stbiss

So after reading the manual for our 2017 NXt, I happened to notice a section about exterior care, and specifically, about a self-restoring paint layer (Page 494). According to the manual, there is a layer of paint that will restore itself if it lightly scratched. It also says that you should not use any waxes with abrasives on this paint layer or you may damage it. My wife recently put a scratch on the back bumper - I have always used Meguiars cleaner/wax or Scratch-X for small scratches, but now don't know what is appropriate for this paint layer on the NX. Has anyone researched this? Any recommendations?

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iTrader: (17)

Interesting to find out that new Lexus is using this type of paint.

You probably won't find too many answers on a Lexus forum because according to my knowledge, they have not previously used self-healing paint before.

Infiniti is well known to have used what they claimed to be a self-healing paint on a few of their models back in the day (and perhaps today also, not sure).

I'd do a Google search on "Infiniti self healing paint" and see what comes up.

I know detailers absolutely hated working with the self healing Infiniti paint because it was kind of a "sticky", "soft", and "finicky/grabby" top coat that did not take well to the typical abrasives you'd find in mild polishes and heavy compound. The overall idea is good, but they failed miserably because the self healing effect of their paints did not last very long and eventually the paint still swirled, scratched, and experienced all the typical surface imperfections of normal hardened paint, however required much more effort to polish and repair.

Personally I am not a fan of this technology. Some of the leading and most expensive brands of PPF (clearbra) also have a healing top coat and these companies use it as a marketing point. The technology does work and I've personally tested it with great success, but as you'd imagine after a few years of hard use, these self healing properties fade away and you're left with a material that is very difficult to buff and maintain. It's great while its new or if cared for by an expert that will not use the wrong chemicals/products on it and maintain it without letting it go to sht. The common person will not take the time to properly maintain these types of finishes and it's usually too late to repair when they realize they let it go for too long.

I honestly hope Lexus did a better job with this new paint technology.

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iTrader: (17)

I can't comment on the self healing paint, but on the clearbras, which is a urethane material, the material self heals with the application of heat. They say even at room temperature it will eventually go back to like new condition, although it would take a long time. For a quick repair, you'd leave it outside on a hot sunny day or use a heat gun or hair drier and warm up the area (obviously not doing anything silly, heating it up just a bit so it's not too hot to the touch to not damage the paint or material).

If you have a hair dryer I would try that first. Just keep it a good distance from the paint (about a foot away) or more and don't hold it in one spot too long, check the temperature of the paint with your hand to make sure its not too hot.

If the scratch is not through the clearcoat and there is no material transfer from whatever caused it in the first place, this should do the trick.

We had a old door test panel at the shop a while back off a Ford Flex and I tried to see if a heatgun will remove swirls and scratches and even on standard paint it worked pretty good after heating the panel to a stupid hot temperature. I would NEVER recommend this and it's completely unsafe, but a hair dryer from a good distance just to warm the paint up should be 100% safe.

stbiss

Everyone should get a kick out of this one. I called my local Lexus dealer's body shop and asked about care for the self-restoring paint on my NX. I got the response, "I am not familiar with any self-restoring paint". Lexus has been using it on the LS since 2009! I then called Lexus corporate and even after elevating my question to a supervisor, they redirected me right back the same dealer who told me they did not know what it was. I hope this was just an unlucky encounter with an ill-informed body shop guy. As an alternate route, I sent a note to meguiar's since I have used a lot of their products over the years. They responded quickly saying they treat self-restoring paint just like any other clear coat paint and recommended their Ultimate Compound to remove scratches/swirls- with a disclaimer though, we don't condone you going against any notes in the owners manual. It's amazing to me that it is so hard to get a good answer from anyone about this paint. A generic "don't use abrasives" in the manual kind of limits what you can use if you follow that rule strictly.

DampDuffer

Discovered a 5 inch vertical scratch/mar on the driver-side door near the mirror that the detailers missed before delivering my new Atomic Silver F-Sport last week.

Not knowing I was working with self-restoring paint, I rubbed-in some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound that I had lying around in the garage and the troublesome scratch disappeared without a trace. Don't know if it will work for others, but it worked for me.

lesz

Yes, Lexus started to use self-healing paint on the LS about 8 years ago, and, now, they are using it on most, if not all, of their models.

Lexus started to use the self-healing paint on the ES in 2015, and the 2017 ES that I bought about 6 months ago was my first Lexus with self-healing paint. When I first got the car, like the OP, I was concerned about what products and techniques I could use on the paint.

Here are a few things that I've learned from doing a lot of reading and from my own experience.

First, the self-healing paint is supposed to heal minor surface scratches, polishing swirls, etc. that have not penetrated through the clear coat. If you can feel a scratch with your finger nail, the scratch has penetrated through the clear coat, and, like with traditional automotive paint, the only fix is going to be refinishing.

Yes, those minor surface scratches can heal over time with exposure to the heat from the sun, but the healing process only happens over an extended period of time. Applying heat from a hair dryer can speed up the process. Another way to speed up the process is to take a bucket of hot tap water, soak a microfiber cloth in the hot water, and, then, hold the hot cloth on the scratch until it loses its heat. At that point, re-soak the microfiber cloth in the hot water to heat it up again, and continue to repeat the process for several minutes.

Since I had a few "dealer-installed" polishing swirls when my car was delivered and I wanted to try to remove them immediately, I cautiously experimented with some of the mildly abrasive polishes that I've used with traditional paint. My product of choice is 3M Hand Glaze, which is used by many body shops and detailers to remove light scratches and polishing swirls. I found that it worked well and was safe to use on the Lexus self-healing paint. I also experimented with Maguiar's Scratch-X. It also is safe to use, but it is, I think, even less abrasive than the 3M Hand Glaze, and it required working the surface a bit more than the Hand Glaze to remove the light scratches.

What I definitely would not use on the self-healing paint would be more abrasive polishes, abrasive "paint cleaners", rubbing compounds, etc. I've read stories and seen pictures of permanent damage/dulling of the finish that resulted from using more aggressive products and techniques on the self-healing paint.