SonyHome

So I've had the car for 3 days and was planning to opti coat my car this weekend and while getting ready to clean and detail the car I noticed these very light scratches (1st image below) in the paint. Most of these were seen on the side of the car that curves inwards just below the window and above the door handles all along the length of the car.

Since I asked the dealer not do wash or buff my car for my pickup prep, I'm not sure how these swirls were introduced. My guess is it could have happened before it got to the dealer. Lexus really needs to educate their employees/vendors/dealers on how to properly handle these cars.

With help of someone from a car detailing forum who lived locally and was willing to help me learn how to properly detail my car, we spent 8 hours today in his parent's heated garage washing, claying, polishing and opti-coating my car, removing all of the swirls (2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th images below). During this process we experienced what others were saying about the soft obsidian paint. It seemed even slightest things like using the microfiber towel (yes these were high quality ones) to wipe the polish could reintroduce light scratches.

So I'm interested in knowing from others who have obsidian color if they have seen these light swirls in their car and how you are dealing with this.

Scratches!



No scratches, well much less any ways!

IS350S2K

I have similar scratches as well in my ultra white. My friend noticed them when looking at them from certain angles. Unfortunately, I didn't tell my dealer not to prep car. Scratches seem to be more apparent in black cars. My s2k is black and swire it would be my last black cat. But when polished up, black is beautiful.

SonyHome

I'm not sure who/what but I think this happened before it got to the dealer. I only asked dealer to perform touch-less car wash and air dry but because temp was only around 20 degrees they didn't even wash the car. I emailed my sales guy about the swirls today and he told me they usually detail it before delivery to remove these swirls on their cars which is what I asked him not to do.

BOBFSPORT

Welcome to the Obsidian club. No matter how plush the micro towel is, it will still put light scratches in the clear. The key is to always wipe front to back as opposed to in a circular motion because these types of scratches are not as noticeable to the eye. I cringe every time i am forced to look at my GS under bright lights or sunshine. Hopefully your paint correction work plus opticoat will keep it looking good. I have already paint corrected my GS once and i am afraid to remove anymore clear. Now i just deal with it and keep the car dirty to hide the scratches from myself

skrules

Same thing with my car. I got the car three weeks ago and I noticed swirls immediately. Apparently the muppets at the dealership does not know how to wash a car!!! I have a Matador Red Mica 350 and I can only imagine the Obsidion black, I plan on getting paint correction done soon before putting up OptiCoat.

Antnie2418

I had a 2nd gen obsidian and I lived that nightmare for 5 years. When I went to buy my 3rd gen I promised myself I wouldn't obsidian regardless that my last 3 cars were black on black. I asked the salesman why does the obsidian scratch so easily. I was informed that obsidian among a couple other colors are all single stage paint. Meaning the clear and color are sprayed at once. One of my best friends owns a detail shop and the car was in the shop all the time and just know there is nothing you can do to stop these micro scratches and paint chips.

crazych42

Looks good. That sucks that you still had swirl marks and instructed the dealer to not wash/prep. I plan to Opti-coat my UW when it comes and am instructing the dealer to not prep. What polish did you use?

Glashub

Sony, I have 2 brand new black glossy Velodyne subs -- each shows the exact same swirls even though neither has been touched and was completely boxed. It has always been like that with black anything. I used to get freaked out like you but have come to understand that it is part of owning black glossy stuff.

SonyHome

How many times can you polish before you risk removing all the paint? We used very low abrasive pads to just get the light scratches removed which worked but then when you try to wipe off the remaining polish sometime scratch was reintroduced even though we first wiped it with wet microfiber towel than dry microfiber and doing it very lightly front to back. It almost seemed like some of the abrasives from the polish was still on the paint.


On my car I honest don't think it was anything dealer did. I'm wondering if they are doing something at the factory.


Why does Lexus use different process for different color? They must know this would make maintenance harder.



I don't think it was anything dealer did since they told me they didn't detail the exterior per my request. I was just shocked how much swirls and light scratches a brand new car had.

Since I wanted to opti coat I used polish from optimum called Hyper Polish. It seem to work good to get the light scratches removed. Our process was to polish, wipe with water or ONR then dry using high quality microfiber towels.

SonyHome

I understand black cars have higher maintenance (I've had 4 black cars in a row this being 5th) but what was demoralizing was the fact that I could polish it to mirror shine but soon as you try to wipe off the remaining polish there could be couple new scratches! I was really trying to get it perfect before opti-coating since opti coat is hard paint sealer which will help with this but if the scratch already exist before I opti-coat than it kind a defeats the purpose. Also now I'm not sure if I want to put PPF over that. I would have never imagined car paint would be that sensitive!

Don't get me wrong, car looks amazing right now and with opti-coat it will be much easier to maintain this but there are some scratches still and I know where all those are!

eyeball

Is OptiCoat one of those last minute options that the Finance Department bombards you with mere moments before you sign the papers? I initially assumed everything they tried to hock was unnecessary. I'll have to look into Opticoat now. But I bought my car 5 months ago. I think I see one or two light scratches already

SonyHome

My dealer didn't offer opti coat. They tried to sell me 3M paint sealant but problem with them doing any think like this is you need all these scratches remove before you seal it. If you don't want to do it yourself you need to find a good detailer who will perfect the paint than apply sealant like opti-coat. Opti Coat 2.0 cost $70 to do it yourself and is supposed to last for years.

Glashub

Gosh, guys, I know it's hard but try not to get obsessed. There will be chips, scratches and scrapes eventually. You know I'd like -- windshield glass that never pocked or chipped. 5K miles and I'm already thinking of swapping in a new WS. Here is LA with all of the sun -- I can really see the damage.

SonyHome

Hey there is coating for that too! LOL! I heard this one has it's own patent. My dealer tried to sell me this too but I just told them I'm opti-coating everything, which I did. It's supposed make the water just fall roll off the windshield.
http://diamondfusion.net/


I know what you mean Glashub but after buying my first car in 13 years and one that I will be keeping it for another 8-9 years and give to my son I was really hoping it would be years before I saw these things!

Rsnic

I also have an Obsidian car, and unfortunately i didn't tell them to not detail it prior to me picking it up. I brought my car to the detailer to get opti coated when it was only a couple days old and it didnt look that bad and was quoted a pretty fair price for 1 step paint correction and applying opticoat.

Well the next day i get a phone call the next day saying that apparently the dealership packed the car full of fillers and glaze and the there are a lot more swirls than originally expected. Luckily for me I only paid the price we originally agreed upon but it ended up needing 2 step paint correction and almost 12 man hours to get it looking pristine.

I'm hoping that the opticoat will act as a much harder clear coat that combined with proper car washing will eliminate future swirls.