bravo261

iTrader: (1)

i've also been told by a few dealers that black lexus' aren't clearcoated because it "looks better," tell me that now with my swirls all over the place. it is on every other car and color, just not black lexus', or GS anyways.

i think guitarman or some pro detailer said a few months ago here to NEVER USE A GLAZE when trying to get swirls out. if you take it to a detailer, that's what you should specify apparently.

BADGS400

why dont you want to use a glaze???

Mean Gene

Guitarman - use the search feature & I recall that a few months back Mike Kilty posted something from Lexus about the 1998-1999 black & maroon colors NOT being cleared. I know mine isn't as when I painted my RMM skirts I sanded the factory skirts ( which I had removed ). If there was a clear coat it would have showed up as a milky residue with the wet sanding & there wasn't any. I also got the opinion of my body man & he felt there the black paint wasn't clear coated either. I just buffed my GS out & had the same black coloring on the pads that Racr mentioned ( shouldn't be there if there was a clear coat ). I was told by my dealer that on the dark colors like black & maroon that clearing them actually dulled the shine!!:eek: Hardly the effect I'd look for from a clear coat.

Guitarman

tastier than I thought.

Sounds like I'm wrong then, and much surprised too.

I can't say I agree with the philosopy, having painted cars with single stage and base/clear, there's no comparison the way my eyes see it, but that's me. This car was painted with clearcoat, and it sure isn't dull.

Guitarman

There's nothing wrong with a glaze. It's just that a glaze will "fill" swirls and hide them with oils, and the next time it rains or you wash a glazed car, these oils will rinse away and the swirls reappear.
It's always better to polish or level the swirls out. Think of it like make-up ( a glaze ) vs. plastic surgery ( a polish/swirl remover ). One is temporary, the other a bit more permanant.

A glaze also can't be used if you're applying a polymer ( such as Zaino ) over top, as the polymer won't bond to the paint due to the oils in a glaze. Kind of like a band aid applied to an oily or wet finger.

They ( glazes ) do deepen colorsand help with shine though, and are great if topped with a carnauba wax. You just have to reapply them regularly to fill in swirls, and re-wax. Hope that makes sense. Cheers .

LexusRules

so you paint cars guitarman?

i heard that a black car with a blue clearcoat (is that possible?) makes a car that looks blue in the sunlight but black in the dark... is this true? does it ever look purpleish?

well if it is so about how much do you think it would cost to do this paint job on a non-black GS? thanks

babyGS3

Sasha...

funny you should ask that question!!! I was going to have my white GS changed to that exact paintjob!!! seen it.. pretty cool... but no... I think I might just keep the same color...

Guitarman

I'm a detailer, but I've painted many cars too.

Tinted clears are getting more and more popular on custom jobs. Just make sure you get the formula (amount/ ratio) from the shop so if the shop goes out of business, or you use another shop for an insurance repair, you'll be able to have the paint matched in the event of an accident or repair.

They do look pretty kewl...BTW....This is a link to a site that does custom painting, scroll down and find "CLEARCOAT" and note what he says about it, and what he says about NOT having it under "SINGLE-STAGE". This is why i'm so confused about the GS possibly not having clear on their black cars. It just dosen't make sense to me, nor anyone that paints cars.





http://www.customflamepainting.com/terms.html

LexCiting

The black paint on Lexus is NOT clear coated. I got that from Lexus of Alexandria body shop, and Lindsey Lexus. The reason I was told is that waxed black paint shows better without the clearcoat since clearcoat on black paint tends to show swirls more than without it. This is according to the Lexus body shop.

If you use a swirl remover compound, you will see black paint on your applicator. That is a MAJOR indication that you do not have clearcoat. Also if you look at a black Lexus that was a non clearcoat wax compared to one using a clearcoat wax. The non clearcoat car will look darker.

Lee

PS - to remove the clearcoat wax, or any other wax build up on your car. Wash your car with DAWN dishwashing liquid twice! Then apply a non clearcoat swirl remover & wax. You will see a major difference!

oldracr

Ok Guitarman:

Now you have my interest tweaked. It turns out, I work for Toyta/Lexus - so I can probably get a real answer in the next week or so. I am willing to bet that it is not clearcoated, and given the condition of the paint on my "new" used Black GS400, I would bet my life it is NOT a repaint (I can usually spot a repaint a mile away - even good one).

Please let us know what you find out.

Regards

oldracr

Ignore my previous post - sorry.

I didnt see that there was a second page to this thread...

(Sheepishly walking away with head down in disgust)...

Guitarman

Here is a link to a thread at Autopia-carport detailing forum. The thread is about a scratch, but pay attention to what one of the guys ( SC 5speed) says when told "black Lexus's are NOT clearcoated?"

Seems all this new info has taken more people besides myself by surprise.

I have detailed late model Mercedes, Porsche, BMW, Acura etc, and the Lex is unique in this regard, as the others are all cleared over black.

I never got a reply from the guy I sent the email to, so as of now, all I (we) can really do is believe everyone to be correct-NOT clearcoated.

Sorry, link dosen't work-evidently they won't let me link to the specific page,only the home page, so I deleted it.
If you want to view it, go to www.autopia-carport.com then the detailing forum, then click the "can't remove these damn scratches" thread.