picus

No problem.

I washed the car with a foam gun and Chemical Guys Citrus Wash & Gloss.
Clayed with Riccardo Clay (only available in Canada :/)
Did a little wetsanding and used some Hi Temp Extreme Cut to get out the marks.
Compounded entire car with Menzerna Super Intensive Polish on a purple foamed wool @ 1800 rpm or so with Makita 9227c
Polished entire car with Menzerna PO106FF via white foam @ 1400 rpm
Used Swisswax Cleaner Fluid on entire car, by hand.
Applied Zymol Vintage by hand.
Poorboys wheel sealant on wheels, Poorboys bold and bright on tires. Megs #40 on all trim. Mothers Mag& Aluminum polish on all chrome/metal/tips, etc.
Optimum Car Wax in doorjambs.

I think that's it.

ddehooge

I had Kevin by my place this weekend to do my '06 IS. I bought it used with 12k miles on it and based on some of the swirls it looked like it had gone threw a few soft cloth auto washes.

I'll be sure to maintain the car now with proper washes using proper materials.

Thanks again to Kevin

I'll post some pics when he gets it up on his site.

picus

http://gtaindetail.com/pics/is350053108/

2SAVVY

Kevin.

Amazing work as always and on one of my favourite colours that Lexus produces (Flint Mica). ddehooge your IS just GLOWS..

My neighbour with the Blue Z06 said he will be contacting you shortly to take his car to the next level.

Washing the LS for the 4th time tonight so I will post pics up on Friday to show that you don't use fillers to bring a cars paint back to life.

Ken

picus

Wait, did someone imply I used fillers?

I think the concern was that it is hard to wash black paint without marring it. I know you can do it though!

As for fillers... har. I'd have managed to fool over 5000 customers by now.

airtime

Back a couple of post, someone mentioned that in the $100 details, they may be using fillers to make the car look good and that after a couple of washes, the filler is gone and the car goes back looking the same.

picus

Ah, got it. Ya I guess that is probably true. Anyway, I don't use fillers. Then again, I don't charge $100 for compounding.

04_LS_430R

Ok, so I have been watching this post and I must say it's quite captivating. I own a Black LS and I purchased it used. It has lots of small surface scratches, swirls, etc. For the last 5 months they have completely destroyed the roads in my neighborhood because they had to pull and replace all the fresh water mains and the storm drain system. I have been living on a dirt road and they frequently spray it down with water to control the dust. Of course that just makes it muddy. As you can see, keeping a clean car has been impossible. Now we're in the final stretch of construction and they should be done in a few more days. While they were doing construction they managed to get concrete overspray all over my LS and my ESV, I called the contractors and they agreed to have it detailed, clayed, etc. I took in the ESV (which happens to be Diamond White) and it came out gorgeous. I wanted to wait on the LS till after the construction was done but the detailing company said it would be best to remove the concrete as soon as possible before it permanently damaged the paint. That was hard to argue with so I just took it in. The deck lid had a lot of surface scratches, I imagine the previous owner laid bags, purses, etc on the decklid and gave no regard to the paint. I asked them to buff it out and they said they could but that once they buff it the paint would have permanent swirl marks but they could hide it with wax, polish, etc. (I realize this is lengthy but it's necessary to understand my situation.) When I picked it up, I was in a hurry because I had an appointment so I just got in and left to meet my clients. That evening I went home parked in the garage and my son came out and looked at the car. He's very meticulous and he pointed out lots of flaws. There are several spots where you can see the clay rubs and when I took it back they told me they never buffed it. (After I specifically asked them to.) Does claying leave rub marks? Is black paint going to be forever marred with swirl marks once it's been buffed? This is all kind of frustrating. I asked for a good detailer in Houston but I haven't got much of a response. If anyone knows of a good detailer, I would sure like to know. If they're good, I'm not worried about the cost. I'm sure it's cheaper than repainting.

LSorBS

Here is my experience- I've got Flint-Mica. I came out from the grocery store a few weeks ago to find a two large surface scratches on my deck lid. I took it to my local auto detail center, and had them buff it out. I was somewhat satisfied, but you could still see them slightly, and my deck lid still had a fair amount on swirling. Anyhow, last week I was at my local Lexus Dealership getting a courtesy wash, and asked them to buff my deck lid for me. It's like night and day. The pain LITERALLY looked brand new when I got it back from the detail guys at Lexus. So to make a long story short, I'd say take it to your local Lexus dealer.

picus

Your paint isn't doomed. The "swirl marks" after buffing are rotary holograms. These are left by aggressive buffing - the idea is to remove them with lighter buffing. Anyone that tells you buffing a car means it will have swirls forever doesn't know what they are talking about. It's like sanding a piece of wood. Imagine you have a scratch in the top of a wood cabinet. How do you remove it with sandpaper? You use 100 grit, then 200 grit, then 500 grit. The 100 grit removes the scratch, but leaves the surface rough; the ensuing two steps smooth it out. Buffing a car is *exactly* the same, but it's like 30,000 grit (compounds are essentially liquid sandpaper.). Here is a pic or two of cars I've done where someone buffed them aggressively, then didn't finish down properly. Unfortunately a lot of detailers think this is as good as it gets.

http://gtaindetail.com/pics/vette060607/a.jpg

this is what that looks like under halogens.

http://gtaindetail.com/pics/q7042308/images/b.jpg

See how there are no really deep scratches, but billions of lighter ones in a circular patter? That's someone getting really aggressive with a buffer to remove scratches (probably too aggressive), then neglecting to remove those buffer marks. A couple lighter polishing steps and what you end up with is this.

http://gtaindetail.com/pics/vette060607/c.jpg

http://gtaindetail.com/pics/q7042308/images/c.jpg

So in your case, I would bring the car to a good detailer and have them compound, then polish (then seal and wax). Any good detailer will know exactly what to do. On that note; Texas has some very good detailers. I am not sure if Scott serves Houston, but I'd e-mail him and see if he knows someone in your area:

http://www.scottwax.com/

picus

Nice. Make sure after a wash or two it still looks good, dealers are kind of notorious for using glazes (which fill). Not saying they did, just an fyi is all.

04_LS_430R

As obvious as that answer is, I must admit that I never once took that option into consideration. Thanks for the advice. I will look into that and see if they offer that service in Houston. I can't imagine why they wouldn't but at this point I don't know for sure that they do paint restoration and detailing. Thanks again, if this works out I will post some before and after pics.

04_LS_430R

Hey Kevin, I have actually communicated to you about some of this already. I did send an email to Scott but haven't gotten a response yet. I'm not sure if Houston is too far to consider, he doesn't know of any good detailers here, or if he's just too busy to reply. In any case I only used the local detailer because the contractor tearing up my roads paid for it and at that point in time it was better than letting the concrete potentially ruin the paint any further. I don't know all there is to know about detailing but I do know that of all the scratches and flaws currently in my paint there is only one that is cut through to the base coat. I looked at Detail University and they only list one guy in Houston but his info leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. I would gladly pay $250 - $350 for a good job if there was a reputable detailer in my area. At this moment I'm considering buying all the tools and equipment myself so that I can do it on my own. I'm just a little concerned about tackling the black paint. Thanks for all the advice, it's greatly appreciated!

Tee

My Lexus dealer should not be allowed to detail a bicycle, i know detailing and they suck at it! My detail guy made it happen for me soon as i could get it to him after buying it, night and day in between the two. So YMWV far as dealers are go.

LSorBS

I understand where you're coming from. I've dealt with many lexus dealers, the quality of service varies tremendously.