Help! Lexus Paint Burn Marks Or Oxidation?

[k20trick]

Hi Guys/Mike, I am working on a lexus is sedan that needed some correction with oxidized paint, scratches, swirled, etc...

Upon work, I used m205 with white pad and it removed quite a bit but did not produce the results I wanted, then I went with a m105 with orange pad and the results were there, however I noticed the paint has millions of speckled dots on the paint kind of like a burn mark which will not come off with clay, polish, compound, however the results with 105/205 already gave me the results just that the burn marks was a suprise to me.

The car is used with close to 80k miles and 5 years old. I checked on a lexus website using the vin and it shows a paint detailer detailed the car right before the sale, so this brought up red alarms to me. Could it be permanent marks from the machine they used on the paint?

So at this point my technique was 2-4 passes with m105 and with 205, however the speckles still remain.

Should I:

1) go back with m105 even though its not removing it?

2) is there another way to remove these spots?

3) permanent damage leave alone results were good with m105/205 as far as removing swirls, scratches, water spots, other slight blemishes?

 

[GSKR]

That looks either pitted or water etched and needs some serious work.But let Mike chime in before making a assumption or taking speculation from me.

 

[ViperGuy21]

That looks very similar to the paint on a Chevy Trailblazer I did the other day. I only corrected the hood, but using CG V32, a BnS MF cutting pad, my GG6", and about 4 section passes I was able to cut through it.

Kind of hard to see the damage through the swirls, but if you look close/zoom in you can see what appears to be the same type of damage as the Lexus


After cut and polish:


As GSKR said, let Mike or someone with more expertise than me chime in before you take my route.

 

[k20trick]

Ouch not sure why I cant post more pics as its giving me an error however once corrected with m105/205, it doesnt go away with 4 section passes with 105. Am I not being aggressive enough? The goal was to remove water spot etchings (craters), swirls, and some surface scratches and it did a great job at that and eliminated 90% + of them, with 2 passes alone. Not sure what these marks were but when I bought the car I thought it was oxidation as it was a 5 year old car with close to 100k miles on the car. It doesnt look like water spots, at least I've never seen water spots where the damage is size of the tip of the pencil.

I kinda knew the previous owner didnt take care of the car when I found duralast pads to be fitted on a high performance car, but didnt think to seem this type of damage was there.

At least now I know what to look out for as far as paint goes.

^^^ Viper guy it looks like the water spots on your pics are at least 100x times bigger than mines are. Mines if you actually go up close it looks like pitting about the size of a pencil tip, maybe even smaller. Its all around the car too..

 

[Castel]

Did you figure it out? I'm dealing with something very similar... m105/205 and see the same pitting on my car. Any help much appreciated.

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Hi Guys/Mike, I am working on a lexus is sedan that needed some correction with oxidized paint, scratches, swirled, etc...

Upon work, I used m205 with white pad and it removed quite a bit but did not produce the results I wanted, then I went with a m105 with orange pad and the results were there, however I noticed the paint has millions of speckled dots on the paint kind of like a burn mark which will not come off with clay, polish, compound, however the results with 105/205 already gave me the results just that the burn marks was a suprise to me.

The car is used with close to 80k miles and 5 years old. I checked on a lexus website using the vin and it shows a paint detailer detailed the car right before the sale, so this brought up red alarms to me. Could it be permanent marks from the machine they used on the paint?

So at this point my technique was 2-4 passes with m105 and with 205, however the speckles still remain.

Here's your pictures...

Sorry to say it's really hard to see what's going on with the surface from the pictures.

Should I:

1) go back with m105 even though its not removing it?

2) is there another way to remove these spots?

3) permanent damage leave alone results were good with m105/205 as far as removing swirls, scratches, water spots, other slight blemishes?

I'd try going back over it one more time with the M105 and a cutting pad.

You didn't say what type of tool you're using?


Here's the deal...

Defects are either topical, that's on the surface or sub-surface, that is below the surface. When working on factory paint, the clear layer is thinner than a post-it note so it's good to try to remove defects but sometimes all you can safely do is improve defects without creating a re-paint issue.


Clearcoats are thin by Mike Phillips

Second time I've shared the thin paint article today and it's only 9:30am in the morning.

 

[Castel]

Thank you for your reply Mike. I'm not sure if I have the same issue, or if what I'm seeing is happening because of incorrect application of M105/205 with a PC7424. Here's a couple of pictures that show it, check the closeup towards the top near the long light reflection. I see the same on the hood, maybe a little worse. I tried polishing with a stronger cutting microfiber pad but the results were similar, what do you think?

 

[k20trick]

I did go back for a few passes with mf pads and 105 on rupes machine, it did cut through, however the pitting was still evident, thats when I stopped as I did not want to go through all that paint on my daily. Honestly, I even thought about wet sanding it, however you can't even tell its there in the sun.

This same pitting is also on my friends is350 (black) thats 1 year old, 2015 lexus ct on the black roof panel, and a 2010 camry as well.

Here are pics of the pitting taken few months ago and the car now after the whole car was corrected and coated. Im no expert, but the car looks pretty spot on to me.

 

[Eric@CherryOnTop]

First thing I would do is take a paint thickness reading. It will at least give you an idea of what is there. If the readings come back really low, it might be the beginning of strike through.

My other thought is that you might be going too aggressive. I'm not a fan of M105 personally. Yeah it cuts hard and fast but it's just too finicky to be something I want to use when there are so many other good products available. I would try a finishing pad and finishing polish just to see what happens. You can't make it worse so might as well try some other things.

Do you happen to know if these cars have that weird self healing Lexus paint? That could also be playing a factor...

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Thank you for your reply Mike.

I'm not sure if I have the same issue, or if what I'm seeing is happening because of incorrect application of M105/205 with a PC7424.

Learning curve to everything in life... check out this article,

DA Polisher Trouble Shooting Guide

Here's a couple of pictures that show it, check the closeup towards the top near the long light reflection. I see the same on the hood, maybe a little worse. I tried polishing with a stronger cutting microfiber pad but the results were similar, what do you think?

From your follow-up to this post it sounds and looks like you took your car's paint to its maximum potential for a daily driver.


:dblthumb2:

 

[Castel]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll stay happy with my results then