Is250 - Clean & Shiny

[rd27]

Hello folks, i'm reasonably new on here, i've been driving my IS250 SE-L for around a month now and i'm absolutely loving the experince. Any way over the past couple of days i've rocked up over 10 hours cleaning time on her so thought i'd show off my effort.

-I've cleaned, polished & waxed my wheels by removing them from the car

-Cleaned and painted my brake calipers in silver

-Polished and waxed my exhaust tips

-Thouroughly hoovered the interior

-Cleaned and treated the leather

-Polished windows inside & out

-Applied a waterproof coating to interior carpets, mats & boot floor

-Washed the exterior using a power washer, snow lance and wash mit

-Clayed the whole exterior

-Washed again

-Polished exterior & inside the door shuts

-Sealed exterior

-And finally waxed exterior & door shuts

(I used all Autoglym products throught the clean)

Pictures:

[Normski]

Liking it. Lots B) The wheels especially look the business!

What paint did you use for the calipers and did you have to take the pads/discs off to paint them?

[rd27]

Liking it. Lots B) The wheels especially look the business!

What paint did you use for the calipers and did you have to take the pads/discs off to paint them?

Thanks, I used Hammerite direct to rust metal paint. I simply wirebrushed the calipers clean by leaving them on the car and painted them in place. I used a 1/4 inch brush for the big bits of the calipers and a smaller artists brush for the smaller, detailed parts ie. near the pads.

[jonosafc]

can you take the exhaust covers off the car to clean them up

[lexynik]

does look lovely - its personal taste but i swapped from Autoglym to meguirs ( 3 stage stuff from Halfords ) and especially on dark/mettallic colours found the results much better and longer lasting , not to mention slightly cheaper

[rd27]

can you take the exhaust covers off the car to clean them up

I think you can via a screw underneath, although there's enough room around the tail pipe to use some Autosol and wirewool to get them shining again.

does look lovely - its personal taste but i swapped from autoglym to meguirs ( 3 stage stuff from halfords ) and especially on dark/mettallic colours found the results much better and longer lasting , not to mention slightly cheaper

Fair point, I only use Autoglym as I had some lying around (from my father and previous car) and I just seem to add to my collection. You just seem to stick to what you know I suppose. Although reading on detailing World, Meguirs stuff gets very good reviews, thanks for the tip. =D

[jonosafc]

don't think there is a srew on the tips

[finest1]

looks nice man!!

did the alloys come with the car? are they 18"? if alloys didnt come with the car, where did you get them from?

thanks

[rd27]

looks nice man!!

did the alloys come with the car? are they 18"? if alloys didnt come with the car, where did you get them from?

thanks

The alloys are 18's and were already on the car yes. It is SE-L spec but the wheels are the same as an F-Sport. IIRC they are available as an official Lexus accessory. Hope this helps.

[Paul2002]

My wheels are the same and I find that they chip quite badly. Can you recommend a good touch-up paint, one I got from Halfords isn't the best of silver match.

[rd27]

My wheels are the same and I find that they chip quite badly. Can you recommend a good touch-up paint, one I got from Halfords isn't the best of silver match.

I have one chip on mine, near the wheel nuts. I can only presume that a mechanic slipped once when he was taking them off. I'm yet to look for touch up paint yet tbf, although i'm sure I read somewhere that Lexus don't officially supply the colour. Maybe you could have a company custom mix you a touch up stick of paint? If you do, post details, i'm sure many members, including myself, would love some.

[grandb3rry]

Looks like it's bloody brand new! Well done mate! I'm in need of detailing my car too. What procedure you used to get such a deep shine? Love it completely! Nice car too, sometimes I wish I went for IS250 for its smooth engine sound...:)

[grandb3rry]

I'm also thinking of painting my callipers in either yellow, silver or black. Undecided yet.... Which one you think will suit my windsor blue car colour with recently refurbished smoked chrome alloys? Pics added. Thanks

[tinka]

I think it has to be silver on standard callipers, any other colour on the standard ones looks a bit boy racer, in my opinion any way. I'm going to do mine this weekend, i used to take them all off and spray them, but i done have the enthusiasm anymore, so i will just paint in place like rd27.

[rd27]

Looks like it's bloody brand new! Well done mate! I'm in need of detailing my car too. What procedure you used to get such a deep shine? Love it completely! Nice car too, sometimes I wish I went for IS250 for its smooth engine sound...:)

Thankyou very much, to get the level of shine I washed, clayed, polished with Autoglym Super Resin Polish, sealed with Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection and finally waxed with Autoglym HD Wax. HD Wax is an excellent product, adding great depth to shine. If you shop around online it can be purchased for around £25, cheap considering Halfrauds charge over £40.

With regards to calipers I can only recommend you paint them silver, It adds a nice contrast from the dark body and dark wheels, which was my reason for choosing it over black, the stand out but are still subtle. Black will blend in too much and reds and yellows I feel are a little chavvy, especially for the kind of car it is.

Hope this helps.

BTW, I love your wheels 'grandb3rry' I think they are really good looking and really rare on an IS.

[wow300]

Looking great... nice car..