Hello, I just purchased a pre-owned Lexus certified 2023 NX350h. I am very happy with this SUV. I have always said I never wanted a black car, but I saw this one and was drawn to it. The color is caviar. It has a few swirl marks and light scratches on it. The dealership included full paint restoration if I purchased the car. They said they would wax and buff the entire car to remove the swirl marks and that it would look new.

My question is, should I have a ceramic coating applied to the car? Will that help prevent swirl marks in the future? Are there better types or brands of ceramic coating to look for?

I appreciate any feedback and recommendations.
Thanks

 

Correction is a long process that will require someone who knows what they are doing, it's not easy and you can cause damage to paint if you don't know what you are doing.

Ceramic is great because it allows you to never touch the car again, you ideally never want to touch your paint and ceramic is slick enough you can fully touchless wash and dry the car. However it's not invincible and will wear down, there are also many different options and true pro grade coatings can't be easily purchased by end consumers.

If they are doing ceramic make certain it's real, real stuff needs 2 days to cure to acceptable level to be moved around and should be kept dry for a least a few weeks/don't wash it. 30 days for full cure, I have 3 of my cars just camping in my garage(s) right now since I switched them to ceramic pro coatings. One of them got corrected for the first time...


You can go from this lower half to the upper half in a "single stage correction" and that's what most people call a buff or polish...

Or to this with a proper 5 stage with skill.

It's entirely possible to get 20 year old paint with oxidation pitting perfect again.

This is what you want before you put a coating or PPF on. All of my cars are like this one before I coat them, a job like this at a shop runs form $3000-4000

 

Your car looks great. Thanks for the information. Northlake Lexus is part of the Northlake BMW, Mercedes, and Audi group. It is my understanding their paint shop supports all four dealerships. I agree, I hope they know what they are doing.

 

Congrats on your NX!

I always ceramic coat my cars. I am a firm believer in it. Definitely a recommend by me!

 

Northlake is actually a Hendrick dealership (as are all the others in that area), I go there too. Their detailing work is outsourced and I know the company who does that work pretty well, a good friend works for them and he usually does their training and they also have a big chemical wing that competes with the top suppliers that makes a quality ceramic coating.

I wouldn’t hesitate to get a paint correction & detail done by them (and I have, have lent my cars to them for training even) but you’ll first need to make a decision on how you plan to keep your cars paint up after that before investing in a $$ ceramic coating by them or anyone else

Dark and black cars are terrible for swirls.

If you plan to go to the dealer for service and have them do the free car wash there, you are going to get the swirls back very quickly even with ceramic coating because the dealer wash is not touchless. Same if you go to auto bell. If you plan to learn about detailing and how to minimize paint issues (2-3 bucket method, limited touch forced air drying, keeping the ceramic coat up) then go for the ceramic coat. It’ll keep your car cleaner longer and will be easier to wash, but it isn’t magic.

 

A lot of dealerships contract out their ceramic coatings to local detailers which would be a good thing for proper preparation and application. You'll still want to avoid automatic car washes with brushes as they'll add scratches to varying degrees. If you get it done be sure to update with pictures.

Oops. Just saw Dave's post above. Never mind.

 

If you want to do a ceramic coating I would let them do the correction but don't do any wax or sealant. The coating needs to bond to the clean paint. Installing a coating yourself is not hard, its the prep that is hard. I would watch YouTube videos about it, there are MANY.

If I were buying a coating right now I would choose one from DIY Detail. check out www.diydetail.com.

This is really not the case. With a coating the car will still get dirty and that dirt won't blast off from soap and high pressure water and will require a contact wash.

 

Thanks to everyone who responded. DaveGS4, you are correct, those are Hendrick dealerships. I have a membership at Lakes Edge Express Wash in Sherrills Ford, that is an automated car wash with brushes. I took my previous car to it weekly. It was green, not. black. It doesn't sound like that is a good idea moving forward with a black car, especially if I'm sensitive to swirl marks.

 

Haven't personally had that issue with my coatings and prep work and the cannon/solutions I use.....unless it's horrifically dirty but that almost never happens since I can take other cars when it's raining.

I currently only have to the touch the rims and I didn't coat those, yet. I am waiting till I have a full new set and CCB brakes to install and I'll be coating the rims and calipers at that point since carbon brakes are almost dust free

 

I've also had ceramic coatings on my last few cars, if you're driving them normally as daily drivers in the elements they will get too dirty to wash off with just water. If you're not driving them in the rain then yeah.

 

Thank you! I like your GS. We are a Toyota family, but this is my first Lexus and I love it.

 

Thank you! I like your GS. We are a Toyota family, but this is my first Lexus and I love it.

 

Thanks. I'll look-up DIY Detail.