TTQ B4U Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 So David, a fellow CR Member has brought me several vehicles over the years. He's got an eye for finding some pretty cool stuff but they do often need some love. This SUV was no exception. This 14 year old beast has rolled just over 150k and recently came to him from Buffalo, NY thus it lived a tough life, especially weather wise. The goal here wasn't perfection nor even any real correction. Rather David chose my Basic Polish & Protect offering. It is not a paint correction package, but the use of a machine polisher combined with the proper polishing agents best for that manufacturers paint will smooth out fine blemishes greatly reducing the appearance of swirls & imperfections while brightening the paint’s color to enhance the gloss of the protective sealant. In this case, Lexus has really easy paint to work on, it actually yielded some pretty outstanding results for the combination thrown at it. To freshen things up a bit he also opted for full Chlorine Dioxide Treatment to remove lingering odors including that of smoke. Overall now the beast is super clean, has outstanding gloss, polished glass, restored rear bumper cover and running boards and no longer smells like smoke. As you can see, it was pretty rough. Nothing I've not seen before however but nonetheless pretty rough. With a few passes, quite a bit of an improvement was had Combined with swirls all over, random scratches on every panel, oxidation made it's way in to the situation as well. Even after nearly 2hrs of washing and decontaminating the vehicles finish what remained caused even the smaller panels to call for multiple pads. I think I used upwards nearly 24 pads for the entire vehicle. Overall, however, I think the efforts were worth it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cstmg8 Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 Very nice! It's pretty amazing a vehicle that old can still be brought back to so much depth. I'd take that with your polish/shine over most new SUVs on the road. Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillbot Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 The work you do is nothing short of amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 Are you f**king kidding me??? I saw that first pic and was like "Oh shit, Tim's got his work cut out for him today..." Agreed...nothing short of amazing. Now, with that much oxidation/scratching, is it safe to say there's not much clearcoat left? If David doesn't flip it, will there be more hazing without some sort of permanent fix that he'll need to do down the road? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 WOW. Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiji ST Posted January 11, 2021 Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 I can't believe that thing hasn't been turned into swiss cheese by now. Upstate NY is not kind to anything metal. Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 11, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2021 The work you do is nothing short of amazing. Thank you sir! Are you f**king kidding me??? I saw that first pic and was like "Oh shit, Tim's got his work cut out for him today..." Agreed...nothing short of amazing. Now, with that much oxidation/scratching, is it safe to say there's not much clearcoat left? If David doesn't flip it, will there be more hazing without some sort of permanent fix that he'll need to do down the road? David loves bringing me challenges Actually the clear coat is fine. This beast hadn't been polished much in its life. Plenty left. Keep in mind too, while this did "correct" the approach we agreed upon wasn't a correction package. It has soft paint thus even with my Basic Polish & Protect, my work will yield results like this. Sure, I could have pushed to do a correction package and charged more, but that's not at all my style. I knew it would come through very nicely and allowed for his budget to be used on removing the interior odors and germs. Whoever gets it when he sells it "could" invest in a further detail to remove more of the marks but I personally would have to weigh the costs vs removing that protective clear on a 14yr old vehicle. I'd leave it just like this if it were mine personally too. Looking forward to hearing Davids thoughts as he has a chance to review it at home. Thanks to him for his continued trust in my work and friendship over the years. Enjoy the beast and enjoy keeping a big black SUV clean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unfunnyryan Posted January 12, 2021 Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 Whoever gets it when he sells it "could" invest in a further detail to remove more of the marks but I personally would have to weigh the costs vs removing that protective clear on a 14yr old vehicle. I'd leave it just like this if it were mine personally too.p First of all - incredible work Secondly - Is there a plausible tradeoff if doing more corrective work and then continuing upkeep on a ceramic coating? Have the coatings progressed to that point? Coming in fairly without a clue here so would appreciate input on how this would work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 12, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 First of all - incredible work Secondly - Is there a plausible tradeoff if doing more corrective work and then continuing upkeep on a ceramic coating? Have the coatings progressed to that point? Coming in fairly without a clue here so would appreciate input on how this would work out. Thank you sir. Not sure if I follow the question entirely, but I believe you're referencing something along the lines of doing more correction work, thus removing more clear-coat but balancing that with a ceramic and upkeep. Here's the deal, in short no. Ceramic will not replace clear coat. The thickness of clear will vary from vehicle to vehicle and how much is removed when correcting will as well. In 90% of the situations where I'm posting correction work, the amount of clear removed in terms of microns is very minimal. The ceramic will protect the car and finish day-forward no doubt but in terms of UV protection, clear is best. Again, just to close out and assure you, the amount of material being removed in a correction job can be measured, is typically minimal thus not doing any harm and while one could go more, I know when to stop. Most daily driven normal vehicles can have multiple corrections done over the years and will be just fine. Measuring first and evaluating every panel though as I do is key as I can tell right away what the history of the paint care has been. I hope all the above helps. Clarification Point for those reading through all this and may not have picked up on it, the Lexus here was NOT ceramic coated. It was simply a 1-Step polish/sealant. Should be good through spring but David knows to keep up on it with a spray sealant or wax of some sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Gump 9 Posted January 12, 2021 Report Share Posted January 12, 2021 Thank you Tim, it is a night and day transformation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hpfiend Posted January 15, 2021 Report Share Posted January 15, 2021 I saw this car in person and let me just say the pictures don’t do it justice! Tim’s work is amazing I couldn’t believe the before pics!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted January 18, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2021 I saw this car in person and let me just say the pictures don’t do it justice! Tim’s work is amazing I couldn’t believe the before pics!! Great seeing you last week man! Thanks for the props. It was certainly rewarding seeing this beast come back to life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted January 18, 2021 Report Share Posted January 18, 2021 Seems like a solid BAT candidate now if the plan is to sell. Ill keep an eye open out of curiosity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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