Lexus IS300

i think this is the first time iv noticed your license plate   

lol yeah that's new, I was surprised it was available! I've also got him hanging from the rearview mirror.

Big update before I start out on my 2-week road trip in a few hours. Been super busy today.

First step was to remove the rear wheel spacers. Broke one stud on each side, and had to cut one off on this side

Wheel Spacer Removed by gold94corolla, on Flickr

5 minutes later, I had the brakes off. 2 bolts and the caliper comes off, then the rotor slides right off

Brakes Removed by gold94corolla, on Flickr

30 minutes later, I had all the studs replaced (all 5 were toast). It was actually super easy, even with the brake components behind there. Just gotta line everything up. I'm pretty good at this by now lol

New Studs by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Less than 5 minutes later, the brakes were back on and this side was finished!

Completed Stud Swap by gold94corolla, on Flickr

It only took another 30 minutes to replace all 5 studs on the other side. Only one really needed to be replaced somehow, but I did all 5 because I had them and they were easy enough to change.

Completed Stud Swap 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

FINALLLLLLLLLLY the Work wheels are all on! I love these wheels so much haha, the fitment is spot on, no rubbing. Car rides so smooth and straight now, and handle great.

Work Wheels Finally 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Work Wheels Finally 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Work Wheels Finally 3 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Work Wheels Finally 4 by gold94corolla, on Flickr


While I was under there, I adjusted the exhaust spacers some more. If you'll recall, the two exhaust pipes weren't aligned very well because I was in a hurry. But I got them lined up perfectly this time. Snapped two pics of the tip again for no real reason lol.

Exhaust Tip 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Exhaust Tip 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Now that the car was finally mechanically sound, time to clean it up!

First up were wheels and tires.

Wheel & Tire Cleaner by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Never used tire shine before, but I found this old stuff, worked great!

Tire Shine by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Then washed the rest of the car

Washing the Car by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Dried

Car Washed 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Car Washed 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Car Washed 3 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Car Washed 4 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

I used this stuff to detail the interior and exterior. Washed the car, clayed the car, waxed the car. Restored all the black trim. Wiped the entire interior with plastic or vinyl treatment to bring back the black shine!

Other Cleaning Products by gold94corolla, on Flickr

So much color, shine, and reflection

Detail Complete by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Interior Restored by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Front Seats by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Restored Dash by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Restored Interior by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Looks pretty good considering how old it is and what I put it through lol

Exterior Detailed 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Exterior Detailed 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Guess who lol

Door Paint Reflection by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Exterior Detailed 3 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

So that's it, I'm out. Expect a LOT of pictures from all around the country when I return! lol

oh wow

that looks super clean!

Thanks Ishaq! Well I did my 8,300 mile trip around the USA, and it's not clean anymore lol. It's a disaster lol.

haha, what do you mean disaster

looking nice ur getting good at this detailing thing nice job

Well all kinds of bad noises, a check engine light, and lots of paint damage I don't want to find out about I'm sure lol

She looked awesome before the drive at least I hate coming back from roadtrips, all the paintchips and scratches you come back with, hope there's nothing major.

Well there's a large chunk of paint about the size of a fist missing from the front bumper lol

Oh wow, did you hit a small animal? haha. Regardless, that sucks  

Damed chipmonk.
Quick question, what are the little domes on the wing mirrors?

Those are amber LED modules that I hooked to the turn signals! I still need to work on the power source for them though, they could be brighter lol.

So I've been doing a lot of work to the car after my 8,300 mile roadtrip around the country, but I figure I should post some pics from the trip first lol. I've got almost 280 pics of just the car lol, I'll have to narrow that down.

Here are the first round of pics, taken at 2 rest stops in west Maryland & West Virginia, in the Appalachian Mountains on my first day of the trip. Car is still relatively clean lol.

the first pic is awesome

Thanks bro, yeah I got a lot of "awesome" pics coming, but alas the car didn't stay clean for them lol

Next set of pics!

First two are at a friend's house in Kentucky (still on the first day of driving), ended up near here for the night.






The next day, traveled through a lot of flat farmlands, ended up in the smack middle of Kansas (took back roads)










I took this pic just to show that the air intake temperature matches the ambient outside air temperature.... no weird piping needed to get the cold air!

Well the next (3rd) day was very stressful. I was still on the backroads through Kansas and then Nebraska, when I learned firsthand what a dust storm is.

The wind was up to 50-60 MPH, directly perpendicular to the car. Rocks, dirt, tumbleweed were all flying across the road (and into the car) like it was nothing. You could just hear the car being sandblasted. I had not prepared for this lol.

You can see the brown "clouds" before you get to them

Approaching Dust Storm by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Then suddenly, you're going 65 MPH and you enter the cloud of dust, and there is ZERO visibility. You're afraid to keep going and hit something, but you can't stop, or else you'll be hit.

In Dust Storm by gold94corolla, on Flickr

After that was over, I had to pull over for some R&R lol, it was quite stressful driving through that. Well the car definitely had no chance of being clean for the car show at this point lol. Still looks good in the pics, but trust me, it's dirty lol.

IMG_1501-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_1500-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

That wasn't the end of the wind or dust storms. I had to pull over to pull a tumbleweed out of the front lol, in the middle of nowhere.

Middle of Nowhere 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Middle of Nowhere 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Then I got back on the highway in Wyoming, and I thought things would get better. Nope. Wind was just as worse as ever, but the speed limit was 75 MPH. Felt like I'd get blown away lol.

In fact, this happened right in front of me, I had to wait for another pickup to come pull the trailer back over. When the people were out trying to fix it, they looked so miserable in the blowing dust. Other people were able to pass on in the median ditch, but I wasn't gonna chance it. Only took like 10 minutes of waiting.

High Winds!! by gold94corolla, on Flickr

So then I got around him, only to head up towards the rockies, where all the digital message signs were warning of blizzards, blowing snow, turn off your cruise control, etc. And the interstate had these gates that could close when it got too snowy, and variable speed limit signs.

Well they weren't kidding, the speed limit dropped, and suddenly there was snow all over the ground. I watched the temperature drop to 30 degrees. And then the snow was blowing all over the road.

Blizzard Conditions 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Zero visibility again, and the snow was actually piled up on the road, and there were snow plows and salt everywhere. And here I am in my little RWD car with summer tires, scared to death for my life lol

Blizzard Conditions 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Thank God I made it through that mess in one piece. Had to stop for some more "R&R" lol. Took some pics in the snow.

Wyoming Rest Stop 1 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Wyoming Rest Stop 2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

The inside of the wheels were just coated with a thick layer of dust and bugs

Dirty Wheel by gold94corolla, on Flickr

My poor engine ... all kinds of mess baked into it!!

Dirty Engine by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Once I made it past the rockies, I ended up in Idaho where the weather and sky were perfect! Spent the night in Idaho. Oh, and I saw an 80MPH speed limit lol (Maryland's max is 65) which was cool

Rockies by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Next day, I left Boise, ID with 1/4 tank of gas, heading for Portland, OR. Well, there's a whole lotta nothing out there.... especially not any gas stations. I tried putting it in neutral to coast down a mountain hill, and the engine stalled. I thought it was outta gas, so I ended up here and started walking lol. (let me tell you, a full 5-gallon carrier of gas is VERY heavy after a little while).

IMG_2038-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2036-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Thing is though, I later did the same thing.... shifted into neutral to coast down a long steep hill. Well the engine stalled then, too, even with plenty of gas. So apparently, the car will stall for no reason at high speed. Works fine in neutral when stopped. So when I realized this later, I felt really dumb for carrying that gas for no reason lol.

That gas can 1) leaked and 2) didn't empty all the way, so I ended up putting who knows what in the gas tank. It wasn't long before the check engine light came on for the code P0430, which I then battled for the rest of the trip until I was able to get home. The CEL probably also has to do with using high-flow cats on the header, so IDK.

But the leaking gas did a work on my poor tire shine (which wasn't shiny anymore, but at least it was blacker)

Dirty Wheel by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Decided to clean the lights at the gas station

Clean Tail Lights by gold94corolla, on Flickr

On my way again, stopped at a rest area for some shade pics.

IMG_2103-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2104-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2105-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Then as I was leaving the rest area, I saw a scenic road to the right, instead of going left back to the highway. Best decision ever to take the scenic route instead lol.

IMG_2114-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2116-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2118-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

I have a million pics from the road, so I'll be posting some of those next. But here's the road on a map:

https://goo.gl/maps/DwM9P

Well I managed to narrow the pic set down to 12. Car is so dirty, I gave up trying to edit the pics lol.

IMG_2138-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2140-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2141-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2155-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2158-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2159-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2160-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2169-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2173-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2178-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2179-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2190-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

lovely trip, and your car (dirty and all) its gorgeous, we didn't get the first gen IS over here but I always liked it

Thanks! My hope is to share my experience and car through pics with others who don't get the opportunity!

I love all the millions of wind generators out west! So cool

Wind Power by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Untitled by gold94corolla, on Flickr

More Oregon Scenery

IMG_2260-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2377-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Took another scenic detour through a state park up and down the mountain!

https://goo.gl/maps/lQ3jD

Horsetail Falls by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Vista House by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Had dinner with a friend in Portland

IMG_2415-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Then drove in the dark all the rest of the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Finally made it to the Pacific Ocean!

This part of the trip was probably the most awesome.... definitely an awesome feeling to be officially across the country with my car And the roads were amazing

Sunrise (I'm used to sunrise over the ocean lol)

@ The Pacific Ocean! by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Pretty Rhododendron bushes in bloom everywhere

Rhododendron by gold94corolla, on Flickr

Sorry... back to the ocean pics!

IMG_2633-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2579-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2747-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2748-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2754-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2749-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2750-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

IMG_2755-2 by gold94corolla, on Flickr

wow, so dirty

Soooooo Dirty by gold94corolla, on Flickr

As the road winded it's way down the California Coast, the scenery changed a lot from oceans to trees, from flat to mountains. Very lovely



Fresh Air by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Mountain View by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Mountain by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Respite by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Ocean Breeze by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Chilling by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Nice View by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Hill Climb by gold94corolla, on Flickr



Pacific Sunset by gold94corolla, on Flickr

A huge fail on my part: none of the pics ended up in RAW format, like I had originally wanted. Apparently, the camera won't remember that one setting in this one mode I shot in, so I didn't know to set it to RAW every time I turned it on. That last pic was supposed to be an epic sunset, but it got ruined by the JPG processing