Help!

[Excessive Detail]

Hey guyz. I really need some help on this one, I'm at a loss. So I detailed a brand spankin new black lexus suv over the weekened. It was just a basic waash and vaccum, but I this was one of my return customers and I wanted to to take extra care of him becuase he usually tip very good, anyway, I figured I'd clay it before waxing, and the paint did indeed need some clay, little spots of something everywhere. So becuase it was new I used Sonus Sfx ultra fine clay, figuring it wouldn't or couldn't scuff the paint because it was very a light, jusat like pinn ultra poly. Well boy was I wrong. I washed and pulled the car in the garage and started to clay, I swear I did everything right, soaked the entire section down with a soap water mix, probably mopre than it needed, used extremely light pressure and constantly reformed the clay. After I did the first section, I started noticing some scuffing or marring marks, I thought it was streaks form the clay lube, but nope. They were everywhere, luckly a little pb ssr1 took them out, but it made extra work. What do you guyz think I did wrong, was it just becuase the car was black. I tested the clay out later that night at home on my dads car and could not get it to even remotly scuff the paint even with a lot of pressure. This is driving me nuts, this has happened to me before on black, but he last time I was using a stronger clay and the car was pretty bad off. Please give me some feedback. thanks.

PS: I will be doing a product review on all the cobra products I got in friday. I'll post it later tonight after work.

[joe.p]

I don't think you did anything wrong i'm starting to think Toyota paint is crap,Another poster (different forum) had problems after claying an 07 Camry Pearl Blue marring thru out the hood,bird etching,water stains and now leaf acid .The staining looks to be directly absorbed in the paint, correct if i'm wrong do you think these are problems that occur with 6 month old paint?

I think theres a problem with the paint and your intentions and techniches(sp) where done properly,anyone else?

[Excessive Detail]

I don't think you did anything wrong i'm starting to think Toyota paint is crap,Another poster (different forum) had problems after claying an 07 Camry Pearl Blue marring thru out the hood,bird etching,water stains and now leaf acid .The staining looks to be directly absorbed in the paint, correct if i'm wrong do you think these are problems that occur with 6 month old paint?

I think theres a problem with the paint and your intentions and techniches(sp) where done properly,anyone else?

I have heard that toyota paint is somewhat soft, so it could be that, like siad this has happened to me before, but I was using a stronger clay and the car was pretty bad off and I wasn't to worried about scuffing it cause I was going to polish it anyway.

[Neothin]

typical toyota paint. i have to deal with it on my scion.

even the light green clay from AG mars :(

[supercharged]

I even geard that on black they (Toyota) don't even use clearcoat. Well, I haven't personally test Toyota's black, so can't tell you for sure. My dad's green Tacoma suffers from scuffs too, that is one main reason I don't like Toyotas. My brother's grey 05 Corolla doesn't have that problem though, well it never been clayed.
Anyway, thanks. When I was buying a new car, I was also looking at new GS. Lucky I didn't get it.

[libtech]

Eeek!! I did not know this when I blithely went and clayed my new Camry this weekend! The more I read the more I realize I did NOT do my homework as well as I thought I had!

Will something like AIO take care of scuff marks if they occur? Or is the SSR the best thing to keep on hand for this?

And...if you use SSR, do you still need to use something like AIO or a polish afterwards?

One more thing...does paint harden up after you seal it? Or...ever?

[ScottB]

could the clay have dragged these little contaminents across the paint ?? Maybe they were abrasive like sap or pollen ??

[Surfer]

I even geard that on black they (Toyota) don't even use clearcoat. Well, I haven't personally test Toyota's black, so can't tell you for sure.That's what I heard as well, our LX470 has a clear but it's that off white champagne color. I was told that black Lexus/Yotas do not have a clearcoat but not sure on that, and was also told all new models do but some before didn't (like black etc)? I know when I was looking at the Lexus forum few months back there was a guy witha black GS430 (new model) complaining of easy marring.

[Excessive Detail]

typical toyota paint. i have to deal with it on my scion.

even the light green clay from AG mars :(

Well I quess that explains everything, I've also heard its pretty soft paint which makes me think why when I polished of the scuff marks I wound up getting out the scuff and it seemed to get a lot of the swirls with just ssr1 and a white pad. What do you think?

[supercharged]

I guess in conclusion I will have to say, don't clay soft paints unless you absolutely have to. XMT 1 or SSR1 will be necessary to use afterwards.

[P1et]

Excessive, I know exactly what you mean. What you just decribed above is the reason why I'm here in the first place!

I had overspray on my paint that I desperately needed to get off. After claying the hood and front fenders the way you described above, the entire area was full of scuffs and marrs.

I tried layers of Z5 and Z2Pro but that didn't put a dent in it. That's when I started looking for help, and ended up here.

So it's not just Toyota paints. Same story on the Dodge apparantly.

[FloridaNative]

I think it is soft paint. I have a Toyota and if you look at the car wrong it will swirl on you. I have found with my car that I have to use a good clay lube to not get any marring.

[joe.p]

I think it is soft paint. I have a Toyota and if you look at the car wrong it will swirl on you. I have found with my car that I have to use a good clay lube to not get any marring.
FN what year and color if you dont mind me asking ? I did a Lexus SUV and i didnt have the trouble with the paint that most of us are speaking of with the cars. I think if i have an opportunity to detail one of Toyotas cars i'll polish by hand and skip the claying since this looks like a problem many Toyota owners seem to have..

[Excessive Detail]

could the clay have dragged these little contaminents across the paint ?? Maybe they were abrasive like sap or pollen ??

Just noyiced your new avatar pic, I didn't realize it was you, I was looking for a shiny black vette. I'm glad you finally made the right decision to go with a ford. JJ sorry I just had to say something, but that is my dream car.

[Excessive Detail]

I think it is soft paint. I have a Toyota and if you look at the car wrong it will swirl on you. I have found with my car that I have to use a good clay lube to not get any marring.

What clay and lube do you like the best. Like I said I used sonus ultra clay, similiar to pinn ultra poly and a soap, megs. gc, and water mix. Also, do you find it easier to remove swirls, thats what I thought on this lexus.