Lexus ES 300 (lots of pics as usual)

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Whats up everyone,

been a little slow with getting the last few write ups done, been super busy, but thats a good thing:xyxthumbs:.

2 weeks back we were hired to do a Lexus ES 300...it was an 02' and had just been on a nice trip from Az...all the way out to the Mid-west and back...yes I'm sure you're all thinking the same thing, the bug population has gone down thanks to that trip :)

She originally just wanted it cleaned up, but after talking to her we explained if she didn't want perfect paint that a single-pass and a seal would really bring the car back to life...and since it was silver, defects were hard as hell to see anyway!

So she agreed on the wash/clay/single pass and seal as well as a full interior which it surely needed. She loved how it came out and hired us for a maint. wash monthly, which even thou its not a lot of money for us, it is nice to know all the hours my sis and I put into it wont go to waste by her taking it to the $3 wash where they'll dry it with rags as soft as steel wool.

So heres what we used:

Washed with Dawn soap (it was bugged to death and we were going to seal it afterwards anyway)

Meguiars Mild Clay

APC + 4:1 to clean tires

Pinnacle XMT #2 Swirl Remover for polish (worked great on the Suburban we did and I had just enough left for a car, I just ordered a gallon of D151 thou so that's what I'm going back to for our next detail)

Sealed with Megs #20

Interior was deep cleaned with Megs #39 and dressed with Megs #40 (a lovely duo if i say so myself)

Leather was cleaned with DP Total interior cleaner and treated with Pinnacle Leather Conditioner

Carpets were cleaned with our beloved Oxyclean

Tires were dressed with Opti-bond and wheel wells with Megs Hyperdressing 2:1


If you've read my write up's before you know I like to post my before and after pictures side by side....so I hope you enjoy!

Here's a pic of the hood before...notice all the lovely little bugs that decorated the headlight area and the grill....that was the light stuff:

Hood_Before3.JPG



And here is what was just under the grill, my apologies to any bugs I may have offended... *insert horror film violin's*

Bugs1.JPG


It took a good soaking but the front came out quite nice if i say so myself...heres a full frontal after:

Front_After1.JPG



Thou the back wasn't bug riddled...it has seen its fair share of rain and dirt:

Trunk_Before1.JPG



It too came out quite nice :) (the sticker was removed upon her request...just a freebie we threw in...we didn't accidently wash it off the window lol)

Trunk_After.JPG



Here's a full side angle view before:

Full_Angle_Before.JPG





Anddddd after a few hours of love this is how she came out:

Front_Angle_After.JPG



Oh silver, how you hide your flaws so well...hood sun shot before:

Hood_Close_up_Before.JPG



After all the dirt and God knows what else was removed and she was polished out real nice, here's what the sun showed after:

Hood_Close_Up_After.JPG



One more after, just for good measure:

Hood_Sunshot.JPG



And heres a brinkmann before...its silver so not a huge swirled mess kind of a picture...but the after will show just how much it improved, heres the drivers door Before:

Brinkmann_Before1.JPG




and here it is after :)
You can see how it brought out the color in it much more, as well as sharpened the reflection rather than just having that sort of 'blah im silver' look in the first picture :xyxthumbs:
Brinkmann_After1.JPG



And no photo shoot is complete without a 50/50...again not a swirled mess but the difference in clarity and brightness in color made it worth it, this one was just after polishing, not sealed....Left side just washed, right side polished

50-50_Hood.JPG


And of course after putting a couple thousand miles on them...the tires and rims were pretty ugly:

Tire_Before1.JPG


Here is the after (can't see it but the wheel wells were cleaned and dressed as well)

Tire_After1.JPG




Now as bad as the outside was, it was only 1/2 the story...the inside wasn't lookin so hot either but my sis went in there, kicked some a** and took some names lol.

For starters, to let you see how dirty it was (gotta love lighter interior) here's a before shot of the center console:

Center_Console_Before.JPG



Nothing a little TLC can't fix, here is the after

Center_Console_After.JPG



As bad as the leather was, it was no match for the carpets/floor mats...they were so dirty infact that the really deep stains didnt show up till after being shampooed lol...guess you could call em carpet RIDS ?

Driver side before:


Driver_Floor_Before.JPG



And here is the after...the spots left were not coming out...she scrubbed and extracted this one mat at least 3 times...some things are just there to stay...but it still turned out much better :

Driver_Floor_After.JPG



The Passenger side floor was no light weight either...heres the before:

Passenger_Back_Floor_Before.JPG




The after shot is quite awesome if i say so myself :) :

Passenger_Floor_After.JPG




I've hit my picture limit! The write up is continued below
 
*clears throat* where was I? Oh yeah...the nasty carpets...

And the Passenger Back seat in all its grimey glory:

Passenger_Back_Seat_Floor.JPG



No Mas!

Passenger_Back_Floor_After.JPG



This is a 50/50 of the driver seat...the half towards the bottom was undone, the half towards the top had been cleaned and treated, the outside sections of the seat itself I think best show the dramatic change:

Driver_Seat_50-50.JPG



Here it is completely finished:

Driver_Seat_After.JPG



Here are a couple before's of the passenger seat:

Passenger_Floor_Before.JPG


Passenger_Seat_Before1.JPG



Here is the after :

Passenger_Seat_After1.JPG



Back Seats need love too (NO not that kind of back seat loving, I KNOW someone would have made a comment on that!)

Passenger_Back_Seat_Before_2_.JPG



And here is the after (Picture was taken from the other side, but you get the idea)

Driver_Back_Seat_After.JPG



Drivers side dash BEFOREEEEE:

Steering_Wheel_Before.JPG



And after some deep cleaning and dressing here it is after:

Steering_Wheel_After.JPG



Here is the before of the dash more so on the passenger side:

Dash_Before.JPG



And this is the after, kinda looks like a picture out of a car commercial i think... (Yes I know i posted this pic already up above, but it showed off the dash really well so I'm posting it again!)

Passenger_Floor_After.JPG



Here is the Drivers Door pannel before, lookin all dry and dirty

Driver_Door_Before1.JPG



and here it is after, clean and beautified!

Driver_Door_After1.JPG




Now even thou this was just a single pass job, these door handle scratches were just a big 'no no' for us...so I took a little 105 and a foam pad and rubbed them out, just because thats what we do :props:


Now ya seem em:

Driver_Door_Scratches_Before.JPG




Now ya don't:

Door_Handle_Scratches_After_1_.JPG



We did that on all 4 door handles, couldn't just leave them there makin' our work look bad!


And here is the lovely stuff that was extracted from the interior:

Dirty_Water.JPG



Just to top it off, here are a hand full of beauty shots, hope you enjoy. *que fashion show music*

Back_Angle_After_1_.JPG



This pic was pretty sweet...kinda looks like it could be called 'The Silver Bullet' now

Back_Angle_After_2_.JPG



Hey check it out, a nice reflection shot in silver paint!

Door_Reflection.JPG



A nice reflection off the roof as well:

Roof_Reflection.JPG



Well thats all folks, hope you like what you see and i'll try to get some more write up's on here as soon as i can...on my wish list this year is for AG to make an easier way to post pictures! All the down sizing and uploading them onto the site and the having to copy the links to post onto here, its almost as time consuming as the detail! But I do it, because I love the work we do and I love sharing it with you guys :props:
 
Nice job, but why would anyone want to pull the Husker sticker off?!!???!!??
 
Great work Wills! What's going on?

Hey Marc whats up! Funny I was just thinkin about sendin you a message the other day. Just stayin busy over here, pushin for more work...how things been on your end?

Nice job, but why would anyone want to pull the Husker sticker off?!!???!!??

Welllll I'm a USC fan so I got a little bit of pleasure out of takin that thing off! But she actually had a replacement sticker to put on...so dont worry lol

Very nicely done! :dblthumb2:

Thanks!
 
Super job!!! Silver is quite the low fuss color to deal with in most cases. You did well with that one. The inside was definitely worse than the outside. It looks mint now!!! well done!!:xyxthumbs:
 
Super job!!! Silver is quite the low fuss color to deal with in most cases. You did well with that one. The inside was definitely worse than the outside. It looks mint now!!! well done!!:xyxthumbs:

Yeah it is, which kinda is a bummer for me cause I like the BIG turn arounds...but i gotta say for silver i was pretty happy with this turn out.

The inside was pretty bad but as you said...mint now! Can't wait for our next job, kinda hoping she'll hire us to do her husbands daily driver which I think is a toyota, but the little guys need love too! Got rain most of this week thou so work is a little slow, but hey that just means more dirty cars next week :)
 
Nice job. Any particular reason you used opti bond on the tires rather than hyper dressing?
 
Great job bringing the lex back to the luster it deserves. What extractor are you using?
 
Nice job. Any particular reason you used opti bond on the tires rather than hyper dressing?

Thank you. Yeah, cause I was low on hyperdressing haha. Usually HD is my go to on tires...but since i was low i just used it on the wheel wells because its so easy to just spray it all over and leave it. I LOVE that about HD for wheel wells and engines especially. Optibond isnt bad stuff...but not my favorite. Just got a sample of PB Bold n Bright with my AG order that i wanna try out. Megs All Seasons is good stuff too but I like that i can dilute HD to whatever sheen i want.:props:

Great job the Lexus looks great.

Thanks Bobby appreciate the love. I just grabbed a couple of Surbuf pads on my last order because of the write up you did on that corvette. I was pretty impressed with the results you got and wanted to add a couple to my collection :)

Great job bringing the lex back to the luster it deserves. What extractor are you using?

Thank you. Actually we were just using a basic Hoover Carpet shampooer, and just used the upholstery attacment for it. Not the best thing in the world but its what we have and works pretty well. We just picked up a Brissel 'Little Green' extractor last night at good will lol. They sell for almost $90 new at walmart but it was on sale there for $25 and on their 1/2 off list lol..so for $12.50 we grabbed it. The heater on it seems to be broken, but even if i cant fix it i think its worth it for the price because its so small and much more portable than a big carpet shampooer. If it wouldn't have been 1/2 off i probably would have passed on it, but for $12...i think its a good buy...just have to make the water hot to begin with i suppose lol.
 
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