(Almost) As Good As New! Professional Detail at Blackcats Detailing!

So even though last year I picked up a used 2016 Nissan Elgrand VIP and my new Skyline Nismo, I am still keeping (for now) my IS-F. Something about this V-8 engine and the Lexus quality...

But admittedly, most of my energy recently has been spent on the other cars. So giving this one some TLC was long overdue.

I was lucky enough to find BlackCats Auto Detailing Service when I was trying to find a shop local to me who could do some paint protection film for the new Skyline. (check out my Skyline Nismo blog soon for what is going on!). But essentially, I was so happy with the work Takahashi-san did on the Skyline (I think he is as OCD as me...!) that I decided the Lexus also needed to be polished and protected!

Since he knows me pretty well now, Takahashi-san recommended and used the top of the line, pro-shop only EX KeePer ceramic coating from the well known Keeper Technical Laboratory Co. Ltd. -  in Japan one sees KeePer shops everywhere and they are synonymous with super clean cars.  I suppose there are other shops out there that use even more advanced chemicals but they tend to be very expensive and even then from the damage he repaired Takahashi-san obviously knows what he is doing.

So here are some photos that Takahashi-san sent me (and are also posted on the BlackCats Detailing Instagram account!). 

Cleaned up headlight

Yellowed from age - before it was polished clean!

And then after:

here is the EX KeePer product

Car looks fantastic from any angle!

Tailights were polished as Takahashi-san found minute scratches from automated car washes... yes, I am GUILTY of putthing this car through a few!

When I went to pick up the car, I took some photos too. Blame the operator or the camera, while the car looked fantastic, photos do not do the work Takahashi-san did justice!

Just in case, Takahashi-san gave the car a charge - he noted the battery was a bit weak from not driving it much lately?

Just by talking to Takahashi-san, I felt almost guilty for neglecting this car, so next time I agreed on some detailing work for the interior and to get rid of some of the wheel curb rash.

I need to find another carbon lip spoiler, this one is done...

Love this personalized fold up director's chair with the BlackCats logo!

Still the best angle for this car, I think?

And then at home, there is just SOMETHING that looks better. It could be the newly freshened up headlights, which now have Xpel protective film protecting them? 

But at least I now have in mind at least a couple of projects for this car. Hopefully this will be the year I bring it back to perfect!

Sunny Day Means a Wash and Detail!

Right before Japan's raining season (late June and July), I happened to be home on a weekend where I had some free time. And it was nice and sunny.

I had recently noticed some minute scratching in the paint surface, so in addition to giving the car a wash, I decided some work with an orbital buffer would also be good.

Using, of course, my favorite car care products from Zaino.

I know, it's not good to dry in the sun. I had to move fast...

Loe how the water still beads even though I don't wax the car regularly. This is the Zaino AIO in action (plus the occasional Z-9 or Z-7 instant detailer spray)

Blinded by the light!!

Another shot - I wonder if I should get an OEM carbon fiber trunk lip spoiler? 

Here in Japan, with our narrow streets, I had to park and not block the main street!

All done! Hard to tell the gloss though...

Here we go. 

So what do you think? Shiny enough? I think the Lexus has very high quality paint, which makes cleaning up and looking good so much easier...

"New" Wheels (Part 2)

So as you saw from my last post, I found some used wheels in good condition, with near new tires. My task has been to clean up the inside of all the brake dust, as well as to remove the scratches in the chromed parts, to the best of my ability. Granted, I bought those wheels last DECEMBER(!) so this project has been taking me a while.

With my current wheels, they collect so much brake dust and the dust is really hard to remove. No matter how many times I wash and use chemicals, or even special brushes, the dust just accumulates. There appears to be a "crust" of brake dust that just does not want to come off, and makes it easier for more brake dust to accumulate.

The purple stuff is brake dust MELTING away...

Specialist tools to get all the brake dust. I've never had to use this on the GTR. 

Yuck!

Anyway, there is a reason why I don't have this problem with the GT-R. You see, whenever I get wheels for the GT-R - whether the original OEMs that came with the car, or the RE30s I had for a few months, the TE37s or the LMGT4s I used only on the track, I always, when new/clean, apply this:

I love this stuff. You can buy it here.

Before I applied this, however, I wanted to make sure the wheels were absolutely the cleanest they could be.

A bit of brake dust here, so

I used some detailing clay to remove what I could

I was surprised to find this much still embedded!

So while the clay was certainly helping, after doing all 4 wheels, I still felt like I hadn't gotten rid of all I could. So, I ordered this stuff from the same place that makes the wheel "glass coating":

Which is basically a super strong acidic solution, much stronger than the off the shelf purple stuff I normally use

I now felt my wheels were clean enough, so I applied several thin coats of the glass coating:

With iPhone in one hand, pretending to apply with the other...

Why all of this prep? See my next post as to what I am doing with these wheels!

"New" Wheels (Part 1)

One of the problems with buying used, even a Certified Pre-Owned car, is that not everything is perfect, at least cosmetically.

For me, the biggest issue I spotted were the curb-rashed wheels - this was because other items like rock chips in the bumper, hood and mirror covers can all be written up as normal "wear and tear" - but curb rash signifies poor driving skills.

I get annoyed every time I see this on my car (so all the time....)

And, yes because I am sensitive to how others view me as a driver (especially when driving a nice car), I want to make sure that people don't think I can't drive without scraping ALL FOUR wheels.

So, I searched on Yahoo Auctions for some OEM wheels with as little damage as possible  - which was easier said than done, actually.

Finally, however I found a seller who not only seemed to be selling some clean undamaged rims (one small spot had some rash), but also was running on almost brand new tires (Michelin Pilot Super Sports) - he claimed only 4800 kms on them.

From the photos, it looked like a good deal - even the tires alone would be expensive (if new) and so I figured that together it would be a decent deal (i.e. get clean free wheels for the price of the tires).

From the Yahoo Auction page

From the Yahoo Auction page

When I got them, however, of course they were not as perfect as the seller claimed. Good condition yes but some light scrapes were visible so I had to buff those out using a combination of PoorBoys 2.5, 3M Perfect-It, and some good old elbow grease:

Before

After

Have to give credit to not just this 3M product, but some PoorBoys 2.5 vanishing compound too... oh and yes my PorterCable machine!

Still, they look great from a few paces away and clearly way better than the wheels on my car now.


Also, it appears he was truthful about the tires - the tire code shows that the tires were manufactured the 8th week (last week of Feb) of 2015, so these tires are relatively new and 4800kms - in Japan - makes sense especially if these tires were manufactured overseas (so if imported, would be on the car around late March, and I bought these wheels in August, so about 800kms per month?)


I noticed, however that there was still some brake dust hiding between the spokes and even though I used some clay to try to remove, it just wasn't going as quickly as it could:

Not very efficient...

So, I decided to try a chemical solution:

The purple stuff is the melted iron/brake dust, apparently...

Truth be told, the chemical did not remove all of the brake dust, so check back in Part 2 for my additional efforts. The wheels are presentable, sure, but not perfect... yet...

Full Detail!

Back in May, I took the Lexus into RAPT, the closest detailing shop to me. Kabe-san, the owner, has taken good care of me over the years with my GT-R.

My main goal was to have the car professionally polished with all minute scratches removed, and the protection (the "glass coating") was secondary, because I was planning on using Zaino like I always do to get the maximum shine and protection.  It turns out this was the right thing to do, as the particular glass coating he used, the least expensive Echelon glass coating product (compared to the top of the line Echelon Nano-Fil product he used for the GT-R), was not very good at having the water "bead and run off" like it did with the GT-R. Hydrophilic, not hydrophobic I guess. He also did the interior as well.

Anyway, some photos from when I picked up the car.

I also asked him to repair some leather that was fading, right along this seam.

This is the tool he used to remove dust and dirt from the holes in the seat

Nice and shiny!

He polished the headlights as well!

I told him not to bother with the wheels because they are scratched up, but he polished them anyway

As before he was kind enough to post some pictures up on his blog.

Here they are...amazing the difference in camera quality lol...

Showing how he removed the seats to vacuum underneath.

Now, photos do not do the car's paint justice. Hopefully I'll be able to put up some photos in daylight soon. Before that, however, I have some actual mods too....