ToddLS400

It depends on how many miles you have on your car. I had my mechanic test my OEM shocks (or at least the ones that were on their when I bought the car last summer) and he said they were fine. Push down on each corner of your car and it should come back up and rest without any bouncing. If it bounces, then you need to replace the shocks as well. I kind of regret not putting new shocks on just because of the labor factor. But I have had no problems at all and everything rides great. Go slower over speed bumps. You're lower and you don't want to plant your nose and crack or chip something. It's not like it's a low rider though. You can still go over speed bumps at normal speeds. You just can't fly thru them thinking that you still have your ex-cloud ride suspension to absorb it. You shouldn't go over speed bumps fast anyway. Louder? Hmmmm, I don't think so? Stiffer ride? Yeah, of course, I lowered it 1" plus I put 40 series tires on it. Not a horrible ride at all. It still drives smooth and I don't feel much of difference on the freeway. Corners like a dream now. Not like your NSX though> http://nsx.homestead.com/files/1991NSXfrontPass.JPG This is a huge improvement from stock. I'm happy.

How many quarts of oil do we put in our '90 LS? What's the factory spec?

Yep, usually the sunroof is the culprit. I know mine lets through some air after I pop it up then close it. I have to slide the roof back a little and re-close it to re-seal it. Otherwise I will hear a slight whir of wind above my head.

Yes Craig, you will notice a huge difference with the Eibach Pro-Kit springs. It lowers your car 1" and gives you a little bit of a stiffer ride. It's worth it to me. I'm use to the stiffer ride now and the handling is 100% improved.

Noisey valves are not good. Do you hear tapping even after the car has warmed up or driven for awhile?

I approve! VMF is the shizzz...

Go to another installer that will be honest with you. 99% of these systems install the same. Just make sure the wiring codes are very clear in the instructions for your car. The stores that install their own alarms make a huge margin on the price of the alarm itself. Fry's charged me $150 to install my $150 alarm with remote start, door locks, 2-way pager. That's $300 total. Most shops with charge you $600 total for same alarm and install. Most stereo shops are complete rip-offs. Their profit margins are like drug sales. BTW, my FM2000 alarm has worked perfect from day 1. Some people here questioned the quality. Autostart is great and the 2-way pager works 100%. Alarm is loud with multi tones and the remote autolock works great. I see no difference with this $150 alarm and my girlfriend's Clifford alarm that she paid $800 for at Car Toys. + mine has trunk pop and few more feature.

Yep, that's true SW. A clean and well kept car always gets max value for it's year and mileage. I know you're Dad's LS was really nice. I remember talking to ya bout it. How do you think these use car lots do it? The can get a dirty, unkept car from auction or trade and sell it for much more than what they got it for. They do a moderate to poor detail job and steam clean the engine or just use engine brite. They pay attention to the paint finish (maybe wax if they can't get a good shine) and engine. Cheap lots do a minimal amount of interior detailing. Too time consuming. Good car lots will put new rubber on the car if the tires are worn. They'll put the cheapest tires they can on there. You can get 16" new tires for $60-70/piece. Cheapest brands that you can think of. They'll pick up cars with bad trannys and replace the tranny with a used one from a junk yard. They buy a late 90's vehicle for under half it's book value in good condition but with a problem. Body work is usually avoided because it's generally very expensive and hard to field estimate. Fixing mechanical stuff can usually be done by their lot grease monkey or some dirty garage that contracts to work on their cars for cheap. They always fix the car with the cheapest parts available, used if possible.

I see beat up early-mid 90's LS400s all the time over here in Seattle. I saw a blue one a few days ago in the S. Seattle area that had a thick layer of dirt and a huge dent on the rear corner. I looked at another black LS400 with the regular grey/silver at the bottom before I bought mine last year. That car was TRASHED. Chips all on the front and the paint was dull. Some younger kid in his early 20's owned it. The driver seat had a seat cover on it. Pulled cover up and the seat was ripped and trashed. He had junk in the back seat too. He wanted about $1,200 more that what I bought mine for. What a joke. You have to really work to trash these cars cause they're pretty well built with quality stuff. It's takes years of pounding and neglect to achieve the ghetto look with these cars. I just don't understand it? These are very nice luxury cars that are built to last. Why be so irresponsible and let a quality car like this get so !Removed!? I think your car is a reflection of you in some ways. I've always kept my vehicles in pretty good shape. It's more of a hobby to me and it feels very good driving a clean car. Why not? It's not that expensive to buy some soap, cloths, tire gloss, wax, etc and wash it yourself at home. If you live in a apt? Bring it to one of those do it yourself places and wash it for about $3-5. Hand dry it and add tire gloss. Go to vacum and pay .50 to clean inside and throw out your fast food garbage. Not too hard and takes about 30 mins of your lazy weekend afternoon. All for a newer looking car... I think when my LS400 is clean, it looks newer...

Hi everyboldy!!!! I have been very busy at work and the Holidays after that. I miss my family here.... Anyway I thought I would post here cause it's going to snow 8-12" late tonight and tomorrow here in the Seattle area. It rarely snows around here, it's usually wet and mild in the winters. We get a big snow like this maybe every 5-10 years. Last one like this was in 96. It's only for 1 day and it will turn into rain late tomorrow or Wed at the latest. It'll be a big slushy mess. I drove my car in a about 3" of snow here last week and it did suprisingly good. I thought it would be sliding all over the place but it was fine.

Take a pic of the dent and post it here.

Well, any 10+ year old car is going to have issues and things going out. These are not top secret military issued vehicles but they are made with very high quality parts and and they have a history of durability. Feel the weight and balance of the LS400 door. The main issues with the gen 1 LS400 is the stupid placement of the power steering pump directly over the alternator. Bad engineering because once the ps pump starts leaking it kills the alternator within a year if you don't fix it. The next engineering blunder with the gen 1 is the placement of the starter. The starter is one of those parts that will go out somewhere around 100K with any car. They have the starter buried down at the rear of the engine at the V by the manifold intakes. That's a costly R&R job due to labor. The temp/clock LCD gauge goes black after 5+ years. The seats are somewhat uncomfortable (short under legs), especially for us with longer legs. The good points? Classic bodystyling that has withstood time. Very Mercedesesque. The leather interior is top notch if not one of the best I've seen. The dampening and insulation inside of the cabin whispers quality as you're going 80mph on the freeway. Incredible 4.0l V8 engine that will run forever if you do your regular maintainence. This engine is way undertuned which will give you freakish longevity. Body is made out of very high quality material that is hard to dent or ding. My 1990 LS400 is 14 years old and I can count the dings and major scratches on my car with 1 hand. Check out the pics in the gallery. The bottom half was repainted about 4 years ago only to match the upper half and update the appearance. The car has a solid luxury car ride that is a cross of a Mercedes or Jag and Cadillac. Not too soft and not too hard. Lexus has one of the smoothest riding (suspension) cars in the world. One of the funniest things? I've had 2 friends and numereous people think that I was driving a mid 90's Mercedes. I had a friend come into my house during my birthday party last summer and he said "nice Benz". It was dark outside and he didn't see the Lexus badging. A Benz! Ha! The amount of money I paid for this car is what a moderate repair job would cost on a Mercedes, if not less. I don't mind paying the upkeep for this car. I've spent about $600 repairing this car since I bought it cheap with a bad starter. If you like having a constant car payment from a lease contract then that's ok for you. If you really like the car you drive and enjoy learning about it, then you're at the right place. I drive a used car for about a average of 2 years then I sell it. I think I will keep this Lexus as a driver since it's so reliable and comfortable. If you don't like the common upkeep of a older, used car then keep leasing. A lot of us here don't have a car payment and that's the best feature. ;) Volvo? Ohhh my, you must be married to a Swedish mechanic or maybe you get into a lot of car wrecks? Volvos are very EXPENSIVE to maintain. Hondas last pretty long for cheap. They have CV joint problems, VERY WEAK clutches (manual tranny) and moderate duty auto trannys. Honda engines run forever with regular maintainence but everything breaks down around it. Used cars do that. VW's have bullet proof trannys but they break down constantly. I've owned 3 Hondas and a VW Scirocco Wolfsburg edition.

Yeah, I'm using the wire burning 100w/80w super white bulbs too. I've also used them in my past Nissan 300ZXs without a problem for the last 5 years. Then I tore the tag off my matress after installing the bulbs. If only riding my sportbike at 150mph was that dangerous? I've really had my bike up to 158mph, that's no joke. ;)

Most of the time you have to ask "How safe is the driver"....

I would think his '94 factory warranty has ran out? Actually a set of 20's with 30 series tires would look very good. You would want to lower it an inch or so. When I was down in LA last month I saw many BMWs, MBs, Lexus, etc with 20" chrome rims. I like that look. I kind of wish I would of got 20's. You can't appreciate it until you see it in person.

I've seen Konig 20's on a '94 LS400 at a local lot last summer. They looked good.

How did you put 245K on a '98 Taurus? That's about 50K/year?

My girlfriend's sister works at MS now as a account exec. She makes very good money for 26 years old. I think shes pushing or she's at 6 figures now? If anybody was employed at MS back in the late 80's, early 90's and stayed for 5 years or so, they'll have some nice stock options. MS doesn't give options anymore as of last year. I live by the Newcastle golf course which was constructed by a ex MS exec with basically cash. This is a world class golf course with $150 green fees. Man, only if I could be a pro golfer and get paid big money to hit the ball. I am envious of that life.

Hehe...Good point...But that would mean these men would have to be fully supported by their wifes with a considerable amount of money or income. Not too many of these out there to be honest. They may be ex-trophy wifes (divorce settlement) or something like that?

I added Sirius radio to my Panasonic 7300 in dash DVD unit. I love satellite radio. It's all I listen to now. Regular FM radio quality sounds so poor compared to crystal clear satellite radio.

You might as well put your LS400 in your will. They last a long time.

I put the Eibach Pro-Kit springs (1" lowered) on my LS400 a few months ago. I wanted to lower it after putting on my 18" rims. The rear of my car was a little higher than the front. I put a big mdf sub box w/2 - 12" RF woofers in the trunk last month with over 1000 watts between 2 amps bolted onto the box. Everything weighs about 150lbs in my trunk so it evened out. I did find 1.5" drop springs but I did not want to loose too much ride comfort. The car corners like a dream now with the new springs (- 1" drop) and the ZR rated Kumho tires. Eibach makes quality products.

I would have to think the SC430 converts must have some snob appeal? I see the Gucci wearing trophy wifes driving those cars all around the eastside area up here in Seattle.

Very cool plane... B) I would love to get a ride in that. I'm a speed junkie...That's why I have a sportbike.

Old men are wise... Drive their cars while you're young. You'll get the best of both worlds... Because you're buying another Viper before you hit 50 anyway..... <_< Trust me...