cduluk

Nice work and nice tutorial! I always wondered what companies like lextech did to fix this, now we know! I had negative dealings with lextech a while back when i sold a fix on ebay for the ES clusters. They threatened to sue because they have a patent for ALL repairs to Lexus clusters. I hope you run them out of business!

I'd just go over the area with a cotton towel dampened with plain water. Just don't make a lot of "polishing" motions (fast movements) as this might make the areas shiny. Just wash it like you'd wash off a table... If you insist on using a conditioner (although it won't help as it's sealed vinyl) you can try leatherique's "leather rejuvenator".

lenore, you've gotta show us some pictures of your work so far! :D maseace, i thought about those nissan badges too, only problem is that the lettering is blue with a chrome background. I need the lettering to be chrome with a blue background. I'm trying to get a pair of the 08-010 GS450h side badges, as they're the same size and right coloring. But apparently, you need to buy the entire molding strips which are about $150 each.

Oh, so you leased this ES350?

Avoid any "gels" (for example the Lexus brand conditioner) or any types that leave an oily reside (as it won't evaporate, and will collect dirt in the little holes). If you can afford it, go with Leatherique's "Leather Rejuvenator". If you can't, i guess... you can use Lexol's leather conditioner.

Hm, it's funny... because my Rx300 had the tan interior, and at the time i HATED black. But now that my Rx400h has the black interior, i kinda like it! I just don't like how the tan looks in the 04-09 RX... it looks GREAT in the ES though. Odd question, but what shade of wood-grain does yours have? I have a suspicion that Lexus changed the tint to more of a light brown with the tan for the Es350 vs the maroon with the tan of the 02-04 ES's. :cries:

Is it wireless or something? Because if it's got wires, it's got wires... and it's going to take a LONG time to fish them through the firewall. I've got the bel sti-r radar detector (has laser detection too) and also have the blinder M45 laser "jammers", both of which are the concealed type that have the sensors in the front grille, with wires through the firewall and controls in the cabin. Worth every penny and every minute of installation though. Had to do it myself.

I've used leather dyes before, it's not easy to do. It's taken me a LONG while and a lot of practice to get it down, and i wouldn't recommend anyone try it first time on their car seats. Maybe a shifter knob or steering wheel... but not on seats. The people Lexus hire do a SUPERB job, it's warrantied, and it's not that expensive. Last spring i had the entire interior of my old Rx300 touched-up (i purchased the seats used, they needed work) and i had the guys my Lexus dealer use do it. They charged me $200 for the entire interior- Lexus wasn't involved at all, the guy came to my house to do it. $200 couldn't buy you enough dye to do an entire interior unless you make ZERO mistakes. I've tried lacquer based dyes and water based, of the two i'd recommend (for a first time user) the water based as the latter doesn't come off if you make a mistake.

Hey congrats!! The truffle mica is really nice, i've seen it on the Rx350 Pebble Beach Ed. and it's pretty classy. <_< You've gotta post some pictures! :D

What new key shell are you referring to? Do you just want a new (in the package) key? The key i modified (in the first link) was the one that came with the car, i just modified it... The remote keys for the 04-09 Rx330/350 are 100% identical to the remote keys for the 06-08 Rx400h. <_<

thanks for the compliments guys! :D I know most of my projects are a little... unique, but it's what i love. <_< lenore, how are you modifying your F150's console piece with the wood? Are you using veneer or carving the pieces out by hand? When i converted pieces in my Rx300 to wood, i just glued veneer directly over the surfaces... i couldn't think of a way to actually carve the pieces out of wood, although it would have been cool! Im glad you guys enjoy my project posts, i love sharing my work with Lexus people who appreciate it. And Yuan, if it were an easy project i'd definitely make a bunch and sell them on ebay... but it's very time consuming. I'm hoping this one lasts me a while because i'm not looking forward to doing it again. My next project's gonna involve modification of the side panel "HYBRID" emblems. I've gotta get blue in there somehow.

Could this thing really cost less than the IS??? Any less than the IS and you're in Toyota country... Why can't Lexus be Lexus and Toyota be Toyota?

Hm, what a coincidence. <_< See: http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=65615 for a modification i recently made to the Rx400h key (which is the same as yours). Have you seen any of these? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/01-05-LEXUS-IS300-REMOTE-KEY-FLIP-FOLDING-SHELL-QTY-2-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem19bb763132QQitemZ110519267634QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-ES330-KEY-FLIP-FOLDING-SHELL-REMOTE-2005-2006-/120570366779?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c128dcb3b

And the lights! You’ll notice that the light actually passes through the chrome “L” of the emblem as well as through the circuit piece, because it’s made out of clear plastic, with only a very, VERY thin coat of chrome. I think it’s pretty cool! B) Light OFF (no buttons pressed) Light ON (when a button is pressed) Lights OFF (no buttons pressed). The circuit area appears black here, but that's only due to the lack of external light. During the day, it looks like it does in the 20 pictures displayed above. <_< Lights ON (when a button is pressed) So please tell me what you guys think! It was a fun project and definitely worth the effort. It’s definitely unique! :)

So enjoy and please comment! :)

Hey guys! :) For those of you who’ve enjoyed some of my recent Rx400h projects, you might like this one too. As many of you know, most of my “projects” and “modifications” are designed to help differentiate the Rx400h “hybrid” from its (almost) identical “gas-only” siblings—the Rx330 and Rx350. While Lexus did create “some” differences between the models (for example different bumper designs), I still felt more could be done. For 2008, all Lexus Hybrids were given the theme of “blue”, which helped visually differentiate them from their gas-only siblings. The front and rear badges of the Hybrid models were given “blue accents”, while some blue popped into their interiors as well—all except for the Rx400h. The only blue added to the Rx400h for 2008 was on the rear “L” and “400h” logo, leaving the front emblem in solid silver like the Rx330 and Rx350. :o In an attempt to update such details for the Rx400h, I’ve replaced the front silver “L” logo with a duplicate “blue accented” emblem from the rear. I’ve also added blue lights to the gauge cluster, and replaced the stock orange overhead, console and feet lighting to blue as well. But still, something was missing. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered potential for a new idea! I was at my Lexus dealer speaking with my service advisor when something caught my eye. On the desk, there were various sets of keys (most likely for customers’ vehicles) but one of the “new style” smart keys stood out. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it had a blue color beneath the chrome “L” emblem. Apparently, the 08+ GS and LS hybrids, along with the 010 HS and Rx450h smart keys (keys without the external key-blade) had this new detail. :o So this began to bother me. Not only did Lexus neglect to give the 2008 Rx400h the smart key system, they also neglected to add this blue detail to the little emblem, leaving the Rx400h out from the rest of the Hybrid lineup. Here is a picture of the smart key from a 2010 Rx450h Hybrid. Notice the blue paint on the internals of the 3-D chrome “L” logo? And here is the factory 06-08 Rx400h key design, which is identical to the 04-09 Rx330/350 key. Comes with a flat, 2-D gold “L” emblem. Same boring style key that was introduced in 1997... :chairshot: After doing some more research, I decided to start a key modification project. I planned to remove the 2-D gold emblem from my stock Rx400h key, and replace it with one of the 3-D (notice the nice depth and angles on the chrome L’s) chrome emblems from a smart key, to which I would then paint the insides blue. This way I could keep the Rx400h key design the same, while modifying just the emblem. I then purchased a few smart key shells (from an eBay member to which I’ve purchased a few Lexus parts from) and removed the chrome “L” logos, which were held in place with 2 sided tape. But there was a problem—the chrome emblems from the smart keys were NOT the same size as the gold emblem on the Rx400h key. So I went back to the drawing board. I decided to modify the Rx400h key shell to make room for the chrome “L” by dremeling out the correct sized oval. I would create the emblem separately, later inserting it into the shell. I also decided to use blue reflective tape (for the area inside the emblem) rather than blue paint, in an attempt to get more of a reflective property. But before I could begin the process of making the emblem, I got a new inspiration. I was looking at pictures of the Cadillac Escalade Hybrid online, and noticed something pretty cool about the rear badging. On the tailgate, the word “Hybrid” is displayed in chrome lettering, but upon close inspection, you can notice that on the internals of the “H” there is a green “circuit board” like material. Here’s a pic: I found this to be incredibly creative! It fits the car perfectly since “hybrid” cars have a lot of electronics, represented by the green circuit board (the color they usually are). So, I had to somehow incorporate this into my emblem design. My first thought was to replace the blue reflective tape with a piece of circuit board (just like Cadillac did), but I didn’t think the green would fit into the Lexus Hybrid “blue”. So, after careful consideration, I decided to go with a blue circuit board instead. <_< So I looked around my basement for some old circuit boards I could use. I found a used phone, but the circuits weren’t that appealing. I finally discovered a nice piece of circuit board (from a used Rx330 speedometer cluster I bought for one of my last projects), and got started on the emblem. The first step was to find the best looking spot on the circuit board to cut from. After I found the best location, I cut the board into the correct oval size, just a tad bigger than the chrome emblem. I then wet-sanded the circuit board until the green coating was removed, which revealed the copper trails. But during my first attempts, I accidentally sanded too deep (removing too much of the copper) so I needed to get another cluster and start again. Here you can see the piece I messed up, the oval piece that’s been sanded to reveal the copper beneath. :cries: After successful sanding and plating of the second piece, I then polished the board to a beautiful shine, and electroplated the copper sections with nickel (similar to the chroming process) to turn the orange tint to a shiny chrome finish. I then dyed the front surface blue, the step required to turn the copper trails and background a reflective blue. When the dye was cured, I then painted the perimeter of the oval circuit piece with black paint, which would give the final emblem a black trim (similar to the blue accented tailgate emblem). While the paint was drying, I prepped the chrome logo. I sanded the reverse side with 600 grit sandpaper (in an attempt to make it a little less “buldgy”) and cleaned it with a cotton T-shirt. After the blue oval circuit piece was dry, I placed the chrome “L” directly on top of it, and clearcoated. Allowing one day between coats, it only took about a week to fill in the emblem so the clear was raised higher than the chrome itself (to resist scratching). While waiting for the emblem to fully cure, I got started on the rest of the Rx400h key. Although I had successfully created the emblem like I wanted to, I still had an itch inside… There had to be a way to modify the rest of the key to make it better. After playing with the internals, I noticed the little red light that illuminates whenever a button is pressed. I thought to myself, that red is so lame…. What if it were blue?? :whistles: I located the source of the red light, it being a tiny, TINY surface mount diode (similar to an LED). It was easy to get to, and I knew I could replace it with another, but I didn’t know if it would work. My past experience with LED’s told me that red ones use less current than blue ones, so even if I “could” replace the tiny red SMD with a blue one, the set current passing through (although enough to illuminate a red one) might not be enough to light up a blue one. So the only way to figure it out was to do a test. But where could I get tiny blue SMD’s?? I then remembered that old phone I stumbled upon when searching for circuit board pieces, and turned it on. And would you know it, the buttons lit up blue. So I opened it up and found quite a few little blue SMD’s, identical in size to the red one in the Lexus key. So I carefully removed the red SMD from the Rx400h remote, and soldered in its place one of the blue ones from the old phone. I pressed a button, and it LIT UP! Nice and bright. Then, I thought of ANOTHER idea. What if the emblem could light up blue??? It would be easy, since the circuit board material is somewhat translucent, all I would need to do is place a light source behind it, and the light would pass right through it. I could wire a couple more of the blue SMD’s to the one I just replaced, so whenever a button is pressed, the emblem would light up too. My only concern was that adding more SMD’s could be too much of a drain (remember, I thought a single blue SMD was going to require too much), which would prevent them from being very bright. So I did a test. I removed 2 more of the tiny blue SMD’s from the phone, and wired them in parallel to the one I just added to the remote. I pressed a button, and surprisingly, all three lit up perfectly! Not “as” bright as the single one did, but still bright enough to do what I needed. So I created a little “reflector bowl” (a device similar to a headlight unit, designed to reflect light in a certain direction- in this case spreading it out) about 3mm tall, to which I placed the two SMD’s inside and placed the entire unit where the emblem would sit. I then wired the SMD’s through the internal components to the power source, being the place where the little red SMD sat (which is now also blue). So now, whenever a button is pressed, not only does the tiny light on the front of the key illuminate, but so does the circuit board section of the emblem! B) I had to make some modifications to the emblem as well, for now with the height of the reflector bowl unit with the lights, the emblem would protrude too far from the surface of the shell. So I sanded the reverse side of the emblem until it was the right height, just enough so the emblem would be flush with the rest of the shell. The final step to the shell was painting. Since I had to dremel out a larger oval (to fit the slightly larger chrome emblem), the surface of the shell got a little scratched. My options were to either polish out the scratches (which would remove the factory matte finish to the plastic) or to paint the shell pieces flat black (which would NEVER hold up). I then remembered something I used on my steering wheel controls last summer, called “soft touch paint”. It’s a clear, matte finished paint that can be sprayed on any surface. When dry, it has somewhat of a ‘soft’ texture and is EXTREMELY durable, resistant to scratching and chemicals. You may notice devices around your home that are painted with this soft touch paint, such as various after-market radio unit buttons, and even iPod boxes. It has excellent adhesion properties and doesn’t get shiny like plastics do after constant abrasion (which keys get a lot of while being handled). So I wet-sanded the key shells (front and back), cleaned, dried and sprayed with the soft touch paint. I also did the same to the actual "buttons" so they'd have the same feel. I let the pieces bake in the oven at 140 degrees for 2 hours and let air dry overnight. For more details on the soft touch paint, see the link in my signature about my “hybrid steering wheel upgrade” as I used it then too. I then assembled the key back together (replacing the battery, as it’s now a pain to get to considering the new modifications) and glued the new emblem in place. And at last, after months of experimenting and testing, it’s finally complete. :D

The areas can be dyed and blended, but i wouldn't do it yourself. Ask your Lexus dealer for the name of the company they hire to re-finish seats on their CPO's. Every dealer's got a guy. <_<

You should be able to remove the whole assembly from any 01-03 Rx300, just make sure the color is the same as yours (only two options are tan or black). Find a junked 01-03 Rx300 with a rear seat, and it's there. Most junkyards wont list "rear cup holder" as they most likely don't know how to remove it from the rear seat itself (but it just comes off with screws). The 99-00 Rx300's don't have that cupholder, so avoid these years. Go to http://car-part.com/ and search for year 2004, lexus rx300. Then select seat,rear 2nd, then hit ok. Then it will ask for year range, so put in 01-03. Then email any of the people that have an 01-03 rear seat in your color if they will sell you the cupholder separately. It's worth a shot. This site allows you to search junked cars all over the country.

Well, unfortunately, if dye was removed and you can see the difference in color (probably more of a gray/blue now, right?) then your only fix is to have it re-dyed. Your Lexus dealer should be able to tell you the name of the company they use to re-finish cars before they sell them as CPO's. It's not actually "dye", it's more like paint that they spray on right over the vinyl. Since your only issue is with color (vs a rip or tear), it wouldn't require any prep work before spraying, so my guess is that the cost would be between $25-$50 and probably take about 5 minutes to perform as soon as they've got the rest of the door masked off. No biggie <_<

The top panel is covered in a very thin layer of vinyl. I'm not a fan of the Lexol cleaner/conditioner but i can't believe it took the dye off... Is it noticeable at present? If not, then i say next time just go over it with a cloth dampened with water. It doesn't need to be conditioned...

Ohhhh... i mean how the Maxima's HID's seem to change color from white, to blue, to purple when one's coming at you. Whenever you see an oncoming Maxima with its headlights on if you look closely the colors change when it goes over bumps and what not. Its caused by how the light refracts over the inside of the projector... very nice looking. <_<

Very nice! I think that style Maxima was ahead of its time by a few years. I remember when they first came out with that generation, their headlight "flicker effect" was mesmerizing, unlike anything any other car had at the time! <_<

Hmm, i never thought i'd be saying this but i would go with the BMW. I guess this is just because i.... well, i've never been a fan of the IS sedan, so you can only imagine how i feel about the IS "convertible" It's just not my style. It is a "cute" car though... But i think the BMW would be much more flashier for its purpose- being seen going fast. Yes, it might not be on the road in 5 years, but it would probably give you more enjoyment during its short BMW life than 200k miles of... an IS "convertible".

I can get just over 100 songs... there is indeed a limit.