1997 Lexus LS-400

[hook]

Star Sapphire Pearl Clearcoat paint, the car has over 156,000 miles.
1UZ-FE engine, 260 hp and 270 ft-lbs of torque, top speed 149.

I am very happy - last week I had all the dings removed from my car. The drivers side back door had 3 large and one medium dings, in a nice square pattern, courtesy of a rampaging Sam's Club cart, which rolled downhill about 40 feet before embedding itself in the side of my car. Sam's paid me for damage Paintless dent repair guys were able to remove those, plus one in the hood, another on the drivers side, one on a rear quarterpanel, and one on the passenger side, for less than the settlement. Needless to say, I'm very excited about the rejuvenated look.

Finally had some decent weather to take pics. Detail has been done in pieces over the last 2 weeks or so. Car is a daily driver, so it's been through a lot of rain during that time....

Paint was in pretty good shape from last year. When weather first got nice I washed and clayed. Couple weeks ago I went over it with Pinnacle Advanced Swirl Mark remover with a white pad - my first time with a PC. This was really to remove the old LSP and layers, and clean up a few spiderwebs. I followed with KAIO on a grey pad, removed by hand, and then another layer of KAIO by hand.

The next evening I dusted with a California duster, and then applied 4* UPP with a grey pad, let dry about an hour, and removed by hand. Next day, another layer of UPP, this time I removed with a MF bonnet on the PC (pretty cool).

Another layer of UPP was added along the way someplace. Removed with the PC/MF bonnet again.

Last weekend I detailed the engine, after being inspired by GSRStilez pics of a 350Z Nissan...all I can say is, I envy you guys with nice new shiny engine bays. I ran the engine for about 10 minutes, sprayed it down with water (gently!), spray it with an APC (some purple stuff from Wal-Mart), closed the hood and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Opened the hood, agitated with a brush, sprayed it off. I then sprayed everything with 303, closed the hood, ran the engine 10 minutes, opened it up, and wiped everything down with an old microfiber. Looks pretty good for an engine that's seen 156K miles...I need to figure out a way to get the white back on the engine name, and I'm not sure if I can get the aluminum over the side any cleaner (above where it says Four Cam 32 valve V8).

Today I washed, did the wheels with EO tire and wheel cleaner, dried, QD with UGE, cleaned all glass with Stoners, vacuumed interior and dressed with 303, and dressed tires with 4* tire gel (which looks nice but doesn't last very long for me). Also detailed all the trim with 303 (all I had handy).

- Thanks to all who gave advice on the PC.
- Thanks especially to GSRStilez for the tips on the engine detail and removing my doubts about doing it.
- Thanks to DC in general for great advice and community.

Pics below, comments and critiques welcome!

Andrew

 

[jdoria]

Star Sapphire Pearl Clearcoat paint, the car has over 156,000 miles.
1UZ-FE engine, 260 hp and 270 ft-lbs of torque, top speed 149.

I am very happy - last week I had all the dings removed from my car. The drivers side back door had 3 large and one medium dings, in a nice square pattern, courtesy of a rampaging Sam's Club cart, which rolled downhill about 40 feet before embedding itself in the side of my car. Sam's paid me for damage
Andrew

How did you get them to pay and how long did it take to get the money?

 

[hook]

Yes, I saw the spot I missed in the wheelwell after I took the picture - the retake photo wasn't as good, so I used this one...

 

[hook]

More exterior. The largest ding was in the rear driver's side door - they did a great job getting it out, as it was in a place where a brace was right behind it. If you look closely at the right angle in person (can't see it in the pic), you can see what looks like a defect in the paint where they took it out, but it's essentially invisible. The ding in the hood was in the front drivers side corner - it's completely gone. I wish I had taken "before" pics...

 

[hook]

My first ever attempt at an engine detail. I'd cleaned them (spray, degrease) but had never tried dressing everything. I thought it came out OK, considering (again) that this engine has seen more than 156,000 miles in 9 years...

Comments/ideas? I'd like to get some CD-2 and see what that does. And figure out a way to re-apply some white to the "1UZ-FE" marking. and is there any hope to get that aluminum any cleaner, there on the side?

Threw in one last photo of the finished job. Could have been done in one day, but weather has been very uncooperative here.

Blue Skies,
Andrew

 

[hook]

How did you get them to pay and how long did it take to get the money?

I immediately went back into the store and asked for a manager. Tried to stay calm and not be beligerent (I was furious, the cart return was on top of a hill, pointed downward right at my car, and didn't have any kind of "speed bump" to keep the carts from rolling out. It was a giant cart gun, aimed right at my car (which was parked a good distance from the store).

He took pictures, I asked for (and got) copies. He was very apologetic, but warned me Sam's policy was not to pay for cart damage. I advised him that there were large signs in the lot warning of the area being monitored by video, but nothing about not being responsible for damage. I also made him take pictures of the cart return on top of the hill (pretty steep, the cart that hit my car started out about 15 feet higher than my car, over a distance of about 40 feet) and the lack of speed bumps. I then filled out a detailed report at his request (noting all of the above - I took 2 pages). He said that he would turn it in, and I would hear from the company that handled their claims within 72 hours.

The next day, they called. I was all ready for a fight, and the lady's first words were "well, I reviewed your file, your report and the manager's report, and the photos, and this looks like something we'll cover. I need you to go get at least 2 estimates and fax them to me."

so I went to the best (most expensive) places in town, got 2 estimates (making usre they knew they were for insurance purposes for repair/repaint, and faxed them. Both places also gave me the same name of the guy who they'd recommend for the paintless repair, and they said if it was their car, they'd do that.

A week later I had the check, which ended up being more than enough to cover removing all the dings from my car

I think the fact that I was calm, wasn't an a$$ to the manager, and pointed out a legitimate flaw in their parking lot design made all the difference. They've since put in very large speed bumps on all the cart returns...it's a hilly parking lot...

 

[hook]

I forgot to say that the guys who did the dent repair both told me, when they brought it back and I was inspecting it, that it was the cleanest, best kept car they'd ever worked on and if I ever wanted to sell it that they'd buy it from me. They even commented on how nice the engine bay looked

And this was after a rain, all I'd done was wipe the car down that morning...

 

[groebuck]

look awsome - I loooved the ls400 - a hell of a car.

 

[imp-gmblack3]

Looks better then any new one.

Engine looks great. That brake fluid looks a little dark, do you every flush that? Not a bad idea with those miles.

How is the interior holding up?

 

[hook]

Looks better then any new one.

Engine looks great. That brake fluid looks a little dark, do you ever flush that? Not a bad idea with those miles.

How is the interior holding up?

The brake fluid was flushed at 100,000 - it does look dark in the pictures, not sure why.

The interior is in excellent shape, no tears or cracks in the leather, only thing that's showing signs of wear is the leather on the steering wheel, it's getting worn through the finish in places. The vinyl door strips are a bit scuffed as well, but when they're dressed they look ok.

I'll try and take/post some pics of interior, too.

 

[norahcrv]

Great job, Andrew!! Very nice pics, especially when seen FULL size!! :bigups

Glad the PDR worked out so well for you & that you were able to get Sam's to foot the bill!! I'm always afraid when I park in those lots & ours are all fairly level, but those carts seem to have a mind of their own sometimes

 

[hook]

Great job, Andrew!! Very nice pics, especially when seen FULL size!! :bigups
(

I had to resize the pics from my camera, I think they got distorted some. Any suggestions from those of you who take these regularly as to how to resize without losing too much quality?

Andrew