These are the kind of details that question your manhood. When you first see the car, what comes to your mind? Do you think how can I get out of working on this car or do you see a swirl free car in the end? When you are driving home after the first full day totally spent do you wish that you didn't have to come back or do you think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel? Is that light showing a defect free surface? I digress...... 2004 Black Lexus LS430 with 60K miles. The client just purchased this car a few weeks ago. When I showed up, the client had the largest halogen tripod setup I have ever seen. Next time I attend an outdoor sporting event at night, I am going to be reminded of these lights. I knew then that this was no ordinary detail. I knew this car would have to be 100% perfect for the client to be happy. In the end this is what matters. Upon arrival: The car was dusty so I did a QEW wash, clayed and another quick QEW wash. The trunk and rear of the car had the most bonded contaminants. So I started with the right rear door as a test panel. I did the following: Green Edge wool/P1500/Metabo 1600 3M blue foam/3M Ultra Fina/Metabo 1500 I was suprised at what a good job this combo did. But there where too many RIDS left. They are hard to see in this shot: So on the right rear quarter panel I tried: Yellow Edge wool/P1500/Metabo 1600 3M blue foam/3M Ultra Fina/Metabo 1500 This came out nice as well, but still not getting all of the RIDS out: So then I tried the following: Yellow Edge wool/3M extra cut/Metabo 1600 3M blue foam/3M Ultra Fina/Metabo 1500 This really hammered the paint with the 3M extra cut and yellow wool. The ultra fina worked about 95% in getting the wool marks out, but I am looking for 100% here. So I did the following: Yellow Edge wool/3M extra cut/Metabo/hitachi 1700 2x in some spots to get out the deep RIDS. Green Edge wool/P1500/Metabo 1500 3M blue foam/3M Ultra Fina/Metabo 1500 This process worked for the side panels, trunk and the roof, the roof seemed to be the least damaged by the brush washes. I polished the right side of the car and the trunk. I then wanted to give the hood a go. I tried the above combo that worked so well on the side panels, but there where many RIDS left. I even broke out the black wool and strada 1000 compound and cranked up the metabo to 2000. I made passes with the black wool 3-4 times, followed with the green wool/P1500 and the ultra fina. Still too many deep RIDS. During the black wool polishing the metabo went into thremo shutdown. I almost left my hitachi at home. I used an air mover to cool the metabo while I did heavy compounding with the hitachi on the hood. Its getting late at 7pm or so and I am spent. I figure its best to pack it in for the night and return the next day. I arrive the next day and decide to have a go at some wetsanding on the hood. I start with 2000 and finish with 2500. I then tried a yellow wool pad with presta 1500 to get the sanding marks out. This was not enough, so I stepped up to a black wool pad and 3M extra cut with the hitachi. I followed with green wool/p1500 and the ultra fina with the metabo. Still a few RIDS, I had the client come out and inspect the area with the halogens. I told him I could wetsanding it again, but I do not advise against removing any more clear coat from the hood. He agreed. I took the car out and check for holograms, no pics and that was the last of the sun that we saw. I polished the left side of the car and the front bumper area. I asked the client to come out and inspect the car before I washed it. He looked around the car with the halogens and approved. Sorry about the polish smudge near the door handle: I took the car out, rinsed off the dust and wool with my pressure washer and gave it a foam wash with my lance and 2oz of Z7 and the rest water in my 32oz bottle. I used a sheepskin mit and 2 bucket method. I rinsed the car off again with my pressure washer. I then tried to scrub off the dealer applied "tar" that they put on the tires. I ended up using AM red hot APC mixed 1:4 and scrubbed each tire 4 times. I made a good reduction in the amount of grease that was on the tires, but could not get them 100% clean. At least they will not sling on the paint now. I dried the car with two WW MFs and took the following pics. The late day low sun was covered by clouds, but I figured I'd better take some outside shots. It was sure to be dark by the time I got done applying the zaino. After 3x of Zaino Z5pro and Z8:
Lovely vehicle :thumb: and a well done job...those were some mighty good swirls lol. Just curious did you by any chance take any readings on the paint? Lexus usually have some what of a soft clear coat, well at least my SUV does and the process sounded quite harsh on the paint...but the vehicle looks great. I enjoyed your write up, very informative but excuse the ignorant question what is QEW? Oh those lights I've seen them some where hahaha they are massive but sure come in handy :thumb: Thank you for sharing, you did a great job bringing that lovely vehicle back to life :applause:
Thats a BJG and GOOD job. I bet it was hard to sleep at night The car was seriously bad. But the way it came out, GREAT! Very nice work
Wow. That's totally brutal. Looks amazing! Questions: Did you take any paint thickness readings? I'd be curious as to how much paint you took off. With such heavy work, how did you manage to detail around the embelems? Were there scratches inside them? Great work, thanks for sharing!
now that is some good work what kinda lgihts are those? i want !!! haha man im impressed with your polishing + wetsanding work - u mite as well have taken all the orange peel off,charged him like $500 extra and make it look like GLASS =) great job!
Thanks Richy! Thanks Nica! I do not have a PTG yet, I plan on getting one this year. Some the black Lexus paints are SS, but this one was not. I do not think it is as soft as black porsche clear at all. It is very workable. QEW is quick easy wash, same type of product that ONR is. Thanks Pirex! I slept very well both nights and will again tonight. Thanks Bob! I taped around the emblems and made sure to put plenty of polish on the edge of the wool pad. Nothing that can be done about between the emblems unless they where to be removed. Thanks Heath! Thanks crossroad! We talked about that, but I think I removed enough CC. Thanks!
I dont think I have EVER witnessed a car as swirled as that...AMAZING results and dedication to as close to perfection (with out CC failure) as possible. Yeah, that light rocks... It's a husky righ?? I was considering that one when I was at HD shopping for new halogens a few months ago.. I ended up gowing with the red Husky set that was one size smaller By the way, you are funny after posting a thread like this with fantastic correction and then "apologizing" for a "polish smudge"... Great work!
That's what I call a VIP :cool2: well huge black cars say VIP to me . Man that was swirled up but you brought her back to life! That Lexus is awesome.
Thanks for sharing gmblack3 oh yes and I've been reading that some Lexus vehicles are single stage, that blew me away. Oh by the way I hope you didn't mind me asking the questions I did, I mean no disrespect nor do I want you to think that I'm doubting your skills becuase that was not my intention :shakehead: As for the QEW, I assumed it was like ONR but I wasen't sure I never heard of it eace:
thats sex in a detail write up! i really really like that correction! in atlanta i see right? TEAM lexus?
One of the BEST details i have ever seen! You have to enter this in Jans contest! And if YOU do I wont! LOL What did the owner say?
Very impressive work. You were up against some serious swirls. Man did you deliver! That was an amazing turnaround!
Thanks MC! The client said he has exchanged it a few times as the switches keep going bad. It is a large SOB. Thanks vrwm! Thanks KP! Seemed like it was taller then I expected it to be. Thanks JB! Its all good Nica! The car came from Team Nissan, I would call them Team Hack... When we removed the team sticker, half of the swirls went away. :shh: Thanks FMIUS! The owner was very happy. Detailing is not my full time job, but I am licensed so that puts me into the pro catagory. No contests for me.
Wow just wow. Excellent work. I'll have to pick your brain when it's time for me to do my friend's 87 Grand National again. He took it to someone he knew for some performance mods and when it came back the paint was seriously messed up. Might be time for a repaint.