Answer: It will help for a while...a very, very brief while...


There’s nothing sexier than a shiny, clean black car. Nothing!
There is nothing LESS sexy than a dusty, or dirty, or scratched black car. Nothing!

When you’re looking for a new car, the black one will seduce you. You’ll look at that model in another color, think about being practical, but the black one will wink at you. Tip its chin. Purr, “Hey baby… I want you inside me.” Walk away NOW, or you’ll take it for a test drive. When you get into a black car for the first time, you’ll feel dangerously sexier than you ever felt in your whole life. Your inner panther will roar. You’ll tingle in places you forgot you had. You’ll like it. And, chances are - you’ll buy it. The other cars just won’t make you tingle like that. Your only protection is to never get behind the wheel of a black car in the first place. Just walk away, and life will be uncomplicated. But, you’ll always wonder…what if.

A thin film of dust becomes luminescent on a black car. Every single spot of anything, even dried sterile water, stands out like a goober zit on prom night. At first, it will disturb and upset you so much that you’ll wash your car immediately. And…then it’ll be dusty again before you even finish drying it. An unknown little fact: Black cars only stay clean for a mere 42 seconds. But, they are the sexiest 42 seconds you’ll ever know. Because of that 42 second rush, you’ll wash your black baby faithfully every weekend. For the first year anyway. And then, all those scratches and swirls you put in the paint taking care of your baby will erode your resolve. You’ll start skipping. People will stare at your car in disgust, and make all sorts of judgments about your sloppiness. You'll scream things at them like; 'Shut up - I just washed this damn car 15 minutes ago.' Of course, you could always buy the black car and make it a garage queen...and never drive it. That's really smart! But hey, it will still get dusty...and all scratched up by you carefully hand washing it.

If you’ve never owned a black car - you may want to admire them from afar, with someone else dealing with all that goes with owning a black car. But...maybe you're the kind of guy that is 'up for the job'. Because maybe you have loads of time and energy to deal with it. If so, you either don't have a job, or a wife, or a girlfriend (or both!), or children...or a even a life!

A scratch on a black car means only one thing - extreme sadness. Be prepared, because you will have zillions of tiny scratches all over your black beauty. You know what color the car is underneath that glossy black? White. You know what scratches black cars? Car washes. Yes, you must always wash it by hand, or that slick black paint will be gouged with zillions of little white arcs where the car wash spinners hit it. Oh, but guess what? If you even touch your paint when you hand wash it - you too will also be putting zillions of scratches in the paint. It simply cannot be avoided. A scratched-up black car is not sexy. Don’t let your black car go like that. Don’t let it get all scratched up because you’re too lazy to wash it by hand either. Or, because it's too cold. Or, you don't have the time. Nothing is worse looking than a black car with white swirl rainbows in the black paint that is supposed to be like a fine mirror finish. Be prepared to buy thousands of dollars worth of products and tools to keep it decent looking. Are you ready to wash/clean, strip, clay, polish and wax/coat on a regular basis? All to see it looking less than sexy again as soon as you drive it around the block.

You will park under a tree only once where birds are known to perch. It will only take you one time to park under the trees in a parking lot notorious for attracting flocks of pooping birds to learn this lesson the hard way. If the bird poop remains for more than an hour on that soft black finish the paint becomes acid etched for sure, which will add nicely to all those swirls and scratches.

Black cars aren’t just hot, they are HOT. Getting into a black car on an average summer day is like getting inside a Weber barbecue with the coals at a perfect red glow. If you like to wear shorts, get used to the smell of bacon frying. It takes longer for the A/C to put out the fire.

Other than that - enjoy your black car!

 

 

Black is a very sexy but finicky color, and the Lexus paint is no different than other cars so if it's not taken care of with extra care, than say a silver car, swirls and imperfections will show much more. I'm a little surprised the shop wants to use the wet sanding technique so I assume the paint must be really damaged. Just be sure to find a shop with good reputation and you'll be amazed how the car shines like new when they're done. Then it's up to you to take care of the paint going forward - wet sanding, or using a high speed polisher, isn't something you want to do all that often.

For my wife's black MDX, I use a combination of Zaino's ultimate protection kit, and Liquid Glass polish to protect it. It has very slight/fine marks in the paint, but it's not obvious unless you're as picky as me (or many of us on the site) and looking at it in the right angle of light up close.

 

Negotiate some money off the price of the car and take it to get a professional paint correction. They will wet sand anything major and make it look like new. If its mostly swirl marks then its most likely that they will compound and polish the entire car. And the ceramic coating will help the paint stay looking new. This is definitely not a deal breaker if the rest of the car is in good shape.

 

 

Owning a black car is a hobby.

 

You shouldn't be afraid of owning a black car, but you should be aware that black shows imperfections very well in sunlight. Thus, the reason why people say that black colored cars are hard to take care of. Now, depending on how deep the imperfections are on the car in question, will reveal the level of correction needed. If your detailer says a wet sand is required, then I would avoid this car, since that means that those are some deep imperfections. Typically a good 2 or 3 stage cut and polish should be fine for most cars. I'm sure you can read up on detailers domain or chemical guys or even AmmoNYC on paint corrections.

Regarding your search, what part of Texas are you in? There are plenty of F-Sports here in TX. Widen your search! Don't limit yourself to just nearby...go pick up a car out of state and drive it home, it's an awesome way to get to know your car. What spec are you looking for?

 

Then buy mine. It's in excellent condition, plus it's not Black. Ha Ha. Please see the Lexus Classifieds
Thanks,
anbark22

 

That's exactly what I did. Bought my 18 in Houston and drove it back home to Illinois. I got to know the car quite well and had a blast driving it!

 

 

You may want to ask your question on the Club Lexus Automotive Care & Detailing forum. There are experts on that forum that can provide you with pretty much all the information you could ever want, including recommending where to have specific detail work done in your area.

 

I paid $1500 for a 3 stage machine paint correction and a Gyeon MOHS ceramic coating. It's worth it (imho).

 

There is nothing to worry about. Light scratches and swirls can easily be fixed and should not scare you from buying the car. Guy probably just did not use micro fibers when he washed it and never polished it like most people. Get a Porter Cable, some pads and polishes and read up on how to use it/watch a few videos and you can get it looking brand new again for about $200 and a day or two of work.

 

Paint correct can be pricey depending on how hardcore you go on it. If you get the car cheap enough you could have it painted in autoflex, its basically a removable paint coating that can have gloss levels higher than OEM paint and be scratch resistant. I have a black car and its annoying trying to keep it clean constantly. I plan on autoflexing mine eventually, and it can be done for around the price the above posted paid for just a paint correction!