03 Lexus GX470 detail... damn carpets!!

looks good man. the carpet is shot to **** it looks like which is too bad. if i had that vehicle i would make sure my kids feet were cleaner before they got it. the outside looks awesome. good work man.



Vernon
 
on those rear carpets sometimes all you need is a good shopvac. the high HP ones are good for dirt like that. nice job
 
"Some of the interior materials are not what they are in other Lexus vehicles (vinyl on the seat etc)."



I don't believe there is vinyl on the seat. I've got friends with the GX and it's as immersive in leather as anything these days.



Greg,



The lower back of the seat is plastic but good quality. I don't feel that's a big deal. The sides of the seat you marked in yellow are actually in leather as far as I know. They are in the ES. They may appear like vinyl in the photos but I think it is different more durable type of leather.



As for the price, if you drive a GX you will be amazed by the quality of drive...I think that is wisely where Lexus spent the money.
 
vdog0531 said:
looks good man. the carpet is shot to **** it looks like which is too bad. if i had that vehicle i would make sure my kids feet were cleaner before they got it. the outside looks awesome. good work man.



Vernon
Click to expand...



Hah, you shoulda seen my rear seat before I cleaned it!:eek: Large center tunnel on a rwd car w/beige carpet is hard to keep clean, I learned and covered it with a towel. Cleaned up nicely though. Lexus interiors are VERY plush, even the vinyl feels, well, like expensive vinyl.



And BMW "leatherette" looks very good, imitation leather grain looks perfect. Just doesn't smell like real leather. They charge an arm and a leg for leather, which is why lots of people opt for the leatherette.
 
Lee,



LOL, it is not leather. It is okay for a luxury branded vehicle to not have seats made of 100% leather. We're not dealing with a Rolls Royce or Bentley here. Some vinyl matches leather well enough that a difference can only be noticed with a good eye.
 
Looks great, the pearl in the white really shows in the pictures and the interior transformation is incredible. :up How long did it take you to do the whole car?



As for the comments in this thread, there are few cars that have actual leather throughout the whole car, that's why manufacturers call it "leather seating surfaces" or "leather inserts" since only the parts your body actually touches is leather. I think Lexus does a great job with the vinyl, it feels almost like leather. I had a hard time telling them apart until I did the fingernail test.



The GX470 is basically a 4Runner with some nicer trimmings and features. You can also get the rear air suspension and backup camera on the 4Runner Limited. The GX and LX don't have HID's because Toyota/Lexus doesn't think equipping them on a car so high up is a good idea (something to do with blinding people). For some reason, the RX is low enough to have them though.
 
"The GX470 is basically a 4Runner with some nicer trimmings and features."



No. It's a lot more than a 4Runner. There are drivetrain differences, better sound isolation, etc. I like them both but you do get value from the higher priced GX.
 
We could argue this all night long and it still wont change that it's vinyl on the sides of the seat. Take it to an upholstery guy and let him tell you. The stealer is going to lie to you and they probably don't know anyway. It's really OK for it to be there I promise. BMW does it, Honda does it, MBZ does it, Cadillac does and Lexus too. You wont find the stuff in a Bentley, Rolls, Ferrari, Lamborghini or the like. As far as value goes, the winner is the car with the same body and the least options as it will depreciate the slowest (based on %'s). Get over it.
 
SilverLexus said:
No. It's a lot more than a 4Runner. There are drivetrain differences, better sound isolation, etc. I like them both but you do get value from the higher priced GX.
Click to expand...



I agree with the sound isolation and the value that comes with the GX, but mechanically they are the same vehicle (assuming you get a V8 4Runner). I wasn't arguing that it was better to buy a 4Runner, I love the GX and would really like to have some of the features it has. But, they are very similar, just like the Land Cruiser and LX are very similar.
 
The 4 Runner and the GX are simply platform mates, the entire body, interior, sound deadening, glass etc is unique to each vehicle. This is true of the ES and Camry, the RX and Camry/Highlander. The overall shared component amount varies from 20-35%. The Land Cruiser and LX are FAR FAR more similar than the 4 Runner and GX with shared body panels and glass.



As for the vinyl, the seats are definately part vinyl. The sides of the seats in the ES are too, the ES also has leather-look vinyl on the door armrests. Lexus just uses a high quality vinyl that feels nice and soft. Even on the LS the sides of the seat are vinyl unless its a CL or UL package. The difference on the GX is theres that strip of vinyl on the facing of each seat which is abnormal for a car in this pricerange. Keep in mind also that color differences appear in a camera flash that are invisible to the naked eye. In person the colors are pretty much the same.
 
SpoiledMan said:
We could argue this all night long and it still wont change that it's vinyl on the sides of the seat. Take it to an upholstery guy and let him tell you. The stealer is going to lie to you and they probably don't know anyway. It's really OK for it to be there I promise. BMW does it, Honda does it, MBZ does it, Cadillac does and Lexus too. You wont find the stuff in a Bentley, Rolls, Ferrari, Lamborghini or the like. As far as value goes, the winner is the car with the same body and the least options as it will depreciate the slowest (based on %'s). Get over it.
Click to expand...



I worked on the OEM seating industry for 10 years as a designer. Honda Accords 4 doors from 1989 - 1996 are my designs as well as the Jeep Grand Cherokee, some Acura's and Nissan's.



In most "luxury" cars all "A" surface materials are leather while "B" surface can be either leather / or vinyl (commonly referred to as "Ultrahide" in the U.S.. On the Lexus pictured the front cushion bolster nearest the console is leather. I can't tell on the front back side faces but it is not unusual for the outer to be leather and the inner to be ultrahide. The front back rear side facings might or might not be leather. They are a different color than the map pockets which are definately Ultrahide but you do end up with color variations within leather the same as dying (painting, and, No, I will not get into that discussion) similar to cloths. Rear seat side facings are Ultrahide.



If you wouldn't classify the car as "luxury" but it has leather seating typically only the seat inserts are.



A nice leather interior typically costs around $350 - $500 to manufacturer which we would sell for around $750 to the plant actually mounting the cover on the frame who would sell it to the OEM for $1,250 who sells it to you for $1,500 - $2,000.



There are probably less than 20 cars whose seat covers are made in the US currently. Everything is from Mexico now (explains why I am no longer in the industry).



There is also a knock-off OEM leather seating industry which dealers will purchase from when they have a car that meets all of the buyers needs but doesn't have desired leather seating. They copy cloth seats so you end up getting seats that don't match the OEM design.
 
Thanks Autoeng.



I looked closely at my Lexus ES and I guess there are some parts on the side that are "Ultrahide"...but I tell you it looks so much like leather I can't easily tell. As long as the seat is leather then I think that is luxury.



"You wont find the stuff in a Bentley, Rolls, Ferrari, Lamborghini or the like."



I'm not so sure about the Bentley. I looked at them at my local VW dealer yesterday-brand new GTs no less-and the grille is a cheap grey plastic painted with chrome color. Of course these cars mentioned carry a price tag of over 3X the Lexus GX.



I spoke with my Lexus sales guy today and he said that the GX has a different transmission than the 4Runner.
 
Lee, I wasn't cutting your car down in any way. I was just pointing out the the makers(pretty much all of them) are looking for ways to cut costs. While we look at is as a few dollars for them it's that times the number of cars. My personal opinion about the Bentley Continental is that it has the heritage that VW could give it and not what came from yesteryears. For them to make the car that they made at that price you have to know that somewhere, they were going to cut a corner. You found the grill but who knows what other things were compromised.



This is not a knock to the VW people, just stating the difference.
 
Donald Trump (like him or hate him) made a very good point when he said something along the lines of, "The plans called for each door to have four hinges. I talked to the engineers and it was determined three hinges were sufficient, and at "X" number of hinges, we saved a hundred thousand dollars." Can't remember the exact numbers but I'm close enough for this discussion.



It's hard for us to be on the receiving end and realize why just a little bit more money was not spent. Look at it from an accountant's perspective and it is very clear.
 
"It's hard for us to be on the receiving end and realize why just a little bit more money was not spent. Look at it from an accountant's perspective and it is very clear."



Well I agree with that. Another factor on the Bentley issue is that regulations require cars to have a certain percent of recyclable material. Still for $150K+ I would want to have wire grills bent by hand in England. That's my point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top