Lexus LS460... And a great argument for having a PTG.

[Nth Degree]

After the results on his ’94 Supra, the owner brought me his other car to have corrected.

Products used:

Paint/body:
Chemical Guys Maxi Suds II
Optimum Power Clean 3:1
Speedy Prep Towel
Optimum No-Rinse
Meguiar’s M105/205 combo
Menzerna Power Finish
Black Fire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection
Black Fire Midnight Sun
Glass Science Rain Clear Glass Cleaner and Rain Repellent
Ultima Tire & Trim Guard Plus

Wheels:
Eagle 1 A2Z Wheel Cleaner
Optimum Opti-Bond
Meguiar’s Hyper Dressing @ 3:1 (Wheel wells)

Interior:
Meguiar’s APC+
Woolite @ ~25:1
Invisible Glass
303 Aerospace Protectant


Wash, decon, wheels and interior were all pretty straight forward, so I will skip to the key points.

The average paint measurements were around the 8 mils mark.

Hood measured 12 to 14 mils. A small discoloration on one edge likely required clearing the whole hood to avoid a blend. Then I discovered this:

The vertical part of the trunk lid was measuring between 2.2 and 2.6 mils. This is a great reason to have a paint thickness gauge. I know some have debated the need and it certainly cannot fully replace common sense and experience, but a detailer could easily go over the rest of the car with an aggressive compound without any issues, then carry that same method to this panel and wonder what they did wrong when they burn through. While the majority of the car was compounded with 105, this area was polished lightly with Menzerna Power Finish on a LC white pad.


One of the issues was the damage to the PPF on the front bumper.

The dealership told him they would have to replace the PPF. A little patience with some Power Finish on an orange pad at speed 3.5-4 and presto.

The paint was hard and some scratches were difficult to remove completely, like this one. But this color hides scratches easily. In fact the color made it difficult to see many flaws under numerous sources of light.

The scratch, while still there, is all but invisible. Only sunlight at a perfect angle made it visible. The bird bomb etching also wouldn’t go away completely. The arrow is for a point of reference.

Rear bumper. Proceeded with caution here, as I couldn’t be sure of the paint thickness. If it was anywhere near the trunk lid I didn’t want to find out the hard way.

The PPF on the hood was heavily swirled. Using Menzerna Power finish on orange pad at slow speed (4) I corrected the bulk of it. The edges were taped to prevent problems. A 50/50.

I then removed the tape that was protecting the edges.

Using a rotary at the slowest speed (600 rpm) and Power finish on a 4” orange pad I feathered the edges by tilting the machine so that the pad only went in one direction; travelling off the edge. This prevented the potential for lifting the film or pushing polish under it.

Other details included the black trim. Single stage black paint that was not very thick.

Caution again was necessary. Power Finish on a 4” white pad at speed 3. Result was not perfect, but huge improvement.

Tail lights also got hit with Power Finish on a 4” orange pad.

The car got a coat of BFWD and 2 coats BFMS.

A few more before and after comparisons.

Thanks for looking.

 

[TacoHerder]

wow, you saved that black trim. Ive noticed people seem think the trim isnt so soft, then they scratch it to hell.... and rims look like aluminum before, then chrome after. Very nice.

 

[Pats300zx]

Awesome job..:bow:bow

 

[mjlinane]

Great work!

 

[RTfish]

Awesome job! :bigups

About how long did this detail take?

 

[TroyScherer]

Great work.

I have been wanting a PTG but for my personal cars I can't justify it. If I go more "full time" with my part time activities this will be one of the thing on the top of my to get list.

 

[Nth Degree]

Awesome job..:bow:bow

Great work!

Great work.

Awesome job! :bigups

About how long did this detail take?

Thank you. I didn't track the time on this one, but it was around 20 hours.

wow, you saved that black trim. Ive noticed people seem think the trim isnt so soft, then they scratch it to hell.... and rims look like aluminum before, then chrome after. Very nice.

So true. Most I come across are plastic. This was one of the few that was actually metal underneath. Readings were about 2.4 and the paint is really soft. After doing just one side of the car my white pad had turned completely black. I suppose it is at least an easy fix when they get too bad. The other part of a car I always warn people about is the door handle indent... so hard to get to for fixing. I recommend either putting a film there to protect or use caution every time you open the door. Your fingers should be touching only the handle and not dragging your nails against the paint as a guide.

 

[ihaveacamaro]

Wow looks amazing! What paint gauge do you use and how much does it cost? What is the minimum number that you can polish paint at?

 

[dd1101]

Great Job, and amazing car!!

 

[Todd@RUPES]

Excellent job, that looks GREAT!

PTG can help us understand the history of the car we are working on and give us good direction to avoid costly repair.

 

[mikenap]

Awesome job Chris! That's a huge improvement on a tricky color! :bow

 

[Nth Degree]

Wow looks amazing! What paint gauge do you use and how much does it cost? What is the minimum number that you can polish paint at?

It is a Highline II meter. I paid around $200 for mine. Current price is ~$250

Paint Meter, Paint Gauge, Paint Gage - HighLineMeter.com


There really isn't a standard number for when a paint is too thin to polish. Takes some experience, common sense and a weighing of the risk. As an example, the B pillars also read about 2.4 mils. Being single stage paint I knew I had a little more room for error. In addition, if I were to strike through on the soft paint it would be a less difficult/expensive repair as it is a relatively small area without the need to blend; ie: low risk. In comparison, having to repair a large panel with metal flake could be very costly and may never be able to match perfectly since aftermarket paint may never get the metal flake to lay right; ie: high risk. (Anyone wondering why the cost of paint correction is so expensive, this is just one example. The risk is far greater than simply washing and waxing.)

Without a much more advanced (and expensive) piece of equipment that can measure the different layers of paint there is no magic number. The Highline does not indicate how much of that thickness is primer, color coat and clear respectively. Todd Helme had a good post about the subject: How Thick is Your Paint...

One thing having a PTG does help with is understanding how much paint you are removing through certain methods of polishing. In this case the paint was rather hard, so I knew that the polish and pad I chose would be relatively safe (based upon prior experience). Had it been soft paint I would have chosen to use a less aggressive combo. Single stage paint would have scared me less. Clear coat over metal flake is what gives the depth. Thinning the clear could have changed the appearance, even if it didn't cause a mechanical problem with the paint. Read this thread.

 

[Woob]

Yup thanks to Nth, I grabbed a meter. It REALLY makes your approach more professional. All my clients really appreciate it and understand the approach to minimize paint loss. Your CC is extremely thin, the meter just gives you a way better reading.

These aren't that expensive, and there are plenty of options on Ebay.

 

[Stokdgs]

Nth Degree -

Beautiful work !! Those big Lexus cars really look great when they are done correctly.
You totally rocked this one out !

Why do you use the Mils measurement and not the Micron measurement on your meter?

If 1 Mil = 25.4 microns, then that measurement of 2.4 Mil = 60.96 microns, which is still a relatively ok thickness all things considered, to be working on. It's when it goes down to the 40 or less microns, do I start to get a little worried.

I prefer to use microns measurement because it is going to give me a more "accurate" amount of just how little I am removing vs the Mil number.

To say this another way, if you use the Mil measurement only, by the time you cut down enough to register a change, you may have cut through 1 Mil = 25.4 microns - a lot of material .

But if you use the Micron measurement, you see the material being removed in tenths, hundreds, of a micron to 1 micron or more microns at a time.

Thanks for sharing this awesome work !
Dan F

 

[Nth Degree]

Nth Degree -

Beautiful work !! Those big Lexus cars really look great when they are done correctly.
You totally rocked this one out !

Why do you use the Mils measurement and not the Micron measurement on your meter?

If 1 Mil = 25.4 microns, then that measurement of 2.4 Mil = 60.96 microns, which is still a relatively ok thickness all things considered, to be working on. It's when it goes down to the 40 or less microns, do I start to get a little worried.

I prefer to use microns measurement because it is going to give me a more "accurate" amount of just how little I am removing vs the Mil number.

To say this another way, if you use the Mil measurement only, by the time you cut down enough to register a change, you may have cut through 1 Mil = 25.4 microns - a lot of material .

But if you use the Micron measurement, you see the material being removed in tenths, hundreds, of a micron to 1 micron or more microns at a time.

Thanks for sharing this awesome work !
Dan F

Thanks, Dan.

I do use microns when I'm doing heavy correction, spot correction, etc. This was just to get a basic idea of what I was dealing with.

Any paint that is reading 55 microns would cause me concern when using a heavy compound. Even more so in this case since the general standard over the rest of the car was roughly 4 times as thick. That indicates this panel did not get the coverage intended. If there had been a need for heavy correction on the panel I would have let the owner know, explained to them the risks, and let them decide the level of risk they are willing to take and getting it in writing. Basically, cover my a**. In this case I knew I could get acceptable results with minimal risk.

 

[polisher]

those were chrome rims?? mann when they are dirty you cant tell if they are chrome or not..but a great turn around

 

[Bunky]

As said, it is a good example of the need for a paint thickness gauge.

Nice work Chris.