Ok, now I see why most of you detail your car on your own. I just bought my is350 used two weeks ago. It was pretty clean, but I wanted it perfect so I paid out the *&^* to have everything done. The previous owner never used a bra so there was a fair amount of rock chips in the lower bumper. (if anyone has any magical ways to get rid of those i am all years.) Anyways, I left the car for 7 hours when I went to pick it up I must have turned 6 shades of red. I swear the car looks worse than before. The kid working on looked like opie so i felt sorry for him. He seemed to be upset with what I was pointing out still needed to be done. They left wax residue. The engine dressing was put on way too thick and is still wet. The store was closing so i left. When I was driving home I noticed the window (passenger front) had streaks on it. The buttons around the dash had spots on them!!! they were clean when i went in. There were streaks on the car from the final wash. When I got home I was hopping mad. I took my wife out to see what she thought. The more I walked around the car the more angry I became. She said calm down, the neighbors are going to think you are yelling at me. Most of you are aware how much they charge you for those 'showroom shine' packages.

I called a couple of times even though they were closed. I finally spoke with a manager who was still around. He will redo it for me tomorrow morning. I wasn't yelling at him, but I think he could hear me hyper-ventilating. I mean its only one year old I want it to look new, and as one of our cl members says... It's a friggin Lexus!

 

You obviouslt went to a shady detailing place... take it back, talk to the owner, and then get refunded.

 

I totally understand man. When I took delivery of my brand new IS250 it looked great under there showroom, so I accepted it and took her home. When I got home I noticed the whole thing was covered in hard water marks. Called them up and the next day and they agreed to wash it (acid wash), buff it out and wax it. They took there sweet time, 2 whole days. When I picked her up, the paint looked perfect, shiny and spotless. Or so I thought...

After carefully washing it for the first time, ALL the imperfections came through. Horrible "halogram" swirling everywhere, dull chrome on door trim (they didn't mask it when they buffed it), tons of white residue in between the panels, and a few baked in hard water marks..... Seriously the car is now worse than before when it was covered in hard water marks.

What have I learned and countless people on this forum know? Never let your dealership wash/wax/detail your car. $10/hr youngins wash your car and they dont give a ***** about it.

Either spend $300-400 to get it detailed by a pro or read the articles at Autopia and invest in a good car detailing system.

 

What color car do you have? Dark i bet.

 

I haven't purchased it yet, however I have read good things about this system for chips: http://www.langka.com/

Link to search on Club Lexus: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sea...archid=1485356

 

yeah, dark blue

 

Yes, my sentiments exactly. Although I feel for those with these problems it is predominently an artifact of a dark car. If you get black or a dark, dark blue color this is what you are going to put up with. I forwent any consideration of a dark color because I didn't want to put up with this. White, or silver, colored cars are easy to keep clean. I don't see any of these scars on my Tungsten Pearl although they are probably there. But if you can't see them who cares? If you want dark then you will forever be putting up with these issues. Me, no thanks. I've been there, done that. I'm into easier maintenance, hence only light colored cars for me on the outside, black on the inside. Pay your money, take your choice.

 

Wow i feel your pain, but seriously if you want things done right you have to do it yourself. The first day i picked up my car i detailed it. Yes the dealer washed, wax, etc on it but to me it did not looked 100% perfect.

If i were you i would not even take it back, they had their chance on your car and who knows it just might come back worse. Just ask for your money back.

 

Its not difficult to detail a car on your own. Spend some $$ (likely less than you already paid for a bad job) on a Porter Cable polisher. Do some research on products to use...and go for it...you can't do any real damage with the PC if you use low abrasion products. Check out the detailing forum or something like Meguiars.com

Get your money back on the 'crappy' job you got

 

I always detail my car myself. Sometimes it takes almost a full day but it is worth it. It also gives me a chance to closely inspect the car..... besides, working on a beautiful car like the IS is a pleasure so why pay somebody else to do it?

 

hold up, my lex is white and i'm forever keeping it clean. no you dont see swirl marks, but that's about all you don't see; dust & dirt from the air, drive it once in the rain and its needs a wash like asap cos of raod dirt fly up ... and as soon as it's dirty it looks like you have some beater of a car. basically, i wont pick white if i have an option next time

when i did mine it took the entire day, but oh it was damn perfect looking, and i got to know about anything that was wrong with it and do any touch ups it needed

 

Dust and dirt is far different than having to get the power tools out to detail the car. I wash my car once a week, but it's a 30 minute affair. I don't have to labor over the car trying to get the swirls out. If you don't like white what is your next color going to be?

 

Im so glad my car is white, that -4hrs of detailing i DONT have to do

 

I used to own a black car so i know how crazy it can be when dealing w/ swirls. Even white cars under halogen streetlights show signs of micro marring. It's just alot more noticable on darker colors since the fine scratches actually refract light on darker paint. I suggest spending time on autopia.com

 

check out the CL's detailing forum.....