(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!

New Bumper Cover... Part 2

Two days after I dropped off the car at the local Porsche shop CREF, I went to pick up the car.

That is one tasty 911 GT RS3....

As if not obvious by now, I had gone to this shop because they seem to be one of only a very few places in Japan that specialize in the application of protectant film for cars (they had a Bentley in the shop when I had arrived, and a Gallardo on the way...). Rather than anything from 3M, they use the Xpel line up, and in particular they used the latest self-healing type (Xpel Ultimate) for my car. Here is a video clip I found:

And here is a link to the nationwide association in Japan these guys at CREF actually head up.  I had gone ahead and ordered the full front bumper (of course), the door handle cups, the top of the rear bumper, and lastly, some custom work on the rear door entry areas (because of the kids). What's interesting is that, while the bumper of course is brand new, the other areas had some slight scuffs in the clearcoat - and yet as Ishiguro-san at CREF promised, once the film was applied those slight imperfections really can't be seen!

Yes, slight orange peel visible, but now I can fly on the expressway with no worries...
(the hood already has too many chips for me to care)

In any case, this being Japan the craftsmanship was, as usual, nearly perfect.

Door handle cups - all 4 done!

Upper bumper area which often gets scratched when loading stuff. You can see my finger pointing to the line

On the rear door entry areas, we originally were planning just a simple strip on the edge, but they went ahead and put down a whole lot more, just in case (and without changing the estimate!)

Arrow pointing to upper edge

Arrows show bottom edge and how it extends to the side.

Obviously several other areas of the car still need work - for example the hood needs to be repainted in places and the right rear quarter panel has some paint chips. But for now I'm happy with the additional protection.

I'm not done with CREF though... turns out they have 2 other key items I've been looking at getting done...

New Bumper Cover... Part 1

So, as the title says, one thing I had done at the Lexus dealer was to have the beat up original bumper cover, with all of its scratches and chips thanks to the previous owner, replaced with a brand new bumper cover from the factory. Being a Lexus factory part, the paint is absolutely perfect.

Beautiful!

But to stay absolutely perfect is not possible, not matter how much wax or sealant is applied, especially when the car is on the expressway often as it is in my case. But, I had, even before buying the car (but after seeing it), thought about getting certain parts of the car repainted so I had ordered several pieces of 3M clear protection film pre-cut for the ISF, from the US.

Here are the film cutouts for the bumper and mirrors.

On my GT-R, I had successfully cut my own templates, from which I cut headlight protection thickness 3M clear film, and then applied to the headlights. So, I figured that with lots of time and patience, application of the bumper piece on the ISF would be the same, especially because it was already pre-cut.

So, I took off the (required in Japan) license plate and its holder:

This must be the cheapest piece on the car. Will have to upgrade soon.

Those are some LARGE holes...

And then I washed the bumper and used a Zaino claybar to remove any dust, just in case:

After it was all clean, I sprayed the front bumper with the distilled water and baby shampoo mix:

The bumper film has yet to be peeled away and is sitting upside down on the hood

And then, as deftly as possible I removed the 3M film from its backing and tried to apply it to the bumper:

Was ok so far...

Finally got it on, somehow....

And then came the process of using the supplied squeegees to remove the activator fluid of distilled water and alcohol.

When I finished, however, I learned that 1) in getting the film to fit in some areas, I had overstretched the material so it would not fit in others, 2) despite my washing down the garage some dust had gotten trapped and caused some rough spots (redoing the application in places to remove this dust was driving me insane) and 3) some fluid just could not be removed.

What it looked like when I gave up...

Finally, after spending the entire afternoon doing this, as it began to get dark I decided to give up. The photo above was taken right before I walked away disgusted with myself.

The problem remained, however, what to do - could this be salvaged (I guess I could drive it around looking horrible until it was fixed) or was there another solution?

For the GT-R, I had also wanted to install some paint protection - I had bought a can of the 3M Paint Defender as well as a container of the Road Warrior Plus because I was concerned that I would not have the talent to cut bulk sheets of the 3M film to fit the GT-R.  But of course, for some reason I searched my garage and could find neither of these.

Finally I gave up, made some calls, and then found myself on Wednesday morning at a famous Porsche tuner in Yokohama, just 10 minutes away from where I live.

Stay tuned in Part 2 to see what I had done...