Wondering how worried to be about spidering on a used pre-detailed black Lexus I'm looking at buying

[GMac]

For starters, I am a complete "noob" when it comes to auto detailing.

I'm looking at a black Lexus ES350 at a Lexus dealership, as well as another virtually identical one from a major used auto retailer.

The one from the Lexus has some advantages (Lexus certified, one upgrade feature, slightly lower price, slightly higher mileage), but I'm concerned about the state of its detailing. I went to see it before they completed the detailing (they still haven't finished), and it had some definite spidering on the body, as well as the telltale signs of a buffer the likes of which I have never seen, not too dissimilar to the one in this post:


The story of 3 H's - Horrendous, Horror Story and Hack Detailers... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/28142-story-3-h-s-horrendous-horror-story-hack-detailers.html)


The salesman at the dealership assures me that the clear coat is not damaged, and they will be able to buff it all out like new, but I'm not so certain -- or at least I'm concerned that it might look good initially, but I'll wish I had bought a different car within a couple years.

The essence of this question is this: Is this something that represents permanent "damage" for which I'll have to periodically have to maintain in a special way to fight back the spiders, or am I losing sleep over nothing?



:)

[Buster906]

Is a professional detailer in your area you can get to take a inspection of this Lexus?

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[GMac]

I live in a different city from where the vehicle is... the vehicle is 74 miles from my house. I'm not sure where I'd start with that... how to find a good/trusted professional detailer in San Antonio, TX to go look at the vehicle?

[Rsurfer]

I live in a different city from where the vehicle is... the vehicle is 74 miles from my house. I'm not sure where I'd start with that... how to find a good/trusted professional detailer in San Antonio, TX to go look at the vehicle?
If you find one, be sure he has a paint gauge.

[custmsprty]

The day you drive it off the lot all those problems with the paint become yours. We have a term around here, "DISO" Dealer Installed Swirl Option.

Their detail shop most likely doesn't have the properly trained personnel on staff to actually correct the paint.

[irvsmith]

If it were me I would step away from this purchase. Just too many risks for not that much benefits.


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[k20trick]

Isn't this normal production detailing:

https://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-mike-phillips-your-detailing-questions/28142-story-3-h-s-horrendous-horror-story-hack-detailers.html

Friend just got his fender repaired while they did a good job on the repair, the included *free* wetsand compound polishing the whole care came for free and made the car look like the above.

ES350s are easy finds. I would keep options open if your worried about the condition on this one. Regarding spidering every car normally has it.

[Calendyr]

If the car still has paint issues when they are done detailing it, you could negotiate the price down and have a professional detailer have a look at it before you buy. Spiderweb scratches in the paint is very normal, almost all cars have them unless properly maintained (which very few people do). As or holograms, those are shallow scratches and a detailer should have no problem removing them although it can be a little expensive to do requiring both a compound and a polish. It would not stop me from buying the car if everything else is great but I would negotiate the price down from having to pay to have it professionally detailed. How much it will cost varies greatly from one city to the next, but something around 300-500$ would be in the average I would say.

Holograms are common when it comes to dealerships, they want to buff the car but don't have people with the right training do to it. Using a rotary polisher is really fast but if used incorrectly will leave those scratch patterns in the paint. I don't know why they all stick to that instead of getting a good DA polisher and spending a little more time to do it correctly.

[KirkH]

It would not stop me from buying the car if everything else is great

I totally agree with this.

[GMac]

Is it possible that they could make the car look good, where the buffing/spidering is not visible for a period of time but it's not done "right", or will it always be visible and obvious when they've screwed it up? I guess I'm just a little concerned about being misled into thinking all is well, when that is not the case.

[Cruzscarwash]

When you go, take a flashlight to spot the defects or have them pull it out into the sunlight. If you still see defects, work for a better price, and then use that saved money to have a pro detailer in your area fix it. I've not seen many cars today get "buffed through" the clear coat even from bad hack jobs so I'd say your fairly safe I'm the aspect that it can be brought back to a respectable condition

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[Bill1234]

What makes me angry is ...Oh I assure you we can fix that in our detailing department....which caused the holograming in the first place. Look for a reputable detailer in the area and haggle the price down of the lexus. Then take it to the detailer to do work. Never ever trust the lot guys to do detail work

[Don M]

What makes me angry is ...Oh I assure you we can fix that in our detailing department....which caused the holograming in the first place. Look for a reputable detailer in the area and haggle the price down of the lexus. Then take it to the detailer to do work. Never ever trust the lot guys to do detail work

^^ this. Make the horrendous finish your sticking point, "I would buy the car, but the paint ..." then tell then there's no way you'd let them "try" to fix it when they are the ones who messed it up in the first place.

[dpk20x]

The spidering or swirl marks should be able to be compounded and polished out fairly easily. Hopefully you still have enough clear coat left to play with. Like others have said try to find an outside detailer to work on your car.

The hard part after you get the car detailed is keeping the paint swirl free. Black Lexus paint is known to be on the softer side. So I suspect no matter how carefully you wash your car light swirl marks will appear. Of course these swirls won't be as bad as the current condition of the paint.

Black paint is a full time job all by itself and can drive a guy into madness! Ask me how I know! :)

But it also looks darn good when it's clean. So if you can commit to learning about proper washing and drying techniques, and can live with a few light swirls here and there I say go for it. Otherwise you might want to consider a different color.


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[Mike Phillips]

For starters, I am a complete "noob" when it comes to auto detailing.

I'm looking at a black Lexus ES350 at a Lexus dealership, as well as another virtually identical one from a major used auto retailer.

The one from the Lexus has some advantages (Lexus certified, one upgrade feature, slightly lower price, slightly higher mileage), but I'm concerned about the state of its detailing.

I went to see it before they completed the detailing (they still haven't finished), and it had some definite spidering on the body, as well as the telltale signs of a buffer the likes of which I have never seen, not too dissimilar to the one in this post:


The story of 3 H's - Horrendous, Horror Story and Hack Detailers... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/28142-story-3-h-s-horrendous-horror-story-hack-detailers.html)


The salesman at the dealership assures me that the clear coat is not damaged, and they will be able to buff it all out like new, but I'm not so certain -- or at least I'm concerned that it might look good initially, but I'll wish I had bought a different car within a couple years.

The essence of this question is this: Is this something that represents permanent "damage" for which I'll have to periodically have to maintain in a special way to fight back the spiders, or am I losing sleep over nothing?



:)


For all reading this thread, I wrote the article referenced above and here's a picture from the article, the swirls in the paint are called HOLOGRAMS are they are put into the paint by a rotary buffer.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/742/Horrendous004.jpg

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/742/Horrendous005.jpg



Dealerships are known for doing hack work like you see above. It's the norm for most dealerships. Sure there are a few across this country that have good detailers and some of them actually hang out on this forum, but most have untrained staff and the dealership provides subpar product and rotary buffers.

The article I wrote actually describes the problem in detail.

The story of 3 H's - Horrendous, Horror Story and Hack Detailers... (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/ask-expert-featuring-mike-phillips/28142-story-3-h-s-horrendous-horror-story-hack-detailers.html)



:)