mjlinane
My name is Mike
When this black 2005 Lexus ES330 drove up, I was impressed - it didn't look that bad. Sure, there were a couple of stone chips, a few light scratches and some waterspots but, overall, I thought we'd (Jason AKA MugelloM & myself) made out - 3-4 hours of wash + finish polish and back into recovery mode from a late night at Bar Louie Austin (my other buddy, Karl AKA classicax, performed into the wee hours with his band Capital Suspects). Definite mental note: No early Saturday morning details after a night with the Capital Suspects. 
However, as noted in the title, was I wrong. This was a coworker's wife's new-to-her DD that they had picked up a couple of months prior with limited to no provenance. Not a lot of photos this time; running long/late the entire way though.
The wheels were a bad omen. Started off well enough, a little Muc Off Performance Wheel Cleaner & some light agitation and clean wheel except for what looked like tarry, dirty texture stuck in patches. More wheel cleaner and agitation, nothing. TarX - nothing. Tarminator - nothing. Moved to the sun side of the car and tried again with similar results - with a minor difference. There was enough light to see that the texture was the chome peeling off of the wheels! The inner barrels were mostly gone. An hour or so there I wouldn't get back.
Foamed the paint with OPC + CG CW and then GDPWM with CG HDSF. Pulled it into the garage and used my MetroVac to blow off the pollen and tree crap than had fallen in the time it took to pull it into the garage. Then "clayed" - me with the GG6 + Nanoskin Autoscrub + DP Universal Clay Lube and Jason with a clay substitute sponge and Dodo Juice Born Slippy.
Then I saw what we were facing:
Still, not too worried. I mean all of the black Lexi I'd worked on before were on the soft side so figured a little Menz 203 Power Finish on orange and be on my way. Nope.
OK, how about Megs M100? Nothing.
Upped it to Megs MF Cutting Pads. A little something. This paint was like granite.
Hmmm. Paint gauge time - very healthy 125um pretty much everywhere. Hmmm again.
Surbuf + M100 finally cut through all of the swirls leaving only what I had originally thought were the light scratches. It did take off 2-5um of paint, though. Still quite healthy but a lot more than I normally like to take. Oh, and those waterspots weren't - the dealer had gone to town with touch-up paint and didn't spend a lot of time color matching. They must have gone through several bottles on this one.
We decided on a hack - er, I mean hybrid - detail (love you, too, Detailer Buddies). For those who don't know what that means, it is a multi-step correction on the showy paint (hood, roof, trunk and anywhere else that the sun will reveal imperfections) and a 1-step on the rest of the car. The owner did not have the funds, time or skills to maintain a perfect finish on a black DD so it worked for him. Also, the sides were definitely less beat up than the hood.
Showy stuff got Rupes 21 + Surbuf + M100 followed by Rupes 21 + Orange + Opti Hyper Polish. Turned out pretty well but not really up to my standards. A bit disappointed.
Pre-LSP but post-IPA
Less showy stuff only got Rupes + Yellow + Carpro Fixer. It resulted in a some correction with good gloss enhancement.
Other products used:
2nd wash: CG HDSF
LSP: BF Crystal Seal
Tires: Opti Tire Bond
Floor mats extracted with Megs APC+ 10:1
Leather: Lexol Leather Cleaner + steam
Interior: Megs QID
Jambs & final wheels: Eco Touch Waterless
More afters
Sorry for this one Todd but don't have an ACC equivalent.
8 hours later and both Jason and I were beat but the owner was quite happy.
Thanks for viewing. Questions welcome.
However, as noted in the title, was I wrong. This was a coworker's wife's new-to-her DD that they had picked up a couple of months prior with limited to no provenance. Not a lot of photos this time; running long/late the entire way though.
The wheels were a bad omen. Started off well enough, a little Muc Off Performance Wheel Cleaner & some light agitation and clean wheel except for what looked like tarry, dirty texture stuck in patches. More wheel cleaner and agitation, nothing. TarX - nothing. Tarminator - nothing. Moved to the sun side of the car and tried again with similar results - with a minor difference. There was enough light to see that the texture was the chome peeling off of the wheels! The inner barrels were mostly gone. An hour or so there I wouldn't get back.
Foamed the paint with OPC + CG CW and then GDPWM with CG HDSF. Pulled it into the garage and used my MetroVac to blow off the pollen and tree crap than had fallen in the time it took to pull it into the garage. Then "clayed" - me with the GG6 + Nanoskin Autoscrub + DP Universal Clay Lube and Jason with a clay substitute sponge and Dodo Juice Born Slippy.
Then I saw what we were facing:
Still, not too worried. I mean all of the black Lexi I'd worked on before were on the soft side so figured a little Menz 203 Power Finish on orange and be on my way. Nope.
OK, how about Megs M100? Nothing.
Upped it to Megs MF Cutting Pads. A little something. This paint was like granite.
Hmmm. Paint gauge time - very healthy 125um pretty much everywhere. Hmmm again.
Surbuf + M100 finally cut through all of the swirls leaving only what I had originally thought were the light scratches. It did take off 2-5um of paint, though. Still quite healthy but a lot more than I normally like to take. Oh, and those waterspots weren't - the dealer had gone to town with touch-up paint and didn't spend a lot of time color matching. They must have gone through several bottles on this one.
We decided on a hack - er, I mean hybrid - detail (love you, too, Detailer Buddies). For those who don't know what that means, it is a multi-step correction on the showy paint (hood, roof, trunk and anywhere else that the sun will reveal imperfections) and a 1-step on the rest of the car. The owner did not have the funds, time or skills to maintain a perfect finish on a black DD so it worked for him. Also, the sides were definitely less beat up than the hood.
Showy stuff got Rupes 21 + Surbuf + M100 followed by Rupes 21 + Orange + Opti Hyper Polish. Turned out pretty well but not really up to my standards. A bit disappointed.
Pre-LSP but post-IPA
Less showy stuff only got Rupes + Yellow + Carpro Fixer. It resulted in a some correction with good gloss enhancement.
Other products used:
2nd wash: CG HDSF
LSP: BF Crystal Seal
Tires: Opti Tire Bond
Floor mats extracted with Megs APC+ 10:1
Leather: Lexol Leather Cleaner + steam
Interior: Megs QID
Jambs & final wheels: Eco Touch Waterless
More afters
Sorry for this one Todd but don't have an ACC equivalent.
8 hours later and both Jason and I were beat but the owner was quite happy.
Thanks for viewing. Questions welcome.
