08 Lexus LS460L. Perfected!
03-09-2009, 02:48 PM
#1
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
08 Lexus LS460L. Perfected!
2008 Lexus LS460L
I've already been slapped by Admin before for some of my posts, and hopefully I don't get it again on this one because it's a good one (if I don't say so myself).
The owner of this beautiful car contacted me the very day that he received his AutoWeek magazine in the mail and saw me listed in the detailing article. Given the fact that my new website had just gone online days before the article hit, the timing couldn’t have been better.
This is the flagship vehicle for Lexus, and they are stunning cars to say the least. Not only does it have about every creature comfort and gadget available (and a rockin’ Mark Levinson audio system), but it also boasts a V8 with 380HP and 367lb-ft of torque! And it is huuuuge. There is a tremendous amount of surface area to work on with this car.
He told me that he had a 10 month old 460L that needed some TLC to bring it back to life. After meeting with him and inspecting the car, we decided to go for a full correction polish (or as close to as we could get), and to thoroughly clean the interior that was showing some severe signs of wear already. The paint had moderate swirls and RIDS on the horizontal surfaces, mostly mild on the vertical surfaces, and a few scrapes, bumps, and bruises throughout. We planned on the full correction this time, and then he’ll bring it back to me every 3 or 4 months for a more basic polish.
OK, onto the detail(s):
The car looked as expected after a long hard winter here in Ohio. It was quite dirty inside and out, there was no protection on the surface, and it had a tremendous amount of brake dust built up:
The interior was in pretty bad shape as you can see:
Winters do very bad things to light colored carpet…even when using all season mats! There was a hole worn through on this mat, and all of the dirty slush melted through and completely soaked into the carpet underneath. This would be a challenging cleanup for sure.
Here’s where I was concerned. There was a lot of dye transfer into the leather. The grime would come up easily, but there was so much colored dye in this light leather, that I wasn’t sure how much I could get out. Yes, this is only 10 months old.
Even the passenger side was bad. Not only was there makeup on the seating surface, but it was all over the passenger compartment (armrest, door panel, headliner, sun shade, etc).
380HP beast tucked away neatly in a “gentlemen’s car”.
Now it’s time for decontamination and cleaning of exterior surfaces.
I started off with P21S Wheel Gel on the 19” rims, and let it dwell for a while to work into the many months of brake dust buildup. While that was working, I sprayed the tires and wheel wells with Megs APC+ at 4:1. Here’s a photo of the P21S doing its job:
Once the wheels/wells were completed, I moved on to the rest of the vehicle. First I gave the car a thorough rinsing, and then broke out the foam gun that was loaded with Chemical Guys Wash & Clear mixed at paint-prep ratio (2oz / gal). While this was dwelling I prepared my two wash buckets with CGWC as well. Although I was confident that there was no sealant or waxes remaining on the surface when I received it, I always use the paint prep ratio of CGWC before polishing just to be sure any LSP’s are stripped off.
Now it’s time to move on to the claying process. This past Christmas, Santa made a stop in Canada first before heading to Columbus, and he picked up some Riccardo clay for me! I really like the texture and feel of this product, and it’s a shame we can’t get it here in the U.S. I clayed all exterior surfaces, and wasn’t surprised to find a lot of contaminants after a harsh winter. I used ONR for clay lube.
Since I had the car for several days, it gave me the opportunity to break up the work a bit. I took this opportunity to try some different products and techniques on the leather. I tried all of the normal routes first on the dye transfer problem. I was able to clean the grime from the surfaces, but the dye was simply laughing at me. This was a perfect time to break out the Leatherique since it would be able to soak in and work for plenty of time. You can see here where I have applied it to the seats, the armrest, and the door panels (shiny areas).
While the Leatherique was working, I figured I’d test the process and products on the hood before calling it a night. This method works well for me so that when I get up early the next morning to start polishing, I already know what needs to be done. I found the horizontal surfaces to be a whole lot worse than the vertical ones, and knew it would require a more aggressive method. For the hood I went with a Micro- Surface Tuf Buf black lambswool pad and Menzerna PO203 Power Finish. Not only did this combo cut through all of the defects, but it also left what appeared to be a LSP-ready finish. It was night time however, and the next day was supposed to be cloudy and I knew I wouldn’t be able to inspect it in the sunshine. Given that, I followed it up with 106FF and a grey LC pad just to be safe.
After just 203/black wool:
Closeups of the hood:
After 203/black wool:
It’s late, I’m going to be and get some rest on the daylight savings time-shortened night!
I've already been slapped by Admin before for some of my posts, and hopefully I don't get it again on this one because it's a good one (if I don't say so myself).
The owner of this beautiful car contacted me the very day that he received his AutoWeek magazine in the mail and saw me listed in the detailing article. Given the fact that my new website had just gone online days before the article hit, the timing couldn’t have been better.
This is the flagship vehicle for Lexus, and they are stunning cars to say the least. Not only does it have about every creature comfort and gadget available (and a rockin’ Mark Levinson audio system), but it also boasts a V8 with 380HP and 367lb-ft of torque! And it is huuuuge. There is a tremendous amount of surface area to work on with this car.
He told me that he had a 10 month old 460L that needed some TLC to bring it back to life. After meeting with him and inspecting the car, we decided to go for a full correction polish (or as close to as we could get), and to thoroughly clean the interior that was showing some severe signs of wear already. The paint had moderate swirls and RIDS on the horizontal surfaces, mostly mild on the vertical surfaces, and a few scrapes, bumps, and bruises throughout. We planned on the full correction this time, and then he’ll bring it back to me every 3 or 4 months for a more basic polish.
OK, onto the detail(s):
The car looked as expected after a long hard winter here in Ohio. It was quite dirty inside and out, there was no protection on the surface, and it had a tremendous amount of brake dust built up:
The interior was in pretty bad shape as you can see:
Winters do very bad things to light colored carpet…even when using all season mats! There was a hole worn through on this mat, and all of the dirty slush melted through and completely soaked into the carpet underneath. This would be a challenging cleanup for sure.
Here’s where I was concerned. There was a lot of dye transfer into the leather. The grime would come up easily, but there was so much colored dye in this light leather, that I wasn’t sure how much I could get out. Yes, this is only 10 months old.
Even the passenger side was bad. Not only was there makeup on the seating surface, but it was all over the passenger compartment (armrest, door panel, headliner, sun shade, etc).
380HP beast tucked away neatly in a “gentlemen’s car”.
Now it’s time for decontamination and cleaning of exterior surfaces.
I started off with P21S Wheel Gel on the 19” rims, and let it dwell for a while to work into the many months of brake dust buildup. While that was working, I sprayed the tires and wheel wells with Megs APC+ at 4:1. Here’s a photo of the P21S doing its job:
Once the wheels/wells were completed, I moved on to the rest of the vehicle. First I gave the car a thorough rinsing, and then broke out the foam gun that was loaded with Chemical Guys Wash & Clear mixed at paint-prep ratio (2oz / gal). While this was dwelling I prepared my two wash buckets with CGWC as well. Although I was confident that there was no sealant or waxes remaining on the surface when I received it, I always use the paint prep ratio of CGWC before polishing just to be sure any LSP’s are stripped off.
Now it’s time to move on to the claying process. This past Christmas, Santa made a stop in Canada first before heading to Columbus, and he picked up some Riccardo clay for me! I really like the texture and feel of this product, and it’s a shame we can’t get it here in the U.S. I clayed all exterior surfaces, and wasn’t surprised to find a lot of contaminants after a harsh winter. I used ONR for clay lube.
Since I had the car for several days, it gave me the opportunity to break up the work a bit. I took this opportunity to try some different products and techniques on the leather. I tried all of the normal routes first on the dye transfer problem. I was able to clean the grime from the surfaces, but the dye was simply laughing at me. This was a perfect time to break out the Leatherique since it would be able to soak in and work for plenty of time. You can see here where I have applied it to the seats, the armrest, and the door panels (shiny areas).
While the Leatherique was working, I figured I’d test the process and products on the hood before calling it a night. This method works well for me so that when I get up early the next morning to start polishing, I already know what needs to be done. I found the horizontal surfaces to be a whole lot worse than the vertical ones, and knew it would require a more aggressive method. For the hood I went with a Micro- Surface Tuf Buf black lambswool pad and Menzerna PO203 Power Finish. Not only did this combo cut through all of the defects, but it also left what appeared to be a LSP-ready finish. It was night time however, and the next day was supposed to be cloudy and I knew I wouldn’t be able to inspect it in the sunshine. Given that, I followed it up with 106FF and a grey LC pad just to be safe.
After just 203/black wool:
Closeups of the hood:
After 203/black wool:
It’s late, I’m going to be and get some rest on the daylight savings time-shortened night!
03-09-2009, 02:48 PM
#2
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
Day two:
Moving down the side of the car, I found that PO203 Power Finish and a white LC pad worked just fine. A few deeper rids required 2 passes, but other than that just one pass did the trick.
Around to the back of the car, I knew that the trunk lid had deeper defects than the hood. For this one I used a Tuf Buf black lambswool pad with SIP. That combo left some holograms, so I finished it up with 106FF and a grey pad.
Before:
After:
Not only does Menzerna make great products, but their bottles are also perfectly sized for propping the trunk lid open when working on the lower areas. It’s smart to do this when working on the trunk lid and the upper part of the bumper to avoid any accidents when moving the rotary around in these tight areas. Here I am using a 4” white spot pad with PO203.
Moving my way around to the right rear of the vehicle I have some long scratches and paint transfers to deal with. Some of them were easy to remove, while others were pretty deep. Here I went back to the Tuf Buf black pad and SIP combo (Lexus paint is soft and corrects easily…otherwise I would normally go for M105 here) for a couple of passes, and followed up with 106FF.
Not what you want to see on your 10 month old, $75K car!
All better now:
Here’s just after finishing this side with PO203/white LC pad.
I’ve got everything completed now and cleaned up a bit. I’ve topped it with Opti-Seal, but no LSP as of yet. Here are some after shots in the garage. I have the car for one more day, and it’s supposed to be sunny so I’ll wait and get a few more outside-sun pics at that time.
Wheels all cleaned up and sealed, and topped with Sonus Tire Gel
In this reflection shot you can see my new 4-buld, T-5 fluorescent lights. I put 3 of them in the garage, and they’re a tremendous help.
Here’s my Salvador Dali shot for those artistically inclined. Look at the bending of the clocks in the reflection:
Moving down the side of the car, I found that PO203 Power Finish and a white LC pad worked just fine. A few deeper rids required 2 passes, but other than that just one pass did the trick.
Around to the back of the car, I knew that the trunk lid had deeper defects than the hood. For this one I used a Tuf Buf black lambswool pad with SIP. That combo left some holograms, so I finished it up with 106FF and a grey pad.
Before:
After:
Not only does Menzerna make great products, but their bottles are also perfectly sized for propping the trunk lid open when working on the lower areas. It’s smart to do this when working on the trunk lid and the upper part of the bumper to avoid any accidents when moving the rotary around in these tight areas. Here I am using a 4” white spot pad with PO203.
Moving my way around to the right rear of the vehicle I have some long scratches and paint transfers to deal with. Some of them were easy to remove, while others were pretty deep. Here I went back to the Tuf Buf black pad and SIP combo (Lexus paint is soft and corrects easily…otherwise I would normally go for M105 here) for a couple of passes, and followed up with 106FF.
Not what you want to see on your 10 month old, $75K car!
All better now:
Here’s just after finishing this side with PO203/white LC pad.
I’ve got everything completed now and cleaned up a bit. I’ve topped it with Opti-Seal, but no LSP as of yet. Here are some after shots in the garage. I have the car for one more day, and it’s supposed to be sunny so I’ll wait and get a few more outside-sun pics at that time.
Wheels all cleaned up and sealed, and topped with Sonus Tire Gel
In this reflection shot you can see my new 4-buld, T-5 fluorescent lights. I put 3 of them in the garage, and they’re a tremendous help.
Here’s my Salvador Dali shot for those artistically inclined. Look at the bending of the clocks in the reflection:
03-09-2009, 02:49 PM
#3
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
I’ve been waiting all winter to take this shot. I did a lot of these hood/ceiling reflection shots last year before the ceiling was finished. Not only did I complete a major garage makeover, but I also had my logo printed in reverse so I could hang it on the ceiling. Once I take the reflection shots, the logo reads the right way! Pretty cool, eh?
Now that I’ve kept you for this long, and you’re still reading and checking out the photos, I’m going to do my best to keep you a little while longer!
Before I move onto some sun shots, I’m going to show you how the interior turned out. While I was able to get the leather MUCH cleaner, a lot of the dye transfer simply would not come out…no matter what I tried. I was a little bummed about this, but it still looked fantastic in comparison. All interior surfaces were cleaned first with Woolite/water. After that I went after stubborn scuffs and smudges with APC+ at 10:1. The console and controls areas were cleaned with Megs Interior Detailer, and the wood and metal trim were polished with Klasse AIO.
Got legroom?
Remember how bad this area looked? The carpet was cleaned with Folex, agitated with a stiff brush, and extracted with hot water. The pedals and foot rest areas were scrubbed with APC 4:1 and a brush. There’s a little bit of staining that was too tough to completely remove, but in the end it was a huge transformation.
Now for the after shots in some sunshine!
Remember what the rear bumper looked like when I received it? (Go ahead and scroll back up to the top…I’ll wait).
I polished up the exhaust outlets with Klasse AIO
No more defects on the trunk lid:
Or on the hood:
This wasn’t a good photo, but I put it in anyhow because I captured an airplane in the reflection! I heard it coming, and waited until it flew underneath the cloud so it would be easier to spot.
Now that I’ve kept you for this long, and you’re still reading and checking out the photos, I’m going to do my best to keep you a little while longer!
Before I move onto some sun shots, I’m going to show you how the interior turned out. While I was able to get the leather MUCH cleaner, a lot of the dye transfer simply would not come out…no matter what I tried. I was a little bummed about this, but it still looked fantastic in comparison. All interior surfaces were cleaned first with Woolite/water. After that I went after stubborn scuffs and smudges with APC+ at 10:1. The console and controls areas were cleaned with Megs Interior Detailer, and the wood and metal trim were polished with Klasse AIO.
Got legroom?
Remember how bad this area looked? The carpet was cleaned with Folex, agitated with a stiff brush, and extracted with hot water. The pedals and foot rest areas were scrubbed with APC 4:1 and a brush. There’s a little bit of staining that was too tough to completely remove, but in the end it was a huge transformation.
Now for the after shots in some sunshine!
Remember what the rear bumper looked like when I received it? (Go ahead and scroll back up to the top…I’ll wait).
I polished up the exhaust outlets with Klasse AIO
No more defects on the trunk lid:
Or on the hood:
This wasn’t a good photo, but I put it in anyhow because I captured an airplane in the reflection! I heard it coming, and waited until it flew underneath the cloud so it would be easier to spot.
03-09-2009, 02:49 PM
#4
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
When the owner came and picked it up, he couldn’t believe how it looked. He said he was expecting it to look nice, but nothing at the level that he received. He immediately booked his wife’s ’08 Lexus RX350, and we also scheduled out quarterly polishes on both vehicles.
Total time = 12+ hours. The look on the owner’s face when he came to get the car = priceless!
Thanks for taking the time to review my work.
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03-09-2009, 03:22 PM
#8
thats great work no doubt he was happy with that....average folks have no clue how good a car can really look if taken care of properly....and thats why its soo rewarding to see the look on their face when they see the work and the skills required to get these kind of results....i salute you....
03-09-2009, 03:48 PM
#9
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
Thanks guys!
Amen brother...and thank you!
BTW, where in the Dallas are do you live? I used to live in the Mid-Cities area (Hurst) back in the mid-90's. It's Africa-hot down there!!!
thats great work no doubt he was happy with that....average folks have no clue how good a car can really look if taken care of properly....and thats why its soo rewarding to see the look on their face when they see the work and the skills required to get these kind of results....i salute you....
BTW, where in the Dallas are do you live? I used to live in the Mid-Cities area (Hurst) back in the mid-90's. It's Africa-hot down there!!!
03-09-2009, 04:19 PM
#11
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
damn dude.....i just detailed my car as well.....but the results sure werent the same.....there was a little difference.....
dish washing soap (to strip all previous wax layer), meguiars clay bar, meguiars color rx (put 2 coats, left the first coat on for 24 hours and the second for 12 hours), meguiars carnauba wax (left the coat on for 6 hours).
Damn she is shinning, but i still do see a very little and light swirls on there.....any remedy ???
dish washing soap (to strip all previous wax layer), meguiars clay bar, meguiars color rx (put 2 coats, left the first coat on for 24 hours and the second for 12 hours), meguiars carnauba wax (left the coat on for 6 hours).
Damn she is shinning, but i still do see a very little and light swirls on there.....any remedy ???
I'll actually be out in St. Louis next week for the Supercross races!
03-09-2009, 04:23 PM
#12
takin care of Business in
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^^^ I was planning on going there myself but damn have to get to Dallas for an interview..... 
03-09-2009, 04:34 PM
#14
Team Owner
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TSC...WOW !!! Great photo's and loved the shot of your logo on the ceiling.
03-09-2009, 04:40 PM
#15
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
03-09-2009, 04:59 PM
#16
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^^^ but man i have to tell you.....
i bet the car didnt look as good when she left the lexus dealership.....damn I dont mind paying a high price for a job done like this.....i hate it when i pay for something which is not so well done.....remember taking my girls civic for detailing and when i got her back, she looked the same.....but here you can see the difference clearly....i mean its right out there....
if i was the owner i would have wondered where did u put my car
.....but he did the right thing by scheduling quarterly cleans..... 
i bet the car didnt look as good when she left the lexus dealership.....damn I dont mind paying a high price for a job done like this.....i hate it when i pay for something which is not so well done.....remember taking my girls civic for detailing and when i got her back, she looked the same.....but here you can see the difference clearly....i mean its right out there....
if i was the owner i would have wondered where did u put my car
.....but he did the right thing by scheduling quarterly cleans.....
03-09-2009, 05:10 PM
#18
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
^^^ but man i have to tell you.....
i bet the car didnt look as good when she left the lexus dealership.....damn I dont mind paying a high price for a job done like this.....i hate it when i pay for something which is not so well done.....remember taking my girls civic for detailing and when i got her back, she looked the same.....but here you can see the difference clearly....i mean its right out there....
if i was the owner i would have wondered where did u put my car .....but he did the right thing by scheduling quarterly cleans.....
i bet the car didnt look as good when she left the lexus dealership.....damn I dont mind paying a high price for a job done like this.....i hate it when i pay for something which is not so well done.....remember taking my girls civic for detailing and when i got her back, she looked the same.....but here you can see the difference clearly....i mean its right out there....
if i was the owner i would have wondered where did u put my car
.....but he did the right thing by scheduling quarterly cleans..... I use both a Makita 9227c rotary (which I used on this one), and a Porter Cable dual action random orbita..
03-09-2009, 10:10 PM
#25
The Detailer
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Damn Todd, I didn't know you could consistently top yourself with your details! This is by far the best one yet! I like what you did with your ceiling logo!
Thanks for mentioning Power Finish and the Tuf Buf wool pads. I actually enjoy those wool pads with M105 and have yet to try them with Power Finish and M205. I need to pick up more of those pads!
Thanks for mentioning Power Finish and the Tuf Buf wool pads. I actually enjoy those wool pads with M105 and have yet to try them with Power Finish and M205. I need to pick up more of those pads!
03-10-2009, 11:59 AM
#35
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Todd Beautiful work my friend!
I love the Poster on the ceiling...I was actually thinking how did he get the lettering right? hmm...maybe he reversed the image in photoshop or something? Anyway, c'mon how can the moderators have any issues? you are taking pics of the car, what can you do if its so shiny that it reflects your ceiling like a mirror? ha..ha..! (Just FYI I may have to steal that idea from you
) Think of it as a watermark. Oh and congrat on the write up in Auto week. Do you have a link to the article anywhere?
I love the Poster on the ceiling...I was actually thinking how did he get the lettering right? hmm...maybe he reversed the image in photoshop or something? Anyway, c'mon how can the moderators have any issues? you are taking pics of the car, what can you do if its so shiny that it reflects your ceiling like a mirror? ha..ha..! (Just FYI I may have to steal that idea from you
) Think of it as a watermark. Oh and congrat on the write up in Auto week. Do you have a link to the article anywhere?
03-10-2009, 01:11 PM
#37
2012 SH-AWD / Advanced
Thread Starter
Todd Beautiful work my friend!
I love the Poster on the ceiling...I was actually thinking how did he get the lettering right? hmm...maybe he reversed the image in photoshop or something? Anyway, c'mon how can the moderators have any issues? you are taking pics of the car, what can you do if its so shiny that it reflects your ceiling like a mirror? ha..ha..! (Just FYI I may have to steal that idea from you) Think of it as a watermark. Oh and congrat on the write up in Auto week. Do you have a link to the article anywhere?
I love the Poster on the ceiling...I was actually thinking how did he get the lettering right? hmm...maybe he reversed the image in photoshop or something? Anyway, c'mon how can the moderators have any issues? you are taking pics of the car, what can you do if its so shiny that it reflects your ceiling like a mirror? ha..ha..! (Just FYI I may have to steal that idea from you
) Think of it as a watermark. Oh and congrat on the write up in Auto week. Do you have a link to the article anywhere?
Since AW is subscription-only, they don't always put all articles online. But thanks for the congrats. It was a huge deal for me to say the least. With so many incredibly talented detailers out there, there's no way you can put a list together of the "top 9". I could have filled an entire page with names. Nonetheless, I'm very proud to have made that list.
That's a little low, but you're in the ballpark!
You have all the cool stuff Scott! I'd trade your crazy skills for detailing know-how anyday! You're THE MAN when it comes to Photoshop...
