codyrx

Well, I know this is my first post here but I really need some advice from other Lexus owners. I bought my wife a 2010 RX350 black sapphire in color about 3 weeks ago. We drove 350 miles to the nearest Lexus dealer to buy it. We closed the deal late (after closing) on a Saturday and then drove the 350 miles home the following morning. The Lexus was unbelievable for the road trip home, we were in love with it by the time we got home. Once home family and friends came over to look at it at which time my mother (whos eyesight isn't very good) , asks us if its used. Obviously I replied no.......its brand new. She then remarks that it has so many scratches on it. Well low and behold ...it does. It has swirled scratches on every panel of the vehicle. I swear it looks like someone in detail washed it with a dirty mit from looking at the swirls. Well I contacted the Lexus dealership on Monday morning and told my salesman....we have a problem. He quickly referred me to the customer relations gal who took down our info, and asked for a description of my problem, and I told her. She said that she would be contacting me shortly. I got a call back a few hours later and she advised me that their company owns the Toyota dealership in our town and that their is a detail shop that they use that should be able to take care of the scratches. I agree to contact the detail shop to set up for them to look the vehicle over to see what it would take to remove the scratches. After a 2 week back and forth, we dropped the Lexus off on Tuesday and they had it til wednesday. Due to my shift work, I was just able to look the vehicle over today and they didn't remove any of the scratches and in turn they left buff marks in the paint that wont come off. I am lost, what am I to do now? The guy that did the buffing explained that they have to take part of the clearcoat off to remove the scratches with a high speed buffer and then apply wax afterwards. Now I am left thinking that they took part of my clearcoat off, didn't get the scratches out and have degraded my clearcoat. What would you do at this point if you were me. I havent even made the first payment on this vehicle and this has really turned an exciting car buying experience into a real bummer! I am obviously going to call the dealership tomorrow , but I dont even know what to ask for. I do not want to deal with more buffing, re-painting of the vehicle, etc, I mean the vehicle is supposed to be brand new right?

One Frustrated New Lexus Onwer!!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

first of all welcome to clublexus, and really really sorry to hear you problem.

i can't speak for the shop that worked on your car, but i can give you some ideas on detailing. first off, definitely talk to lexus, your salesman, and also customer relations to fully express what's going on. also take all pictures as record on what's going on, if you want to catch all these scratches and problems, try to do it in the garage with say a fluorescent light, that will uncover all problems.

now on to the detailing. when there are swirls or scratches (assume not very deep), the method to fix them is almost always by polishing and buffing, which is like taking out a very thin later of clear coat in order to smooth it out and get it back to shiny finish.

now how much of that clear coat to take off, that's about the experience of the detailer. from your description it's hard to say how much they took off and how bad they made things into. but seems like they didn't take out clear coat evenly, or enough (to take out scratches), and they sealant / wax they applied are not buffed out correctly.

lexus clear coat (i am not sure about 2010 rx) are usually pretty decent. but again i have no idea how much they took out. if it's not much, a good detailer can always polish again and bring everything back to perfect shine.

but before that, talk to dealership and make sure they have everything on record, and discuss all options and consequences before proceeding

good luck!

RXSF

Has anybody washed the car since you have owned it? If yes, I dont think the dealership is liable for anything since you took it off the lot and they dont know what you did to it.

However, since you have noted that the detailer has made it worse, you should take it up with them. Make sure you dont take the car out without coming with a solution.

and just fyi, black saphire is one of the hardest cars to keeep swirl free.

good luck on your situation

codyrx

Thanks for the responses, I will let you know how this turns out. Personally I am not going to battle this out with a mom and pop detail shop that Lexus paid to remove the scratches/swirls, I will allow Lexus to do that. IMO as the owner of a new vehicle, I shouldn't even have to get into that battle. On the flipside.......my wife loves the vehicle thoroughly, obviously except for the paint issue.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i also agree it should be lexus talking to the shop. that's why i recommend taking all necessary pictures so you can show lexus what kind of finish you have on your car now, and let them deal with it

DunWkg

I'll second this. You should deal with Lexus.

Congratulations on your purchase, great color choice. I also agree if the car is your daily driver, the swirls seem to appear from nowhere on a dark colored car.

Not sure I can post an outside link, but here's one for a quick education in swirls. You do need to remove an infinitesimal amount clear coat to reduce swirls, but you should never introduce additional swirls doing so. Mom and pop seemed to have done that for you.

I would suggest you not attempt to correct the problem yourself, have Lexus fix it first. In the meantime you read as much as you can, first here at Club Lexus, a great resource with many detailing vendors and sponsors willing to help out. Then google car detailing and find the many other web sites devoted to car care.

Good luck with this troubling problem and keep us posted.

http://meguiarsonline.com/forums/sho...ighlight=lexus

GoodRevs

How many miles did the car have when you picked it up at the dealership at purchase time?

What are the roads like up in Alaska? 350 miles is a decent sized trip, you sure you didn't hit any rough spots and chip it up?

If it had low miles and the roads were fine then it sounds like the dealer was negligent. We too had a very poor buying experience with our RX, so we canceled the order and went to another dealership. Unfortunately I see you can't do that in Alaska (only one dealer apparently) so I'm not sure of what other advice to offer you.

4482

At this point I'd call the Lexus customer care 800 number and get them involved in your situation. In the mean time until the situation is resolved save all documentation about the issue and take photos etc. I don't think I'd want my new car repainted.

Sounds like a good vehicle for your dealership to use as a loner...after they take it back and give you a new one.

codyrx

The RX had 9 miles on the odometer when we took it home, some of which was from our test drive. But I did notice that so many of the new vehicles on the lot had heavy dust on them from the traffic on the blvd in front of the dealership, and of course.....Alaskas spring weather that we call "Break Up". I know what happened, someone either washed it previously to clean it up on the lot, or when they washed it for us to take home, they washed it real fast without first removing the dust and grit that was on it. The drive home was beautiful and there was no road grime or precipitation of any kind. Just for clarification, the scratches are in the shape of swirls not dings or anythig deeper.

MEP7557

Sounds to me like they wiped or dusted it down without removing the dirt first. What a shame. Obviously the Dealerships fault. I too would get Lexus directly involved with this. Repainting is unacceptable for a new car, they will never be able to replicate the factory look.
You know eventually it will look like that (swirl marks) but to start out that way, not right.

Good Luck

jtrue28

Although I somewhat agree with this, wouldn't all dark color vehicles be tough to hide swirl marks?

To the OP...the hood on my GS really showed the swirl marks when I bought mine. I don't think it was anything the dealer had done, but just the swirling from the factory. It has since gotten much better. I would invest in some high end polish/wax. I use Zaino products.

Let us know how everything goes. Black Sapphire is a great color!!!

RXSF

something about the blue sapphire in my opinion just makes it easy to see swirls, but yes, all dark colors have this problem. Lexus black is one of the worst as well since it doesnt have metallic flakes in it and is just a flat black. Metallic flakes hide swirls quite well, just not on the blue

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yes, obsidian is the toughest one among all lexus paint, coz' it doesn't have any pearl. sapphire is a bit better coz' of the pearl, but still it's a hard color to maintain

codyrx

Thanks for all the responses. I went with my gut today and contacted Lexus Customer Service via the 1-800 #, and explained the entire ordeal to them. They said that they will be getting back to me in the next few days after the weekend. Heres a question for all of you that are in the know on buffing and such.....how many times can the paint be buffed before you detereorate the clearcoat? If Lexus were to advise for me to go to another shop for another buffing job, I'd like to know what the long term damage is of all this buffing. And as was stated above, under no circumstance would I accept having the car repainted, they would be getting this one back and giving me another new one.......that doesn't need buffed or repainted!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

as i mentioned, it really depends on how much this shop took out. lexus clear coat is decently thick, unless they took out ridiculous amount, there should be still plenty of clear coat for future polishing