PirelliRC

As you guys know the black color on my GS has some swirl marks that i would like to remove. Forever. Hopefully. I love the Obsidian, but as we all know the black doesnt look great under the sun with any imperfections. And in Los Angeles we have a lot of sun. So ive been searching for a good detail and wax spot. And i think i found one. Surfside Detailing. And the best part is they come to you. The guy seemed very knowledgeable and they have cool videos showing how they have restored black paint and removed swirl marks on their website. Ofcourse, he didnt tell me a definite price until he sees the vehicle but from what i understood, it will be in the ball park of $200. I think its a good price given whats included in the package.


- Exterior Hand Wash
- Brake dust removed and wheels detailed
- Hi-gloss water based tire dressing applied
- Interior vacuum
- Specialized claybar treatment to decontaminate all painted surfaces and windows
- Machine polishing to remove minor scratches and paint imperfections
- Meguiars #26 carnauba wax applied by orbital machine for shine and months of paint
protection

They will be here this Saturday afternoon. Weather forecast shows 77 degrees, mostly cloudy conditions. I will post before and after photos here.

GS350Dat

iTrader: (2)

Would love to hear the outcome! I too drive an Obsidian! Keep us posted!

Im2bz2p345

Sounds exciting PirelliGS! Looking forward to your before & after photos.

Best of luck with the entire process. Obsidian is such a hard color to maintain, must respect to you guys that have it & keep your car looking nice.

~ Im2bz2p345

darylrsv4

iTrader: (2)

$200 is dirt cheap for that level of correction.

thekhmer

iTrader: (2)

I just finished a 1step polish n wax on my obsidian and wow does it make a difference and it still needs more work prob 2-3 steps I'll post pics later

Edit:
Posted a pic on my ig which is the same username "thekhmer"

bigblack06

iTrader: (20)

That sounds great I also think that sounds pretty cheap but I'm sure it will be excellent work as price doesnt justify anything so post some pics when its finished.

SW17LS

I'm dubious about the price...I'll be interested to see whether they increase that price or not when they see it. To do it right you're looking at a minimum of 4-5 hours work.

The key is "minor scratches and paint imperfections". If you have significant swirling it may fall outside the scope of that. A lot of detailers charge per hour for compounding which it sounds like it may need.

Also FYI, Meguiars #26 is a very middle of the road ho-hum wax. It does the job but it will absolutely not offer "months of paint protection". In Los Angeles, more like weeks.

SW17LS

Surfside Detailing in Newport Beach, CA?

This is from their website:

An all in one product is not going to handle your swirling, if its significant as it seemed to be in our previous conversations.

This is the service at a minimum you will need:

You may need this:

bclexus

And just so you know - most any car's finish can be made to look great after just a minimum amount of detailing work by using most any wax or glaze to fill-in [remaining] swirls and scratches. (This is likely what the dealership did to make the finish look good, which lasts one or two washes.) Thus, just because the finish looks good when the detailer finishes does not necessarily mean that he spent the time and used the materials necessary to permanently remove the swirls and scratches. It's easy to create a temporary illusion that the finish does not have any swirls or scratches.

ItzFilyO

Just do it urself, it's a good workout.

When u detail ur car urself u get to know ur car personally and bond with it. At least that's how I feel.

After that last incident where a car wash guy slit my tire I felt guilty as hell that I let something that horrible happened to this car and won't let anyone else detail it but me!

SW17LS

The problem with doing this yourself is you need a buffer, pads, the proper compounds...and skill. The machine polishing is the issue.

Dustin2011

I use WaterShed in Simi Valley, they do an awesome job and have excellent pricing.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Water...e/348182865103

PirelliRC

thanks, you have a 450h right ?


I did see that and if i end up needing it, ill try to get the best price i can. There is a photo of a Black Lexus IS and it looks real good under the flashlight and sun. The guy told me that Lexus paint is soft so it gets scratched easily, however he said it gets buffed out easily as well, which i liked hearing. So ill see when they stop by on Saturday and i will put up photos.

What do you know about Meguiars Swirl X or Swirl Remover 2.0 ? I bought them a month ago.

I do not really have the time and i have no experience and dont want to make a mess. I rather pay someone to do it professionally. Maybe if i gain some experience i might try it, but as of now i want the swirls out asap.

thanks, ill give them a call tomorrow. The black Camaro on their facebook looks great, have you done swirl removal with them ?

DeViNe350

Check out Eric @ Envious Detailing in Santa Ana, I hear he's great. I'm planning to take my car there sometime soon. I hear nothing but good things.

SW17LS

This really isn't something where you want to save money, a detailer can really screw up the car, and since its been potentially polished twice already, another go could be the last time.

Lexus black is soft and polishes out well. But, it's finicky to finish right.

My point is, if somebody is recommended and you feel confident in their work, I wouldn't try and haggle with them about price. You want them to put all their effort and energy I to it, not do it while frustrated about the price they are doing it for, or refuse. Good Detailers aren't going to negotiate their prices.

The Meg's swirl removers are fine. The actual compound product doesn't really matter, what matters is the skill and tools of the person using them. Detailing is 90% effort, 10% product