Beware: Sunscreen On Your Paintwork

[Platypus]

Having collected a few small scratches over the last 10 months, I took the my Sonic Titanium IS in to have a look at what could be done. The guy gave it an expert eye-over and said that a good polish job would remove all of them; "except that," he said pointing to a stain in the bodywork that I had hitherto not even noticed, but was quite obvious under the fluorescent light of the workshop and looked like a greasy palm and finger prints.

"That is sunscreen," he said, "and it will never come out."

So, while we await confirmation or denial of the fact, perhaps it's better to have the missus and kids clean their hands before getting in after the beach this summer.

[rayaans]

Having collected a few small scratches over the last 10 months, I took the my Sonic Titanium IS in to have a look at what could be done. The guy gave it an expert eye-over and said that a good polish job would remove all of them; "except that," he said pointing to a stain in the bodywork that I had hitherto not even noticed, but was quite obvious under the fluorescent light of the workshop and looked like a greasy palm and finger prints.

"That is sunscreen," he said, "and it will never come out."

So, while we await confirmation or denial of the fact, perhaps it's better to have the missus and kids clean their hands before getting in after the beach this summer.

There's a reason for that. Sunscreen contains silicone. Silicone reacts with the self healing paint on the new IS models and the LS models. There's been a few complaints on the Clublexus forums about staining on the paint, especially on F Sport white where its more noticeable by using silicone heavy tyre dressings in excess, which sling onto the paint leaving brownish spots all over it.

It fades over time, probably down to the "self healing" bit.

Also, sunscreen also contains titanium dioxide which will damage any water based paints no matter what. I think the combination of silicone and titanium dioxide leads to these marks.

Sunscreen is NOT covered by warranty, but they may machine polish the car to get it out. However, be aware that it will come straight back after a month or two.

[Platypus]

OK, thanks Rayaan, that's reassuring!

[Stuno1]

How is it self healing??? What does that actually mean?

[ChumpusRex]

How is it self healing??? What does that actually mean?

It means that it can self-repair small scratches.

Paint manufacturers have a variety of formulations that can self-heal;I don't know which paint lexus use.

The commonest formula puts microscopic capsules of liquid paint in the paint. These then get locked into the paint when it sets. If the paint is scratched, the capsules are torn open, and fresh liquid paint leaks out into the scratch, and fills it in, then sets. Of course, this formula can only heal a spot once, but it would be pretty unlikely to get 2 scratches in exactly the same spot.

[Stuno1]

Wow, thats some scfi shizzie! Very cool.

[rayaans]

Wow, thats some scfi shizzie! Very cool.

It only heals the clearcoat mind but its decent for swirls.

[DJP]

How is it self healing??? What does that actually mean?

It means that it can self-repair small scratches.

Paint manufacturers have a variety of formulations that can self-heal;I don't know which paint lexus use.

The commonest formula puts microscopic capsules of liquid paint in the paint. These then get locked into the paint when it sets. If the paint is scratched, the capsules are torn open, and fresh liquid paint leaks out into the scratch, and fills it in, then sets. Of course, this formula can only heal a spot once, but it would be pretty unlikely to get 2 scratches in exactly the same spot.

Brilliant, thanks for that. People I tell about the self healing paint think I've lost the plot!

Sent from my iPad using Lexus OC

[aly-g]

I've heard it all now !!!!! When they going to make self healing caliper pins ????

Allan

[rayaans]

I've heard it all now !!!!! When they going to make self healing caliper pins ????

Allan

No idea but Nissan has made a car coating which cleans itself and never has to be washed!!

[bobbyc]

I must admit I have never heard of self healing paint and I need to get myself a Nissan if it indeed never needs to be cleaned or washed.

Self healing caliper pins do sound like an excellent ideal for any IS250 owner.

I have encountered the issue with suncream in the past on another car and in my case it did not come out with polish.

[Stuno1]

Seen that stuff before. You can buy it in a spray to go on almost anything and the advert showed it on workmans boots. Incredible stuff.

[aly-g]

will this stuff protect from sunscreen on your paint ?. or better still can you spray your children or in my case grandchildren cos they are always getting in a state when were up the garden.....

[ChumpusRex]

The issue with sunscreen is that it contains titanium dioxide as the active ingredient - this mineral absorbs UV light. However, some modern, high performance suncreens contain a special "nano-crystalline" form of Titanium dioxide. Some of these special forms, have some pretty crazy chemistry.

Specifically, the nano titanium crystals absorb the UV light, but capture the energy and use it to create "free radicals". These are highly corrosive chemicals which are powerful oxidants, like bleach or peroxide. On a car, anti-oxidants in the cream get depleted, and because the cream isn't reapplied like it would be on skin, the free radicals build up and eat away at the clearcoat.

Different clear coats react differently, some will be etched, some will be discoloured. However, this is a chemical degradation; it can't be washed off, the clear coat is actually damaged. If the clear coat has suffered superficial etching, polishing with a suitable abrasive may restore it, but the damage can on occasion be too severe to polish out.

[steve2006]

Surprising how easy it is to damage paint work, When mine was accident damaged I was going to do the repair myself with 2nd hand panels so striped out the headlight.

As it began to rain and to prevent water entering the exposed electrical connections I got some bubblewrap to cover the hole and secured it to the other side of the bonnet.

Several weeks later after a combination of sun and rain I decided to get a local bodyshop to do the repairs and it was then I discovered the pattern of the bubblewrap was now deeply etched into the paint,too deep to cut the whole bonnet had to be resprayed.