1999 Black GS300 Detail - First Time

JohnNJ-GS300 · 09-15-04, 09:15

This is my first autopia post. I started reading autopia after joining the Lexus Owners Group Forum and reading this post and this post. Here are some pictures from the detail (you may have to be an autopia.org member to see these...if your not, you should join real fast). It took me from 11:30am to 8:30pm on one long cloudy day in NJ (9/14/04). This is a lineup of all of the products I used in order. Crappy Armor All Leather care, Meguiars Natural Shine, Prestone interior cleaner, Black Magic car wash, Mothers Clay bar system, Meguiars Hot Shine tire spray (applied to pad and rubbed on), Mothers Chrome Polish, Mothers pre-wax cleaner, 3M Perfect it II rubbing compound, Meguiars Scratch-X and microfiber, Mothers sealer and glaze, Meguiars NXT Tech wax, Rain-X foaming window cleaner/polish and glass of Arizona Iced Tea.

Photo of trunk lid before with cross-hatch swirl marks like someone sat on it and grinded dirt in

Reflection shot of trunk lid after.

Shot of rear driver's side door scratch before

Shot of rear driver's side door after (i promise no photoshop, in fact you can still see part of the scratch)

Front quarter, wheels hazed with NXT Tech wax

Other side...

Finally, a large shot in front of my friend's house the day after

Obviously it had to rain the next day, but it should still look good for weeks to come

I would appreciate any tips on the order in wich I used the products, products I could substitute, and the best way to keep it looking like glass. Like I said, this is my first real detail...never used two buckets for wash and changed them 4 times during clay bar'n, but it works.

Check out My Gallery for more pictures.

01bluecls · 09-15-04, 10:07

Well WELCOME TO AUTOPIA!!!!!!!!

First off great job on the detail..... Love the Lex GS

Well for the leather conditioner, I actually use the same armor all stuff you have which for the price i find pretty good. If you want a really nice leather conditioner, I HIGHLY recommend Zaino "leather in a bottle"--- it really makes the interior smell like true leather as if it was re-upolstered and doesnt have a greasy feeling.

As for the other products you have, you are off to a good start, and you have seem to have done prior reading or at least have prior knowledge about the proper steps as you have displayed. The only Highly Highly recommended product that I will and as many members here will recommend is a Porter Cable Buffer. It will provide better results and in half the time and effort IMO.

Some brands you may want to look into are Klasse, Zaino, Menzerna, 1Z, Pinnacle, P21S, and most of the Meg's Pro Line products....Im sure i forgot some, but i know our fellow members will chime in any moment.

Good luck with your future details.

Chris

beau · 09-16-04, 01:08

Wow, pretty damn good for your first time, eh? My friend has an '03 GS 300 and it sure is fast; love to know what the GS 430 is like.

You need to get over the fear of ordering online and get some of the stuff that is available at autopia-carcare.com, properautocare.com, autogeek.net, etc. That car was close to 50k new, so treat it with some lovely higher end products to really baby it. And as said before, you would really be doing yourself a favor to get a Porter Cable 7424 random orbit polisher.

I used to have an ES300, so I'm intimately familiar with what can (and can't) be done with Toyota paints.

Quote:

Mothers pre-wax cleaner, 3M Perfect it II rubbing compound, Meguiars Scratch-X and microfiber, Mothers sealer and glaze, Meguiars NXT Tech wax

Alot of this is redundancy. Although looking at your before pictures, sounds like it needed it!

I think the NXT was probably negated the "Mothers sealer and glaze", as I believe the NXT has cleaning properties. NXT afficianados please chime in.

PI II Rubbing Compound and Scratch-X are probably about the same in terms of abrasiveness, so probably one or the other.

Below is a picture of a '95 ES which was taken in 2001 mostlikely. So almost as old in the pic as yours is now. I used All-In-One, Sealant Glaze, Blitz Wax, with Einmann Fabrik Clear Pearl and One Grand Show-Off quick detailers.

JohnNJ-GS300 · 09-16-04, 07:12

Thanks for the compliments. Great looking ES Beau! I looked again today, and swirls just aren't present! I got this car pre-owned with 55k miles on it and I would say that the paint was neglected and the car was only washed at the dealer when you get a free service wash.

I am going to order some of the Zaino Leather in a bottle today. As far as the Scratch-X and the Perfect it II products, the Scratch-X (from what i read) breaks down as you work it in, so essentially it turns into less of an abrasive. I understand what your saying about the NXT negating the sealer/glaze, I was worried about that. I only had about 20mins in between the sealer and the NXT so i'm not sure if it cured (does it have to?).

That Mother's pre-wax cleaner was really hard to take off if you used too much product, but really hard to work onto the surface if you used too little; am I doing this wrong? The Rain-X foaming glass cleaner is garbage, don't get it. It actually made my windshield worse and i'm getting much more condensation/fogging. The glass just looks bad.

I see so many different opinions on products in the forum, it gets hard to tell the difference between personal prefrence and what actually protects, lasts and shines.

What works to polish up the headlights housings? I have little scratches that are visable and I am putting in PIAA super plasma GTX bulbs tomorrow and I want a really clean dispersion without distortion.

Are there any tips for keeping the car looking so damn good? I know weekly washes with a two bucket system and quick detailer/final inspection/showtime works; but are there any other tips? Following up with another coat of the NXT? Can it layer? I have the following waxes, Full bottle of Meguiars gold class, 60% bottle NXT, full bottle Mother's cleaner wax and some older Meguiars in a tan bottle(looks kinda pro, my dad has had it for a while but he doesn't use it because its hard to buff off). Can any of these layer on top of the NXT for added depth and a little protection? should i glaze again with a new product?

I wish I had the $$ right now for the Porter Cable Polisher. Can it be used for anything besides cars, boats, etc...? If so I may be able to justify the cost. I must say I was snapping necks at 8:30am yesterday on the NJ Parkway...compounded with the fact that i'm only 22 and driving what appeared to be a brand new Lex....don't tell

BTW When I drove to class this morning my car was dry after about 2 mins going 55mph. I love the results!

G35stilez · 09-16-04, 12:02

Looks excellent!

A nice deep, wet glow

GoodnClean · 09-16-04, 04:49

Lookin good, glad I could help over on the LOC

Yeah Lexus black is great to work with, its so soft that getting perfect results is very rewarding. Be careful when washing it now though as being so soft also means it scratches very easily.

As for the PC, sure with a different backing plate it can also be used as a sander.

1 Clean WS6 · 09-16-04, 05:03

DUDE...that was a flat out AWESOME detail...1st time or 1,000th time!!!

I have to respectfully disagree with beau. Just because a product costs more does not mean it is better. If you like the over the counter stuff keep using them and enjoy them...if she ain't broke don't fix her!! However, if you like trying out new products (as 99.9% of Autopian's do) then by all means I agree with beau...get online and start burning up that credit card!!!

sw20_og · 09-16-04, 05:12

Great job

Black GS'es are fun to detail!!

Black IS Beautiful....Lexus GS300 with Klasse Twins **56K no way**

JohnNJ-GS300 · 09-16-04, 06:33

Heh thanks guys, esp. goodnclean. I didn't think I would get this many responses. I posted a few more pictures to my gallery. I'll post them here with captions.

This is the after photo for the bumper, i cranked up the brightness on that spot on photoshop, but the gash (picture in my gallery, nasty gash in bumper from parking it in Newark, NJ all the time) is only visable if you inspect the area. I used touch up paint and leveler to build up the spot then i clear coated it with touch up paint stuff then glaze then nxt.

Clean wheel, out of focus in picture...dirty wheel well was focused

My fav. trunk lid reflection shot.

I'm also get'n PIAA super plasma GTX bulbs (from Japan in sizes 9005 and 9006) installed tomorrow. I'm going to wash it and take some pics of the bulbs after for the other forum, I will try to take some more good pics of the bulbs/beam and the paint.

DaveGS4 · 09-17-04, 12:51

Absolutely beautiful job John!

C-westin'FD · 09-19-04, 07:31

Nice and Clean!!! good Job!!!

beau · 09-22-04, 03:29

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnNJ-GS300
What works to polish up the headlights housings? I have little scratches that are visable and I am putting in PIAA super plasma GTX bulbs tomorrow and I want a really clean dispersion without distortion.

Are there any tips for keeping the car looking so damn good? I know weekly washes with a two bucket system and quick detailer/final inspection/showtime works; but are there any other tips? Following up with another coat of the NXT? Can it layer? I have the following waxes, Full bottle of Meguiars gold class, 60% bottle NXT, full bottle Mother's cleaner wax and some older Meguiars in a tan bottle(looks kinda pro, my dad has had it for a while but he doesn't use it because its hard to buff off). Can any of these layer on top of the NXT for added depth and a little protection? should i glaze again with a new product?

I wish I had the $$ right now for the Porter Cable Polisher. Can it be used for anything besides cars, boats, etc...? If so I may be able to justify the cost. I must say I was snapping necks at 8:30am yesterday on the NJ Parkway...compounded with the fact that i'm only 22 and driving what appeared to be a brand new Lex....don't tell BTW When I drove to class this morning my car was dry after about 2 mins going 55mph. I love the results!

John, Meguiars makes a Plastic Polish and a Plastic Cleaner. One white bottle, one blue bottle. They work good on Lexus headlight housings.

You can't layer NXT. If you want to layer, with what you already have on the car, you have to go carnauba. P21S, Top Of The Line, One Grand Blitz, Pinnacle, etc. You can layer those infinitely.

As for glass, I like Stoners Invisible Glass. You can find it locally. I just bought some Sprayway but haven't had a chance to try it out yet.