Updating My Car Cleaning and Detailing Knowledge!

So it has been a while, but yes I still have the Lexus as my daily/weekend driver – going strong with no problems.  And so much so, I haven’t bothered to make any mods to it, both in the name of keeping the Toyota reliability as well as not finding any real inspiration to mess with a very good car.  This, combined with my crazy workload this year, means I haven’t had time to really touch either of my cars.  

Here is the item for my testing today, the SUMAHO Mamoru Kun product (rated a 9H in hardness on the JIS scale)

Recently however, I was checking out the parts review section on Minkara, when I came across a series of owners of different cars talking about a product, originally designed to protect cell phone displays, that was proving to be effective against protecting the piano black finish that seems to be increasingly popular these days in car interiors, against scratches, dust, and for some people, reducing the appearance of fine scratches. This spray, called SuMaHo Mamoru-kun, also is supposedly good at protecting the glass Navi displays from dust and scratches. (I suspect this is some kind of ceramic glass coating spray…)

I even found one review where the reviewer also recommended using a certain brand of microfiber cloth, along with purified water, to do the initial wipe-down, before applying the Mamoru Kun spray.

As I am never one to shy away from a good idea, I went out and got the coating, the microfiber cloth, and the purified water.

Translated as Super Strong Cleaning Cloth.  To remove stubborn oil stains, fingerprints, accumulated dust.

Sealed to keep dust free.

And most importantly, Made In Japan quality!

Japanese purified water. Actually tasted pretty good...

 

While the IS-F really doesn’t have any piano black touches – at least mine does not – it DOES have this silver carbon finish, as well as the now dated touchscreen. So I figured, why not try this out next time I am waiting in the car to pick up the wife or kids? Might as well keep up with the newest advances in car cleaning and protection, right?

Such an opportunity came up just today! Luckily I had already collected the items I needed, so...

Opened Mamoru-kun to reveal this tiny spray bottle and some cloth

Water on the Super Strong Cleaning Cloth

Maybe a bit hard to see, but the touch screen was a bit dirty, so I got to work...

Meanwhile the instructions are SO Japanese. Manga-easy to read...

After cleaning, spray on the product:

Then use the smaller of the included cloths to spread around. Let dry. 

The package contained 4 of these tiny cloths

Result is hard to show by photo. However on the silver carbon part, I could see that it was immediately much shinier. I am guessing that the spray stuff is a ceramic sealant. 

Hard to tell, but just wiping the dried sealant off, I could immediately tell the difference as the cloth moved around much easier.  Super slick!

For comparison, I did not apply this liquid on the silver carbon on the front doors. 

yep, felt strangely rough compared to the sprayed surface

And I am glad I did not spray these, it is tactile evidence that the spray stuff works! The center console feels super slick, and I think some of the small scratches are much harder to see. 

Lighting isn't outdoors like yesterday so...
(yeah I don't know why the ignition switch seems to be green either)

And the final result is - as you can see, super clean Navi screen - to be expected - but what was very interesting was, because this product is designed for cell phone screens, as a side benefit to leaving the surface super slippery as described above, it also means that fingerprints are not easily transferred to the glass.  Whatever oils do end up, can be easily wiped off with a microfiber towel. 

And, if you look very closely at the screen, while the surface seems very smooth, clean, and smudge free, I can see which parts of the screen seem to have been used more... maybe. Or just bad lighting.

In any case, I am curious to see how long this lasts. Will report back - this car has been neglected, cleaning and detail-wise, for too long so I am eager to get back into checking out new techniques, tools and products. Stay tuned!

A Short Trip Up To Nagano... and the Prince & Skyline Museum

...and the Prince & Skyline Museum!

I'll post more on the museum itself on my R33 GT-R page later, but wanted to include some photos that just came out right!

Yamanashi and Nagano Prefectures are VERY green this time of year, and with a bit of rainfall the scenery was even more interesting (check out the clouds) and pretty.  Bonus was all the fresh air...

Found a neat bridge with red railings. Had to stop and take some photos! 

Found a look out point a few kms later...

Here was the view... the kind of green I don't see in Yokohama!

Another nice bridge

Still think the carbon lip really balances the car...

Towards the end of the day, found this road...

Had some fun on a gravel road....

Got out to check it out and what a great picture here

Of course this will need a wash....

 Anyway it's been a while since I drove this car so much (over 450km in one day) and this blog also needed an update.

Until next time...

LEMS Carbon Fiber Lip Spoiler Install

So this is indicative of how long it's been since I last updated this blog (for real, not the sticker stuff in my last post) - this mod was done last July 9 (2017!!)! So over a year ago! Sorry friends, but obviously I don't do much for this car compared to the GT-R so updates don't seem as urgent...now that the car is off warranty (as a CPO car, it had a comprehensive warranty that expired in August 2018), I'm itching to do some stuff to bring out the car's best.

Anyway, soon after I bought the car, I was researching the various types of cosmetic mods - such as carbon fiber front lips (and other body part) options, and stumbled upon LEMS. There are other companies here in Japan that do Lexus stuff too such as NOVEL and ThinkDesign but each seems to have their own speciality. For example, ThinkDesign has some very tasty interior parts, and NOVEL has the market cornered with race developed engine and suspension mods.

The car without the carbon lip spoiler

So one day I was casually looking at items on Yahoo Auction, and found the item below, being sold by LEMS themselves (I could tell as the Seller ID was different but the address was LEMS).  The lip spoiler was being offered for substantially less than retail price of over 220,000 yen, so I figured maybe it was a one off or maybe slightly damaged.

When I got the box, it didn't inspire much confidence on the contents.

But yes a genuine LEMS product, with these instructions...

Wow. Gorgeous weave. Too bad this is on the UNDERSIDE and can't be seen

I had my friend Alessandro come over to help. 

The white stuff is clear silicon, not glue!

The lip spoiler is very well made. In fact, I could have simply slipped it on and it would have stayed on. But I went ahead and used some silicon as you can see in the above photo. First, I didn't want any water accumulating. Second, and more importantly, I was concerned about scratches to the bumper paint.  So we just slipped on the lip spoiler and I think there were a couple of screws on the outer sides, and voila!

One of the easiest mods I've ever done. Didn't even need to lift the car up (had jack stands ready just in case)

Really makes the car look better!

Verdict - great mod! Makes the front end of the car look much sharper and lower to the ground. I've only scraped a couple of times in tower parking lots as I'm going up or down a steep ramp, but the scratches aren't noticeable.

I'd say the problem now is, I am very tempted to add more carbon to the front of the car... it can certainly use more of it!!

Some More Parts to Improve the Car...

In my quest to improve my IS-F in the most efficient manner possible, I have been slowly collecting some parts over the past year or so which I thought would bring me the best bang for the buck. Because I haven't been as good at updating this blog as my GT-R blog, I'm going to simply lay out all of these parts.

First -  I decided to replace the OEM halogen fog lights with later year (2011-2014?) OEM LED fog lights - just plug and play...

Before

Much whiter!

And yes my car wasn't clean when I took this photo...

As for performance of LED vs halogen, hard to say really. They are mounted so low and act only to fill in the dark space under the headlights so I think the effect is more of a visual, than performance difference. Oh well, wasn't that expensive and it gives a more modern look...

I had also learned from Yamada-san at CREF (where I had the clear film installed) that when Toyota was developing the IS-F, they found that the large amount of power meant that the rear subframe would actually move and cause some instability, and that this was especially noticeable on a rain slick track. So, Spoon Sports developed the Rigid Collar kit for the ISF.

Just a few collars...

For anyone not familiar with the Rigid Collar concept, here is a video link that describes how they work.

Yes it sounds too good to be true, but yes they work and I will go into more detail in a future post about what they did for my car's handling. I had gotten them for my GT-R and was suitably impressed so the lack of internet feedback on their use on the IS-F didn't bother me.

I had also read on the ClubLexus forum how the Apex'i throttle controller made the car feel much more responsive (but not necessarily faster - but that's ok, I just want something more responsive!). So, I ordered one and the car-specific harness.

From: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-f-2008-2014/626697-apexi-throttle-control-installed-i-love-it-d-2.html

In a later post, I'll discuss this part - all I will say for now is, it really is worth getting!

Finally, some bling - I found something in my closet that I had ordered when I first ordered the car, but was not delivered in time for the dealer to install it, a dry carbon fiber rear license plate frame from LEMS.

Two photos from their website (as I was too lazy to unwrap it before handing it Ninomiya-san to install):

Side facing out

Body side

Here is the rear license plate before:

... and now afterwards! 

As you can see in Japan, there is this metal "cap" on the upper left bolt that has to be installed by special tooling (available only at the DMV). So Ninomiya-san had to make a quick trip in order to get it done... but I think the results are worth it!

Now I have to decide whether to splurge on a matching dry carbon fiber FRONT license plate frame and/or a rear trunk lip spoiler...but before that, one more piece of (possibly functional?) bling... stay tuned!