Orbital polisher v self healing paint

[westo3]

This has probably come up before! I was looking to do a bit of detailing, tiny little stone chips on the bonnet which seemed to have been covered by the dealers with little blobs of paint! Has anybody had any problems with a polisher (I have a DAB6) on Lexus self healing paint. Does any body know the best compounds/polishes for this kind of paint or should I just not use a polisher? Is it all right to use a clay bar?

[i-s]

I used our DAS6PRO on our 2015 GS450h. Take all claims of "self healing" with a pinch of salt - our car had swirl marks (as expected for age) and has a couple of patches of crazed lacquer on the bonnet (probably bird lime damage). It had been treated from new with "Gen 3 glasscoat", but clearly that didn't live up to its claims as it did not prevent the bird lime damage, and at this point any coating will have worn away. I tried the usual recommendations of "Leave it out in the sun" or "apply gentle heat from a hot air gun" - neither did anything. 

Yes, use a clay bar  if needed, although if doing a full detail I tend to prefer to use tar remover and fallout remover (would like to try carpro TRIX to cover both in one go) to get as much junk out of the paint as possible before going to clay - these products will play havoc if you already have LSP you want to keep (as will clay), but usually a deep detail like this leads up to new LSP so it's not an issue. 

Ultimately the car looked better after a gentle polish than before. I used Farecla G3 Paintwork Renovator on a chemical guys hex logic white pad, followed up with Carpro Essence (used a green hex-logic with that, but subsequent experience says use a microfibre gloss pad with Essence - works much better). Next time around I'm sure that the paint will be in good enough shape that Essence alone will cover any polishing/glossing step prior to LSP. 

[westo3]

Many thanks I. Very useful information.

[NemesisUK]

I think I'm correct in saying not all models and years had self healing top coat.

My RCs both did/do

The only advice I've read regarding the use of DAS polishers is that the heat they can generate can cause issue with the self healing as this is activated by heat (as in sunlight)

Lexus recommend not to use abrasive polishes on those models with self healing top coats

[westo3]

Thanks Peter. How would I know if my car has a self healing top coat?

[NemesisUK]

It's stated in my owner's handbook under Maintenance and care.

[i-s]

Ultimately it's a judgement call - if the top coat is showing swirl marks then either it has gone beyond the "self healing" capabilities or the self-healing is no longer working. Either way, a gentle polish can lift the appearance, just like any other top coat. Ours has not shown any issues as a result of polishing this way. You might lose or diminish any future self-healing capabilities, but if it is swirled then basically you're not losing anything anyway. 

If you own a DAS6 then chances are that you're perfectly capable of inspecting and deciding for yourself whether whether the paint is swirled etc.