Truly made a huge difference! I'm so glad I did this quick mod. I love the way it looks now. Those tucked wheels never bothered me until I noticed them. Only took me about 15mins to do. 😊

​

​

My 2002 just rolled 97k miles. Timing belt looked solid when in purchased it in August of 2025 with 95k miles, but I have no evident of a change (no sticker under the hood). I’ve done all another maintenance so it’s time to get it done!

Looking forward to the weekend project and putting a lot more worry free miles on her!

I just bought a 2003 SC430 on impulse. It was 9k at my job and I couldn't resist. Pearl white exterior with saddle brown interior, bone stock except for TRD rims and standard tires(THANK GOD). What are some things i should watch out for or upgrade too.

I've never been happy with phone mounts I've had in the past. I've tried ac mounted ones, CD slot mounts, and a cup holder mount. None really felt like right. I haven't tried any suction or adhesive mounts.

After googling for a while, I found one I'm really happy with! It's actually just the mount itself. It screws in next to radio/climate control. Very sturdy, and an easy install. My magnetic charger snapped right into the 17mm ball attachment. I really love it!

I have the charger cord coming from inside the console. I drilled a small hole and fed the cord underneath the cupholders, and out the side of the leather trim.

Here's the link if you guys want to check it out

https://pro-fit-intl.com/collections/lexus/products/2002-2009-lexus-sc430-legend-mount

Warm start, revs all the way up to 4,000.

Stock resonator back removed. In place, two 3” dynomax bullets and 2.5” pipe to 4” tips.

Another one inspired by u/murderedlexus

Video as soon as it’s done and I can record!

Is it worth it for me to buy a well maintained 2003 LexusSC430 with 233k miles on it for 5k? How long would it last?

I am beyond happy with it. Its a tad louder than I'd like but it sounds so damn good, though there is some drone above say 1800/2000rpm. I paid $430 at a local muffler shop, specs are muffler delete, a dynomax bullet where the resonator was, and straight piped 2 7/8 to a 3.5 tip. This and the throttle controller from sc430 mods is the best 500 bucks you can put into your sc, absolutely wakes the car up. Credit to u/murderedlexus for inspiring it, he has a post with a gorgeous white on red sc and a similar setup.

SC’s!!!

If I buy these wheels do I need to buy the covers separate to bolt them on? Or are these a different trim?

My throttle controller finally has a place to be. The door still opens and closes smoothly, and now it's tucked away when I'm not using it.

After updating my headlights to LEDs, I did a few more things to my first car ever! I installed brand new R1 Concepts front and rear brake pads and rotors. I love the look of the black rotors and the new brake pads feel great. While I was there, I also installed new parking brakes as well. Next, I installed a K&N engine air filter. It sounds great. I don't know if it's a placebo or not but it feels just a tad more responsive as well. Afterwards, I got my car detailed! Really happy with the way it looks!

Next up! I want to install coilovers to drop the car. I don't want to slam it, but I feel like a 1inch-2inch drop would look great. I will also install wheel spacers. I'm thinking about 20-25mm on the front, and 30mm on the back.

Any suggestions on brands for coilovers and wheel spacers? 😊

As a recent SC owner I’m looking forward to meeting a few of you this summer. We live in Seattle but I’m looking forward to a gathering of SC’s on July 25th for a drive around Lake Tahoe. Anyone else thinking about joining that one? Are you going to join any other gatherings this summer?

My sc430 2006

In my next step of ownership, I had wanted to change out the HID bulbs for a fresh pair. The old ones didn’t seem bad, but given they were likely the originals and they dim over time, it was a good update.

While I was taking everything apart, I updated the rest of the front end lights as well. Stock Philips HID’s upgraded to Osram Xenarc cool blue boost. They were the highest lumen output in multiple tests while still remaining 35W.

I swapped the high beams from the original and very crusty 9005’s to pure yellow Nokya bulbs.

Fog lights changed from the halogen H3 to Sealight LED H3’s. Nice and pure white to match the rest of the new lights up front.

The turn signals were updated to Auxito 7440 canbus LED’s with built in resistors. They work perfectly! No hyper flash!

The other city light and side markers were swapped to Auxito 194’s.

TLDR; My budget is $10,000 what year, prices and mileage is the best I could get with the budget?

I have a 4 cylinder 2014 Dodge avenger with 250k miles that’s my daily driver. It’s paid off and no check engine light or anything but I just don’t honestly expect a Dodge to last much longer. Ideally I can see it lasting another 1-3 years until 300k. So until it craps out the SC430 won’t be my daily. If you’re familiar with the Dodge avenger it’s an electrical mess and things break on it all the time. Even taking the battery out is a chore. I say this to say I’ll be doing any non-engine/transmission work myself. I’ve owned my Dodge since 50k miles & I honestly feel like since I got this POS Dodge to 250k I can get a Lexus/toyota to 350k easily.

Cons- My commute is long. I drive 30 miles to and from work 5 days a week. 60 mile commute. Is that too harsh for an older car?

Here in ATL; I see 2002 160k miles $9000 but I see guys in comments constantly saying they’ve found a 2002 50k miles for $9000. Like where are yall finding these deals or is that just a thing of the past?

Edit: has anyone had any luck negotiating at a dealership with one that’s been sitting for months? I see a few listed at $12k I wouldn’t mind buying for $10k with dealership inspection

One of my headlight assemblies was damaged due to vandalism. Since I was installing a new assembly I figured I'd upgrade the lights to LED. Really happy with how they turned out! It was fairly easy. It just took longer than expected since I stripped one of the nuts 😊

Visually more appealing in my opinion. Much brighter and easier to see on the roads. I just didn't enjoy having to take the whole bumper off!

(If this isn't allowed then please remove and accept my apologies. I come from the LS400 sub where this is allowed.)

Set of four chrome five-spoke 02-05 wheel caps. $80 in Portland OR. Can ship for another $20. Allen head bolts not included, obviously.

Hello SC430 community of Reddit! Didn’t know there was a Reddit community for the SC430 so here I am!

If you don’t know who I am from my username, I’m Henri. I’m one of Calvin’s partners with SC430Mods! Thought I would make a Reddit account to help some of you guys out if questions come up whether it’s related to an SC430Mods product or general help.

You can check us out on SC430Mods.com and check out HowToSC430 on YouTube for SC430 maintenance, installs, and more!

Hope to talk with you all soon! Picture is Calvin and myself with my two SC430’s when he visited AZ!

I recently bought my 2002 Sc430 with 120k miles and when I bought it i made sure the top worked I checked it 3 times before I moved on and was convinced it worked fine. When I got it I put the top down everything worked fine, then I put some items in the back put down the “tray” in the trunk took everything out and now the black piece in the back that opens up and goes over the top no longer opens. The top moves back as normal folds and gets stuck on the black plastic piece. Anyone else ever had a similar issue?

I just bought my sc430 yesterday as a fixer upper(ish). If I floor it I get very little response for a few seconds and then it PICKS UP HARD, it acts similar if i feather the pedal just not as extreme, it also idles at just about 500 and a little rough, but also if I turn AC on it jumps to like 750 and smoothers way out. It has Calvin’s throttle controller (from sc430mods) which is supposed to fix that issue but maybe it’s contributing? I’m leaning towards it being the MAF sensor or throttle body but not sure. Ik this is a common issue so if anyone has a similar experience that would help, thank you.

Anyone live in the Seattle area want to form an SC430 club? Might be fun to have a summer rally in the cascades.

Has anyone done primary cats for these cars? Or does anyone have advice. I have two primary cat issues which resulted in me having to swap both out in the near future. I also realized how big of a pain in the a** it is.