2010 Lexus HS250h

[richy]

I had been anticipating this detail for quite some time. I knew I was going to do this car last winter when my neighbour who bought my Infiniti said to me "The paint on this 6 year old Infiniti is nicer than on the brand new Lexus". I explained to him what the coating was doing for the paint. He told me then that I would be doing it to the Lexus too.

One interesting point I want to bring up here. He now owns the FX and it has both OC and CQ on it. I pointed out what panels have what and asked him if he ever saw any differences when washing. In my opinion, both the products still look amazing on the car a year later, but I haven't put a hose to it since I sold it. He told me he prefers the way the water runs off the Optimum surface vs the CQ surface. He has no allegiance to either product obviously and is his own unbiased opinion. He then requested that I do the Lexus with Opti Coat (the old version; equivalent to OG now).

The car itself had a lot of marks in it for a 2010. In fact, the front fascia needed to be painted as she hit the cement going through a drive-thru. That delayed the detail for a month. The other thing with this car is he had a clear bra put on it. I hate the application of it; it's not a good job. I shot some pics of where it's peeling and how poor it looks in the front. I applied the OC over it on the hood and elsewhere with no problems.


BEFORES:





You can see the line of the clear bra here:






LOTS OF MARKS!!




















WASH/CLAY:

The car had a lot of bugs on the front which got sprayed down with DG bug remover which was allowed to dwell. The car then got foamed while the bug sponge soaked in the wash bucket. The front end got scrubbed with the bug sponge while the foam was working. The car was foamed with DG 901 and washed with a strong solution of 901 and Dawn. There was no sheeting action whatsoever after these stages. CM blue was used while the car was still wet after washing.






Wheels/Wells/Tires:

The wheels were cleaned with MG WB first followed by Zep Citrus to neutralize the acid.
The tires were cleaned with Zep Purple.
The wells were cleaned with ZC.


The tires were ultimately dressed with DP gel.
The wheels were sealed with OC.
The wells were dressed with Adams US.

Each wheel was covered in a large plastic garbage bag while I polished in the area as they were done first.


PAINT CORRECTION:

My go-to tools were going to be no different in this case, although I did dust off my bottle of Presta UCCL to see how it compared to M205. Maybe I'm out of practice with the UCCL, but I now prefer the 205 to it.
Anyway, the first step if the paint was not scratched, was M105 with a yellow B & S pad. This cut through the haze and really brought out the paint. The pad makes it finish down so very well. That stage was followed with M205 and a green pad. Again, stunning results. I tried following it up with Ultrafina and a blue LCC pad, and with the soft Lexus paint, it did amp up the glow and shine. This was to be the process for the whole car. I had lots of paint to work with too which was a bonus. For the scratches, the first step was the tufbuff pad with M105, followed by the above steps.
The grille got polished out with M205 and a small pad on the rotary. Every polishing step done to this car was with my Dyna. The head and tail lights were also polished out.




OC SURFACE PREPARATION:

A very timely tip that I had read on L2D said I could use ONR to clean the surface prior to OC. So each panel got a IPA wipedown followed by ONR. Each panel was corrected and sealed as I worked my way around the car. I am getting better at using it. The key I have found is use about 1/2 the amount you think you need to on the foam pad. The pad just grabs like Hell if you skimp too much.
The owner had put Aquapel on the windows so they didn't need to get done. The paint was done as well as the wheels. The trim got Ultima.


INTERIOR:

The interior was pretty good. The carpeting got steamed as well as the interior door panels and dash area. The leather was treated with the Ultima interior treatment. The leather was very soft following that. The rubber mats were cleaned with ZC and then treated to MG HD at 3:1. Glass was steamed clean too.

[richy]

AFTER SHOTS:



















































Lousy job on clear bra:








I happened to pull up a week later when he was washing it for the first time. Even though the coating is on the FX, he was blown away seeing the water react to the coating. I shot a very short video of it on the roof:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGM2QchBIqI&feature=player_embedded]YouTube - ‪Opti guard‬‏[/video]

Thanks for looking. Comments, criticisms welcomed. 15 hour job all told.

[Capa1970]

Wow. Very impressive---wish you were my neighbor

[kronos]

You left that car looking like a mirror. I always learn from your posts, thanks!

[James K]

You always do great work. This is no exception.

[richy]

Wow. Very impressive---wish you were my neighbor

Thanks very much.

You left that car looking like a mirror. I always learn from your posts, thanks!

Thank you. I appreciate the kind words.

You always do great work. This is no exception.

Thanks James, much appreciated.

[onlycodered]

Spectacular job! Black cars always looks amazing after they've had some love.

[richy]

Spectacular job! Black cars always looks amazing after they've had some love.

Thank you.

[richy]

A self-promoting bump here, but I was damned proud of how this car came out!!

[kronos]

I'm glad you bumped it cuz I've been meaning to ask you how you buff in and around the emblems. Like the little spaces between the "E", "X" and etc.