Hey guys, I bought a GS 350 recently and I've been a bit overzealous with scratches/chips like any new car owners. I don't have a garage so it is harder to keep the car pristine. I'm getting a few of them removed from a shop next week.

A few questions:

Personal maintenance:
Which products do you guys use to remove minor scratches or even the deeper paint scratches? I believe these fall into two different categories?
I see a lot of Meguiar mentions in the other posts but I'm not sure where to start.
Are those paint-repair kits worth buying after selecting your model colors? Such as https://www.drcolorchip.com/ - Would this kit work for scratches too or just chips?

I have watched a few videos on imperfection removals with sanding/waxing but it can be overwhelming. I suppose my biggest issue is that I don't know the preferred tools and what I can get away with.

Shop Question:
The other question is that is it more economical to get a more comprehensive paint job/detailing job after a few scratches/imperfections pile up in a particular area instead of getting them removed in small amounts?

Any experiences and general comments will be appreciated.

 

Congrats on your new purchase.

We have a detailing forum here on CL that is fantastic. I've learned so much from some real detailing experts on there. I'd encourage you to check it out and search through it as you'll find some great answers to the questions you've posted here.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/aut...detailing-122/

Enjoy the read!

 

I actually read through the first two pages of that forum before asking my question. The only issue is that I see mentionings of products but that still left me confused.

 

Build a garage, new cars don't stay new.

 

The most important thing I learned from my years of detailing furiously (long since past) is that there’s incredible hype in the products you’ll read about. I concluded that they’re all pretty much the same (different colors and scents) and the technique matters more than the product. Having said that, you can’t go wrong with Meguiar, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find *quantifiably* better products. (Subjectively, there are ALWAYS much better products promising incredible eye-popping deep gloss results that somehow never materialize.)

Deep scratches: I just fill them with Lexus touch up paint as quickly as possible and that’s it.

Swirls or “paint correction”: You may want to get a cheap Harbor Freight dual action polisher, a bottle of Meguiar #83 Dual Action Polish/Cleaner, and practice polishing a panel of the car. You can’t damage the paint with a dual action polisher and with enough time and effort you'll get a beautiful mirror finish that'll be ready for more scratches and swirls. Later on you may want to graduate to a more aggressive product/machine combination.

With a little luck soon you’ll realize that “paint correction” is a monumental waste of time and—especially with light colored paint—you can get 99% of the results by simply washing (always using the two buckets method) and applying any good sealant (easier to apply and remove than wax).

Before enlightenment, however, you’ll burn through $4000 worth of products, incredible amounts of time, foam pads, microfiber towels, applicators and removers. Good luck!

 

The best way is to not let it get so bad that you need to do a paint correction. Problem is without a garage that is hard to do. Once you get it looking good try to polish and wax it at least twice a year and never go to a car wash. Wash it by hand at least once every 2 weeks. Always use microfiber towels or natural wool wash mitts. And dry with premium 100% cotton towels. I agree with Jelly Bean that any name brand product will work. For me I use only Zaino. There are many brands that give you some really good info on how to maintain the finish and you should read through that info. Try the Zaino or Meguiar's site.

 

I agree with Jelly, I got into detailing stuff years ago and ended up always trying out new stuff and getting quite a bit of products. I have products that I personally like that I would highly recommend just due to the results I got. For the polisher I just have a standard porter cable, a detailing buddy told me about m105/m205 years ago and I always had good success with it. I had tried a bunch of others after that but always came back to this stuff. You can even find it and most places like autozone now which is cool. For leather the best product I've used is Leatherique with with rejunevnator oil and pristine clean. I've had incredible results on it, I did the treatment on my moms ES300 and it looked like brand new.

The trick is to do it when its hot out and let the stuff sits for like 10 hours. I haven't tried it on the GS yet, because I'm not sure if what I have is considered actual leather or some hybrid thing. For exterior I'm a big fan of Sonax, check out brilliant shine and polimer net shield. The net shield is one of the best products I've used, its considered a sealer, its made my paint look amazing and water sheets off. I prefer it over a wax and it has held up a really long time during applications. Iron-x is also a really amazing product for removing contaminates from the paint, saves alot of time from claying and makes the paint extremely clean before doing other stuff. The major downside is its one of the worst smelling products I've ever used. I can't even store the stuff without stinking up the whole garage. I've gotten to the point where I almost tossed the stuff so I don't need to smell it. However its extremely effective for what is does.

I just started getting into restoring interior stuff, I tackled my armrests in my LS this week and ended up sanding and painting them, came out very very good. I might tackle my LS seats at some point to restore them a bit where theres color fading. Overall black is pretty hard to keep clean, I kinda regretted getting black on the GS after buying it because I like to keep my cars pretty clean. My car got scratched a few weeks after I got the car being parked in a driveway at a party and I guess people walking by brushed up against it and scratched it. I try not to obsess as much as I used to with paint stuff.

 

Keeping a car looking pristine is a losing proposition. Unless it's a show car where points matter on subtle details, it's best to at least be realistic with your expectation. That said, if you just really enjoy doing that as a hobby, knock yourself out.

Taking care of cars is like taking care of your teeth. The simplest approach is to keep it clean enough (inside and outside) that it never gets too bad. Once enough stuff is allowed to build up, the effort required is significantly higher.

If you park under trees frequently, you'll want to wash & clay more often than if you're mostly garage parked. Sap build-up over time is a beast to clean off, whereas removing when it's fresh isn't so bad.

Similar with the inside, especially if you like to keep your car warmer and allow it to be more humid, it'll build up grime faster. Simple dusting with a swiffer can go a long way to tidy things up and keep it on the cleaner side.

 

This is great advice and that is exactly what I have been doing with all the cars that I have ever owned, simply keeping the interior and the exterior clean routinely is a lot easier than waiting for the car to be come insanely dirty inside and out that it would require major detailing in order for it to get back to a presentable condition. Just a simple wash every week or two and a dusting of the interior can go a long way!

 

Also treat the leather with Luxol Conditioner or equivalent at least once a year, esp the leather that is exposed to sunlight.
The 2013 I just bought already shows significant drying of the rear headrests and seat back tops, no evidence that the leather was ever cleaned or maintained.

After several applications, it's feeling softer and newer.

 

I apply Gtechniq C1 and EXOV1 every 2 years. I apply it to all painted surface and the glass surfaces (excluding front side windows which on the Luxury versions have a Teflon coating) Don't know the result on fine scratches but would imagine good since the C1 is a lacquer coating. All in the prep, must be clean and follow directions. Get the 50ml of the C1 and 25ml of the EXO.

 

you can get responses from 10 different people and they will all tell you something different. keep reading the posts in the detailing section (beyond the first two pages) and check out the products and reviews on sites like detailedimage.com I remember when I was trying to learn, I would email them and they (Greg) would get right back to me. I tried different products and found what I liked. The only advice I will give you is that if you are patient, these detail sites have amazing sales throughout the year. wait for them.

Truer words have never been spoken