Lexus paintwork

[wharfhouse]

As some of you may know if you have read other threads from me, I bought my IS 300h for both business use and personal use and drive some long distances and don't baby it. It's a 2014 car that I bought when it was 2 years old with 40K miles on it (from Lexus Reading) and it has now done 136K miles - so it's fast approaching 100K miles in my ownership. It's always been serviced by Lexus Reading along with MoTs done there and anything else that was needed. They have probably washed the car more times than I have! Anyway, in a rash moment today I decided to not only wash it but see how well the paintwork was standing up to the last 100k miles. The car did have Supagard done by Lexus Reading when it was new but I haven't done anything since I purchased it. After the wash, on inspection the paintwork looked pretty good - some road rash around the front bumper and bonnet but that's to be expected at the mileage. I then went over it with a mild paint restorer polish to take any left over grime off and polish out a few minor scuffs in the clearcoat. Then a grey coloured polish to try and blend some of the road rash on the bonnet (which is aluminium so no problem with any small chips rusting) followed by another normal wax coat. 

Have to say I was really surprised at the results. Given that I really haven't taken good care of the bodywork for the past 8 years there are no swirl marks in the paintwork and the metallic was sparkling again in the sun like new. All credit to Lexus - I can genuinely say that their paintwork has stood up to the test of time with very little effort from me. My wheels on the other hand do need refinishing - a couple of them I think were resprayed by the previous owner (before they traded the car in) and are now looking quite sorry. Maybe I'll get those done now the bodywork is looking so good...

 

[Colinb623]

Still a fresh looking car ..

[wharfhouse]

8 minutes ago, Colinb623 said:

Still a fresh looking car ..

Yes and with nothing much that has gone wrong mechanically very cheap motoring everything considered. My plan when I purchased it was to trade it for the next IS model - but as we know that never came to the UK. There isn't anything else I really desire at the moment so have just kept driving it! 

[GMB]

The car looks lovely and should be good for many more years🥰.

A specialist bodywork garage owner told me that Lexus are notorious for "soft" paint, likewise with some other Japanese companies. I do not know why this is so. My IsF 11yrs old has quite a few stone chips but absolutely no rust patches.

I recently cleaned inside the wheel arches ( I was bored at the time ) and amazingly, under the dust and dirt, the paintwork inside was like new!   The only area which I may refurbish is the laquer flaking off the wheels on the inside of the rims, probably £50-£70 per wheel?

At one time most cars rotted away in the wheel arches after about 4 yrs on salty UK roads, especially Vauxhall, Fords and Minis. The list goes on.

[wharfhouse]

4 hours ago, GMB said:

The car looks lovely and should be good for many more years🥰.

A specialist bodywork garage owner told me that Lexus are notorious for "soft" paint, likewise with some other Japanese companies. I do not know why this is so. My IsF 11yrs old has quite a few stone chips but absolutely no rust patches.

I recently cleaned inside the wheel arches ( I was bored at the time ) and amazingly, under the dust and dirt, the paintwork inside was like new!   The only area which I may refurbish is the laquer flaking off the wheels on the inside of the rims, probably £50-£70 per wheel?

At one time most cars rotted away in the wheel arches after about 4 yrs on salty UK roads, especially Vauxhall, Fords and Minis. The list goes on.

Yes I've read about the soft paint too and so as surprised that mine came up so we'll after not being treated particularly kindly over it's life to date. The bonnet has a number of stone chips but no more than any other car having spent a lot of it's life on the motorways. As I mentioned the great thing is that is aluminium so no rust issues there. I have cleaned and touched in a couple of very small stone chips just above the windscreen and one by the drivers door handle but no more that I could find. 

[Mr_Groundhog]

You're very lucky. Mine is at about 24k miles and if you look closely, the front bumpers (below the headlights etc) have lots of small chips from tiny stones (I guess) on the road. I tried to fix it myself and I think I made it worse, although you have to look closely to notice. At some point I will take it to the local bodywork garage (they're pretty good) for a respray.

[wharfhouse]

5 minutes ago, Mr_Groundhog said:

You're very lucky. Mine is at about 24k miles and if you look closely, the front bumpers (below the headlights etc) have lots of small chips from tiny stones (I guess) on the road. I tried to fix it myself and I think I made it worse, although you have to look closely to notice. At some point I will take it to the local bodywork garage (they're pretty good) for a respray.

I don't think it's possible to avoid some road rash at the front end given the stones etc thrown up. I would have thought the amount would be mostly linked to mileage unless there are a lot of particular roads with a lot of loose stones. However as the bumper is plastic and the bonnet aluminium at least no rust worries and can TLC at ones own convenience. 

[LenT]

32 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

I don't think it's possible to avoid some road rash at the front end given the stones etc thrown up. I would have thought the amount would be mostly linked to mileage unless there are a lot of particular roads with a lot of loose stones. 

I think the only realistic way of avoiding this is to take it to a Detailer and have Paint Protection Film applied.  When I had my car Detailed I did consider having the front wrapped, but decided that my mileage was so low that it might not justify it.

Since then, the very few marks can be rendered invisible with touch-up paint.  But the results of PPF that I’ve seen since are so impressive that I might be tempted if the opportunity arose again!

[First_Lexus]

As I understand it, there are pros and cons for ‘soft’ vs ‘hard’ paint finishes (and the differences are apparently quite small). The pro detailer who has ceramic coated my last two Lexus much prefers ‘soft’ finishes as they are easier to correct and bring back to a better condition. The ‘con’ of that is that they need greater maintenance to stay looking good, but the ‘pro’ - as we’ve seen here - is that even without that regular care and attention they are easier to get looking good again.

I’ve owned a few cars with ‘harder’ paint finishes - VAG group are famous for them. They’re designed to stay looking shiny with minimum effort, and they do achieve that. However, their harder finish is also quite brittle, and chips far more easily. They’re also more difficult to correct, especially for the amateur at home.

Personally I’d take a ‘softer’ finish over a ‘harder’ one every time. I also believe that (at least) the newer Lexus models have ‘self-healing’ paint too, where the clear coat reacts with heat - either via a heat lamp or strong sunlight to ‘heal’ minor swirl marks and suchlike. I’d always thought such things were nothing more than marketing guff, but having now had three Lexus in a row I do think they work. Either that or I’m a victim of wishful thinking!

One thing is for sure. In terms of the condition of your paintwork you’re far better leaving it dirty than washing it badly, either yourself or somebody else, as long as bird poo etc. is removed promptly. It’s poor washing technique(s) that puts swirls into paintwork.

[wharfhouse]

6 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

As I understand it, there are pros and cons for ‘soft’ vs ‘hard’ paint finishes (and the differences are apparently quite small). The pro detailer who has ceramic coated my last two Lexus much prefers ‘soft’ finishes as they are easier to correct and bring back to a better condition. The ‘con’ of that is that they need greater maintenance to stay looking door, but the ‘pro’ - as we’ve seen here - is that even without that regular care and attention they are easier to get looking good again.

I’ve owned a few cars with ‘harder’ paint finishes - VAG group are famous for them. They’re designed to stay looking shiny with minimum effort, and they do achieve that. However, their harder finish is also quite brittle, and chips far more easily. They’re also more difficult to correct, especially for the amateur at home.

Personally I’d take a ‘softer’ finish over a ‘harder’ one every time. I also believe that (at least) the newer Lexus models have ‘self-healing’ paint too, where the clear coat reacts with heat - either via a heat lamp or strong sunlight to ‘heal’ minor swirl marks and suchlike. I’d always thought such things were nothing more than marketing guff, but having now had three Lexus in a row I do think they work. Either that or I’m a victim of wishful thinking!

One thing is for sure. In terms of the condition of your paintwork you’re far better leaving it dirty than washing it badly, either yourself or somebody else, as long as bird poo etc. is removed promptly. It’s poor washing technique(s) that puts swirls into paintwork.

Yes, I haven’t personally washed mine a lot. Lexus did wash it at each visit and thankfully seemed to do a good iob. The car did have Supagard applied by the dealer from new (by the previous owner) and although not up to same quality as the ceramic coatings, this might have helped earlier in it's life. A good downpour of rain generally cleaned the car quite well and brought it up looking ok - as it would then end up getting dirty again on the next motorway journey that's why it was largely left unwashed by me. 

[Linas.P]

It kind of makes sense - the paint is usually mostly damaged by people who does not know how to correctly maintain it and ends up scratching it more themselves. So no care in this sense is better than bad care. 

Another obvious thing which really helps the paint is keeping the car garaged, or at very least not parked under the tree. A lot of people really damage their cars by leaving sap, leaves and bird droppings on the car.

[wharfhouse]

11 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

It kind of makes sense - the paint is usually mostly damaged by people who does not know how to correctly maintain it and ends up scratching it more themselves. So no care in this sense is better than bad care. 

Another obvious thing which really helps the paint is keeping the car garaged, or at very least not parked under the tree. A lot of people really damage their cars by leaving sap, leaves and bird droppings on the car.

Yes, mine stays on the drive but fortunately no trees over it and not too many bird droppings - I've seen the mess that tree sap makes of a car... 

[Jgtcracer]

On 8/20/2023 at 5:57 PM, First_Lexus said:

One thing is for sure. In terms of the condition of your paintwork you’re far better leaving it dirty than washing it badly, either yourself or somebody else, as long as bird poo etc. is removed promptly. It’s poor washing technique(s) that puts swirls into paintwork.

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement.  You may find the best thing you have done for the paint is leave it alone!

 My car is ceramic coated and cleans up extremely well with a pressure wash with snow foam, in the summer I probably contact clean every 4th/5th time with a top up ceramic shampoo.  In the winter I’m not sure I will clean with a sponge once, and the car thanks me for it every year!