North America's LFA prototype has had a big year. A test-drive on Jay Leno's Garage. Shattering glasses on YouTube. Countless track hours. So back in September, Lexus decided it was time to give the LFA a makeover, exterior and interior, for November's SEMA auto show, and we decided it was the perfect opportunity to show Lexus owners how Lexus vehicles are prepped for events, film, and commercials.





For these kinds of jobs, Lexus often turns to L.A.-based B.A.D. Company, which has prepped Lexus vehicles for shows like The Apprentice. The team is already familiar with this car; they’re the ones who painted it white (actually Starfire White Pearl) when it was first freshened up a few months ago. Now, they've been given 10 days to redo the paint and re-cover the seats with new leather.




The doors come off, both to facilitate painting, and to make it easier to remove the seats. The seats are then taken out and begin their own journey, which we'll discuss in a moment. (The fact that the seat frames are built from carbon fiber is a big help here—their weight is a fraction of that of a typical high-performance car seat.) Also removed: the brake calipers, which are sent to Brembo for repainting.




With a tight schedule, it's important to know what trim pieces and badging—sometimes called “jewelry”—must be removed, and what can be masked. “This being a prototype, you want to handle it delicately,” explains Technical Services Manager Billy Stavridis. “We try not to remove too many pieces, because we know there aren't any replacement pieces available [if something breaks].”




With the LFA's seats out and everything masked, the existing finish is prepped to accept the new paint, a combination of wet and dry sanding. Then—and this may surprise you—all of the masking is removed and reapplied, to ensure that it's absolutely perfect when the paint is shot.




The transformation is dramatic as two men apply the new base coat. There's no messing around here. The color? “To tell you the truth, I really don't know the color's name,” says Eli Rodriguez, the project's paint-lead. “I always go by formula number. This formula is One-G-Zero.” (That's Pearl Gray Metallic to you and me.) After the base-coat comes a protective layer of clear coat.




While paint cures, let's catch up on the seats. Remember when I said the lightweight carbon fiber seat frame was a big help? That's from the installer's standpoint, who's tasked with removing the units. Begging to differ is Sergio, the upholstery expert who must (quickly) fashion new semi-aniline leather to fit the LFA seat design's “challenging curves.”




With only 500 or so LFAs planned for the planet, you don't just call the warehouse and ask for a pre-cut seat kit. Such a thing doesn't exist. What you do is have an uncut, high-quality, semi-aniline hide shipped over, and then have an expert like Sergio painstakingly re-create and stitch together each of approximately 30 individual leather components on each seat.




When the paint has cured sufficiently, it's time for color sanding. The color sanding temporarily dulls the finish, but it allows the technicians to then re-polish the vehicle for a flawless final finish with zero bumps. Of course, care must be taken. “When we're sanding, we're actually removing clear coat,” says paint lead Eli Rodriguez. Go too far, and they'd have to start all over again.




The next step: remove all the masking and seriously buff the exterior. This is the fun part, because it's where the team gets to see the fruits of their labor. But in the LFA's case, this step is tricky, because, while metal surfaces are smooth, carbon fiber has subtle waves due to its woven construction. The technicians have to allow for this in judging the paint job's progress. “It's much more labor intensive,” says Eli.




The buffing stage starts under a set of lights, using large buffers. Then the car is rolled (remember, no brakes!) under different lights, revealing any areas needing attention, this time from smaller buffers. Finally, the car moves into sunlight, gets inspected, and receives a final buffing by hand. The trick is to buff everything thoroughly but not get carried away—even buffing pads can cut through the protective layer of clear-coat.




Buffing is something of an art form. I'm reminded of this as I watch a technician work over a panel, and then step back to inspect his work like an artist assessing his canvas. And mind you, in this particular instance, the technician was working on the section behind the radiator vent—a portion of the car that will be covered when the car is on display. Now that's professional attention to detail.




Meanwhile, Sergio completes his work on the seats' new semi-aniline leather—they're “Camel Yellow,” in case you're curious—and the seats stand by for installation.




With the seats in place, the crew re-hangs the doors and wraps up the final details.




Finally, the LFA stands transformed, its Pearl Gray Metallic exterior a thing to behold. “It's nice to see it leave the shop looking beautiful,” observes Eli. The next stops: a few appearances before SEMA (after reinstalling the brakes), then SEMA itself, and after that, the continued grueling schedule of a supercar prototype. Which has me wondering: Just what color will it be in four months?



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