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Care Of Astral Black Paint Work


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Hi

Just ordered my new IS250 SE-L Auto in Astral Black…….yeah However, just saw an 06 plate in a car park today and the paint work was in a dreadful state, lots of small scratches as though someone had been polishing it with a piece of sandpaper :crybaby: . This has now got me worried. Is this what mine will look like in 6 months or is there a way of treating it to help prolong the life.

It may sound like a dumb question but I have always had light coloured metallic’s that hid that kind of thing. Does anyone have any tips or tricks on what polish to use, can you use petrol station car washes etc.

Thanks in advance

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Stay away from cheap car washes, NEVER use brush systems and always hand wash the car with a clean terry towel cloth or lambswool wash mit - black needs some extra looking after - I have a black car. Looks great wet, terrible in the sun!

A quality product is what you need - Meguairs, Zymol or (what I use) Swissol. There is a video guide on how to wash your car here and also a tips booklet - read it carefuly - only by carefully washing and preparing your car from new will you keep it remotely looking good:

Swissol Video Link & Tips Booklet

Brian [:)]

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Thanks

Are there any Astral Black owners who have managed to keep their car in a scatch free state, or is this something that I should start to get my head around now as being enevitable.

Mr Singh has an Astral Black IS200, totally imaculate. Mind you a lot of hard work goes into it to get it like that. Do a search for his threads, very good reads.

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Thanks

Are there any Astral Black owners who have managed to keep their car in a scatch free state, or is this something that I should start to get my head around now as being enevitable.

I have Astral Black on an IS220d with 8000 miles on the clock. The worst thing to me is the stone chips, lots of them and they stand out like sore thumbs, white primer on black, hmmm.

Scratch wise I've picked up a few but have had them polished out by a local valeter.

Cleaning, polishing and waxing is very much a labour of love, but well worth the effort when it's finished, although it lasts all of a day or two.

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Forget it with Astral Black...or any other flat dark colour for that matter.

The reason that black shows up the swirls, scratches, other marks so easily is not the quality of the paint, it is down to the fact that black reflects less light than other lighter or metallic colours.

As mentioned previously, no garage washes, no pressure washers, just lots of TLC. Check out the "car care" forum for more help.

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Get yourself a Porter Cable along with some SFX 1 (If things get bad !!) SFX2 and SFX 3 along with a set of 5 or 6 inch pads. I'd recommend Klasse (or the UK equiv Carlack). Don't bother with the All in one as you wont need it on a brand new paint. I Porter Cabled the entire car with SFX 3 and then started to layer on the SG. It's then a personal choice whether you top off with a good Wax or not.

I have an Astral Black GS from new in March this year and it looks better than when I picked it up from the dealers !! So much so that people comment on it when it's parked up !

A garage makes a big difference as well :P

Happy polishing and enjoy the new motor...

The Ed

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:blink:

Get yourself a Porter Cable along with some SFX 1 (If things get bad !!) SFX2 and SFX 3 along with a set of 5 or 6 inch pads. I'd recommend Klasse (or the UK equiv Carlack). Don't bother with the All in one as you wont need it on a brand new paint. I Porter Cabled the entire car with SFX 3 and then started to layer on the SG. It's then a personal choice whether you top off with a good Wax or not.

I have an Astral Black GS from new in March this year and it looks better than when I picked it up from the dealers !! So much so that people comment on it when it's parked up !

A garage makes a big difference as well :P

Happy polishing and enjoy the new motor...

The Ed

Thanks. Also looked at the links mentioned on car care and in particular black paint with "swirls". Now seriously considering asking the dealer to change the spec of my car to silver, hopefully that won't affect the lead time toooooooooo much, next stumbling block is to get the wife to agree to spend more money :huh:

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Thanks. Also looked at the links mentioned on car care and in particular black paint with "swirls". Now seriously considering asking the dealer to change the spec of my car to silver, hopefully that won't affect the lead time toooooooooo much, next stumbling block is to get the wife to agree to spend more money :huh:

Noooooooooooooo... Don't change the colour !! Although black takes some looking after it is quite simply THE BEST colour when it's clean !! :D :D

The Ed

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Get yourself a Porter Cable along with some SFX 1 (If things get bad !!) SFX2 and SFX 3 along with a set of 5 or 6 inch pads. I'd recommend Klasse (or the UK equiv Carlack). Don't bother with the All in one as you wont need it on a brand new paint. I Porter Cabled the entire car with SFX 3 and then started to layer on the SG. It's then a personal choice whether you top off with a good Wax or not.

I have an Astral Black GS from new in March this year and it looks better than when I picked it up from the dealers !! So much so that people comment on it when it's parked up !

A garage makes a big difference as well :P

Happy polishing and enjoy the new motor...

The Ed

Forgive my ignorance, but whats a porter cable? :question:

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Get yourself a Porter Cable along with some SFX 1 (If things get bad !!) SFX2 and SFX 3 along with a set of 5 or 6 inch pads. I'd recommend Klasse (or the UK equiv Carlack). Don't bother with the All in one as you wont need it on a brand new paint. I Porter Cabled the entire car with SFX 3 and then started to layer on the SG. It's then a personal choice whether you top off with a good Wax or not.

I have an Astral Black GS from new in March this year and it looks better than when I picked it up from the dealers !! So much so that people comment on it when it's parked up !

A garage makes a big difference as well :P

Happy polishing and enjoy the new motor...

The Ed

Forgive my ignorance, but whats a porter cable? :question:

See here....Porter cable

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Get yourself a Porter Cable along with some SFX 1 (If things get bad !!) SFX2 and SFX 3 along with a set of 5 or 6 inch pads. I'd recommend Klasse (or the UK equiv Carlack). Don't bother with the All in one as you wont need it on a brand new paint. I Porter Cabled the entire car with SFX 3 and then started to layer on the SG. It's then a personal choice whether you top off with a good Wax or not.

I have an Astral Black GS from new in March this year and it looks better than when I picked it up from the dealers !! So much so that people comment on it when it's parked up !

A garage makes a big difference as well :P

Happy polishing and enjoy the new motor...

The Ed

Forgive my ignorance, but whats a porter cable? :question:

See here....Porter cable

I NEED one of those! Are they available in the UK?

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Mark

I had Black 250 SEL for 7-8 months, didnt have any problem with stone chips, but did pick up some scratches on the door handles.( I have got these on the red one as well - Jamboo, any suggestions)

Apart from that, the car looked stunning when washed and kept clean. I did use the automatic car washes (the good ones, obviously) and it didnt create any problems. That said, if I noticed any scratches I took it to the dealer(Lexus Tunbridge Wells) the very next day. They always sorted it out straight away without any charge (may be because I caused them lot of grief when I had the rattles), jokes apart, they do look after their customers well.

Black is classic, but you need to spend lot of time looking after it.

My brother has a black IS 220D and he has got stone chips(lot of motorway driving) and scratches. He is finding it difficult to maintain it.

I like the black color when it is washed and kept clean but it picks up all the dirt very quickly. I now have the red and whoever says Black is the best color ,I disagree - Red is the best - what say Jamboo?

Javeed

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Mark

I had Black 250 SEL for 7-8 months, didnt have any problem with stone chips, but did pick up some scratches on the door handles.( I have got these on the red one as well - Jamboo, any suggestions)

Apart from that, the car looked stunning when washed and kept clean. I did use the automatic car washes (the good ones, obviously) and it didnt create any problems. That said, if I noticed any scratches I took it to the dealer(Lexus Tunbridge Wells) the very next day. They always sorted it out straight away without any charge (may be because I caused them lot of grief when I had the rattles), jokes apart, they do look after their customers well.

Black is classic, but you need to spend lot of time looking after it.

My brother has a black IS 220D and he has got stone chips(lot of motorway driving) and scratches. He is finding it difficult to maintain it.

I like the black color when it is washed and kept clean but it picks up all the dirt very quickly. I now have the red and whoever says Black is the best color ,I disagree - Red is the best - what say Jamboo?

Javeed

:lol::lol:

My wife would never have a black car...though Black Saabs and Beemers always look good (and Lex of course).

As far as the scratches are concerned, any light polish will remove them (if they are the ones in the "cup" of the handles). Nails etc cause them (no woman zone...). Carlack68 AIO will do it.

For deeper scratches, try Maguires Scratch X, or Carlack68 Restorer polish.

Red - well, yes, red is a top colour, though White is making a big comeback!! The Red is totally unoffensive and looks deep and luscious all the time...even when mildly dirty!

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Is it not perhaps worth adding a word of warning about these types of buffers though. Don't get me wrong, used properly they're excellent but I've known some people get them and give them a go and actually make swirl marks worse on a black car.

Also, some cars come out of bodyshops after accident repair with obvious swirl and shimmer marks - caused by inexperienced people using buffers.

Good advice though about always washing by hand, and don't use a sponge as they hold grit. Use a two-bucket system in conjunction with a lambswool wash mitt or similar. The Meguiars one has a mesh on the back face which is excellent at getting dead insects off the front bumper.

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Its not always easy to find but, Autoglym Supreme Polish is a trade produce developed especially for black cars. I had a flat black Astra and a Astral Black IS 200 and both had the most fantastic finish after a wash and polish with Supreme polish. and a coat of extra gloss.

DONT USE Autoglym resin polish on black cars it will show every mark and crusty dead fly corpse.

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