dicer

I am curious what does and did the factory use on older 1st gen LS400's and the now newer stuff?
I just read about and have experience with the mess that bird droppings can have on paint and clear coat. Wouldn't a good urethane clear coat not be touched by bird crap? I was under the impression that urethane is the strongest product there is as far as standing up to all sorts of nasty things. I'm sure all the new stuff has as much as possible water borne.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Any sort of automotive clear coat paint system is extremely vulnerable to environmental contaminates such as bird droppings, bug guts, hard water etching, etc.

Adding additional protection in the form of a wax, sealant, or paint coating will help to protect the clear coat from these types of damage, however great care must still be taken to maintain your vehicle.

Remove bird droppings & bug guts as soon as reasonably possible, and avoid situations where hard water could be left to dry on your vehicle.

-Zach

dicer

Hard water huh, can you just take a small hammer and smash those water drops?

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Understanding Water Spots & How to Avoid Them by Zach McGovern

Removing Water Spots by Zach McGovern

LeX2K

Highly dependent on the paint. Late 80's to mid 90's Toyota's have incredible clear coats they are harmed by almost nothing. Bird droppings, sap, even harsh chemicals like acetone won't do anything (I know from personal experience). Paints on some of the newer cars are awful I don't know why exactly has changed my guess is environmental concerns are partly responsible.

The LS400 AFAIK has the same nearly impervious clear coat as other Lexus/Toyota models of the era.

dicer

Those concerns only affect the average person though. You will find the same top quality paint from back in the 60's 70's or what ever are still used on Boeing planes and all the military stuff, bridges etc. The crap paint is just for the stuff we get. What has changed is they are using water colors kinda like you used to use as a kid in your coloring book, on your car.

PondScum

Not hardly. The paint is still pigment in an acrylic binder, but with a water carrier instead of a solvent carrier. That doesn't mean it performs the same though. Back in the early '90s I had a Jeep with one of the first water-based paints, and it had poor adhesion. I picked at a tiny bit of overspray or tree sap with my fingernail and it took a tiny bit of clear and base off, all the way down to the primer.

Also, most clear coats are still solvent based, it's just the base coats that are water-based.

LeX2K

The auto body/paint supplier I get my stuff at says they LOVE the water base paints. But not because of durability but they tell me doing colour matches is much easier.

Here's a Camry I bought and fixed up the paint was in awful shape it had just about every kind of contaminant you could imagine, and it even had spray paint all over it (vandalized). The pray paint I removed with lacquer thinner and acetone (don't do this on a new-ish car!!!!) didn't damage the finish at all. Paint correction was not difficult but I did find the clear coat to have a hard surface so it took more effort than usual. These cars have rust problems but the paint itself is incredible, many years of neglect and I was able to bring back the shine to like new or better.