2008 Lexus LS460L (first paragraph edited by Nica, if you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact my self) This is the flagship vehicle for Lexus, and they are stunning cars to say the least. Not only does it have about every creature comfort and gadget available (and a rockin’ Mark Levinson audio system), but it also boasts a V8 with 380HP and 367lb-ft of torque! And it is huuuuge. There is a tremendous amount of surface area to work on with this car. He told me that he had a 10 month old 460L that needed some TLC to bring it back to life. After meeting with him and inspecting the car, we decided to go for a full correction polish (or as close to as we could get), and to thoroughly clean the interior that was showing some severe signs of wear already. The paint had moderate swirls and RIDS on the horizontal surfaces, mostly mild on the vertical surfaces, and a few scrapes, bumps, and bruises throughout. We planned on the full correction this time, and then he’ll bring it back to me every 3 or 4 months for a more basic polish. OK, onto the detail(s): The car looked as expected after a long hard winter here in Ohio. It was quite dirty inside and out, there was no protection on the surface, and it had a tremendous amount of brake dust built up: The interior was in pretty bad shape as you can see: Winters do very bad things to light colored carpet…even when using all season mats! There was a hole worn through on this mat, and all of the dirty slush melted through and completely soaked into the carpet underneath. This would be a challenging cleanup for sure. Here’s where I was concerned. There was a lot of dye transfer into the leather. The grime would come up easily, but there was so much colored dye in this light leather, that I wasn’t sure how much I could get out. Yes, this is only 10 months old. Even the passenger side was bad. Not only was there makeup on the seating surface, but it was all over the passenger compartment (armrest, door panel, headliner, sun shade, etc). 380HP beast tucked away neatly in a “gentlemen’s car”. Now it’s time for decontamination and cleaning of exterior surfaces. I started off with P21S Wheel Gel on the 19” rims, and let it dwell for a while to work into the many months of brake dust buildup. While that was working, I sprayed the tires and wheel wells with Megs APC+ at 4:1. Here’s a photo of the P21S doing its job: Once the wheels/wells were completed, I moved on to the rest of the vehicle. First I gave the car a thorough rinsing, and then broke out the foam gun that was loaded with Chemical Guys Wash & Clear mixed at paint-prep ratio (2oz / gal). While this was dwelling I prepared my two wash buckets with CGWC as well. Although I was confident that there was no sealant or waxes remaining on the surface when I received it, I always use the paint prep ratio of CGWC before polishing just to be sure any LSP’s are stripped off. Now it’s time to move on to the claying process. This past Christmas, Santa made a stop in Canada first before heading to Columbus, and he picked up some Riccardo clay for me! :worship2: I really like the texture and feel of this product, and it’s a shame we can’t get it here in the U.S. I clayed all exterior surfaces, and wasn’t surprised to find a lot of contaminants after a harsh winter. I used ONR for clay lube. Since I had the car for several days, it gave me the opportunity to break up the work a bit. I took this opportunity to try some different products and techniques on the leather. I tried all of the normal routes first on the dye transfer problem. I was able to clean the grime from the surfaces, but the dye was simply laughing at me. This was a perfect time to break out the Leatherique since it would be able to soak in and work for plenty of time. You can see here where I have applied it to the seats, the armrest, and the door panels (shiny areas). While the Leatherique was working, I figured I’d test the process and products on the hood before calling it a night. This method works well for me so that when I get up early the next morning to start polishing, I already know what needs to be done. I found the horizontal surfaces to be a whole lot worse than the vertical ones, and knew it would require a more aggressive method. For the hood I went with a Micro- Surface Tuf Buf black lambswool pad and Menzerna PO203 Power Finish. Not only did this combo cut through all of the defects, but it also left what appeared to be a LSP-ready finish. It was night time however, and the next day was supposed to be cloudy and I knew I wouldn’t be able to inspect it in the sunshine. Given that, I followed it up with 106FF and a grey LC pad just to be safe. After just 203/black wool: Closeups of the hood: After 203/black wool: It’s late, I’m going to be and get some rest on the daylight savings time-shortened night! Day two: Moving down the side of the car, I found that PO203 Power Finish and a white LC pad worked just fine. A few deeper rids required 2 passes, but other than that just one pass did the trick. Around to the back of the car, I knew that the trunk lid had deeper defects than the hood. For this one I used a Tuf Buf black lambswool pad with SIP. That combo left some holograms, so I finished it up with 106FF and a grey pad. Before: After: Not only does Menzerna make great products, but their bottles are also perfectly sized for propping the trunk lid open when working on the lower areas. It’s smart to do this when working on the trunk lid and the upper part of the bumper to avoid any accidents when moving the rotary around in these tight areas. Here I am using a 4” white spot pad with PO203. Moving my way around to the right rear of the vehicle I have some long scratches and paint transfers to deal with. Some of them were easy to remove, while others were pretty deep. Here I went back to the Tuf Buf black pad and SIP combo (Lexus paint is soft and corrects easily…otherwise I would normally go for M105 here) for a couple of passes, and followed up with 106FF. Not what you want to see on your 10 month old, $75K car! All better now: Here’s just after finishing this side with PO203/white LC pad. I’ve got everything completed now and cleaned up a bit. I’ve topped it with Opti-Seal, but no LSP as of yet. Here are some after shots in the garage. I have the car for one more day, and it’s supposed to be sunny so I’ll wait and get a few more outside-sun pics at that time. Wheels all cleaned up and sealed, and topped with Sonus Tire Gel In this reflection shot you can see my new 4-bulb, T-5 fluorescent lights. I put 3 of them in the garage, and they’re a tremendous help. Here’s my Salvador Dali shot for those artistically inclined. Look at the bending of the clocks in the reflection: I’ve been waiting all winter to take this shot. I did a lot of these hood/ceiling reflection shots last year before the ceiling was finished. Not only did I complete a major garage makeover, but I also had my logo printed in reverse so I could hang it on the ceiling. Once I take the reflection shots, the logo reads the right way! Pretty cool, eh? Now that I’ve kept you for this long, and you’re still reading and checking out the photos, I’m going to do my best to keep you a little while longer! :thumb: Before I move onto some sun shots, I’m going to show you how the interior turned out. While I was able to get the leather MUCH cleaner, a lot of the dye transfer simply would not come out…no matter what I tried. I was a little bummed about this, but it still looked fantastic in comparison. All interior surfaces were cleaned first with Woolite/water. After that I went after stubborn scuffs and smudges with APC+ at 10:1. The console and controls areas were cleaned with Megs Interior Detailer, and the wood and metal trim were polished with Klasse AIO. I spoke with George at Leatherique about the seating surfaces. After looking at the photos and some Q&A, he confirmed that the surface has been compromised and worn (it was actually rough to the touch in those areas), allowing the dye to transfer deeply into the fibers of the leather. He said that it would require a re-dye in those spots to correct it. He also added that heated seats actually add to this problem. Got legroom? Remember how bad this area looked? The carpet was cleaned with Folex, agitated with a stiff brush, and extracted with hot water. The pedals and foot rest areas were scrubbed with APC 4:1 and a brush. There’s a little bit of staining that was too tough to completely remove, but in the end it was a huge transformation. Now for the after shots in some sunshine! Remember what the rear bumper looked like when I received it? (Go ahead and scroll back up to the top…I’ll wait). I polished up the exhaust outlets with Klasse AIO No more defects on the trunk lid: Or on the hood: This wasn’t a good photo, but I put it in anyhow because I captured an airplane in the reflection! I heard it coming, and waited until it flew underneath the cloud so it would be easier to spot. When the owner came and picked it up, he couldn’t believe how it looked. He said he was expecting it to look nice, but nothing at the level that he received. He immediately booked his wife’s ’08 Lexus RX350, and we also scheduled out quarterly polishes on both vehicles. Total time = 12+ hours. The look on the owner’s face when he came to get the car = priceless! Thanks for taking the time to review my work. ~Todd
Great job on this!! Thanks for the write-up. I learn something everytime I read such an in-depth description ofa job.
Your work is awesome! That was a nasty scratch u got out towards the back door on the passenger side. Just wicked reflections
Thanks guys, I appreciate the compliments. Fortunately Lexus paint is soft and corrects pretty easily.
I just remodeled it over the winter. If the weather cooperates, I should be getting the floor finished within the next week or two. The floor is being leveled and polished, and then acid stained and sealed. It should look like the floor in a high-end auto dealership when it's done. This is what it looked like just before the remodel...granted there is some extra stuff in this photo because of holiday decorations, but you can get a pretty good idea of what level of remodel I did. It was like a government project...it went long, and waaaay over budget!
Lookin good! You should do my dream when doing the floor, slight decline to a channel style drain across the base of the garage.
Great job man! I can't believe the owner of that car allowed that interior to get that filthy that quick. I love that car, the Luxury, comfort, and technology in that car are unsurpassed in its class. The 600hL is even better, that thing is a technological beast.
Thanks everybody, I certainly appreciate it! I have to agree, these cars are unbelievable and would own one in a heartbeat!
Great work! some really great reflection shots in there. I love the interior on that car. If that LS's interior had my LS's exterior, that'd be my dream car.
Thanks for posting pics of the garage. What are the dimensions of it? I need to get some ideas for the interior of mine. Are you doing the staining of the floors yourself?
