Black Ls400, Buff Out Scratches?

[rvgraham]

:o I did the all time stupid the other day, I started to apply a coat of wax to my new (to me) '99 LS400 without checking carefully the rag I used. It (the rag) had just come out of the wash a couple of days ago, nice and clean and with no fabric softener or other contaminant. It had, however, somehow pick up a tiny metal shaving or something like that, so as I started to buff out the wax a couple of minutes later, I found a big pattern of fresh scratches all over half of my hood!

My car is black, (no clearcoat) and the paint is quite thick; I can tell just by looking where there are a couple of deep chips in the paint elsewhere. Although I can feel the scratches with my fingernail, I'm hoping they can be buffed out thanks to the lack of clearcoat and the thickness of the paint. I have a Porter-Cable random orbit and pleanty of skill using hand tools (I used to shape and polish marble and granite a few years ago, for a living). I'm thinking of picking up some buffing pads and cutting compound and trying it myself. In one sense, I don't have much to lose, if this doesn't fix it, I'm going to have to have the hood re-painted. I'm not going to live with it as is! :cries:

Your experienced answers are much appreciated! (Especially any of you with specific black Lexus experience.)

Bob Graham

[David_Ostroff]

:o I did the all time stupid the other day, I started to apply a coat of wax to my new (to me) '99 LS400 without checking carefully the rag I used. It (the rag) had just come out of the wash a couple of days ago, nice and clean and with no fabric softener or other contaminant. It had, however, somehow pick up a tiny metal shaving or something like that, so as I started to buff out the wax a couple of minutes later, I found a big pattern of fresh scratches all over half of my hood!

My car is black, (no clearcoat) and the paint is quite thick; I can tell just by looking where there are a couple of deep chips in the paint elsewhere. Although I can feel the scratches with my fingernail, I'm hoping they can be buffed out thanks to the lack of clearcoat and the thickness of the paint. I have a Porter-Cable random orbit and pleanty of skill using hand tools (I used to shape and polish marble and granite a few years ago, for a living). I'm thinking of picking up some buffing pads and cutting compound and trying it myself. In one sense, I don't have much to lose, if this doesn't fix it, I'm going to have to have the hood re-painted. I'm not going to live with it as is! :cries:

Your experienced answers are much appreciated! (Especially any of you with specific black Lexus experience.)

Bob Graham

Having owned four black cars, I can totally relate to your dilemma. The

unfortunate challenge with black cars is they do hold the heat and sitting out in

the sun all day will mean you will need to apply protection more often.

When trying to recommend a product to you, we need to consider your overall

habits in caring for the vehicle. How frequently do you wash? Is the car

protected at night? I think it sounds like a good synthetic like the NXT Tech Wax

Meguair's Tech Wax

would be a good choice. I have used this product myself on my black BMW and I

was very pleasantly surprised at the results. As a synthetic wax, it will have more

durability than a pure carnauba. Always keep an eye on how the overall

condition of your finish is holding up and act accordingly. This is a good way to

think year round. To get rid of the swirl marks, read this article Swirl Marks

Enjoy,

david

[SW03ES]

I just buffed out a black GS300 (or am in the process of doing, it was too hot to do the vertical surfaces) for an LOC member. Black Lexus paint is very easy to correct because its so soft, and so thick.

All the info you need is in the article David posted ;)

[imtheking]

im the guy whos black gs300 sw03es worked on....i must say, he did a great job....yes, black is the easiest color to fix. the swirls came out with no problem. i washed car the other day and the shine is better than before. now i just gotta make appointment to get vertical surfaces done.

[SW03ES]

I was just actually going to send you an email and do that, let me do that now.

[rvgraham]

I appreciate your comments but...

My question was about scratches, the kind you can feel with your fingernails, not swirl marks. I've talked to a body shop guy who's a friend of mine, and his opinion is to wet sand the scratches out, then buff out the paint. I'm not sure why he's not recommending coarse grit rubbing (cutting?) compound followed by polishing compound. It's definitely going to take sanding and/or machine buffer work to fix. My worry is just that I hope the paint is thick enough to take the loss of a mil or two to get below these scratches.

After that I'll look at claying or other hand work solutions to keep the paint looking nice.

Bob

[SW03ES]

If you can feel it with your fingernail then it can be made to look better, but not completely repaired. You can have a professional wetsand and touch up the scratch, but that isn't at all something you want to do yourself.

The Lexus black is quite thick though...