Black Nasty - Any Hope?

[317]

First off, I am new to the detailing scene and looking for help with a specific problem. I have some general detailing tools including a PC I picked up about a year ago. I just aquired a 1995 Lexus that is in great condition w/the exception of the paint. The top side of every panel has these white imperfections as seen in the photos. Ideally I`d like to `fix` these and make them as close to invisible as I can. My fear is that it`s too late...but I`m hoping that the cumulative knowledgebase hete has that magical silver bullet that will solve all my problems. I`m willing to try any recommendation at this point so please feel free to give your honest opinion. Thank you and advance.

[TuxedoTaurus]

Your pictures didn`t load. With some we could help point you in the right direction.

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[317]

Sorry, I was working off my phone and it didn`t like something I did, hopefully these work;

[Ronkh]

Your pictures didn`t load. With some we could help point you in the right direction.

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What ^ he ^ said

btw. welcome

[Ronkh]

Start of cc failure?

Some sap ?

Some water etching ?

[317]

Thank you for the quick replies! The pics should be working now. I`ve been lurking for a long time trying to soak it all in, but this one has me worried. I appreciate any help I can get.

[Ronkh]

Thank you for the quick replies! The pics should be working now. I`ve been lurking for a long time trying to soak it all in, but this one has me worried. I appreciate any help I can get.

You should be worried. CK my reply above. Just my opinion/observations

Looks like all of em

[TuxedoTaurus]

Start of cc failure?

Some sap ?

Some water etching ?

I agree with the above, and maybe rockchips.

I would get something like Terminator or Poorboys Bug Squash, an iron remover, aggressive clay, a paint gauge, and say a prayer!

After a heavy decor wash get paint readings to see if a paint correction is feasible.

If not, use a chemical paint cleaner like Blackfire Gloss Enhancing Polish, Poorboys Blackhole Glaze, then apply one of Poorboys Natty`s paste waxes (probably black).

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[Poorboy]

Welcome and sorry ... the above posts are correct .. you have clearcoat failure in the checkered spots .. the water spots look like they have been there quite a while and there are chips and a haze ... hopeless ..no ..it can be a 5 footer again ... paint cleaner, glaze, lots of wax

[317]

Although the history is unknown, I think it just sat outside without much care and the neglect caught up to it. Good thing the car was cheap.

I`ll take a 5-footer over what it is now, and I don`t mind the practice, apparently I can`t make it too much worse than it is! And if I somehow manage that I have a buddy that paints cars so I`ll just have to work a deal with him even though I was trying to avoid going this route.

Thank you for the recommendations, I`ll look into it and try to post back results after I clean it up.

One more question, any recommendations on an `aggressive clay`? I`ve not had much experience (I notice you all have black cars) and I`d like to get it right the first time so I don`t have to spend the money more than once trying to find a good one.

Again, thank you for the help and direction. It`s not so bad polishing a turd because it`s easy to see improvement.

[512detail]

third pic is start of cc failure

I saw those tiny marks on my friends Yukon hood and they grew much larger a few months later

the white ones.... calcium inside the cc failure?

I did a two step in the past and then used some dr color chip and made a drastic improvement on some marks very similar to that before---they were typeII bird bombs I believe

[Ronkh]

Imho
With the way it looks use a milder clay, not aggressive.

Itll make less work

[TuxedoTaurus]

Imho
With the way it looks use a milder clay, not aggressive.

Itll make less work

I only recommended an aggressive one so his arm doesn`t fall off try to remove contaminants.

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[rlmccarty2000]

When you touch the white spots are they raised up? Some look like very old pine tar (I`m an expert, lol). I would purchase a decontamination kit to start with to try to remove any contamination. After that I would use something to remove any pine tar, such as Stoners Tarminator or CarPro Tar-X. It looks like you have some hard water spots also, try CarPro Spotless to try to remove these. Then I would give it a good wash and start "claying". I prefer a clay towel over detailers clay especially for the amount of contamination you are dealing with. After you have done these steps you will have a better idea of the real condition of your paint, then you can compound, polish, and wax. Above all enjoy the process. Anyone can take a new car and make it shine. Taking a car in that condition and making it look better is time consuming, but well worth the effort. Don`t try to do it all at once, set small goals and reward yourself with your favorite adult beverage when you reach them. We have good people here on Autopia with a wealth of knowledge that will be happy to give you guidance along the way. Welcome!

[Stokdgs]

Welcome to the Forum, 317 !
Hope you have been getting much knowledge reading and thinking about what you learned..

Lucky for you, Lexus used (and continues to use very good paint) very good paint 21 years ago, and that is probably the only reason the paint is still on the car and not falling off..

You have much damage to it, starting with a zillion rock hits from driving on the 405 freeway in Western Washington in the rain for example...

The areas where the paint is gone and now something white is in them could be a lot of different things from a wax job, spray wax at the swirl-o-matic-car-wash, etc., or paint failure even...

It would take a whole lot of Dr.Colorchip and days of patience to try to fill all them in - in fact, don`t even think about that unless you are really Detail Oriented to the max and have days to spend on this, without knowing how well it may look or even last on the paint...

As has already been perfectly advised above, just wash it really well, try to get something like Clay Magic Blue Color Bar and a good claybar lube, and go over the car to help further remove stuff stuck on the very top layer of the paint, to try to help smooth it down and it may even look a little better..

I also concur with the advice to use the PC and a product to clean the paint and put a little shine on it and perhaps see if you can find a wax that is already dyed Black to help match up the off colored areas and that might be a pretty good Temporary - fix for it...

Later on if you still want to talk about getting it painted, that would be a great option if you wanted to do that too..

Lexus is known for good painting, they even color sand the paint down between coats, and that is why you never see a bad from the Factory Lexus paint job...

Congratulations on your new ride ! Hard to beat Lexus quality inside and outside...

Your amazing 21-year-old car looks great !
Good luck with your project !
Dan F