cduluk

Oh definitely, it looks AWESOME for your first try. After doing it a couple times it gets easier and easier, and you learn what materials and methods work best. For curved pieces, you might want to try soaking the veneer in HOT water for a few hours before, and letting it bend and dry in the shape you need it. Since it's so thin, it dries pretty quickly. AND... if you want, you can apply it to the surfaces with superglue WHILE it's still a little wet. Believe it or not, superglue does the trick even when the wood's a little wet. I did that when adding wood to the center "handle" console piece in my Rx300. I liked attaching the veneer with superglue vs and other "spray" glue because it got in the grain very well and eliminated any air bubbles that would cause problems after i applied the clear finish. Try a few different methods and see what you like best. <_<

Hmm, i wonder what the difference is between the ones you bought and the ones in the link after it? They look IDENTICAL but the price is, woah... much different!

I like! I knew someone would be putting this hybrid technology towards a performance car, as the electric addition gives so much extra power!

Woah! Lenore, that came out wicked nice! Nice work, you planning on adding it anywhere else in the car?

haha, I'm sure she will like the surprise!

woah!!! I LOVE THAT!! Where did you get those?? I've gotta get myself a pair. :D

I agree, as there's a LOT of insulation padding underneath the carpet, and i know from experience that it holds water (i lost a plug beneath the floor in my Rx400h and the padding absorbed a lot of water). You'll need to remove the seats and center console...

Could be many things... most likely a bad leveling sensor. There is at least 1 (but could be 2) leveling sensors on the control arms of the car to tell the car if the car's got any weight in the back, there could be dirt or rust in either, which would cause the computer to give you that alert. The "AFS OFF" light not only warns you of an issue with the "turning" mechanisms but also the "auto-leveling" ones as well. I would have the dealer check it out, and have them tell you what's wrong. If it's a sensor, you can remove it and clean it out. It may not need replacing, but just a good cleaning. I have to ask, did the headlights still turn as they usually do when going around corners?

Congrats NC! Never would have guessed on that one. How long you plan on keeping it?

THATS WHAT SHE SAID!!!! lol haha Michael Scott...

That's EXACTY what happened. Here is the data sheet for the stuff. http://superclean.com/pdf/ToughTask.pdf One of the MAIN ingredients is sodium hydroxide, which is basically drano. It's extremely corrosive and reacts to organic material and water (leather). Another ingredient is sodium metasilicate pentahydrate, which reacts with water and creates a solid in its place. Can't even imagine what the pores in your leather must look like now... I wouldn't be surprised if your leather begins to turn colors and fade prematurely. You've melted and removed some of the dye coating on your leather, similar to what nail polish remover does to nail polish after you rub it a little...

Get the bumper from here for $242.40 http://www.parts.com/oemcatalog/index.cfm?action=getPartLocator&siteid=2&chapter=ARB8914&sectionids=0,2276&groupid=51817&subgroupid=2278&componentid=66008&makeid=20&model=RX%20350&year=2010&catalogid=2&displayCatalogid=0 then take it to a body shop to have it painted, probably another $200-$250.

The left projector can move up to 15 degrees while the right projector could move up to 5 degrees. Theoretically i could change this, all i'd have to do is change the gears inside the motor... But i can't imagine having to take the bumper apart again, it's such a pain!

Actually, believe it or not, the "L" engraving doesn't affect the output whatsoever. I had these concerns, but after engraving the logos the output didn't change one bit. And you're right, the projectors don't swivel as much during right turns as they do with left turns (no idea why though).

So enjoy and please comment! :)

And here are some nighttime pics of the cutoff. You’ll notice how much sharper and more colorful the cutoff line is with the newly modified projectors. The blue band across the cutoff gives what’s called a “flicker effect”—when oncoming drivers look at my car as I approach, they’ll notice my headlights changing colors, from blue, to violet, to white, depending on which section of the cutoff is at their eye level. It’s very eye-catching! Not to mention WICKED COOL when there’s snow on the ground, which reflects the blue very nicely.

When the lights are on, you can see the blue background of the projectors with the “L” logo in white.

I got another idea for my headlight retrofit after viewing a few Maybach’s on ebay (high end cars made by Mercedes). I noticed that the projectors in the Maybach headlights had an engraving of the Maybach “symbol” into the lenses! Here’s a Maybach headlight projector lens. So I went to my nearest Michael’s Craft store and bought myself a little glass etcher (designed to etch patterns into drinking glasses) and made a pair of stencils with the “L” Lexus logo cut out of them. I placed the stencils on the inside surfaces of the e30 projector lenses and etched the logo! I then put the headlights back together and adjusted the horizontal and vertical settings of the projectors, and presto! Complete. The whole process took… well, over a year to complete. I started gathering materials as soon as I got my Rx400h, but didn’t finish the project until this summer (since it’s too cold here during the winter to be adjusting them). The most difficult parts of this project were finding the clear reflectors, e30 clear lenses, making the shields, and spending days upon days adjusting them to get the perfect cutoff line with lots of color. It was definitely not an easy project to complete… So here are some pics! I had to buy a pair of orange-coated bulbs to replace the clear ones that were behind the orange reflectors, and I replaced the parking light bulbs on the high beam reflectors with white LED’s. I also replaced the orange coated directional bulbs with LEDS, so when OFF they appear clear, but emit an orange light when ON—this eliminates what’s called the “egg yolk” effect. When the car is off, you can see the “L” logo on the lenses pretty clearly. When the light hits the lenses in a certain way, you can see the blue background, an incredible effect! With the clear reflectors and clear directional bulbs, the headlights look so much better! The added blue in the projectors also add to the Rx400h “hybrid” theme of blue.

To get a sharper and more colorful cutoff line, I had to make my own shield. I made a “curved” shield out of aluminum and painted it blue so that the projector would appear blue when the light hits it. Notice how the factory shield has a vertical bar at the right, which limits the potential width of output (NO idea why the engineers did this... some think it’s to avoid too much light on the side which could blind…?). I also lowered the new shield about 1mm to give more light below the cutoff line. Not shown in these photos, I also painted the inside of the projectors surrounding the shields with blue spray-paint to add to the “blue” effect as you look at the lenses. This doesn’t change the color of light on the ground, only of the lenses as you look at them during the day or when the lights are on. I also replaced the factory “frosted” lenses of the projectors with clear lenses from the BMW e30. Clear lenses produce a sharper cutoff line with lots of colors, whereas frosted lenses produce a fuzzy cutoff line with little to no color. By modifying the projectors with clear lenses and curved shields, it allows the projectors to emit brighter light, with a sharper, more colorful cutoff line. I also got to change the shape of the cutoff line, with larger “steps” (section of cutoff line that gives more light to the lane of road directly in-front of you with less light on the oncoming lane, as to not blind oncoming drivers. This larger step makes the AFS feature more noticeable, as you can see the movement more clearly with larger steps. After the projectors were modified and tested (about 4 days of testing were required, adjusting the shields and lens spacing etc.) I still felt the headlights needed some more bling! While viewing some Rx330/350/400h’s on the UK eBay site, I noticed that their headlights were different than ours. Whereas our headlights have an orange reflector strip on the sides, theirs are clear! Here’s the American Rx headlight with the orange reflector. And here’s the UK Rx headlight with the clear reflector. Apparently the laws are different here than over in the UK… Anyways, I knew I had to have the clear reflectors! On hidplanet.com, members often bought used headlights on ebay to harvest the projectors out of them. Since RX projectors were very popular, I figured someone might have headlight parts left over. So I posted a WTB ad asking if anyone from the UK had spare parts- and someone did! Someone from the UK sold me the clear reflectors from the UK-type Rx330- a perfect replacement into mine.

When I got my Rx400h last May, I began plans for a new retrofit that would make the factory Rx400h projectors even BETTER. Even though the Rx400h comes factory with HID projectors, they’re still pretty… boring. They’re not very wide, and the cutoff is colorless. From spending lots of time on hidplanet.com, I learned everything there is to know about headlight retrofits. I learned which projectors produced the best output, and learned how projectors could be modified to get the best output possible. The projectors from the Rx400h are some of the very best out there, but only when modified. So I purchased a pair of 2008 Rx400h headlights to play with and took them apart. I opened the headlights by placing them in an oven pre-heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit to melt the adhesive. After about 10 minutes, I removed them and pried the lenses off with a screwdriver. Once opened, I removed the projectors and began working. Here is the factory Rx400h headlight (same for all 04-09 Rx330/350 with HID and AFS). Here are the parts that make up the projector. Notice the “flat” cutoff shield and boring metal finish. Also notice the “squirrel finder”, a rectangular hole in the shield, which allows light to escape above the cutoff line, designed to shed light on street signs and what-not. Headlight enthusiasts hate this feature, so they named it a “squirrel finder” as it sends light up into the trees, seemingly looking for squirrels…

Hey guys, I’ve spent the last year or so planning this project, and finally got it done this weekend! If any of you recall, my last car was a 2003 Rx300, and between August of 2008 and January 2009 I completed a series of headlight retrofits replacing the factory “reflector” type HID headlights with projectors. I didn’t do a complete write-up of my Rx300 retrofit, but here are a few pictures. Here are the factory Rx300 headlights. Just the standard HID reflector type, producing a horrible output with no definite “cutoff line” between light and dark. For these pics, I had already replaced the standard Philips 4300k bulbs with Philips 6000k bulbs to give more of a violet/white output vs the yellow/white output. And here are the Rx300 headlights I retrofitted with the bi-xenon type LS460 projectors. I painted the internal projector shields blue (to reflect a blue color to the lenses) and added clear lenses to get a sharp and colorful cutoff.

Thanks for the compliment! :) I try to make my projects look OEM, as if they came from the factory that way. It's a shame Lexus couldn't have put more effort into the factory key.

Mine are.. They come on with the rest of the dash illumination when the headlights are turned on.. only the 3 homelink buttons... we're talking about the moonroof buttons that aren't illuminated.

without a doubt, the 01-03 Rx300. First Lexus i ever fell in love with!