rcroller

I had some paintless dent repair work done this past week. There were about four small door dings that I hadn't noticed when I bought the car. The guy did a good job working them out but mentioned that the paint on these cars is so soft that just about anything with scratch it. I've only had the car for a month but I fully agree. Everytime I wash it I find a new scratch or swirl or whatever...It's a very dark color so it shows everything. The dent guy told me to take it in and have the entire car wet sanded and buffed. I wish we had a truly professional detail shop locally like they do in DFW but we don't. Is wet sanding really recommended to get all the fine scratches out? (I've already used Meguire's Scratch-X, Swirl-X, and Tech Wax 2.0) The suggestion sounded kinda scary to me... Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

tfeni52355

There is lots of detailing information on the Special Interest section of the forum:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/aut...detailing-122/

There are step by step instructions on how to detail your car using more aggressive products than what you mentioned. You will need a Porter Cable random orbital polisher to do it right ($100) and a full day/weekend if you are into that sort of thing.

I have done our SC twice and still find scratches but the car is 9 years old so I just plan on doing it every year or so. I use Mequirs Medium cut then Fine cut and then Ultimate compound polishes. Then I complete the finish with a full Zaino treatment. (Z2 Z5 Z6 Z8 etc) 8-10 steps to do it right.

You can also go to AutoGeek.net and see tutorials on how to detail yourself. They sell the Porter Cable polisher and all of the pads. I use the sponge pads they sell and they work great and clean up very nicely. I use a wool pad on the polisher to buff in between coats of Zaino as well.

Just did my friends 2007 GS 350 a month or so ago. The black paint looked terrible when we started and had a mirror finish when we stopped. Two guys 6 hours both working in tandem. It takes a lot of work to get an abused finish back to snuff but it can be done.

VVTiBob

You should PM SCDROPTOP... he had his PB recently done at http://www.detailwerkz.com/exoticcars.html. in the DFW area. While I don't want to put words in his mouth he raved about it and said his car was on their facebook page I believe... I'm sure he has all the info.

rcroller

Thanks, guys. I read the thread about the place in DFW but I'm in the Florida panhandle...I only wish we had a similar place here...a bit far to go for a detail job. tfeni52355 has the right idea...I just need to study up, tool up and get to work...or learn to live with minor imperfections(which isn't likely to happen).

toxic

Be very, very, careful. I sure would not experiment on my 430 for the first time. Any professional body shop can buff out the car. Ask around and find the absolute best body shop in your area and go see them. If you are bound and determined to do it yourself, do yourself a HUGE favor and practice on another car, preferably one sitting in a junkyard so you can purposely mess it up. Remember you said it yourself, the 430's paint is soft. That means very unforgiving to a buffer.

TOXIC

m3nv

You can highspeed buff most scratches out. Ive wet sanded a few spots on my lighter color cars but never on a black or darker color one.