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Detailed: 2002 Lexus LS430 (90+ pictures)

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DnD Auto Detailing:
This black Lexus was extremely dirty, had a lot of clear coat etching, swirl marks, marring, holograms, severe buffer marks from dirty wool pads and compound (thanks to the dealership), basically every paint defect and imperfection you could think of. The car has been washed and machine polished SEVERAL times by the dealership. To top it off, whatever products they used to polish the car left silicone or some other chemical in the paint which was reacting with my polishes. This required me to do numerous chemical washes and wipe downs to remove whatever chemical was in the paint. This significantly increased buffing time.

This first set of pictures show the condition of the exterior upon arrival.





I polished under the door handles by hand using 105 and Menzerna. Sorry I didnt get any after pictures. There was a slight improvement. I would of liked to spend more time on those areas, but I wasnt able to.























These plastic door pillars were buffed similar to the paint, but I didnt compound or use wool on them. I certainly could have though. Sorry, no after pictures here.



This next set of pictures shows the lovely work done by the dealership. The imperfections left over by them include swirl marks, marring, holograms, severe buffer marks from dirty wool pads and compound, etc.





















There was polish residue in all the emblems and just about every crack around the car.





The wheels, tires, and wheel wells always get cleaned first. The wheel wells and tires were cleaned with a degreaser. The wheels were cleaned with a dedicated wheel cleaner which is safe for all wheels.







As I mentioned before, the car had been cleaned and buffed by the dealership. This is an automatic red flag for us. Not because the condition many dealerships and body shops leave the paint in, but because of the chemicals that can be left in the paint. Therefore, the paint was soaked with a paint degreaser in hopes of removing some of these chemicals. Unfortunately, this wasnt enough and the paint needed several alcohol and prep sol wipe downs. Whatever was in the paint was causing the abrasives in the polish to not cut at all. Almost as if I was working with vette paint here.



Here are a couple pieces of clay after claying the paint.


Now, onto the polishing process!


Step 1 of the 3 step polishing process is Defect Removal. The paint required heavy compounding with wool pads on the rotary.

Before


After As you can see, there is some haze from the compound and wool pad. This will be completely removed during the next step of polishing.


After heavy compounding with a wool pad the car becomes very dusty. Therefore, the car had to be rewashed when compounding was completed.

Step 2 of the 3 step polishing process is Gloss Enhancement. This is when we remove any left over haze from step 1 and restore the gloss. We get the paint as close to LSP ready as possible (no holograms, buffer marks, etc.). Many detailers will stop at this point, but there is still more gloss to be had and we go after every little bit!

Here is a picture taken after completing step 1 of the polishing process. Again, you can see some left over haze from the compound and wool pad.


Here is the same spot after step 2 of the polishing process.


Step 3 of the polishing process is known as jeweling, or burnishing the paint. For this I used a finishing polish and a finishing pad. Sorry I didnt take any pictures of this step.

During the polishing process, the paint is cleaned with alcohol and or prep sol to reveal the true condition of the paint. Once the process is completed and we are satisfied with the results, we bring the car outside and inspect it under direct sunlight.









If we feel the process is completed, then we rewash the car again to remove all polish dust, and prepare it for wax or sealant.

And here are the final results. There is no LSP applied in these pictures. That was applied later on. The tires and wheel wells were dressed using water based products, the rims were sealed, etc.

DnD Auto Detailing:
Next up is the interior. The interior on this car was decent at best. The leather was extremely dirty, along with the carpet mats. The interior carpet needed a thorough vacuuming and some minor stains needed to be taken care of. All interior surfaces needed a very thorough cleaning as well.

All of the leather was vacuumed and cleaned with a dedicated water based leather cleaner and a soft foam sponge. After the cleaning process was completed, the seats were allowed to dry. Then a conditioner and protectant was applied. In total, the leather got a 3 step cleaning, conditioning, and protectant process. All different products.

















Here is a 50/50 shot of the drivers seat. The bottom half has been cleaned while the upper half is untouched.



Here is a picture of the back seats, you can actually see the dirty coming off the leather.





ALL of the interior surfaces were cleaned using several different brushes, microfiber towels, and a dedicated interior cleaner which is safe for all surfaces. Then a protectant was applied.

































The windows were cleaned using a dedicated window cleaner and microfiber towel that doesnt leave lint. We made sure to roll the windows down to get the very top of the windows.



All of the plastic wood trim was cleaned, polished, and protected.



The carpet mats were cleaned using several different carpet cleaners, brushes, and a hot water extractor.

















Here is the water from the extractor after cleaning only the carpet mats.



The interior was thoroughly vacuumed, spot treated, and extracted.









Here is the water from the extractor after cleaning only the interior carpet.



And here is the final result after completing the interior.

Boss_429:
Great work, great pics, and GREAT attention to detail.

I hope you're charging a gooooooooooood price... I would.  :thumbsiup:

Rollingrock:
Dan I really don't know where to start with my questions.

This is such a great documentation of a detail. 

I think I sent you PM late last night but what is the cleaner you used on the wheels and the leather?

DnD Auto Detailing:

--- Quote from: Boss_429 on July 27, 2008, 07:01:22 AM ---Great work, great pics, and GREAT attention to detail.

I hope you're charging a gooooooooooood price... I would.  :thumbsiup:

--- End quote ---

Thank you!


--- Quote from: rollingrock on July 27, 2008, 08:19:46 AM ---Dan I really don't know where to start with my questions.

This is such a great documentation of a detail. 

I think I sent you PM late last night but what is the cleaner you used on the wheels and the leather?




--- End quote ---

On the wheels I used either 1z wheel cleaner. The leather got Leather Masters 3 step system with strong cleaner, leather vital, and leather protectant.

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