04x11 & 04x12 - Lexus LS400 (Part 1 & 2)

[bunniefuu]

Hello and welcome to
Wheeler Dealers, the

show that's all about
your favourite classic cars.

We're on a mission to
transform the rundown

and rusty and get them
back to that showroom shine.

This time it's the turn of a modern
masterpiece, the fabulous Lexus LS 400.

It's our challenge to buy and
restore some classic wheels.

We've got up to £4,000
to find and fix a Lexus

and we must make a
profit when we sell it on.

I really do consider this to be one
of the best cars of the last decade.

It introduced a new word
to the English language,

Lexus, and it single handedly
transformed the luxury car market.

Inside you can take
your pick of climate

control, multi-stack
CD player, leccy seats,

leather of course,
but this car's party trick

is when you put the
key in the ignition.

The steering wheel comes
out to greet you, nice.

I'll be finding us an LS


Ed China will be doing his bit to
help turn a few quid on a finished car.

In 1993 Toyota decided
it wanted a slice of the top

end executive market
dominated by Mercedes and BMW.

Their solution was Lexus,
a car engineered to exacting

standards, an ethos that
spread to every nut and bolt.

And it worked.

It was a brand adopted
by drivers who liked this

new boy brashness and
superlative refinement.

All I need to do is find a decent car.

That shouldn't be
too difficult, but finding

the right car at the right price,
that's more of a challenge.

Now the car I'm interested in would
have cost over £35,000 when it was new.

It was also quite possibly one of the most
complicated bits of machinery ever built.

To buy one I would have visited a state of
the art car showroom sat on a leather bound

sofa drinking freshly ground coffee
before I handed over the huge cheque.

But to buy used LS 400 I just need to
pop down to the newsagent or anywhere that

sells magazines, spend
a few quid on all those

latest weekly sales
rags and start looking.

There are pages of
them, but I like to spend

about three grand and leave
a grand aside for repairs.

But cars at that money with
full service history are rare.

Right, there's lots
of LS 400s for sale,

but one of them has literally
jumped out the pages at me.

It's almost the perfect advert.

It says Lexus LS 400, good condition,
average miles, full service history.

But it's the price, £2,000 or near offer.

I'm not mucking around, I'm going to
jump straight on the phone and see if I can

pop round and see this car immediately,
because it sounds like a bargain.

The LS 400 is well made, but
replacing the dodgy gearbox

or engine will involve
a bill with lots of zeros.

So I'll pay all the money for a car
that's been lovingly looked after.

Well that bloke sounds
spot on, not only does

he sound nice, the car
sounds good as well.

He said there's a
little Mark on the rear

bumper, but nothing to
worry about and there's

a couple of other little
jobs that need doing.

The only problem I
can see is that he's over

three hours away, so
it's a bit of a journey,

but I reckon it'd be worth putting in the
miles to go and buy that bargain of a car.

First impressions, this
LS looks great, but I've

got to be sure it doesn't
hold any surprises.

If it does, I could be throwing
buckets of cash away.

Mike.

Kenton.

How are you?

I'm very well.

Pleased to meet you at last.

Thank you, yeah, brilliant.

Wow, what a car, the LS.

There it is, yep.

I never asked you on the
phone, why are you selling it?

We bought an MPV, mate.

Get the kids back and forth
to school, you know, two

teenage kids now, so we
need more space for them.

You don't look old enough.

You certainly don't.

Anyway, alright, let's have a look round.

Yeah, of course.

I've noticed straight away, though, this.

Supermarket trolley, mate.

If it could have been me, I could never
get one that goes in the straight line.

That's something Ed can fix, I'm sure.

Nice and straight down
the side, lovely, isn't it?

Couple of other little
nicks Ed can touch in.

Looks fantastic across
the front, doesn't it?

It's got real presence, this car.

Looks lovely when it's polished.

I'll bet it does.

Wow.

Look at that.

Yep.

It's very blue, isn't it?

It's very 90s, isn't it?

It is.

It's blue dash, blue seats,
blue carpets that are filthy.

Listen, when you're selling a
car, clean the carpets at least.

Very nice.

It all work?

Everything works, mate.

Aircon's ice cold, all the
electrics work, electric

seats, the headrests,
everything's spot on.

Fantastic.

Lexus build quality.

It is, yep.

What's going on here?

Is that right?

Yeah, it's a Lexus problem.

A bit of moisture gets inside the screen
there and it sort of blacks it out a little

bit so you can't read
the temperature Gauge.

And that's the temperature
Gauge for the air conditioning?

For the aircon, yeah.

Oh, that looks like an
expensive part to replace, that.

It could be.

It's going to be the Queen's ransom.

Now, it's saying 147,000
miles, but it's still 10,000

a year, but it is backed
up by a full Lexus history.

You've got the full history for it?

It's all stamped up, yeah.



Very nice.

I feel right at home in here.

The proof of these cars is
the way that they drive, and

that's what I need to do,
just take it for a test drive.

Take it away.

Fantastic.

Terrific.

Oh, look at the steering
wheel, straight away, dropped.

I can't wait for this.

First up, the engine.

Silky smooth, that fantastic
four litre is just magnificent.

Whenever I plant my foot on these deep shag
pile carpets, it just gets up and it goes.

Whoa!

Absolutely awesome.

Now, I do trust Kenton
and everything he said

about this car, but it's
got electric everything.

Even the motors for the electric seats can
be very, very pricey, so it's best to just

check that everything inside the car works,
make sure you push a button, pull a knob,

and make sure it's all right.

This one, I think, is
just absolutely spot on.

The one thing I have
noticed, though, is a

tiny squeak coming
from the front of the car.

It could be suspension bushes, it could be
something simple, but you never know, being

a Lexus, it could be
something very expensive.

Now, the thing is, he only wants £2,000 for
this car, which I think is already cheap

and is a bit of a bargain.

But, well, you know what we're like on
Wheel Of Dealers, we always like to go that

extra mile, and as they
say, business is business.

Hello, mate.

Kenton, I'm going to hand
you back the keys until

I try and negotiate getting
them back off of you.

Okay, mate.

You're right, she does drive well.

Oh, she's a lovely old girl, isn't she?

I really do want that car.

It's very, very nice.

I'm saying all the wrong things, but on
the test drive, there was a nasty squeak

coming from the front on a
hard turn, and I would imagine

on that car, it's bushes, and
that could be very expensive.

Also, there's the bits of trim
around the outside and on the

inside that needs a good clean
as well, and a bit of paint work.

So, listen, it would
be cheeky of me not to

bid you on the car, so
how much did you want?

£2,000, mate.

£2,000.

£2,000.

I'll give you a dozen for it,
£1,200, and I'll just take it away.

I can't do that kind of thing.

£1,500.

£1,500.

£1,500.

God, it's a good car for £1,500.

It's a lot of car for the money, mate.

It is, yeah.

It certainly is.

But I've got to be a little bit braver,
and I can walk away from this.

I need a couple of hundred
quid back for those bits.

It's going to be expensive, I know, and
putting fuel in it's going to be expensive.

I'll give you £1,300.

I'll drive it away today.

£1,300.

Brakes my heart, mate.

£1,300.

Fantastic.

Give me those keys back.

Yes.

£1,300 for the Lexus.

I didn't think you'd sell for that.

But my mechanic, Ed China,
has got to cast his eye out

over the car, and he's got
to be smiling by the end.

Or there might still be egg on my face.

Hey.

How are you, fella?

All right.

Hey.

I thought I'd just pop in
on a wing and a prayer

to see what you thought
of my latest acquisition,

the fantastic Lexus LS 400.

It's a Lexus?

It's an LS 400 silky smooth 4-litre V8.

That's what it is.

Well, it's a lot of car.

It's a cool car.

It's got a lot of stuff on it.

In a couple of years'
time, everyone will

want one of these because the amount of
bang you get for your bucks is phenomenal.

But knowing this is
wheel of dealers, it

doesn't come without
its problems, this car.

I think we can rescue this.

I reckon we can have
a lot of fun with this.

I mean, for a start,
the wheels, you know,

maybe you make them a
lot bigger, some spinners

on there, perhaps some really cool isolated
stuff, lights everywhere, you know.

I want to slap you down.

What do you want about spinners
and ice lights and all that rubbish?

These wheels, they look like hubcaps.

They need to be bigger, and
they need to be much more funky.

OK, OK.

When are you ever going to learn it?

If you went too big and too funky
on this car, you'll ruin it, right?

You could just tip this
car over the edge and go

the wrong way, and it
will start to lose money.

However, if you can
find a modern equivalent

of that wheel just to
fill up the wheel arch,

but not too blingy,
just finish it off nicely.

Maybe.

Well, I'll tell you what, leave that to me.

I'm going to find the wheels for it.

OK.

Step into the office.

You'll like it there.

It's very, very plush in here.

What do you think of that then?

It's pretty cool.

Loads of buttons and lights.

This is fab.

It is great.

It all lights up beautifully.

It's electric, everything.

Seats, mirrors, lights, even
the steering column is electric.

And it all works?

Everything works except for the
LCD display on the temperature Gauge.

It's a bit foggy, and it
could do with replacing.

OK.

Well, if you get us all of those, I
don't reckon it'll be too hard to fix.

No, it'd be a nice easy job.

And all it needs, really,
is to soak your sponge

round the inside, and
it'll be as good as new.

Cool.

OK.

Do not put leopard skin seat
covers on it, because you will ruin it.

I will.

All right.

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

One other thing, on
the test drive, I noticed a

squeak on the steering
when you put it on lock.

So it could be bushes.

OK.

Well, we'll see what happens with that one.

There is a scratch down here on the bumper.

Oh, yeah.

OK.

Well, I think that means I've
got to do the whole bumper.

Yeah, but that's easy, isn't it?

At least it's one color.

You can just take it off,
paint it, put it back on.

It's metallic paint.

OK.

I mean, it's not going to
be easy, but it'll be fine.

It'll be OK.

Right.

Now, the back of the car is mint, right?

So you don't have to do anything here.

Down the side of the car,
it's absolutely beautiful.

Bucket of Polish.

It'll look fantastic.

So there you go, Ed.

What do you think about Alexis?

Well, I'm still not completely
convinced, but we'll give it a go.

What do you mean, we'll give it a go?

Ed, wash your mouth out.

Think about this motor.

Once we finish it, it's
going to be awesome.

Welcome back to Wheeler Dealers.

It's our mission to buy
and restore a modern

classic car, and we've
got up to £4,000 to spend.

This is a Lexus LS


restrained exterior lies a
car engineered like no other.

But I only paid £1,300 for it.

Ed's got it back to the
workshop and is ready to start

working his magic and getting
the Lexus back to tip-top Nick.

This vehicle is all
about quality, and

although there are no
major jobs to be sorted,

because it's in such
good condition, our

perspective bars are
going to get really picky.

It's those niggly little
jobs I'm going to have

to attend to to guarantee


And what better place
to start but the bodywork.

The great thing about
this car's bodywork is

actually it's in pretty
much perfect condition.

There's just this ding here, you can see
where it's had a bit of it coming together,

probably with something
red by the looks of it.

And it's actually scraped
off the lacquer and also

put a couple of scratches
into the plastic below.

And there's a little bit of flaking
round here, and that's pretty much it.

Now the thing is though, it's metallic
paint, it's quite a tricky colour to mix up.

And I think that really the
best thing to do is to send this

off to a professional to make
sure that the job is just so.

But I'm going to do all the prep
work and I'm going to do it on the car,

because I think it'll be a
little bit easier that way.

Painting jobs are all about
preparation, and if I do

that myself, I'll be saving
around £200 in labour.

Before I start working
on the bumper, I've

got to remove the inner
wings and mudguards.

Well, I'm nearly ready to
start the prep work for the car.

Now I've got the mud flaps off, I
can see that this part of the bumper

can only be removed once the rest
of the bumper is actually off the car.

And also this little bit of chrome here is
going to have to stay where it is for now.

And so while I'm prepping, I
don't want to scuff up these two bits,

so I'm going to get on with some
masking tape and just protect those areas.

This may seem a
little bit belt and braces,

but if I was to scuff
this bit of chrome trim,

it would cost loads of
money to replace later on.

Better safe than sorry.

With the bright work and
lower bumper protected,

I can start to key the
surface using an abrasive pad.

As always with an abrasive
pad, it's just a case of

nice circular motion, make
sure you cover all the areas.

And there's no point in rushing,
you've just got to get on with it.

When the peeling
lacquer is clearly exposed,

then switch to sandpaper to
wear down any hard edges.

All the sanding is now complete,
but I noticed a bit of a divot here,

and I reckon that was the point of
impact when the damage occurred.

Now I'm going to
have to fill it, but as

always, once the fill
is dry, I'll sand it back,

and then I reckon the prep is complete.

A golf ball of filler to a pee of
Harner is my standard recipe,

and the mixture is easy
to apply and sets quickly.

It doesn't matter whether you're
working on a bumper or the bonnet,

the principles are the same.

When this is painted, the
bodywork on the car will be spotless,

exactly what buyers expect to see.

With the filler dry and sanded,

I need to get the bumper
off to send it to the body shop.

I can see loads of plastic clips holding
the bumper on underneath the car,

and I know there are quite a few
bolts to remove from inside the boot.

I'll do all the ones I can see here first,

then go topside, and then the
bumper should just come away.

Removing the bumper is usually simple,

just find the retaining
bolts and loosen them off.

The four main bolts inside
the boot are easy to find,

but because the bumper is so big,

there are many more supporting bolts,

and these are hidden in the inner wings.

Well, that was a bit of a struggle,

but now with the bumper off,
I can send it to the body shop,

and when it comes back, it will
be bright, shiny, and good as new.

When the Japanese designed this car,

they were trying to compete with those
high-end German executive vehicles,

and I think they did a pretty good job.

Now, you may have
noticed on those very same

vehicles, they have very
intense white headlamps.

Unfortunately, our Lexus
was only fitted with the old

yellow tungsten version, but
I have a very good kit here,

which will convert that to an HID system,

which is high-intensity discharge.

Basically, that means
this bulb burns brighter,

and also, it uses a little bit less power.

Mike wants to add value to this car,

and uprating the lights to HID
is a smart way of doing that.

It will certainly be a talking point
when it comes to selling the Lexus,

and he's definitely worth the £300 he paid
with a specialist supplier for the kit.

Apparently, fitting this
is supposed to be easy,

so I'm going to drop out a headlight
and have a look at it on the bench.

The bulbs swap over easily enough.

The HID bulbs do operate
at a different voltage,

though, so the kit
comes with a transformer,

which means they'll work
in the existing wiring room.

The transformer clips
in behind the headlight.

Reconnect the wiring, and
we should be in business.

Well, that is quite literally brilliant.

I mean, you can see
it's a much whiter,

brighter lamp, but also,
it's much more intense.

If you don't believe me, I've
got something to show you.

Now, this beam set is actually
quite clever because it comes

with a Lux meter, which
measures the intensity of light.

Now, if I line it up with our old headlamp

that I haven't modified yet,

this has got the old yellowy
tungsten-style headlamp bulb in there.

Let's have a look.

Right, now that's showing a reading of 0.5,

so if I now move it onto
the headlamp I have

modified, which is the
HID system involved,

wow, now that's showing a reading of 1.

So it's quite literally double
the brightness on this,

which means it's much
safer to drive at night

because you can see pretty much
twice as much, and also, it looks cooler.

I think that's a job well done.

Now, I've mentioned before that
I'm being quite picky with this car,

and that's because it's
such a good condition

I want it to be just so
for our potential buyers.

Now, one of the niggles that was bothering
me on the way back to the workshop

was when I went around corners,
especially under acceleration,

there was a bit of a strange
squeak from the front suspension.

Now, it's probably because of warm bushes,
but the only way for me to really find out

is to Jack it back up in the air and take
the wheel off and have a good route around.

To find this squeak, I'm going to have
to move all of the joints with this pry bar

to see if I can see excess movement,
or perhaps even hear the squeak.

Now, the front rubber
joint up there is not...

There's nothing wrong with that.

So we'll look at this top wishbone.

Now, there's movement,

but it's pretty much expected
compliance, so that's okay.

And this side, again, that's fine.

But if you look at this Boulder on top
of the upright, I mean, that's really bad.

In fact, I can move it with my hand.

I would say that was
quite comfortably past it.

So I'm going to need to change that,

and chances are this
side's bad, the other side

will be bad as well,
so I'll do them as a pair.

So the next job is to take this off.

This is a common complaint with the LS400.

The standard fix is to replace
just the offending bushes,

something a main dealer will charge
around 600 pounds for parts and labour.

But changing the entire
wishbone is a better solution.

It's also cheaper at only


Mike bought me replacements on the Internet,
and they arrived in less than 24 hours.

Now, if we take a closer
look at this ball joint,

you can see that it's
really, really wobbly.

It kind of moves in and out a lot, but it's
actually really, really floppy as well.

There should be quite a bit of resistance,
and there should be no movement at all

when it comes to where the
ball is in relation to this socket.

So that's going to have to be replaced.

I'm not quite sure where
the squeak comes from.

Obviously, when it's under
load, of course, there's

metal on metal, so
perhaps that's where it is.

It's obviously an intermittent fault,

and it's one of those
things that if we're replacing

this anyway, chances
are that noise will go away.

I'm pretty sure there's
nothing else on the suspension

that would cause a squeak,
so once this has changed,

I think we should be sorted.

If you look at the replacement item,

you can see that there's
loads of resistance.

on this ball joint, which is
exactly how it should be.

And also, this replacement unit comes
with the other bearings already fitted,

so this top arm can go
straight back onto the car.

The wishbones are simple to fit,

and with any luck,
they won't have to be

tackled again during
the lifetime of the Lexus.

I've obviously got the other side to do,

but once that's done,
there'll be no more squeaking,

just that lovely hum of
that Lexus V8 to listen to.

I've been working hard,

but I bet Mike will barely notice a
difference when he pays me a visit.

Ed. Hello, mate. How are you, fella?

I'm doing alright, actually.
Good to see you.

Right, our Lexus LS400.

What have you been doing
to it since I've been gone?

Well, I've been pretty busy.
Remember those scratches on the bumper?

Yeah. I've now taken that
off and sent it to the body shop

to get that sorted.
Fantastic, so it's gone off the paint.

It has indeed, yep. And also, actually,

I noticed there was a
bit of a squeak from the

suspension, I had a
further look, and actually,

I had to change the ball joint in here,

so I changed both top
arms, so now that's all sorted.

But better than that, if
you have a look at this.

Oh, wow, look at those!

Nice lights, what are they all about?

Well, it's HID, High Intensity Discharge.

Basically, it's a really
sporty version of the old

tungsten halogen thing.
It's obviously twice as bright,

it's a white light as well,
which means you reflect back

much more information
so you can see better,

and of course it looks really cool as well.

Looks fantastic, so we've
got a safer, brighter light

on the front of the car.
Well done. Very, very nice.

Now we've got modern headlamps,

I reckon we could do
with some modern wheels,

but leave that one
to me, I'll sort it out.

Have you done the LCD screen inside?
Not yet, no.

And the bumper's got to go back
on when it comes back from painters.

Alright, well, I'm
going to leave you to it.

Good luck.

£1300 for a car that once sold for £35,000.

If that's not silly, what is?

I've got up to £4000 to buy
and restore a luxury Lexus,

and we must make a profit
when we sell on the finished car.

We're halfway through
the graft on our J-Plater.

Ed has worked hard, making
it one of the best on the street.

The squeaky suspension
was down to a warm bush.

That job's been done.

The bumper needed a
new coat of metallic paint,

so he's prepped that, filled in the dent,

and now the bumper's
gone off to the body shop.

Now, I wanted to add value to the car,

so up-specking the lights to
HID seemed like a smart move.

Now the lamps are
brighter and therefore safer,

plus they glow a cool blue.

Now, we've only spent
£650 on the car so far,

so there's still £1050 in the kitty
to have a bit of fun with the old LS.

Later on in the show, I'll be
looking for a buyer for a LS,

so while Ed gets on the road
to making this car presentable,

I'm off to meet a guy called
John, who's got a beautiful LS 400,

and he knows the ins and outs of
running one of these things every day.

Now, I know that Lexuses are reliable,

but what should buyers look out for
mechanically if they're going to buy one?

Mechanically, the main point would be
the power steering pump can leak slightly

and drip into the alternator, which
could cause a bit of problem there.

The LCD display can frost over or mist up,

doesn't give out a good reading,
looks a bit rote, doesn't look very good,

and history, plenty of history.

Some people think these
old girls are looking a bit tired.

and they could do with blinging up,

nice big wheels and them
chrome mirrors, that type of thing.

Is it a good idea?

Not for me, no, I don't
think it's a good idea at all.

It makes them look silly, it
devalues them even more,

and you never sell them on.

Your car is in lovely
condition, I promise

to keep it that way, if
you let me have a go.

Perfect, I can't wait.

Well, John's very proud of
his car and so he should be

because it really is a genuine,
proper purchase that he's bought there.


think he's spot on the money.

And think back to what we were driving
around when this car first hit the market.

We're in BMW 7 Series or Mercedes S-Class,

and when I say we, we weren't,
it was the captains of industry.

All those peasants had
to stand on the side of

the road and just watch
these cars whisk past.

Right now is the right time
to go and buy a car like this.

They're reasonably priced,
they're fantastic value for money,

and just look at the bang
you get for your bucks.

Sometimes you don't want to get
in a car and whip through the gears

and race up the country
lanes and fight the steering

at every bend and make
sure the towel stays happy.

Sometimes after a hard day all
you want to do is climb into a car,

stick it in drive and be oiled home.

And that's exactly what
this car does for me.

It's beautiful.

Now the difference between our
car and John's car is not a wide Gulf.

It's actually quite narrow.

Our car just needs a nice
set of wheels to tidy up,

a little bit of paintwork on the bumper,

throw a bucket of Polish over it,

and I think we've got the basis of
a car that's almost as good as this.

Not bad going, eh?

Now it's down to Ed to see if he can
turn that corner and meet that challenge.

We're after an outstanding LS.

Remember our scratch bumper?

That's all painted up by
our paint shop pal d*ck,

and it's ready to go back on.

Well, look at that, a lovely,
shiny, good as new bumper.

Yet again, d*ck has done us proud.

Now you may remember when we
took this off, we took it off in one piece,

but to make d*ck's life a
little bit easier, we actually

separated it, so now when
we put it back together again,

we have to put the aluminium
piece on first, then the foam,

and then of course this
slightly unwieldy, shiny new part.

Now, because it is a bit
unwieldy, I've brought on Paul

to give me a hand, just in
case I damage the paint.

The bumper was removed in one piece,

but it actually consists of three parts.

First is a metal substructure,

then is the high-impact absorbing foam,

and finally, our freshly painted plastic.

It costs £200 to spray the
bumper, but it's good value.

Well, I'm very happy with that,

and having two of us certainly
made it an awful lot easier to do.

All we have to do now is to
up all the connecting bolts.

Our LS400 is an executive car,

and this kind of vehicle is
normally bristling with gadgets,

but one gadget this car
hasn't got is a car phone.

Nowadays, everybody's got a mobile phone,

but it's actually ill*gal to
use a mobile while driving,

so the only safe alternative
is to use a hands-free device.

Now, I've managed to get hold of a
really cool universal hands-free kit,

which is designed to work with any
foam fitted with wireless technology.

Now, the cool thing
about this sort of stuff

is it actually uses the speakers
from the car's own audio system,

but to install it, I need to
get at the back of the stereo,

and to do that, I need to
take the dashboard apart.

Mike wanted me to add a
special something to this car,

but wouldn't let me put
in a leopard-skin interior,

so we compromised, and
fitting this foam kit is a good idea.

It's something you won't
find on cars of this vintage.

Unless you're really confident,
get a professional to do this,

otherwise you may end up
with an electrical headache.

Before the unit can go in,

I've got to prepare the
connections for the wiring known.

They all have to be soldered,

since our 90s Lexus doesn't have
standard Euro connectors like a modern car.

All the wiring is now spliced together.

I've soldered the joints
and then gone over with a bit

of heat shrink to make
sure they're all nice and safe.

The next thing here is
to attach the microphone.

It's going to sit about here,

and that means I have to route
the wire through all this trim,

down the A-pillar, and
then into the dashboard.

So, I'd better start taking it all apart.

It sounds like trouble
taking all the interior

trim out of a car, but it
looks worse than it is.

Every piece of interior trim will screw
or snap out, so you could do this easily.

Don't use anything sharp on this job.

Tearing the headlining
could be a nightmare.

With the mic connected, I
can add the LCD display.

Well, it's been quite a long job this one.

I've done all the wiring, I've connected
up my microphone, routed all that cabling,

I've also put on this little
information screen here,

and it's quite clever
because this actual machine

downloads your whole
address book from your

phone so you can see
who's actually calling.

What I've got to do now is
connect up the last few cables

to this little box of tricks, which
obviously does all the magic.

I'm just going to connect
up the microphone there.

And these are the speaker
cables and then the power.

Okay, now I'm just
going to turn on the car.

Oh, look at that.
The screen is sprung to life.

Fantastic.

Right, so I'll just make a quick
phone call to make sure it still works.

So there we go. Fantastic.

Job done.

I love our Lexus, but she is
looking a bit sorry for herself.

What that car needs is some bling,

something to catch the
eye of a potential punter.

Now, the first thing to do up on any
car is a decent set of alloy wheels,

but I want to save myself a few quid, so
I've come down here to a car spare shop

on a busy high street that
looks like an Aladdin's cave.

Hopefully they've got a set of wheels,
and let's hope they're for a bargain.

Oh, wow. They look brand new.

As good as new, but not new.

That is new, isn't it?

No, you can see it's been driven on,

but they're not new.

They're fantastic.

And they're going to
fit straight onto my LS?

They're the same stud pattern as your LS.

The IS and LS are the same stud patterns.

Well, they should go straight on.

They're wicked.
How many of them have you got?

They're a set of five, so
you don't need a space saver.

You're kidding me.

And they're 500 quid for the set of five.

I asked Mike for some new wheels,

and look what he's delivered.

They're so much better
than those dodgy old


look more like hubcaps.

These have a hard lot of style to them.

They're 17 inches in diameter,
which is two inches bigger.

They're fitted with low-profile
tyres, which look cool,

but also have a distinct
performance advantage.

And they're the right rolling radius
as well, which is very important.

And the really cool thing is,

he also supplied some
new chrome wheel nuts.

This is the kind of job I like.

I've been itching to get rid of the old
Lexus wheels, and at last I can upgrade.

Mike has made a wise choice.

These new rooms are cool
and smart, but discreet with it.

They've thrown in a set of
high-security wheel nuts too.

You may have noticed I've only used four
of our new wheel nuts to hold our wheel on.

That's because the
fifth one is a bit different.

And what makes it special is the fact
that it's got holes in the end of the nut.

And those holes correspond to some
studs which are in this special key.

Now, that only fits together in a certain
direction, and these are utterly unique.

So this key only works
with this set of wheel studs.

Now, I'll just pop this into
position, as you're supposed to,

and do it up nice and tight.

And then once it is tight,

there's a clever little
cap that comes with it.

Just pop that into place.

And it just looks like any other wheel nut.

I've changed the wheels and tyres
and the front suspension arms on this car,

and that will have unsettled
the suspension geometry.

And that's going to give us poor tyre
wear potentially and also bad handling.

So before this Lexus leaves the workshop,

I need to make sure that those
wheels are properly tracked.

Now, the best way of doing that is by
using a four-wheel laser tracking device.

The first job is to put all
four wheels onto swivel plates

and lock the steering into
the dead-ahead position.

Attaching lasers to each of the wheels

means I can accurately measure
the alignment of the suspension.

I can then make fine adjustments
in relation to the centreline of the car.

Get this wrong and the steering pulls left
or right and the tyres will wear unevenly.

Our Lexus is nearly 15 years old
and although it doesn't look that dated,

these orange indicators
do really rather give it away.

Modern cars are fitted
with clear lenses like these

and I think you'll agree
they look a lot more stylish.

Obviously I'll have to change
the bulbs to these coloured ones

but it shouldn't be such a hard
job because there's one screw here.

Undo that, pull them out,

sock them over and it'll be job done.

Mike found these on the net for £38.

They come from the US.

For an aftermarket add-on,
they're pretty tasteful.

In the flurry of
excitement, I almost forgot

one of the jobs Mike
really wanted me to do.

Basically, the LCD display has failed.

All the LCD itself has actually
bled into other elements

and it means it doesn't display
anything of any use at all.

Now, to actually try
and replace one of these

things from Lexus
could cost up to £600.

Luckily, it's such a
common problem that a guy

in America has made
his own LCD replacement.

Now, the cool thing about
that is it's going to work

a treat and actually
outlive the life of the car.

The bad thing is I'm going
to need to take this apart

and do some pretty serious
minor electronics to fix it.

Luckily, I've got a
pretty comprehensive

manual that's going to
give me a helping hand.

Now this job is actually pretty tricky.

In fact, the company who sell the unit
actually offer a fitting service as well.

but I'm pretty confident
I can sort this out.

I have to de-solder the first screen and
then of course re-solder on our new unit.

The instructions are
comprehensive enough but you

do need a very steady
hand and a lot of experience.

The screen kit is about £120 and
a specialist would charge a further.

£80 to £100 for fitting.

Either way, it's much cheaper
than a new replacement.

All that needs to happen now is
that the dashboard goes back together

and we're done.

Our Lexus has always been a quality car

and it's because of that fact
that the small details matter.

Now I've sort of those
little niggling problems.

I've really lifted the car,

freshed it up, in fact
made it seem a lot younger

than it really is, and that's going to
really count when it comes to reselling.

We've made ourselves a
really desirable executive motor.

There are plenty of used
Lexus LS400s out there

but cars with loads of service
history at low money are not.

I was lucky to find this
well looked after bargain LS.

The jobs on this car
might have seen small

scale but the effect
they've made are huge.

First, a scratch bumper was stripped
and prepared for a professional paint job.

The squeak I could hear from the
steering was a foul suspension bush.

Ed swapped over the bush and control
arms and the squeak was no more.

We wanted to make this
car stand out from the pack

and upgraded the lights to a
high intensity discharge system.

They're straightforward
to fit and glow a cool blue.

Installing a hands free mobile
phone unit was a smart fit.

Only top drawer executive
cars have kit like this

and new wheels and
clear lenses gave the Lexus

a fresh style that the
original never had.

How much did we spend?

The car was £1300, control arms £350,

HID kit was £300.

The paintwork came in at
£200, the new wheels £500,

the hands free kit £200, clear lenses
£38 and a replacement digital screen £120.

Total just over £3000.

Small change for such a smart car.

Ed.

Hi mate.

How are you?

I'm doing very well.

You've done it again, haven't you?

I have.

Look at that.

You haven't swapped that 91
in for a 2004 Lexus, have you?

Not at all but it's looking very special.

Everything's been uplifted.

Just looks fantastic and well done.

Well, last time obviously you'd
done the gas charged lights.

What else have you been up to?

Well, you can see these new
clear lenses on the front bumper

and of course on the rear bumper it's
now freshly painted, looking fantastic.

Well done.

And of course your
wheels are looking fantastic.

They're great, aren't they?

They just finished it off.

I mean it's lifted the whole car right up,

made it feel much more modern.

Absolutely.

If we get inside as well,
on those wheels actually,

I did the tracking on there as well so
that everything's going to be perfect.

No dodgy tyre wear.

We had the dodgy LCD screen, didn't we?

Well, we did indeed actually.

Yeah, I just had to replace the
LCD element and that works perfectly.

Easy job to do.

Well, it was kind of complicated.

A bit of soldering but it was fun.

And what's this little thing here?

It looks like a meter.

I know.

It's actually the hands-free phone kit.

It works with any Bluetooth
phone on the market.

You're kidding.

So we got an executive
toy for an executive car.

Well done, Ed.

Do you know what?

I think we've done it with this one.

Well, you have.

It looks fantastic.

A brilliant transformation.

I reckon we're in the money on this one.

Definitely, definitely in the money.

But now you put the wheels on it.

I've got to get it out on the streets.

I've got to catch myself in
a shop window reflection.

Give me the keys.

Cheers.

We have got a beauty on our hands.

And I mean a beauty.

This car is just stunning.

Look at it and just listen
to that silky smooth engine.

Well, you can't listen to it
because you can't hear it.

That's how smooth it is.

This is the perfect car to waft around in.

And the way it makes you drive,

I feel like the chairman of the board,

the executive of the football club.

I am the governor.

Refinement in this car is top draw.

I can't believe we bought
this car in the first place,

but I can't believe how
Ed has turned it around.

We've made this car better than new.

It just feels absolutely fantastic.

It was a rough car.

We've smoothened off those rough edges.

And now we've got something that,

well, I just want to drive
past the shop window.

I want to catch that reflection.

I want to see these jaw-like alloy
wheels blinging away in the background.

It just feels amazing to drive.

Now, it costs £35,000
when it was new, this car.

And do you know what?

It still looks like £35,000 worth today.

Right, now we need to think about selling
this car and how much we can sell it for.

I've seen these change hands
for between £3,000 and £4,000.

And I reckon this car's probably
worth all of £4,000 to anyone out there.

But we're not going to sell it for £3,000.

It's going to be greedy.

We're just happy to get another
machine back on the road,

smoothing along, doing
what it should be doing.

So I'm going to ask £3,500 for it.

And I reckon the first person
to walk through the door

and come and see this
and get behind the wheel

and get the feeling that
I've got at the moment,

wouldn't that be a rabbit, wouldn't it?

Now, since I bought our Lexus,

there seems to be a huge glut of them.

I don't know why, but they've
definitely hit values hard.

I'm trying to attract a buyer who
wants a bit of bling on his motors.

So I've advertised it in the
local papers down in London.

Now, the first guy who
rung, he didn't turn up.

The second guy who rung,
said he had arranged to meet me,

he didn't turn up.

The third guy has, his name's Tack.

He's been out for a drive in the car.

You can't fault it.

It drives like a beautiful thing on wheels.

But has he got the money in his pocket?

I don't know. Wish me luck.

Right then, Tack.

What do you think of this interior then?

Yeah, it's really nice in here.

It's nice and spacious.

What's that thing on the dash there?

That is a Bluetooth hands-free
device for your mobile phone.

It downloads all your numbers.

You never have to take your
hands off the steering wheel.

The voice comes out the speakers.

It's got a microphone.

It's an executive toy
for an executive motor.

It's a Lexus, so they
are fairly bulletproof.

Very rarely do they go wrong.

They do have one little fault, actually.

The LCD display for the temperature
Gauge, they fade after a while.

I don't know why,
but we've changed

it, so you haven't got
to worry about that.

That's all been done.

Oh, right. Brilliant.

Yeah? Happy? Excellent.

Good.

These are off an IS200, a
much more newer Lexus.

Oh, OK.

It's a smaller car, but they
happen to fit directly onto this one.

So there you go.

You've got a tasty set
of wheels on the motor.

Yeah, it seems to have freshened it up.

Yeah, it's filled up the wheel arches.

Looks good.

Has there been any accident
damage on the vehicle?

Well, it's a big car, and it's going
to be difficult to park in a tight space.

And when we got it, actually, it was a
little Mark out the side of the bumper here.

Oh, OK.

But can you see the repair?

No, it seems like a good repair.

It's good, isn't it?

Yeah.

Ed got onto that, and
he's done a lovely job.

Oh, right. Brilliant.

Looks cracking, doesn't it?

It's all lovely and
straight down the sides.

No work to do there.

The electric windows work.

The mirrors work.

There's no stone chips
across the front whatsoever.

It's lovely.

Are those indicators original?

Aren't they supposed to be Amber?

Yeah.

When I got the car and we changed
the wheels and we made it look younger,

we wanted to lift the face
of this car up a little bit.

So you can get a clear
indicator lens pack for it,

which we put on, and that's
knocked some years off of it.

But better than that, see these headlamps?

Have you heard of gas discharge lights?

Oh, like xenon headlamps.

Like xenon headlamps.

It's a much brighter and whiter light.

It's much safer for the road,

and it makes it look
much more modern as well.

So we've changed the headlamps as well.

OK.

It's a much, much better car.

All this car needs is a new owner.

Now, I advertised it for
three and a half grand.

I've had a few phone calls, but you're the
first bloke to get down here and see it.

What do you reckon?

I'm happy to take it.

Three thousand pounds.

Three grand?

You want five hundred quid off?

I'm glad you want to buy it.

It's a great car.

It's good to get it back on the road,

but three thousand four hundred
pounds is probably the best I can do.

Meet me at three three?

Three three.

Three three.

Cash.

Cash.

Perfect.

You got yourself a deal.

Well done.

At three thousand three hundred pounds,

we've made around a
three hundred pound profit.

All right, it's not riches, but we did
get more than twice we paid for the car.

And what a car.

Just looking at it tells
me it's all been worthwhile.

It's a good feeling to take a car
and take it beyond its expectations.

And that's exactly what we did with this.

It doesn't matter how much money
we made or how much we didn't make.

I'm chuffed that we spent some
time with the fabulous LS 400 Lexus.

It really is a great car.

Join us next time on Wheel of Dealers

when we take some more classic cars
on the brink and we make them sweet.

Salut.