First REAL detail work- Lexus IS250

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56cbr600rr

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Today did my first bit of exterior auto detailing after reading some of the forums. I'm amazed at how NICE it's turning out. Still have to dress the tires and do the interior. But today/tonite I used the Meguiars Gold Class soap and it was also the first time I used a second rinse bucket. Dried it. Then I used the Meguiars clay kit on it, wiped it down, and then used the NXT 2.0.

Gotta say, the glosiness and reflections are insane. One observation, it seems the clay will pull up some debris/contaminents in some areas and leave little bitty pin hole areas in the paint. It's really only noticeable because the paint is dark grey and the putty/clay is white. I assume this is normal...

I realize I also probably broke some rules by not posting pics. Unfortunaely the wife is in L.A. this week with good camera, so I'll try to post some pics later.

Can't wait to do the truck this weekend.
 
any feedback or advice is cool too. my "skills" should get better with more reading as well as the "schooling" a forum member/local said he'd teach me.
 
I have a Starfire Pearl IS350. Nice to know somebody else has an IS also. You did not mention anything about polishing the paint. I guess it didn't need it?
 
Starfire pearl is a great color! The paint really is pretty good, although next time i'll probably polish it. OR attempt too anyways...
 
I've had my IS for over two years and I have yet to need to polish it. When I bought the car, it was actually already free of swirls and I've done my best to keep it that way. I know most the folks here will tell you horror stories about their experiences with dealership carwashes (including myself. The Acura dealership carwash here is a swirl-o-matic), but I've only had great experiences with the Lexus dealership here. :dblthumb2:
 
Yeah, ours is a 2009. One previous owner who took great care of it. So hopefully it'll be years before it needs a polish. It's our first Lexus and it still blows my mind how smoothe it is.
 
Good for you..sounds like you've been bitten by the detailing bug. You might want to try something easy for the first time polishing, like Duragloss 501 marine. It's a paint cleaner and sealant all in one and is an amazing product. You can apply it by hand or machine. You can then top it with another sealant or a wax. It will definitely brighten up your paint and give you a noticeable improvement.
 
Thanks for the tip Richy. I'll try that. I'm also going to try the Duragloss 901 soap.
 
Would it be beneficial/good to top the sealant with a carnauba wax or Meguiars #26???
 
You can if you want to. Unless you're using a cleaner wax, it won't really remove the sealant and maybe add a little more protection. IMO, sealants tend to be more reflective, which I like better on light colors like your silver IS. Carnauba waxes tend to mute the reflections. I rarely top my sealants with a carnauba wax on my IS because I like the reflective qualities on the pearl white color. On the other hand, I also have a red Prelude VTEC and I always top that with a carnauba wax, like #26, because I like how carnauba wax mutes the reflections and make the paint look deeper.
 
Our IS is the deep metallic grey color, which I was wondering would look "deeper" with a little added carnaube.

thanks for the input!
 
"Smokey Granite Mica?" My mother has a 95' Mercedes E320. The color is very similar. I'll be honest with you. I actually like the sealant look on that color too. Probably because it's metallic. I did apply S100 on it one time and it looked awesome. I've been told that S100/P21S really bring out the metallic flakes and I was very impressed by the look. I usually have Z5Pro on it though, because it's extremely durable and I don't want to have wax her car all the time.;)
 
56cbr600rr said:
One observation, it seems the clay will pull up some debris/contaminants in some areas and leave little bitty pin hole areas in the paint. It's really only noticeable because the paint is dark grey and the putty/clay is white. I assume this is normal...
Click to expand...


Claying shouldn't leave any pin holes in the paint, it's really just for removing contaminants sitting on the top surface of the paint. Here's a video that goes over the claying process.

How detailing clay works and how to use detailing clay to remove above surface bonded contaminants


:)
 
I suspect the holes were already there, just not obvious because now it's CLEAN!!! I think the pinholes are micro nicks from road debris at the front of the car.

All my vehicles look better than they ever have at the moment!
 
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