It's supposed to be good for about 2 years.

 

Paint coating does not bond to single stage paint as good as 2 stage paint

Can you post a photo of the paint transfer to your polishing pad? Let's pray it is grime/dirt that is coming off.

 

Yeah ill post when I get home

 

I have heard around 5 years...mine has been on since around 2012 and my car is garage kept and washed alot and still beads and shines like crazy.

 

I'm glad I got a white F

 

Op, does your paint get chalky? Also a tale tale sign that it's single stage.

 

Please keep in mind the car is clean! It was washed followed with a clay bar.

Ok so here is what I started with. You can see how distorted the light bulb is with fine to moderate scratches


This is after correction compound

This is a 50/50 shot pay attention to the light on the left which is corrected and the light on the right

Here is the pad

Here she is sleeping lol

 

That doesn't look like paint. Pretty sure it would be darker if it were paint. That looks like some polish, wax, or even some other type of compound.

 

ive detailed professional for a portion of my life. that is not paint transfer on your pad. also, Obsidian black is two stage paint. Lexus has one of the best clears for years now.

 

Ok then Swell Lexus was the only correct dealer to be right about 2 stage paint. Which is good

The hood had was blacker than this i just didn't have a picture of it.

I dont think its anything due to the polish however i detailed a granite mica is350 and the pad didn't turn this color.

Again every site i see says obsidian is a single stage so im glad its not

 

Saw a few that stated Lexus did use single stage for black a while ago, but industry standard has been 2 stage for MANY years.

 

Like others have said, it's not paint transfer so you're good. It's the polish residue and clearcoat you have pulled off. When you use microfiber pads you tend to do more correction than a foam pad and they get gunk up easier. It's a combination of gunk plus clearcoat you pulled off.

Let us know when you finished the polishing the car!

 

With proper care they can be "permanent", i spray CQUARTZ through airbrush which adds excessive depth, thickness, and durabiltiy

 

I have to agree it looks like even though you clay bared the vehicle you still had carbon and iron deposits if you did not decontaminate with iron X, etc. If you have ever polished a true one stage your pad would be a consistent black all across and much darker.

Also, I appreciate the knowledge and experience but before you coat or wax make sure you get all the compound out of the clear coat, it seems there was still quite a bit left in the paint. Use Carpro Essence or IPA to remove if left to long will haze your corrected surface. Also on black I would finish up with at least one more stage and finer finishing pads you can get much better results than with just the MF pads. Not trying to TELL nor FORCE just wanting to help. Im sure looks amazing but clarity can be greatly increased. Check out some black cars such as the 15'Viper TA, 745Li, an dC63 that went through 5 stages last stage polishing with water for upmost clarity!

 

If your paint was truly single stage, your pad would look like this after one panel.




When you are polishing paint, you must consider everything that is happening... abrasive liquids and pads are removing material in order to create a flatter surface. The material being removed is either absorbed into your pad, or flung into the air as dust. It is highly likely that your paint will have embedded dirt and contamination that is being removed during this process.

A clay bar (or synthetic clay product) will remove bonded above surface contamination, however there is no way to remove dirt and contaminates that have actually become embedded into the paint before the correction process.


Here is an example of a clean pad vs. a pad that had been used to compound one panel on a vehicle that was in desperate need of some love. Despite the fact that the paint had been meticulously cleaned and decontaminated prior to compounding, the pad is still quite dirty...... this was on a silver car.



Hopefully that helps to explain what you're experiencing. Check out the Club Lexus Detailing Forum for more information in the future.

-Zach

**Moderator: Please move this thread to the club lexus detailing forum**