Frothey

if you consider that the Toyota dealership I work for over sells it's allocation of Auris HSD's, which at the top end are the thick end of 22k without any extra's, then £27k for a Lexus probably isn't too far out - personally I'd pay another £5k. You also have to remember they are aiming these at the company car market - when it's only 10% bik and an SE-L IS250 is 30% it equates to over £7k per year difference in BIK value - £234 vs £84 per month fully fuelled and higher rate tax. Even a standard BMW 118 SE Auto Oil burner is about £210 per month. Plus when you consider all the diesel cars are going to start getting hit hard (ie taxed) on NOx output (and don't forget all the DPF problems that will cause) it's another lean towards Hybrid. It's going to be a way of Lexus increasing it's market share. my only problem with it is that it looks too much like the Auris lol!

never used it, but I know one or two of the pro's on detailingworld rate it. theres no such thing as a magic product for removing swirls, and to be fair to PJS, I dont think he said BH was - just used correctly it'll help same as if you ask me about LSP, it'll be Zaino or Swissvax all the way - but then the finish is 97.46% prep, the LSP accounts for very little "shinyness".....

sounds like one of the farecla polishes, tehy do what they say in the tin, but are relatively "low-tech" and will dust a fait bit. there is no magic way of making swirls/scratches permanently dissapear, only cutting them back with some form of polish will ever do that - but it'll take forever by hand. some products can ,mask/fill the swirls, but its only a temporary fix. have a look on www.detailingworld.co.uk at the guides on there for a better explanation....

you can do it by hand, but bear in mind you wil be working areas 8" square for 10 mins or so, its a tad time consuming even with a rotary spinng at 1000rpm you work each section for 5 mins or so to fully break down the abrasives (or you get marring - light scratches)

the only thing to remember is that as much as its a buyers market for new cars, so you want a discount, its also a buyers market for your used car. used prices are dropping much faster than new because if you are in a position to pay £400/whatever tax on the new car, and fuel it, the person who is potentially buying the used one isn't. you can expect a good deal on the new one, but dont necessarily expect "book" prices for the used car.... i was talking to a dealer yesterday who had someone who was trying to trade in a porsche cayenne - book was a smidge over £21k, the best bid they could get was £15500 :doublesho: march was a record month for registrations of high emitting cars..... the new tax structure has really helped cut emissions hasn't it

think of a wood floor - it needs sanding (polishing) with varying grades of sandpaper (different polishes) to make it level and smooth, then a few coats of wax (or sealant) applied to add gloss and depth to the finish, and to give it some protection.

wax and polish are two totally different things - polishes "scrape" away paint to leave a smooth surface, which you then apply either a wax or sealant to, to protect the paint and to add a bit of depth/gloss/shine to the paint. products like Klasse AIO, Autoglym SRP, etc, use a combination of abrasives and fillers of one type or another to help mask the swirls, and other chemical sealants to add to the finish. To say that SRP is a prestige product is stretching it a little bit! Thats not to say its not any good though. If I do get the Lex I'm after, I'll do a full write up on detailing it so you can see the whole process, from start to finish showing the products used and why. There's no way the dealer will be going anywhere near the paintwork! In the meantime, have a look at Dave KG's guides on detailingworld - all you ever need to know. EDIT - Beat me to it PJS!

to be fair, i know what it would cost to get it transported and who would pick up the tab if I didn't have it and it had to go back? I certainly wouldn't let them keep the deposit if it was a bag of nails!

depends on the detailer - but bank on £250+ on something the size of a GS. beware people offering a "compound" or "mop" for £50!! you often see people say they had it done for £75 and it looked great - put a properly detailed car and the £75 in bright sunlight and you'll see the difference......

They dont absorb water particularly well compared with most, and they aren't that soft. I use the ones I bought on the wheels. Try a Sonus Der Wunder (For example) and you'll see what i mean. same as the gold class wax and p21s - they look great, but aren't particularly durable problem is, without finding the specialist suppliers, its all most can get. the autoglym Hi-Def wax is getting some decent reviews and should be fairly easy to find....

a strong shampoo/traffic film remover will do it (maybe even washing up liquid :whistle:). just make sure the shampoo hasn't got a wax in it! swirls can be removed with the right techniques, time, or both! in the absence of having used Bilt Hamber's kit, and trying to keep the products "retail", Autoglym Super Resin Polish is excellent at filling swirls, one or two well worked in coats should do the trick. Follow it with something like 3 coats of Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection, leaving 12hrs or so between each coat. use a little Megs Gold Class shampoo when you wash (dont use too much in the bucket) get some decent microfibres and some decent drying towels (NOT the megs one, they're rubbish!) and some quick detailer for wiping over after you've dried the car and you should be able to keep the car looking great. Using the SRP and EGP on the wheels will help them stay easier to clean, and looking great too. Should last you most of the summer. as an aside, beading doesn't mean theres wax/protection on it, freshly polished (the bodyshop type) paint will bead with no wax. Likewise, a freshly waxed, but dusty, car may not bead well at all.

We drove it earlier today and liked it - just waiting to see whether the local dealer can get close to what I've been offered on the Manunian Candidate (lol!) Prefer the local one as its in black....

japanese paint isn't normally the hardest of paint too, so whilst you can get cheap rotaries, i'd pay a bit more for a DA polisher as they are a bit more forgiving. Megs #83 and #80 polishes are pretty much all you would need as they dont need anything more aggresive. just make sure you work them properly.... the only thing to remember is you will only use it a couple of times tops. would cost about the same as getting a "pro" to do it for you, and they will get you a better finish, faster. polishing cars isn't rocket science, but if you get it wrong, it will cost a lot to sort it out. have a look on detailingworld at the amount of second hand g220's/PC'S/etc you could say i have a vested detail as i detail as a hobbyist, but it took me at least a year to get to a level that i feel happy with, and thats after cleaning family and friends cars for years and with a bit of "trade" experience as well. and i'm still nowhere near the top guys.....

scrumpy then..... less chemicals. you'll still get a sore head, but thats more to do with drinking a lot of it lol!

Hi PJS - we frequent the same "world" lol! people forget (or don't know) that detailing clay is just an abrasive - it doesn't remove swirls by magic! i also wonder whether some clays have a filling ability from the plasticiser - hence why the swirls go, then come back again. will be trying the BH stuff at some point, a couple of the pro's use it and rate it, but not sure its worth dumping the stuff I already have to use it - like you say 90%+ is in the prep anyway. maybe when i run out of a couple of things....

Ta. Drive it down here and I'll get you a pasty and a pint of cider

i do like them, but my wife does 6k a year tops. its all shortish trips so in the winter the hot air kicks in from the car just as she gets to work. she likes the smell of petrol better as well the running costs of the 220d dont actually work for me, and it seems theres a few issues with the engines as well (toyota get a few of the same issues as well). so i may as well have a little bit more refinement. having just driven one (in best Borat voice) I like! their manual demo did have a bit of judder as we pulled away, just after the salesman telling me he hadn't heard of that problem ....nice when you get them on the back foot

we're going today, current drives are the verso with the 140 2.2 D4D and the Auris SR180 which is the same engine as the is220, we'll see how it goes. The RFL being £110 or so higher doesnt really make that much difference - £9 a month.... one less bottle of red lol! I'd like the mm version, my wife has driven a car with the same system (all be it smaller engine which does make a big difference) and just didn't like it, and like I said, its her car..... I just get to clean them

the other thing to bear in mind is that with clays there are differing levels of aggressiveness. with most japanese paints being fairly soft, too aggressive a clay will induce a lot of marring - you might just be able to pic it up in this pic its the sort of zig-zag mark, and this was on fairly hard BMW paint! The owner also probably didn't use enough lubrication and pressed too hard. polyclay or the Sonus green clay is a lot more aggressive than the stuff in the Megs kit, and more suited to claying if you aren't going to polish afterwards.

New member.... maybe new owner soon! should've posted in here before the other question... sorry if you need any help/advice on detailing - fire away :winky:

Ta Gord B) the one i want is in Manchester, I'm in Devon. Bit of a trek to just go and have a look! Going to drive one at the local-ish dealer.... Its at a lexus dealer, already hpi'd it (and checked the lex warranty history.... :winky: ) Contrary to what the Lexus dealer may say, so long as its serviced by a toyota dealer it doesnt affect the re-sale, especially when the centre is lexus approved. And at least half the cost. But thats not what the question was...

Hi All Going to look at a 250 sport tomorrow, with the intention of getting one that I've seen on t'web. I'm a Toyota owner at the mo, so I'm used to the reliability lol! Reading on here there seem to be a few issues with the 250's, especially the manual ones? Or is it a case of only hearing the bad news..... The only problem I have is that I cant see the car before I "buy" it (I know theres a "not as described" clause) so on an '06' plate is it likely to suffer from the clutch judder problems? Auto isn't an option (even if we went newer) as the wife (who would be the main driver) wont have one. The closest dealer to me is approx 60 miles away, and their Toyota dealership hasn't exactly got the best reputation. The car - if I get it - would be looked after at the local Toyota garage, who are excellent and do look after quite a few Lexus', but they wouldn't be able to do the warranty work. Worth the risk or not