Smoke Detailed - Lexus Gloss

Smoke · #1 (**permalink**) 09-01-2008

Yesterdays agenda: Silver Lexus IS250 with the typical wear an tear.

Interior needed the most work, lots of dirt and scuffs everywhere. The car was scheduled for a 1 step polish only, no full correction was needed. Being as the owner keeps a busy schedule I tried to make this as pain free of a process as possible for him and he was very appreciative.

I picked up the car at the owners house at 7:30am, the keys were left in it for me and it was unlocked, so there was no need to ring the bell and wake anybody up:loud: I drove the Lexus back to my house (about 10minutes away) and began the detail at 8:00am. I worked straight through until 7:00pm and then got back in the car and drove it back to the owners house...VERY VERY slowly and made sure the car avoided any leaves and puddles along the way. Once back at the owners house I opened the garage and pulled the car in, gave it a quick wipedown and closed the garage and then went home. I didnt actually see the owner even once the whole day, I felt like the invisible man detailer I mysteriously show up to your house, take your dirty car and return it to you later freshly detailed.

On with the job...

Wheels, Wash (2BM) , Clay

Polishing

Cyclo VES
Gloss It One Step machine polish
White edge pads
Infratech
Racatac

LSP

Gloss It Signature Gloss x1 (base coat)
Gloss It Gloss Finish x1 (second coat)
Gloss It Gloss Enhancer Wipedown

The initial state

First thing was the wheels, this was the first chance I had to try out my new Racatac rolling seat and I will say this thing really took the pressure of my knees and lower back when cleaing the wheels

Before

After

The tires appeared pretty clean until I agitated the E-Shine apc and saw the amount of drit and grime which came off , I then re- pressure washed the wheels tires and cleaned the wheel wells

Now for the wash, after the TAW presoak came CWG+Z7 using 2 shmitts

Once thoroughly cleansed the paint was rinsed and sheeted with water followed by claying with the mild blue clay and Last touch lube from Meguiars. IMO Megs clay has just enough bite to pick up a good amount of contaminants without being too harsh on the paint.

Next the floormats needed a good scrubbing, E-Shine APC was used again (why not it is an APC right) with an OXO brush followed by a thorough pressure wash with the Karcher

The weather began to turn so I pulled the car in the garage, which is now Air Conditioned! It really makes a difference on those humid summer days.

The exhaust were polished using Adams Metal polish #1 and #2

Before

After

Then came the chrome grill...

During

After

Then came polishing the door sills, again using the Adams twins

Working metal polish #1

This MF pad was brand new before polishing the door sills, you can see the amount of grime which came off

The after,

The license plate frame needed some work as well, not much but a marginal improvement was achieved

Before

After

Next came polishing, I used the Cyclo with the double sided white edge pads, these pads are very soft and great for a final polish or jeweling step. I used the new Gloss It 1step Machine polish to bring the paint to a high gloss with the cyclo before applying the LSP.

The lights were hand polished with Plastix

After polishing I made my way to the interior, which was less than stellar:shakehead:

Lots of dirt from waht looks like a baseball field and scuffs from sneakers or cleats

Before

After

I removed the headrests for cleaning, I then proceeded to clean the rear windown from the inside and vacuum behind the headrests before putting them back

Before

After

The wood was pretty scratched so i hand polished it with Zaino Z-PC before topping it with Lusso Oro wax, some scratches were too deep to polish out

The before

The after

I also took the liberty of using some of the Adams metal polish #2 on the shift knob

The trunk was a mess in this car, again lots of dirt in the carpets and just a lot of "stuff" in general. I vacuumed and then folded and re-organized everthing neatly, any personl small belongings were put in a plastic bag

before

After..like I always say "Presentation is everything"

I then cleaned the gunk out of the jambs in the trunk

Back to the ineterior after being conditioned with Optimum leather protectant, i found this product leaves a nice matte finish on leather its a bit streaky though so I have to always go back and inspect the areas where it was applied.

With the interior all finished up it was time to apply the LSP.

I used Gloss It Signature Gloss as a base coat, applied via the Flex and an LC blue finessing pad on speed 1, let it haze for about 15minutes and buffed off. Signature gives silver a super wet look and has insane durability.

I then followed Signature gloss with Gloss Finish, another sealant made by Gloss it exept this is one you can buy off their site. Signature Gloss is not a product for sale to the public, it is designated for use by certified Gloss It detailers (I am one of them), its something that will keep customers comming back to us for details because they cant get Signature Gloss anywhere else:thumb:

After the sealants were buffed off I used the Gloss Enhancer spray and wiped down the paint.

Here are the afters...

Nice depth and reflection

Back in the garage for fear of more rain

At first I didnt like all the chrome trim on this car but after it kinda grew on me

The last one before I drove it back to the owners house

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed

damon@tirerack · #2 (**permalink**) 09-02-2008

Another job well done!