Mulitple Es300 Questions

[93Lexx]

I have just purchased a 1993 ES 300 and have a few questions. They are as follows:

-I paid 4,900 for a fairly clean car. It has 113k miles and leather interior. Is that a fair price?

-The back seats are a mess. The leather is cracking all along the upper part of the back seat. Does anyone have any ideas on how to patch the seats? If not, does anyone have an idea of how much I can get the seats recovered for?

-The power antenna is not working. The motor runs, but the mast doesn't raise up. I think this is means I need a new mast. Please correct me if you think I may be wrong. I called Lexus and they want $66.00 for a new one. Fair price?

-I want new emblems and hubcaps. I would like to go silver instead of gold. Where is the best place to find these parts? I tried e-bay, but there really weren't any to be found.

-My car feels like it is covered in sandpaper. I have waxed it once already and it still feels very rough. Is this a bi-product of the white paint they use or am I just not using the right wax? FYI..Using turtle wax currently.

-I had my front brakes changed last weekend, but then realized that I needed to change the rear brakes as well. Are they similar to the front brakes? I am going to change them myself and thought they should be similar.

-I want to move the ES 300 emblem from the tail light to the right side of the trunk. Will this leave a mark on my tail light? If so, can I buff it out?

-The needles on my guages are not working any longer. My fuel guage is not working either. Is this just a fuse or do I need to replace the entire instrument cluster?

Thanks.

JP

[branshew]

1) Personally I would not have paid quite that much for '93 but that's just me. I would feel more comfortable closer to $4500 or $4300, but the mileage is low for that year.

2) My rear seat is cracked too. You can have a vinyl cap sewn on to the top section of the back seat for @ $250 or leather for @ $400. The entire seat would probably run around $600 +/-. When they cap it, it puts a seam across the back seat where they cut the top cracked leather off and sew on a new top portion all together. It's not OEM, but I've seen some that don't look too bad.

3) $25-35 on eBay for a replacement antenna. An auto parts store should also have it for a more reasonable price.

4) www.lextasy.com

5) Try using a clay rubbing compound first to get off the stuck on road debris. This is a very time consuming process, but it works well. Then use a quality wax like Meguires.

6) Brakes should be similar enough. If you were able to do the fronts then the back should give you no problems.

7) It shouldn't leave a mark if you take it off properly, but you never know. You should be able to buff it out with a good plastic polishing compound and some elbow grease.

8) Probably just the lights for the needles if they are not lit up. You shouldn't need an entirely new cluster. Is the fuel gague needle not lighting up, or is the entire gague broken? Check out Lextech lighting on the other CL site.

9) Welcome to the club and good luck!

[blake918]

Welcome! :D

For the sandpaper-like paint, you definantly need to clay it. The Magic Clay bar is available at any AutoZone for around $10. You'll be amazed. Clay is simple, quick, and very effective. Steve might have some more ideas for you to try too.

Upholstry work varies. Typically, you get what you pay for. I paid $600 to have part of my driver's seat replaced. It's quite expensive, but the craftsmanship is incredible!!! :) It looks like factory work I'd say $600(est.) to get that rear strip replaced by a good upholsterer.

DON'T move the emblem...The emblem is recessed into the actual taillight. If you do remove it, you will have to do some kind of custom job to fill the hole.

The rear brakes are a cake walk! My dad and I changed the rear brakes in 30 minutes one weekend. They are brilliantly designed. The longest part of the job is taking the wheel off! ;)

For the needles, not to many choices here. A few people can rebuild the needles to OEM like quality. A guy in Club Lexus does them in any color and configuration you can think of for a reasonable price, and there's one other sight, but I can't think of their names(I do remember that they are pricey). As a temporary fix, just roll the dimmer back until they stop flickering.

[lbinh]

For the Antenna, Pep Boys has a '93 camry mast for $24.99. Simple if you can get all of the old antenna out. You should also do a search in this site, much more detail in previous posts.

If broken plastic rod parts are lodged in motor housing then you must take out and disassemble motor. That is simple also. 30 minutes tops. Remember to add liberal amounts of White Lithium Grease inside the motor housing and the plastic rod.

I can't attach my bmp replacement instruction pics so let me have your email and I will forward it to you.