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So I'm the proud owner of a 2006 LS430 that I bought used a few months ago from a used car dealer. It has 113k miles now, so it's definitely been driven, mostly highway from what I know.
The car looks good from 5 feet away. However, as I'm driving it more and cleaning it specifically, I'm noticing lots of small dings, rock chips, scratches, etc... I bought Dr. Colorchip for my black LS430 and have been touching up certain areas, and it's been doing an okay job.
What I'm curious about is how many of your cars still look good from one foot away? Anyone still have a true show-car, or are we all dealing with the reality of owning 14+ year old vehicles? Thanks.
Mine looks good from 5 feet away but from 1 foot looks like it has dandruff on the hood. That's from tiny cracks in the paint. Fortunately no chips though
Unless its a low milage garage queen, you really can't hide the age. My 04 ooks good from 10 feet, but the previous owner loved carwashes so there are tons of swirl marks and paint damage from all that.
With the exception of rock chips, my car's paint is damn near perfect, after 15 years. Incredible deep shine and gloss. This is without any high end product like ceramic coating, clay bar, etc. just wash and turtle wax. It actually looks as good close up as it does from 10 feet away. Garage protection all its life really helped, especially since the car spent many years in Arizona.
I tried the Dr. Colorchip product recently and had mediocre results. It did not fill the rock chips sufficiently, and the paint match is not perfect. My front and rear bumpers need a repaint to be perfect, they are the worst part of the appearance (so I am using discretion in the photo I post here !)
Mine is Moonlight Pearl, so even close up it looks perfect. That said, it has numerous small imperfections that the prior owner or selling dealer covered with non-pearl paint. These are only visible if I am looking for them, though.
mine is also moonlight and it might have 4 dings--I think only one since I got it in 10/16. Frustrating as it's that one time we can't find an end spot, right? But not noticeable, the types of dings that only the owner can find. But I don't think mine is as nice as Tom's at maybe 2k more miles. Original owner scraped the bumper on right front. I think mine is still ahead of the game as it spent 8 years in FLA and even this year we got zero snow. My wheels are really below average maybe FLA took a toll on them? Not really sure but bubbly flaky etc. My Nissan is 8 years older and its wheels are perfect so again not sure or if Toyota just didn't do a great job....
The redeeming quality of my old man gold LS is the fact that the paint is almost perfect, except for chips in one area on the front bumper and a tiny chip on the driver side rear door. One wax job beads up water for like 8 months since the car is always garaged and never driven in snow.
That's been my experience with Colorchip as well. The Black Onyx paint provided is a flat black, whereas the original Lexus paint is more shiny. Maybe I just need to polish it, as there's no clearcoat included in Dr. Colorchip.
It also doesn't fill in all the way, but perhaps a second or third application in a few days will help that. Overall, not bad for a $60 touch up kit and sure beats a $3k repaint on a 14 year old car.
It actually did the best job on some edges (trunk, door) that had chipped to the metal, as I was able to paint a new edge that held up pretty well.
Lexus has been known to have superior factory paint. My 2001 has no paint work anywhere, other than the bumper covers. I am not sure when Lexus changed the paint formula, in order to adhere to government environmental restrictions. Other than having some hood and front fender side paint chips, it has the deepest luster and shine for a car that is almost 20 years old. Paint on most newer cars is quite vulnerable to the elements and easily chips. Up until recently, for my 10 years of ownership, I have clayed my car once a year, and get it polished at least twice a year. When the car is not driven, it is garaged. All of these factors help in maintaining the finish.
My front bumper needs to be refinished and I have a few chips on the hood to touch up but other than that, my car is perfection.
My experience in early '17 was that dealers were the cheapest for the touch up paint. Way cheaper than online. It seems at least for an '06 it's not something stocked for moonlight at least. then, it came from Sherwin willliams automotive and the tubes were genuine Lexus. Dealer did charge me list price, sales tax, no shipping, and much cheaper than online. I want to say for two tubes it was under $25. Again I tried 3 dealerships and none had them in stock, needed to order...
Cosmetic Condition
