98 Lexus GS300 Paint Correction Barry Theal Presidential Details

[Barry Theal]

Hello Guys here is a car I decided to post because it was referred to me from forum member Ohiostate. First a little about this car it’s a 1998 Lexus GS300 that had seen a few better days and it was starting to show its age. It had a few door dings which were attended to and the painted pinstripe was removed. Upon agreement with owner We opted for my exterior refinement package with no tire dressing or Engine Decontamination. The owner is a car enthusiast and just wanted the paint rejuvenated and the car looking nice again. This way it would be easier for him to maintain.



Now a little on the car. The 1998 Lexus GS 300 was a car well ahead of its time. A car so nice it received The Motor Trend car of the year in February of 1998. For 1998, a new breed of Lexus has been born-designed from its inception to be a high-value, full-luxury sedan that`s more than a little wicked. The operation of this car was both comfort and performance. The `98 GS series squarely addresses that omission with two distinct variants that both look-and act-the part of aggressive performance cars. The most impressive part is how they do it in characteristic Lexus style, without sacrifice to luxury or comfort.

I’ll be doing a write up as I go so sit back and enjoy.



On day 1 My main goal was to completely get the exterior of the car completely decontaminated. During this phase The paint was cleansed prior to an paint leveling and the tires, wheels, and the arches were all cleaned accordingly. First I started with a complete lathered rinsed of degreaser to the paint. It was Diluted 4 to 1. During this step your main goal is to remove any excess loose dirt or gravel that has embed to the paint. The degreaser was sprayed on threw my pressure washer Then I let soil for about 3 minutes and rinsed off.











Next now that the paint was rinsed down I began with the wheels first. Each wheel was pulled of clean both inside and out. One thing I have noticed when degreasing cars is that every little thing done during this phase gives an incredible return on the cars appearance and also allows for the steps later to be finished correctly. Once the wheel was removed I first began spraying degreaser mixed 50/50 up inside the wheel wells paying strict attention to bushing, struts, brake calipers and all those other little parts in there. Using various brushes everything was agitated then rinsed off.















Next I cleaned the wheel and tire using the same 50/50 mixture of degreaser and water for the rubber. And for the wheels I used Ardex attack wheel cleaner. Everything was scrubbed and agitated and scrubbed some more. Here are a few pictures during the process.



These wheel were dirty, here is a close up for ya.























Once everything was cleaned the wheel was replaced using a torque wrench with about 100 pounds of pressure. Taking wheels off can be a big liability so in doing so, make sure you have insurance and know what’s going on. This is not something I recommend everyone to do, but for me it makes a difference and is something I’ve become comfortable with over the years. This process was the same threw out the remaining four wheels.



Once all four wheels and tires were attended to I began to address all emblems and gas flap and scrub the exhaust tips using a 4 to 1 ratio of degreaser. Using various brushes and such. Here are a few pictures. While doing this the car was sprayed down again using degreaser with a 4 to 1 dilution ratio and let dwell during this phase.



















Once all the finer areas had been lightly agitated I lathered the paint with a micro fiber mitt to remove any excess loose dirt that remained and rinsed off. This will set me up for a cars paint that is clean off all loose debris. This is extremely important do to the fact it was now time to claybar to the car to remove any contaminants that were embed into the paint, and windows. Now during the claybar process I like to put a rubber glove on while the paint is wet and feel the paint. The rubber glove actually enhances your feeling for embedded contaminants.











Even know the cars paint was still wet for added lube I choose Ardex Slider as my luber and sprayed on and began to clay away. This car had so much over spray everywhere that the claybar process took me almost an hour as compared to a normal 15 to 20 minutes. All was removed.







Now that the car was completely clean and decontaminated I gave it one last rinse of a 4 to 1 dilution mix with degreaser. This will ensure everything left was completely removed and the paint was clean. Now at this point if done right all (if any) previous wax will be stripped at least I hope so after 3 degreaser rinses lol.



Take notice in the next picture how the whole car is wet with no beading. This is how you know all wax has been stripped. I also like to inspect the paint at this point. I’ll sit back and look at how wet it looks now I have an image in my mind of what my goal is for the paint to like when its completed!







Now that all the Decontamination was finished I pulled the car up into the detail bay and removed the rear decklid spoiler and liceanse plate. Then I clayed underneath them.









Next before any sanding was done to correct the paint flaws, At this point as stated earlier I Agreed to pull a few dents. I pulled 2 Out of the right rear door and one from the right quarter panel. There was a pretty decent dent on the left fender that could not be corrected 100 % As someone was previously in it and strecth the metal. I corrected some of would they couldn’t finish but the dent looked good from 2 feet he was happier. There was no charge for this panel.







Once I got the minor door dings out. The owner removed the rear badges and some etching was left so I sanded using 2000 grit paper to remove any etching. Here are some shots.



Take notice in this photo you can see the lettering gs300. This had to be removed









Here in this picture you can still see some etching so further sanding needed done here is a shot of the all etching removed. I wasn’t planning on sanding this flat, but I had to to remove all etching. Then I removed the painted pintstripe with the same method. I tried various solvents and lacquers, but nothing removed the stripe so sanding it was!



















Now that everything was prepped for the correction I began to mask off everything. This included all molding rubber, and anything I felt would be harmed by the rotory buffer if I had made a mistake. Having the right tape for the job is essential. I used everything from fineline tape to 2 inches. Notice the difference in this picture.

[Barry Theal]

Here is a quick tape lesson for you guys. When taping up its easier to tape around the emblem then fill it in take notice in the pictures below!











Here are a few pics of it all taped up and ready for the paint inspection.















Now that everything was tape I used various lights from led, to halogen and 3m sun gun to inspect the paint. Here its what all needed to be corrected.











































Hopefully you noticed this was gonna be no easy task, It had some rids, swirls and yes those nasty holograms. I started out with my goto compound Ardex 1000. What I like about this compound is its very true. What I mean is what you see is what you have there are no fillers and even after alcohol wipedowns it looks the same as before them. So no guessing is needed after the the passes.



So off I went working the buffer in a 2 * 2 area I laid a 6 inch begand to cross hatch the compound at about 700 rpm’s to ensure no sling then I dialed in at around 1800 rpms and finish down around 1000 and worked the product till it flashed and here are some shots!

















Notice here in this picture the compound is broken down and flashed After this I sprayed a ipa mixture of 50/50 and checked my surface.







Take notice the paint is perfectly level and began to gain some clarity. Although the wool caused a little hologramming the camera flash show no swirls. It finished nicely for a wool pad.











The downside to Ardex 1000 is it can be very dusty. Here is a picture of this dust. You can tell I did some serious compounding here.







Next I went ahead and did a complete Lacquer thinner wipe to ensure no oils were present and all compound was removed.







Next I moved onto Ardex 1500 and a porter cable. I used a yellow foam pad rated at 50 ppi on speed 6. This will begin to remove any hologramming left behind by the wool and rotary and begin to restore the depth back into the paint.







Folowing the rejuvination stage I began to polish with m205 and porter cable on a green foam pad rated at 60 ppi. This polished the car nicely and really made it shine. Now at this point I pulled the car in the wet bay and blew off all compoun dusting from the cracks door jams, and motor and returned to the detail bay for the final jewelling. This was perfomed with a rotory and a 6 white foam pad rated at 90 ppi. I kept the rotory at around 700 to 900 rpms this whole time and applied no pressure at all. Here is a shot of the fender after the jewelling stage.







Now that everything was jeweled. I applied two coats of Wolfgang Fuzion 3 hours apart. I didn’t put to layers to add gloss. Gloss was issued during the jewelling phase. The reason to add 2 layers is to ensure maximum coverage. Once all the paint had been protected and Everything was wipedown. I pulled the car out in the sun to check my work and this is what happens to 12 year old paint with a little patience.

[Barry Theal]

The Final shots!











































Well Thanks for reading my thread and veiwing my work. All comments are welcome. May God Bless all you autopians!

[dsms]

Killer work Barry, didnt know you did PDR as well!

[Barry Theal]

Killer work Barry, didnt know you did PDR as well!

David thats actually my main source of income. Its really fast money with the right accounts. thank you for the kind words.

[Apollo_Auto]

Pfft... that is da sh1t! When did you start doing PDR??



UPDATE: Just saw Dave`s post... nice! Teach me PDR, master... I`d love to learn!

[imported_wagonproject]

David thats actually my main source of income. Its really fast money with the right accounts. thank you for the kind words.

So your the guy our body shop hates....:bat



Always love seeing your work man, amazing turn arounds with great descriptions.

[Barry Theal]

so apollo i come to hungary work on ferraris? and teach you pdr? fair trade?

[imported_DJ Mayo]

Your the man Barry.

[Barry Theal]

thanks for the kind words dj.

[grungy]

Awesome turnaround Barry! Now that you have completed the garage work, how do you like the two bays? The writeup helps to follow your thought process and th pics are da bomb:woot2:

[Legacy]

Awesome work and write up Barry. Enjoy reading your posts.

[SoCalB6]

Great save, Barry! I too didn`t know you did PDR! Awsome...

[OCDinPDX]

Barry, first off that`s an amazing turnaround. :2thumbs: I remember when that body GS came out it was unlike anything else on the road. It looked mean and lean and it`s aging very well.



To quote the original ad campaign, "Something wicked this way comes."

[TSC17]

Nice work Barry, and you`ve stepped up your write ups a notch lately too...good job! Thanks for sharing the details. :woot2: