2004 Black Lexus LS430-Just a few swirls...NOT!

Stunning work Bryan!!! :buffing:



Accumulator has a point. It would be interesting to get a paint meter on that beast just to see how much clear is left??
 
Great work on that...perhaps the worst swirls ever. I have to go OT and ask about that garage...was that added after the house was built? 2 of the walls look like they have exterior clapboard...and then there's the chimney, and what is that, glass block? I don't know what the home construction is like in GA, is the house on the other side of that wall with the chimney? Did they just build the garage onto the exterior of the house? Or is that just southern garage decor?
 
VaSuperShine said:
Awesome Bryan, I bet that car will think twice next time it tries to own Bryan Gmblack3a!



Thanks Brian! I guess I just had to psychic myself up for this one. :)



Pats300zx said:
Outstanding work Bryan. Your skills never cease to amaze me.:clap:



Pat, Thank you very much for your kind words.





Showroom Shine said:
You did a great job on that car. It looked like they took it to a swirl machine, to have them put in. What a mess. Was it worth the time and effort? I have tried a product called System 1 that helped me bring a car around in that condition. In about half the time. Although I have a Flex, I used a rotory and a wool pad that came with the kit. Sorry no picks batteries dead in camera. But check out System 1. Great work!:buffing: :buffing:



Was it worth the time and effort? I'll call the client and ask him. :) Would be interested in knowing how something can work twice as fast and not use fillers. :nixweiss



Accumulator said:
gmblack3a- I think one of the more impressive aspects of this one is that you did it without using a ETG. That was some serious correction to do without knowing how deep you were going; in some ways I think it might've been safer to wetsand, if you know what I mean.



By looking at the severity of the swirls/defects and the fact that this car was a lease since new, it is highly unlikely that this car was ever polished in the past.



Wetsanding VS compounding: When I wetsanded down a section of the hood after the intitial polishing, I had to follow the wetsanding with black wool and 3M ECC, then green wool/P1500 and UF w/ blue 3M foam pad. I tried a less aggressive method, green wool/P1500 then yellow wool/P1500 but they would not get all the sanding marks out. On the hood this still left a few RIDS. So instead of wetsanding if I polished 3 more times with black wool and strada 1000 polish and was still left with the same RIDS, how is that any different? IMO I would of removed the same amount of CC either way. I agree that the wetsanding would of been somewhat faster....





zoomzoom mazda5 said:
I'm amazed on the workmanship and skill you put on that Lexus! Just freaking awesome recovery!!!!!!!!!!:drool: :drool: :drool: :bow :bow :bow ................:usa



Thanks Angelo!





baseballlover1 said:
LOOKS GREAT!!! I like it!!!! I love to do cars like that! The only thing that keeps me going is the reward of the end result. You go a HUGE reward for a VERY big correction job! Looks great!!!



Thanks Daniel!





Bigpoppa3346 said:
Now THAT is one hell of a recovery! :up



Thanks Big poppa!





1 Clean WS6 said:
Stunning work Bryan!!! :buffing:



Accumulator has a point. It would be interesting to get a paint meter on that beast just to see how much clear is left??



Thanks Mike! When I pick up a PTG, I might give the client a call and check it out.



Setec Astronomy said:
Great work on that...perhaps the worst swirls ever. I have to go OT and ask about that garage...was that added after the house was built? 2 of the walls look like they have exterior clapboard...and then there's the chimney, and what is that, glass block? I don't know what the home construction is like in GA, is the house on the other side of that wall with the chimney? Did they just build the garage onto the exterior of the house? Or is that just southern garage decor?



Thanks! Yes it very much looks like it was added after the house was built.



tkafam1 said:
Damn!! Great job!





sb765t said:
Damn. I'm impressed. amazing work. simply amazing.





Clean Dean said:
gmblack3a,



Nice !!! Very nice !!! :bow



Thanks guys!
 
Wow, that is some seriously amazing work Bryan !!! Those before pictures acually make me cringe.



Did the owner buy the car from a dealer or was it a private sale? Did he not see the condition of the paint when be bought it or did he just figure that "I know this awesome detailer that will be able to buff this out no problem"? I don't know how you could ever buy a car in that condition. Good thing that Lexus has good paint and you had the amazing skills to bring it back to life!



Phenominal work!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
sftempest66 said:
Very nice turn around, VERY impressive! :cool: :cool: :cool:



Thanks Sftempest66!



RickRack said:
Wow, that is some seriously amazing work Bryan !!! Those before pictures acually make me cringe.



Did the owner buy the car from a dealer or was it a private sale? Did he not see the condition of the paint when be bought it or did he just figure that "I know this awesome detailer that will be able to buff this out no problem"? I don't know how you could ever buy a car in that condition. Good thing that Lexus has good paint and you had the amazing skills to bring it back to life!



Phenominal work!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Rick, Thanks for your kind words. He bought the car from a dealer.
 
Did they attempy to "detail" it all, or basically just wash it and put some tire slop on it?



One of my customers bought a black Acura TSX from a dealer that was in the same shape and it was left up to me to bring it back to life. Amazing that a dealer can get away with delivering a car to a customer in that condition!



Anyways, great job!
 
Rick, I believe the client said something about a Rain-X treatment for the paint on the invoice, or maybe thats when he took it in for the 60k service at Lexus right after he bought it. Best that a dealership hack did not try to correct it IMO.
 
Bryan, you are absolutely right. Who knows what they would have used on it if they had attempted to fix it. I'm sure the end results would have been burnt paint, compound caked in all of the nooks and crannies, holograms, etc...
 
RickRack said:
Bryan, you are absolutely right. Who knows what they would have used on it if they had attempted to fix it. I'm sure the end results would have been burnt paint, compound caked in all of the nooks and crannies, holograms, etc...



Yes we all have seen those in the past..... :cry: :scared:
 
gmblack3a said:
..By looking at the severity of the swirls/defects and the fact that this car was a lease since new, it is highly unlikely that this car was ever polished in the past...



That was a good (and IMO pretty safe) guess, good thinking :xyxthumbs



..Wetsanding VS compounding: When I wetsanded down a section of the hood after the intitial polishing, I had to follow the wetsanding with black wool and 3M ECC, then green wool/P1500 and UF w/ blue 3M foam pad. I tried a less aggressive method, green wool/P1500 then yellow wool/P1500 but they would not get all the sanding marks out...



Interesting! (And, regarding the ineffective less-aggressive approach, unexpected.) What paper (brand and grit) did you use?

......, how is that any different? IMO I would of removed the same amount of CC either way. I agree that the wetsanding would of been somewhat faster....



Some people have claimed that when they use *very* aggressive initial steps (e.g. wetsanding) they end up taking off less overall clear. My (good) painter also insists this is true. As I understand it, the wetsanding does more "level" leveling whereas the compoundng follows every contour in the surface of the paint (think "orange peel" as an example) thus taking off some clear that isn't part of the problem...or so the hypothesis goes :think: I've never done a comparison (with measurements) so I don't have any first-hand knowledge, I'm just going by what people I consider reliable have said..so :nixweiss



One way I *do* think wetsanding can be safer is that you can go by individual strokes as opposed to all the work that goes on with each pass of the rotary. I sometimes get nervous about doing repeated, very aggressive passes with the rotary but I don't have your kind of experience to guide me.
 
Excellent work my man. I really like how the paint looks where you sanded and removed most of the orange peel - black paint with minimal orange peel just can't be beat.



I'm curious, did you take all of the risk on your own back, or did you warn customer that you run the risk of going through the clear at some point (sanding factory jobbers always scares the heck out of me)???
 
SpoiledMan said:
Great ***** Bryan! Awesome recovery on that classy ride. :)



Thanks Spoiledman!



RAG said:
Excellent work my man. I really like how the paint looks where you sanded and removed most of the orange peel - black paint with minimal orange peel just can't be beat.



I'm curious, did you take all of the risk on your own back, or did you warn customer that you run the risk of going through the clear at some point (sanding factory jobbers always scares the heck out of me)???



Ryan, I hear you on the OP after wetsanding. I took it on my own. It appeared to me that since the car had never been polished in the past, it would be ok. No more guessing for me, I am ordering a PTG today.
 
Accumulator said:
That was a good (and IMO pretty safe) guess, good thinking :xyxthumbs







Interesting! (And, regarding the ineffective less-aggressive approach, unexpected.) What paper (brand and grit) did you use?





Some people have claimed that when they use *very* aggressive initial steps (e.g. wetsanding) they end up taking off less overall clear. My (good) painter also insists this is true. As I understand it, the wetsanding does more "level" leveling whereas the compoundng follows every contour in the surface of the paint (think "orange peel" as an example) thus taking off some clear that isn't part of the problem...or so the hypothesis goes :think: I've never done a comparison (with measurements) so I don't have any first-hand knowledge, I'm just going by what people I consider reliable have said..so :nixweiss



One way I *do* think wetsanding can be safer is that you can go by individual strokes as opposed to all the work that goes on with each pass of the rotary. I sometimes get nervous about doing repeated, very aggressive passes with the rotary but I don't have your kind of experience to guide me.



I started with 2000 and finished with 2500.



Very interesting! On the side panels after I did the first cut step yellow wool/3M ECC/1700 I can still see the deeper RIDS that I am trying to remove w/ the halogens. So I only go over that area again, but I would guess that my path is wider then it would be with wetsanding. My concern with wetsanding is that I can't see if I got the deeper RIDS out. So I then would have to wool polish to have a good look....



Thanks for all your input!
 
gmblack3a said:
I started with 2000 and finished with 2500..



Hmm..I haven't used 2K for quite a while, but I've had great luck getting 2500 scratches out (even did a few by *hand* :eek: ), and that was Audi clear.



Were you using Meguair's/Nikken paper? (The 2500 I did OK with were from a Meg's sanding block.)



Wonder how it'd work if you did the final sanding with 3-4K :think:



I think I'd end up leaving some remnants of the deeper RIDS...for the exact reason you mentioned. I'd do as much sanding as I thought was prudent (gee, wonder how I'd ever know what *that* was :confused: )then tell myself that whatever it took to get the sanding marks out would be as much as I was gonna risk.



Heh heh, I'm not trying to make this more complicated than necessary, and you're doing fine without my $0.02 :D I'm just sorta thinking out loud...
 
I can't remember the name of the paper, I think its some off brand that they sell at a local detail supply place. Maybe its time I step up to some real paper....



I'd really like to have that 3M trizact 3000 cut setup with a small airpowered DA.



Check out the 3M video here
 
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