[sarcasm]Thanks a lot, Lexus[/sarcasm]

[Scottwax]

:rolleyes:



Hey, how about a clear coat on your black cars?



2001 Lexus ES300, black, with no clear coat. I seem to remember Lexus has some sort of lame reason for not clear coating their black paint, but it definitely means extra work.



Had to detail the aforementioned Lexus this afternoon, and of course, I had forgotten about Lexus` deal about not clear coating black paint. To top it off, the car was 18 months old and had never been waxed and was covered in hard water spots. Instantly, I knew I had an extra hour of work, even though the interior was nearly perfect and took me only 30 minutes to completely clean, which meant I didn`t finish until 7 PM for the day.



Anyway, claying and Meguiars Swirl Free took care of the hard water spots and I finished it off with Vanilla Moose and S100 and it looked like a freaking mirror. Got the wheels turned just right to take a pic....and remembered I shot my last frame when I detailed an ML 320 that morning. Aaaaaargh!



Oh well, I told him his car really needs to be waxed every 3 months, especially since it does not have a clear coat and to also make sure he parks it somewhere else at work so the sprinklers don`t end up etching his paint. I guess I`ll have to get a pic the next time. :(

[OUCH]

I thought all new cars have clear coat.. How do you know if you have clear coat.. It`s kind of ridiculous that a Lexus would have no clear coat

[tkr128]

I was quite shocked when I first learned about the non-clearcoated Black on the IS300 forums. I didn`t think a LEXUS would not have a clearcoat. But to be fair, the Lexus Black Onyx is one of the nicest blacks I`ve seen. Also, if I remember correctly, Solar Yellow doesn`t have a clearcoat either.

[raymond_ho2002]

Yeah... sucks about the clearcoat thing. I have many blackened pc pads from my black is300.



scottwax, i`m very amazed by your good results with vanilla moose. no matter what I did to apply it (by hand using no pressure, light pressure, heavy pressure, and by PC), it always left a haze that had to be smr`ed out.

[Scottwax]

Originally posted by raymond_ho2002

Yeah... sucks about the clearcoat thing. I have many blackened pc pads from my black is300.



scottwax, i`m very amazed by your good results with vanilla moose. no matter what I did to apply it (by hand using no pressure, light pressure, heavy pressure, and by PC), it always left a haze that had to be smr`ed out.



That`s odd, the abrasives in VM are very light, even less so than Meguiars #9. I`ve never had a hazing problem at all, even on the non clearcoated black Lexus. I wonder if you got a bad bottle? Have you contacted Clearkote to see if they will exchange it or can offer light on the hazing problem?

[jr weeks]

This has been a topic of much conversation over at ClubLexus, as to why they didn`t clearcoat the black onyx. Most seem to think it has to do with scratches that occur being more visible (clearcoat turns white when abraded as we know) with a clear. That`s just member speculation however, not an official answer from Lexus.



Either way, they`re both urethane enamel paints. One just has no pigment (the clear) on top.

[raymond_ho2002]

Originally posted by Scottwax

That`s odd, the abrasives in VM are very light, even less so than Meguiars #9. I`ve never had a hazing problem at all, even on the non clearcoated black Lexus. I wonder if you got a bad bottle? Have you contacted Clearkote to see if they will exchange it or can offer light on the hazing problem?



I have emailed them before about it, but I never got a response back.. I should try again. I just thought it was a problem that was unique to my clearcoat-less black, but apparently it isn`t. come to think of it, i have used it on clearcoated blacks and had the same problem.. I`ll definitely shoot another email to everett.



By the way scott, did your applicators come out black after using VM on the black lexus? My white applicator pads came out pretty dark, like I had used SMR.

[GoodnClean]

This is precisely why I didnt get my ES300 in black LOL, its black garnet a kind of almost black burgundy. Complete with clearcoat :xyxthumbs:



The official Lexus stance is that they feel the car has more sheen, looks richer, and resists damage more without a clearcoat.



The reason you dont recieve responses I`m sure is that they`re long tired of explaining it.

[Patrick]

GoodnClean, that Black Garnet is freeeeeeeeeeeekin BEE-U-Tee-Ful !!!!!!

That has to be the best lookin color on the road in my book !!

[GoodnClean]

I think so too. Lexus` Black Cherry (LS and GS) is nice too, but its a little too purple. At first I didn`t like it, I wanted silver, but my girlfriend talked me into the garnet because everyone else has silver. I`m glad she did, its a great color. Unfortunately I dont have any pics yet, but I will soon. Pics dont do the color justice anyways.

[Thomasfl]

that is really strange about lexus, my dealer told me about the lack of clearcoat on black, I opted for the Graphite Gray Pearl on my IS300 and couldn`t be happier, looks so sweet and the clearcoat seems quite thick.

[Scottwax]

Originally posted by raymond_ho2002

I have emailed them before about it, but I never got a response back.. I should try again. I just thought it was a problem that was unique to my clearcoat-less black, but apparently it isn`t. come to think of it, i have used it on clearcoated blacks and had the same problem.. I`ll definitely shoot another email to everett.



By the way scott, did your applicators come out black after using VM on the black lexus? My white applicator pads came out pretty dark, like I had used SMR.



My pad came out with black on it, but not as much as when I first went over it with Swirl Free.



I don`t know why you are having a problem, especially since Everett has a black truck and you`d think if Vanilla Moose would haze black, he`d be the first to tweak the abrasive level since he uses his truck to demonstrate his products in the direct sun. There is a picture of his truck I took when I met him a few weeks ago at the Pate Swap Meet at TMS last month in this thread:

http://www.autopia.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23124



Anyway, I have another black Lexus (a GS400 this time) to do in the morning (Sunday), so I`ll make sure I get a good look at it in the sun to see if I am getting any hazing.

[raymond_ho2002]

Hey scott,



Any news with the black gs400 you did this morning?

[Scottwax]

Originally posted by raymond_ho2002

Hey scott,



Any news with the black gs400 you did this morning?



Yeah, no problems at all, even with a section I did in the direct sun, just to show the guy what a quick pass with Vanilla Moose would do. It noticably deepened the black and was streak and haze free. I ended up using Vanilla Moose, Final Polish and then topping it with S100. Turned out great! I took pics, but I have about 18 more on the roll in my camera, so it will be a week or two before I can post them. BTW, this black Lexus did have a clear coat. It was a 1998, if that makes any difference.



How about a Ferrari 348 Spider that I waxed with Vanilla Moose (he only had time for a quick wax, and this car also has no clear coat).

[Scottwax]

The guy whose GS400 I detailed on Sunday posted some pics on OT.com (formally .net), so I snagged some and resized them (he had them at 1600 x 1200!:eek: )