit.

I think BMW e46 xi wheels have a 45mm offset and that from looking years ago they share the bolt pattern. Tons of the 16" wheels out there.

Lots of nice Nissan/Infiniti options that look great on Lexus's

I'm glad to see it getting some love! I'm sorry to hear about the evap codes. If it ends up being something major let me know. Last I checked codes it was only the o2 sensor code but I didn't make a habit of rechecking.

dculberson wrote: I'm glad to see it getting some love! I'm sorry to hear about the evap codes. If it ends up being something major let me know. Last I checked codes it was only the o2 sensor code but I didn't make a habit of rechecking.

I've been loving it so far. I'm not too worried about the evap system, from what I've read, the three codes tend to turn up together when a hose breaks down and lets air escape. Should be easy. It may not handle as well as my old Mazda 6, but overall, this has to be the best midsize car I've driven. I'm really loving the power.

eastsidemav, I say TSW nurburgings with cooper RS3-A's (great wet tire). BTW fellow Ohioan (avon lake) deep in the heart of Tejas (Houston)

Hit the junkyard this weekend to see if there were any factory wheels, and on the off chance I could get an amplifier or a passenger side taillight(mine has a small crack in it). There were two GS300s there, with one factory wheel between the two of them. The GS430 had a set of aftermarket wheels that didn't look half bad, but there was a little curb rash on one, and the tires, while in good shape, were a cheap Chinese brand.

I'm kind of leaning towards the Enkei GT7 wheels.

No luck on the amp or the tails. The GS430 had a Mark Levinson system, but it was already pretty much stripped out. Two of the cars still had tail lights, but they were damaged.

On the bright side, wae was able to get some parts for his Neon, even if we had some dropped socket adventures, and I picked up some parts that may get used on my Challenge car.

I went with the Sparco Drifts. We'll see how it works on the car when I get them. I really like the ten spokes I had on my Abarth, and these remind me of them, but at least these aren't white, so they won't constantly look dirty.

Being that 5X114.3 is a pretty common bolt pattern, if the wheels outlast the car, they should fit on something else I buy in the future.

Fiddled around with the car a little bit today. Replaced the cabin air filter, which I must say Lexus did a wonderful job of making easy to access. Took way more time to read about how to swap it out than it did to swap it. Definitely needed replacement.

Went ahead an pulled the amplifier today. I believe its part number indicates it is one from the first model year with the ML stereo(not a good thing). It has been out of the car before, as it was missing its cover plate, and two of its mounting screws. The added vibrations from that were probably not good for it. I'm going to look and see if I can find which model numbers can be interchanged, then decide if I'll send this one in for repair, or take my chances on a newer, used amp.

When pulling the amp, I noticed the rear fenderwells had a bit of water in them. The trunk weatherstripping looks good, and while the sunroof drains don't look perfect, They still seem okay, so I'm writing it off to the fact that there are vents in each fenderwell, and we had some of the worst storms we've seen in ages in the last week, with plenty of sideways rain, and even a nearby tornado. I'll keep an eye on it, and if it recurs, will see what I need to clean out the sunroof drains.

Wheels arrived today, and look really nice, except for one that has a couple of small gouges in it. Looks like shipping damage. Tire Rack is going to be shipping out a replacement soon. At least I was unlikely to be installing them soon, as we will be having another cold spell and possible snow coming up.

They are a bit more grayish in person than in the pictures (at least inside my dimly lit garage), but I still like them. A bit of a rally-ish look to them

In other news, I'm taking a chance on a used amp from ebay, instead of having mine rebuilt. Even with a 6 month warranty tacked on, it'll cost over $150 less than having mine rebuilt, and it is a couple of revisions newer, so is supposed to be less failure prone.

I've got a semi-reoccurring Evap code too. Check where the hoses attach on the lower part of the engine. They are slip fit and the bracket that holds the doesn't allow for any flex. As hoses age they shrink and can pull off. You can re-route them out of the bracket and zip tie them on for a little more security.

The sunroof drains are pretty easy to clean. Get a long run of weed trimmer line and shove them through. The front ones are way easier to get to then the rears. We had a crazy storm here and my front left was slow which cause a flood on the drivers floor. Took forever to dry.

When you get the new amp in I hope you don't find the rear deck sub blown. Not cheap and no real replacements available. I love the ML system in my '02.

In reply to hobiercr:

I'll be sure to check those hoses when I get around to trying to fix that issue.

Replacement wheel arrived yesterday, undamaged, so I now have a full set to install whenever winter decides to go away. Just need Tire Rack to send me whatever I need to do to send the other one back.

The used amp showed up in the mail today, and I took a bit of my lunch break to install it. Seems to be functioning fine (and the touchscreen sound controls that are disabled when there are problems are now enabled), and sounds great.

Another way I can tell I'm liking this car a ton - I'm not checking out craigslist anywhere near as much as usual.

I have a 99 GS400 and had water in the rear fenderwells like you did - although the trunk seal looked good, it was leaking into the trunk and causing my issue. I ended up putting some foam backing rod inside the seal to make it a little thicker, and now I park with the trunk facing downhill instead of up - no more leaks.

Nice GS! I take it you went with the 17" Sparcos? That should look way better than the stock 16s, these cars make the 16" wheels look so small.

I have a 98 LS400 and I had some trunk leak woes as well. I got the trunk seal to seal up good again, but I am getting a little water from the sunroof drains with heavy rain as well. I do the same as Brokeback and park with the trunk downhill and it doesn't seem to be a huge problem anymore.

Oh, and THIS popped up yesterday. I really want to go look at this.

hobiercr wrote: Oh, and THIS popped up yesterday. I really want to go look at this.

Wow, if that was near me, I'd jump on it immediately. If the engine is toast, it looks like you'd have little trouble recovering your money parting it out.

You won't find the sub blown as it was blown when I got it and I took that as a chance to upgrade it. It's got a good bit more thump than stock. ;)

That 2002 gs430 is a steal! I would buy it today if it was local. You can make your money back off it with headlights, tail lights, and radio stuff. Or fix it and drive it for another 200k miles.

Winter finally ended in SW Ohio, so I spent my lunch break swapping out the wheels.

I like them.

The wheels look good!

This popped up in Columbus:

http://row52.com//Vehicle/Index/JT8BH68X7X0019384

1999 GS400, wrecked in front. Don't know if you can use anything from it, and I don't really have time to pull parts myself. (I can't remember the last time I made it to the junkyard, sadly!)

I hope the car's treating you well!