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It really comes down to how detailed oriented you are. If you're so so, and like the OB, then you should be OK. I know people who send their black cars through autowash all the time and are still happy. If you're really detailed oriented like some of us here, consider an additional coating and lots of time spent to keep it swirl mark free. And no auto wash. This paint is so soft that it even scares professional detailers. It will create scratch, swirl/water marks regardless how you do it. I have an OB GS. After two years taking care of it, I definitely will not get another OB Lexus. I like to keep my car clean, shiny and swirl mark free as much as possible. The amount of work and time is just too much. SP is so much more forgiving. In our case, both my wife and I think RX looks better in white. So it was no brainer for us. Good luck with the decision.
^^ This is very true...Passing car washes I have seem some people actually wipe dripping water from their black cars using paper towels and I would cringe, but they have no idea and think it looks good.. And you know what, good for them.
Me however, I have a problem. I have owned 4 blacks cars over the years and will do my best to resist ever owning another because I am too ****. And so far I have been able to, the last black car was a 2008 ES, no black since.
Even when I would wash or polish my black cars, depending on the how windy it was if I was polishing the hood, by the time I got to the trunk the hood would be full of dust already.. It would drive me nuts...
And no matter how careful, two bucket wash, only certain wash mitts, and the best microfiber towels I would still get swirls or RIDS....
I am planning on getting a 2016 RX450h in Stargazer Black. I will just opticoat it and be done with it. Since Lexus clearcoat is soft, why not just put something harder on top? =P
1 - The obsidian paint is no softer or harder than any other Lexus paint. The clear coat used on different models such as the RX, IS, GS etc differ, but the clear coat within a model does not. Im aware that the clearcoat on the IS and GS are of the self healing type (had a quick look in the brochure) but the RX is just standard clearcoat. Therefore, starfire pearl, obsidian, nebula grey etc etc all have the same ability to scratch as each other on the RX.
2 - Everyone thinks the obsidian swirls and marks more. NOT TRUE! In exactly the same conditions, starfire pearl, obsidian black, stargazer black, nebula grey etc will all have the same amount of swirls! The only reason everyone "thinks" that obsidian has more swirls is because they are more visible! Even stargazer will hide more swirls because of the metallic flake!
3 - Swirls are inevitable. Unless the car is new with no preparation or its just been polished, the car WILL have swirls. Causes? mostly bad washing technique but dust particles in the air, pollen etc all cause light swirls. Think about it, the car is going through the air at 20-30mph constantly in town, how many dust particles have come into contact with the paint? Millions!
4 - Black gets no dirtier than any other colour. It just "looks" dirtier. Ive had a black RX300 2nd gen, it was easier to clean simply because I didnt notice any iron contamination and tar spots were virtually impossible to see. With my black car, Id just clean the tyres and the exterior plastic and be done and itd look great! On a white car, the tyres need dressing, the plastic needs dressing, basically all the black bits need to stand out in order to make it look great whereas with black, you can get away with it to an extent
1 - The obsidian paint is no softer or harder than any other Lexus paint. The clear coat used on different models such as the RX, IS, GS etc differ, but the clear coat within a model does not. Im aware that the clearcoat on the IS and GS are of the self healing type (had a quick look in the brochure) but the RX is just standard clearcoat. Therefore, starfire pearl, obsidian, nebula grey etc etc all have the same ability to scratch as each other on the RX.
2 - Everyone thinks the obsidian swirls and marks more. NOT TRUE! In exactly the same conditions, starfire pearl, obsidian black, stargazer black, nebula grey etc will all have the same amount of swirls! The only reason everyone "thinks" that obsidian has more swirls is because they are more visible! Even stargazer will hide more swirls because of the metallic flake!
3 - Swirls are inevitable. Unless the car is new with no preparation or its just been polished, the car WILL have swirls. Causes? mostly bad washing technique but dust particles in the air, pollen etc all cause light swirls. Think about it, the car is going through the air at 20-30mph constantly in town, how many dust particles have come into contact with the paint? Millions!
4 - Black gets no dirtier than any other colour. It just "looks" dirtier. Ive had a black RX300 2nd gen, it was easier to clean simply because I didnt notice any iron contamination and tar spots were virtually impossible to see. With my black car, Id just clean the tyres and the exterior plastic and be done and itd look great! On a white car, the tyres need dressing, the plastic needs dressing, basically all the black bits need to stand out in order to make it look great whereas with black, you can get away with it to an extent
Your experience was different than mine with the Lexus black paint. I have owned 4 non metallic black vehicles. I mention this because as you know metallics are usually much better at hiding defects than solid colors.
And out of these 4 vehicles, the black paint on my 2008 ES in my experience was hands down the softest paint I ever worked with either by hand or with a DA.
I am extremely mental (to a fault) when it comes to the condition of the paint on my vehicles. So I am very careful in how they are cleaned, waxed. polished etc. And no matter how careful I was, I would still introduce swirls and RID's.
This is the only black vehicle I owned that I had this problem with. I never had this issue with my other black or dark colored vehicles. And since that car never saw a car wash and NEVER had a dealer wash performed while in for service I knew I was the only one touching the paint.
I agree swirls are inevitable, but they can be minimized. And I agree again, swirls are there on other colors but much less noticeable. Absolutely.
And that's the point, for someone like me the amount of time I would have to spend keeping a black car looking the way I want it is not worth it to ME.
So IMO if swirls and any little mark is going to bother the OP he may want to consider a different color. Because as you said everything is going to show a lot more on black than another color.
Your experience was different than mine with the Lexus black paint. I have owned 4 non metallic black vehicles. I mention this because as you know metallics are usually much better at hiding defects than solid colors.
And out of these 4 vehicles, the black paint on my 2008 ES in my experience was hands down the softest paint I ever worked with either by hand or with a DA.
I am extremely mental (to a fault) when it comes to the condition of the paint on my vehicles. So I am very careful in how they are cleaned, waxed. polished etc. And no matter how careful I was, I would still introduce swirls and RID's.
This is the only black vehicle I owned that I had this problem with. I never had this issue with my other black or dark colored vehicles. And since that car never saw a car wash and NEVER had a dealer wash performed while in for service I knew I was the only one touching the paint.
I agree swirls are inevitable, but they can be minimized. And I agree again, swirls are there on other colors but much less noticeable. Absolutely.
And that's the point, for someone like me the amount of time I would have to spend keeping a black car looking the way I want it is not worth it to ME.
So IMO if swirls and any little mark is going to bother the OP he may want to consider a different color. Because as you said everything is going to show a lot more on black than another color.
As I mentioned, the clearcoat is different on different models in the Lexus lineup. It is possible that the ES has softer clearcoat because it is at a cheaper price point. It is also possible that it has a harder clearcoat than other models in the Lexus lineup, just because! It just depends. Sometimes paint hardness even differs within a model
It got down to the black sport or white rx f sport crafted series as i liked the interior on the white, but to me the white looked to much like the typical soccer mom rv so I got the black with black interior and love it. I keep my vehicles clean so not worried about it, my mdx is dark green which i've had since 2003 with no problems(am keeping it also)
It's back at the dealer today to have the exterior treatment done which they threw in after our negotiations stalled, got it for a bit under invoice so I'm happy. Did the prepaid 3 yrs lease also as it worked out to be $200 less than a cash sale assuming i buy it after 3 yrs-this due to the fact that Toyo gives a $1000 discount on leases but not cash buys at this time.
told my wife today if I like the new 2016 rx better when it arrives, after a couple yrs she will bet the 2015 rx and I'll get a new one. she likes that idea alot............
Glad to see you got what you wanted. I went through the same thing. Asking/researching about dark cars and how hard it may be to maintain, but I wanted black, and I'm glad I got it. I think it looks sharp.
I had a Black Onyx 2001 RX for 11 years and replaced it with a Stargazer Black RX 450h in 2012. I have found the black requires a bit more effort if you want to keep it looking as sharp as it can but my habit is 90% hand washing (cutting back only in the winter when my condo assocation turns off the hose bibs and then using one of the better brushless washes in the area). I also put down a good base and polish with the Zaino products so that helps as well.
At 2+ years my 450h is looking as close to showroom as one could reasonably expect. Of course I know every tiny parking lot scratch by heart but most folks seeing it for the first time ask "is this s new car?"
I just purchased this 2010 Obsidian RX. The previous owner did a very good job (got lucky) with
the paint as there are very few scratches. I warned my wife about black but she wanted it. It has
been years since I had a black auto but I do remember how I had to treat it. I am considering
adding the body side molding to help with car doors of other people.
It got down to the black sport or white rx f sport crafted series as i liked the interior on the white, but to me the white looked to much like the typical soccer mom rv so I got the black with black interior and love it. I keep my vehicles clean so not worried about it, my mdx is dark green which i've had since 2003 with no problems(am keeping it also)
It's back at the dealer today to have the exterior treatment done which they threw in after our negotiations stalled, got it for a bit under invoice so I'm happy. Did the prepaid 3 yrs lease also as it worked out to be $200 less than a cash sale assuming i buy it after 3 yrs-this due to the fact that Toyo gives a $1000 discount on leases but not cash buys at this time.
told my wife today if I like the new 2016 rx better when it arrives, after a couple yrs she will bet the 2015 rx and I'll get a new one. she likes that idea alot............
11-19-14, 07:30 AM
