Lexus IS350 Paint

C

Cassman

New member
Long story short: The managing partner in my office has the above car (black). He, despite my offer to detail it for him, took it to someone who had instilled beautiful holograms last time. I also pointed out the holograms to him last time, but he claimed he did not notice. This time, he noticed big time. In fact, it is impossible not to. They are absolutely horrible. The "detailer" should be put out of business. I think he charged in excess of $200.



Anyway, I offered to clean up the mess. Issues:



Can anyone describe in general the characteristics of the paint on these cars?



Based on experience, will Menzerna FPII take holograms off with a PC or will I need to do a 2 step process with something stronger first? (I know, try a small section and see what happens). But: I am doing this for free and I don't want to underestimate my time since I have numerous family commitments.



Any help would be appreciated.
 
dirtdiggler said:
before i start a detail, i search the click and brag section for the car questioned and note their process and comments.
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Really? Never occurred to me. In fact, I did that. Now, I am known to suffer from what I call "Maleitis" which is the inability to see what is right in front of me. However, I did not find answers to my pretty specific questions. Since I am always amenable to someone pointing out the obvious, if you would like to point me to a specific thread that addresses my questions, I would greatly appreciate it.



Since I am responding to your reply assuming that it was made in a friendly, constructive manner, and not in the manner of treating me like I am a lazy slob, I want to thank you for your advice.



Bill
 
I've had two IS350's (silver and my current one is white) and I would say the paint on both was a bit different.



Generally speaking I feel as though the paint comes off the assembly pretty nice. Not to bad as far as orange peel and I'd classify it as rather soft.



I use a G110 DA polisher on mine. Since it is white I've never needed to do anything agressive with it, but I would imagine #80, followed by #7 and NXT 2.0 is all I'd ever need. I mean I don't know how extensive the holograms are in this case but if I were working on it, I'd first try #80 with and 8006 pad and see how that goes.
 
dirtdiggler said:
Bill,

no way was my reply to offend, but i usually note what members use. here is a link of all the IS350 - hope this work.



Autopia.org - Search Results
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Not a problem. I didn't think so, but you know how it is hard to get intent when you are reading on the internet. And I do suffer from that maleitis affliction! :D



Thanks again.
 
User Name said:
I've had two IS350's (silver and my current one is white) and I would say the paint on both was a bit different.



Generally speaking I feel as though the paint comes off the assembly pretty nice. Not to bad as far as orange peel and I'd classify it as rather soft.



I use a G110 DA polisher on mine. Since it is white I've never needed to do anything agressive with it, but I would imagine #80, followed by #7 and NXT 2.0 is all I'd ever need. I mean I don't know how extensive the holograms are in this case but if I were working on it, I'd first try #80 with and 8006 pad and see how that goes.
Click to expand...



Yeah, I have #80 and I like it, I have just had some pretty decent luck on my Infiniti paint with just Menzerna FPII since I don't abuse my paint. I guess I will just try each on a test section and see which works best. Thanks for your help!
 
If you've had success the the Menzerna FPII, I'm sure it will be fine (although I've never used it, I think you'll find the paint pretty easy to work with).
 
FP II took away the holograms that I put into my friends e46 paint with #83. I haven't tried correcting rotary holograms yet though...



That was with a PC btw :)
 
Thanks for the replies. I worked on it last night. On parts of the car, I used the FPII and it was fine. On other parts, I had to use #83, #80 and/or FPII due to the fact that the "detailer" didn't bother to remove some pretty severe swirls/marring from auto car washes. I had limited time to work, so I knocked them down as best I could, I would say 80% better. I got rid of all the holograms. I will post some pics when I get a chance. Overall, it looked like the previous detailer just didn't finish the job. There was still heavy polish splatter between all the body panels from the previous guy. I don't get it. Oh well, maybe now he will listen to me and let me detail his car and his M3 instead of letting the other guy do it.
 
The FPII is much less abrasive than #83. I haven't looked it up, but it SEEMS like FPII is a little less abrasive than #80. It is just different. They both work well to me. I would say that FPII and #80 are probably interchangeable. I will say that I think that FPII is easier to work with, but I like both.
 
Cassman said:
Oh well, maybe now he will listen to me and let me detail his car and his M3 instead of letting the other guy do it.
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An M3 and an IS350 in the same garage! :nomore:



BMW of America MUST have something to say about this.



BTW...I use 106ff for all of my hologram correction needs, and if he lets you touch the //M, SIP and 106ff are a must.
 
Glad to hear you are having success re-working this other guys bad work.



You may not want to spend a whole lot of time re-doing his whole car, just enough to demonstrate you know what you're talking about and you can do the job right; otherwise you'll be doing his whole car for free. Having demonstrated in a couple key spots that you can fix his problem, I'd let him request that you fix the rest of the car at which point you can set a price, and more than likely secure his business for the future.



Just a thought so your ego and pride doesn't get in the way of your business sense, both detailing and your full-time gig..
 
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