'04 IS300 - Project (Not Really) Nice Daily

[Goodspeed]

Some small updates and better pics...I had the windshield replaced due to chips with a Pilkington (OEM Lexus supplier) solar windshield, and had 40% tint installed as on the old IS.  The spit-shine detail that the car had from the dealer wore off to reveal a finish in dire need of some help, so I took advantage of this past Saturday's weather to give the car a full detail involving polishing, sealing & waxing as well as taking the pinstripes off with a 3M Stripe Off wheel on my drill.  

I think this is the first time I've actually tried to photograph a black car and boy howdy it's as tricky as they say:







I really like how the car looks at night - especially with its newfound luster - it's like my little bat-sedan





Up next after the new year will be a visit scheduled at the body shop for a respray of the front bumper and hood to get rid of rock chips, and then a clearshield and headlight refinishing after that (they have some cloudy polycarbonate covers on them now that I'm guessing the dealer put on so I'll let someone more skilled coax them off and refinish).  

The state inspection I went through after registering found that one tire was separating at the sidewall (it had Michelin Pilot Sport AS3's at one end and some random walmart tire at the other, one of which was the culprit), so that turned into the most expensive inspection trip ever with the front receiving Goodyear F1 all seasons, but they seem like a decent tire so meh.

Since we had all that swap talk up there I'll mention - I'm pretty much set on doing an Aristo GTE VVT-i swap and keeping the stock 5-speed A650E auto with some level of hardening at this point, like this:



Definitely one of of the more straightforward swaps and would fit nicely with the purpose of this car - to be a stealthy, comfy, quiet daily that could be an effortless bullet train if necessary.  All speculation until the FD is done, but those are the cards at the moment.