Detailed: 2002 Lexus LS430 (90+ pictures)

This black Lexus was extremely dirty, had a lot of clear coat etching, swirl marks, marring, holograms, severe buffer marks from dirty wool pads and compound (thanks to the dealership), basically every paint defect and imperfection you could think of. The car has been washed and machine polished SEVERAL times by the dealership. To top it off, whatever products they used to polish the car left silicone or some other chemical in the paint which was reacting with my polishes. This required me to do numerous chemical washes and wipe downs to remove whatever chemical was in the paint. This significantly increased buffing time.

This first set of pictures show the condition of the exterior upon arrival.





I polished under the door handles by hand using 105 and Menzerna. Sorry I didnt get any after pictures. There was a slight improvement. I would of liked to spend more time on those areas, but I wasnt able to.























These plastic door pillars were buffed similar to the paint, but I didnt compound or use wool on them. I certainly could have though. Sorry, no after pictures here.



This next set of pictures shows the lovely work done by the dealership. The imperfections left over by them include swirl marks, marring, holograms, severe buffer marks from dirty wool pads and compound, etc.





















There was polish residue in all the emblems and just about every crack around the car.





The wheel wells and tires were cleaned with a degreaser and several brushes. The wheels were cleaned with 1z.







As I mentioned before, the car had been cleaned and buffed by the dealership. This is an automatic red flag for us. Not because the condition many dealerships and body shops leave the paint in, but because of the chemicals that can be left in the paint. Therefore, the paint was soaked with a paint degreaser in hopes of removing some of these chemicals. Unfortunately, this wasnt enough and the paint needed several alcohol and prep sol wipe downs. Whatever was in the paint was causing the abrasives in the polish to not cut at all. Almost as if I was working with vette paint here.



Here are a couple pieces of clay after claying the paint.


Now, onto the polishing process!


Step 1 of the 3 step polishing process is Defect Removal. The paint required heavy compounding with 105 and wool pads on the rotary.

Before


After step 1 As you can see, there is some hazy from the compound and wool pad. This will be completely removed during the next step of polishing.


After heavy compounding with a wool pad the car was very dusty. Therefore, the car had to be rewashed when compounding was completed.

Step 2 of the 3 step polishing process is Gloss Enhancement. This is when we remove any left over haze from step 1 and restore the gloss. SIP and an orange CCS pad was used here. We get the paint as close to LSP ready as possible (no holograms, buffer marks, etc.). Many detailers will stop at this point, but there is still more gloss to be had and we go after every little bit!

Here is a picture taken after completing step 1 of the polishing process. Again, you can see some left over haze from the compound and wool pad.


Here is the same spot after step 2 of the polishing process.


Step 3 of the polishing process is known as jeweling, or burnishing the paint. 106FF and a ccs blue pad was used for this step. Sorry I didnt take any pictures of this step.

During the polishing process, the paint is cleaned with alcohol and or prep sol to reveal the true condition of the paint. Once the process is completed and we are satisfied with the results, we bring the car outside and inspect it under direct sunlight.









If we feel the process is completed, then we rewash the car again to remove all polish dust, and prepare it for wax or sealant.

And here are the final results. There is no LSP applied in these pictures. That was applied later on. The tires and wheel wells were dressed using water based products, the rims were sealed, etc.













Next up is the interior. The interior on this car was decent at best. The leather was extremely dirty, along with the carpet mats. The interior carpet needed a thorough vacuuming and some minor stains needed to be taken care of. All interior surfaces needed a very thorough cleaning as well.

All of the leather was vacuumed and cleaned with a LM strong and a soft foam sponge. A steamer would of been very helpful here!

















Here is a 50/50 shot of the drivers seat. The bottom half has been cleaned while the upper half is untouched.



Here is a picture of the back seats, you can actually see the dirty coming off the leather.





After the cleaning process was completed, the seats were allowed to dry and vital was applied, then the protectant.

ALL of the interior surfaces were cleaned using several different brushes, microfiber towels, and DP IC which is safe for all surfaces. They were then protected using 1z CP. I would of preferred to use “Tiefenpfleger,” but I dont have any right now.

































The windows were cleaned using Stoners and a glass microfiber towel that doesnt leave lint. We made sure to roll the windows down to get the very top of the windows.



All of the plastic wood trim was cleaned, polished, and protected using Plexus.



The carpet mats were cleaned using several different carpet cleaners from ProChem, soft brushes, and my Mytee.

















Here is the water from the extractor after cleaning only the carpet mats.



The interior was thoroughly vacuumed, spot treated, and extracted.









Here is the water from the extractor after cleaning only the interior carpet.



And here is the final result after completing the interior.









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Your best write up yet.. great work as well!!!

I hope you charged extra for the sheer dirtiness of the exterior/interior

It would be nice to know what products were used

 

simply amazing. that was.. im speech less

 

Unbelievable resurrection!! I've worked on redneck 4x4s that weren't that dirty. What do you use to polish out the scratches under the door handles?
Nice write up. Maybe let us in on what products you use to get such great results.

 

Now that is what I call detailing.:worship2:

 

Thanks Jason.

I put the products used in the write up.

Thanks a lot, appreciate it!

Unfortunately, the owner brings the car down to his farm often. I had to get under the handles with 105 and Menzerna using a foam applicator. Didnt get too much done under there. Got a bit of gloss back and knocked down the scratches a bit. Would of taken after pictures, but by that time I was dead tired and couldnt think straight. :coffee:

YESSSSSSSSSSSS! Thank you!

 

Great turnaround on that Lexus D&D :thumb:


EDIT: For the painted door pillars....Do you tape off that rubber section betwee the doors when your polishing that area?

 

Thank you.

I didnt tape in the middle, but I did on the sides. Just use very small drops and you dont need to worry about getting polish in there.

 

Great turnaround there! As impressive as the end result was I must say the ability to capture all the defects so well with the camera is equally as impressive! Great work and what was the LSP of choice?

 

bro...major respect!

 

Theres no LSP on the car in any of those pictures.

Thanks man!

 

Did you use one at all or planning on using one?

 

Glanz after those pictures.

 

Ahh I see a good number of folks using that now. So how did you like it?

 

I like it a lot. You just need to make sure the paint is very clean, use the right amount, and let it sit on the paint for the correct amount of time.

 

Great work and write-up there D&D!

 

Well done, I enjoyed the write up as well but the pictures are lovely, crisp and excellent quality pictures :druling: :druling:

Great turn around on the vehicle too :thumb:

Thank you for sharing.

Question, you speak of "we" was this a tag team detail?

 

Besides an awesome job you have done, I can say that you got some skillz on how to take beautiful pics!!!

 

Awesome writeup on some awesome work! Good to know I'm not the only one that has to get the tops of the windows perfect.

 

Spectacular job!