This Is After I Put Right Dealer's Poor Preperation.

[SH20]

This is how I thought my car would look on collection but alas it took 35 hours of reworking the paint before I was happy with it. 

 

Edited September 2, 2019 by SH20
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[graham8370]

Very nice Steve, I have a sneaky suspicion that you would have spent 35 hours anyway. Enjoy.

[SH20]

You might be right Graham. 

[Habu]

Very, very nice but do you dare take it out now especially with winter just around the corner?

What are the Lexus labels on the seats?

[F.A.]

Nice number plate!

I must admit, I’m not the biggest fan of the appearance of the ES in general but I love the look of that rebadged rear. 

[SH20]

Peter, because my previous GS450h and now the ES300h are velvet black it's a monkey to keep spotless but like Graham said I do it because I like to.   

Waiting for my son to come round and show me how to upload a video to YouTube.   I did a video to try and avoid relying on photos to capture the paint finish.   It's too big a file just to attach it to the thread and the Forum staff said it has to be done using YouTube so a link can be used  by any forum members who click on it.  I'll post it when my son decides to call.       

 

[SH20]

Sorry Pete only just noticed your question.    The seat badges are off E Bay, self adhesive and slightly domed shape.   They are subtle ref to the brand. Had them on my GS450h which had black leather so looked better.

[wynants]

Steve,

Which products did you use to achieve this shine? 

[SH20]

Jean products are:     ( All purchased from Clean Your Car Huddersfield online.)

3M cutting and polishing compounds

Hex Logic  foam pads

Car Pro Degreaser 

Chemical Guys foam pad conditioner and cleaning solutions

Collinite 845  liquid wax 

GYEON  car shampoo

Car Pro  clay bars and Dodo clay bar lubricant

GTECH wash mitt

Eurow  extra thick micro fibre cloths

There is more stuff on cleaning cars than you can shake a stick at,   just visit Clean Your Car's website and have a look, there is nothing they don't do.

 

[JeffL]

Very nice indeed. So how much do you charge for a job like that!!!😉

[SH20]

A friend of mine earns his living detailing cars .   Top detailer and his costs would be based  after an initial look at the paint condition.   If the paint is in average condition i.e light swirls he would charge £600 min for a very large car but he would take 3 full days doing it. (Paint correction only)  He will do everything else if needed, wheels, interior under the bonnet glass but that would be extra.    Small car  £300 paint only  2 days maybe 2.5 days plus anything else as listed but extra.   Some well known detailers can charge £5000 for an exotic car and take 10 days to do it. Look on Youtube and see what they do.    

I consider myself a good amateur only who understands the theory and the sequence  of  paint correction process.     My new car's paint was lightly swirled on about 6 panels due to very poor  washing and cleaning practises. No surprise therefore that I chose to do the whole car.    I would be confident in showing any car enthusiast  the how and what materials and tools are needed to achieve a great finish.  But it takes time, the bonnet on my car took me 2.5 hours to be happy with it.  There are 7 steps in all.

[wynants]

Steve 

do you use a rotary polishing g machine or you all do it by hand? 

 

[SH20]

jean, you can't really achieve an even  gloss like finish by hand,  you will need to use either a rotary polishing machine or a DA (Dual Action) polishing machine.   Rotary machines are used by professional detailers and body shops really because they are faster in operation but generate a great deal of heat and a great deal of care is needed when polishing near edges or creases in the body work.  They have to be allowed to cool down but achieve great results.   I have one but can't  get on with it for normal body panels .    The polishing head spins on a central spindle and it takes greater control by the operator.   For good amateurs  it's much wiser to use a dual action polisher. Takes longer and the head spins in an offset like an exaggerated orbital motion  and creates much less heat. Control is much better.  Both machines have variable speeds  usually 1-6,  6 being the fastest.   Machines vary in price hugely but mine cost £145 and does everything I ask it to do.   I have small  rotary polishing machine by Shinemate  at £140 with 3 and 6 inch extension shafts  to the head so you can polish in really tight spaces with polishing pads down to 1 inch.  Anyone can learn how to use a polishing machine with the right materials.    You could learn all the basics by machine polishing  a 2 foot square area on a car panel.  Then you just replicate the same process again and again.  In this day and age you are correcting issues in the top clear lacquer  coat only, not the colour itself.  Older cars, classics etc  have no lacquer coat so it's the colour coat that is being corrected but most cars on the road today have clear lacquer top coats. Air born contaminates, oxidisation and light to deep swirl marks like circular scratches are what detailers are correcting.    You will never polish out vandal scratches that have ripped through the lacquer and colour coat down to the primer.   They will need repainting.  Fine visible scratches in the lacquer coat can be wet sanded with 1500 -2000 grit paper and water and then polished but that's really a separate issue.    

[wynants]

thanks, i will order a dual machine asap ! 

[SH20]

Jean you won't do better than buying off Clean Your Car Ltd of Huddersfield,  lots of models to choose from, just make sure it's a dual action machine not a rotary machine.  Aim to spend around £150 for a machine that will last a long time.   No need to buy Flex or Rupes, yes they have a good name but people who earn their living detailing cars buy these makes. A Das 6 Pro model is ideal, plenty of choice to suit any budget. 

[i-s]

Maybe coming to this late, and can't disagree with anything at all that SH20 says. 

I use a DAS6 Pro (from the aforementioned CleanYourCar) and various products. I'm currently working over the Tesla - with soft paint and being brand new and not badly swirled I've gone straight for Carpro Essence on a microfibre gloss pad (getting much better results with that than with a foam pad with essence). Topping with reload and I might see how well 845 or 476 will play over the top of reload. I've previously had over 6 months of durability with 476 on top of Autoglym EGP, so that seems a strong combo.

Some useful products that I'd recommend:

Farecla G3 Paintwork Renovator
This is a very gentle polish that is appropriate to use by hand or by DA, and it uses diminishing abrasives (ie the scratchy bits get smaller over time as you work it, so they cut smaller and smaller to a gloss finish). I've never had a problem, even on soft paintwork, with this polish over-working (but have had cases of it bouncing off very hard (BMW) paint. It's fine on Lexus paint). Won't give huge correction of deeper scratches but great for gently zinging up older swirly paint. 

Carpro PERL
General purpose for interior and exterior plastics and tyres. Nice satin finish and better lasting without "fling" or oilyness. This can replace several other products (eg bumper/trim gel, tyre dressing, interior rubber/plastic shine)

Collinite 476/845
Paste (476) or Liquid (845) versions of Collinite wax. Superbly long lasting. 845 is much easier to apply, but in both cases the key is be sparing! You only need the thinnest haze and buff off. 

Bilt Hamber clay
This clay is so easy to work with as it is happy with water as lubricant rather than rapid detailer or anything. That speeds things up significantly, as you can put a clay stage in between washing and drying. I've also not had marring problems with BH clay. Only ever use clay before a polish/protect, as it will strip anything else you have off and all clays can mar to some extent. 

Gtechniq G4/G5
G4 glass polish is fantastic for getting contaminants, mineral etch and water marking off glass with minimum effort, either by hand or by DA (was great for doing the whole windscreen/roof/rear screen extent of glass on the Tesla). G5 is a brilliant rain repellent that works better and lasts far longer than RainX. G5 on the rear screen means a rear wiper isn't missed so much. 

Ultimately, however, it's much more about technique and time than specific products. There are actually very few bad products on the market, and the internet echo chambers simply make it seem like product X is massively better than product Y. A good example of how there's really not that much new under the sun is Collinite - still among the very best, and it's been around forever.... Here's a 1958 advert for collinite 476:

 

 

 

[SH20]

Yes ,  fully concur  on your product choices, I've used most of your choices.  It took me a few months to get to a position  through trial and error  to reach as set of products that  I am comfortable with, like yourself.   Not sure I would want to use anything but Collinite 845  for that final protection coat.   It is outstanding.  Glad to hear someone else has experienced Clean Your Car of Huddersfield, a five star operation.   I did watch a lot of YouTube stuff on Fusso 99 wax  and from what I saw it was the "holy grail" according to some bloggers  but I was disappointed as it left a haze or shadow effect after buffing.   It did have unbelievable water sheeting performance though.      

[rich1068]

I'd agree the Collinite boat wax is excellent. Been a long time since I've had time to spend doing this sort of work though. I like the Fusso too and like the Collinite, less is more.

[i-s]

In the end I went with 2 coats of Reload followed by 2 coats of 845. 

Even though you can argue that this sort of work shouldn't be necessary on a new car, I find it a mixture of theraputic and bonding with the machine. And the feeling, when you look back at it in a car park and think "Daaaaaammmmmmnnnnnnnnnnn!", knowing that you did that. 

 

[SH20]

Lovely shape those Tesla cars. From what I've seen on YouTube the acceleration is eye watering.   Could anyone else other than a dealer service your car?.  The technology would suggest it would be wise to stick with a dealer regardless of the cost and for the warranty to be honoured..  

[i-s]

55 minutes ago, SH20 said:

Lovely shape those Tesla cars. From what I've seen on YouTube the acceleration is eye watering.   Could anyone else other than a dealer service your car?.  The technology would suggest it would be wise to stick with a dealer regardless of the cost and for the warranty to be honoured..  

Servicing can be done by anyone and consists of brake fluid change every 2 years (as per all ICE cars) and coolant (standard regular propylene glycol coolant) every 5 years. The Tesla warranty is not predicated on servicing (ie you could not service the car for 7 years and the drivetrain/battery warranty is unaffected and still valid). They have also published the workshop guides to allow you to carry out these items yourself. 

[LordByronUK]

Just a general note on dealerships. They are **** at prepping and detailing used cars, even the Lexus dealerships are terrible at this, and they will never do a good job because doing it properly takes at least half/full day of a professionals time. That's why I'll never buy any type of bull**** sealant paint protection from a dealer as they simply won't detail the car properly before applying it, so what's the point! Also, I recommend to everyone that they don't get their car washed at the next service, unless you want it to come back caked in swirl marks! When buying a new car I generally just set aside a day for an intense detailing session.

[i-s]

Apologies to SH20 for heading OT...

But yes. A couple of times when our Volvo was cleaned by the dealer they left a caustic jetwash solution on the car too long and it marked up a lot of the rubber seals around windows etc, as well as destroying my LSP. When I called them out on it they denied it, said they don't use anything caustic, only Autoglym. Resounding silence when I sent them the MSDS of Autoglym Jetwash. 

 

[Diesel Do Nicely Brian]

100% to all of this. My Black GS450h that is going after nearly 5 years and my new black ES300h arriving next week all need serious care to keep them looking good. 
 

I NEVER let my dealer wash my car and my ES is being new car prepped for 3 days by a detailer before delivery (including machining) and fully ceramic coated, with a 4 week safe wash/inspection of the coating a month later. The dealer valeters will NOT be prepping the car - they’d wreck it and I’d also spend days with the DA (and Scholl S20 as my favoured compound) getting it back to “scratch”. 

[SH20]

Good to hear that you agree in principle that dealers valet departments are car paint wreckers who don't give a damn.  They just get told to remove the factory white tape protection and then give it a wash. they then ruin the lacquer by using a rotary polishing mop for speed and low quality micro fibre cloths leaving swirls and fine scratches all over the  car.   

What interior colour did you choose to go with your black paint,  is it metallic black or solid black paint?