youngim87

Hello guys, I have a 2009 IS 250 that I bought about 6 months ago. Recently, I did not wash my car for over 1 month and was not aware of the damage that could happen from this . After finally getting my car washed, I noticed there were permanent hard water marks and water etchings on the car, mostly the hood. Most of these marks are unnoticeable, but when you look at the hood closely in the light you can see the outline of the water drops all over the hood. I am sure most of these marks are permanently ingrained in the clear coat because they were from a sprinkler and probably baked on from the sun.

1. Does clay barring remove these types of water marks and water etchings that seem to be permanent?

2. How much does it cost to re-clear coat an entire car? How much would just re-clear coating the hood, rear, and front bumpers?

KA8

iTrader: (1)

Why would you want to reclear a new car? Just do a good detail. If you don't know how to do a search here or google it. If you don't want to do it yourself you can get a detailer come to you and do a full detail for less than $500. Water etching can be tough but it will come off with proper method.

youngim87

I'm not trying to re-clear coat my car any time soon. I was just wondering what the price range to do so was so I can decide whether or not to do it. I was probably going to re-clear it within the next 2 years if I really need it.

Im sure that a extensive detail can solve my problem, but I was wondering if a simple clay barring, waxing, or polishing my car can completely clear up the water etching blemishes.

eyezack87

iTrader: (4)

You can polish anything out....all the way through the clear if you don't know what you're doing. Thats why you get a semi-pro to pro detailer to assess the situation and tell you what you can expect. Most detailers quote the customer first before jumping head on. Why not take that route? Sorry if its not very helpful but with your description, and the types of cars I've worked on, it is possible to remove them with a full detail

youngim87

thats good 2 hear.

On another note, anyone know the cost to re-clear coat a car for future reference?

tuan92129

I've never heard of anyone just re-clear coating. From my understanding, you would need to respray the color coat and clear coat.
Not washing your car for a month or so will not do significant damage to the paint, and there is no need to repaint the car.

GS4_Fiend

iTrader: (22)

Your car still have a lot of clear coat because it's new. Why don't invest in a PC 7424 XP and do it yourself. It doesn't remove as much clear compared to a rotary.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

AFAIK you can't "re-clear" a car. it has never been shown to come out acceptably.

your car just needs a proper cut and polish.

Guitarman

While it can be done ( the existing clearcoat would need to be sanded with 800 to 1000 grit for the new clear to "bite" ) it's not at all a solution for your problem.

Trust us, a skilled compound & polish will yield you near perfect paint again, at a fraction of what a respray would cost.

Remember; if you ever had to sell or trade in your car, you DON'T want to tell (or have someone find out) a late model Lexus was repainted. People would wonder why in a more negative way than for the reason you did it ( even if you told them). That would hurt your car's value.


Find a good detailer and get happy again.

smoothLEX

I agree. Spend the money for a good detailer and save yourself some hassel.