A customer called and asked if I could help him remove scratches throughout the paint on his car, and increase the overall gloss and shine of his black 2013 Lexus GS350. The photo above shows some scratches that were on the hood, which were the worst of all of the scratches in the car’s paint finish. He wasn’t sure how they got there, but did mention that “maybe they were put there from removing snow from the previous year.” When he was telling me this, he was making movements with his arms as though he used a shovel or a broom to remove the snow. While I’m not sure how the scratches were made, it was enough to make me cringe at the thought! It was time to focus on the exterior and the car paint scratch removal.
Our first step was to give the car a nice hand wash without marring the paint even further. Using a foam cannon we washed the car using a microfiber wash mitt. Starting from the top we worked our way down. The wheels also received our wheel cleaning treatment using a non-acid wheel cleaner. Once the car was washed we decontaminated the paint using a clay bar in addition to an iron remover to remove the iron from the paint surface. These two treatments made a world of difference-making the car ready for polishing.
The first step was to polish the paint on the hood. The hood is what contained a majority of the deeper scratches so that is the area that we tackled first. Using my Rupes Bigfoot dual-action Polisher, a course cut microfiber pad, and a heavy cut polish, the compounding and polishing began. Working the polish in at a medium speed made for just the right amount of cut.
The next step was to use a light cutting pad to help level the clear coat and give the hood a much better shine. While the heavy cut pad and the heavy cut compound is great for removing scratches, the gloss that it creates is less than to be desired. Using a microfiber finishing pad and a musch less aggressive polish, we were able to achieve great results. To top it off with excellent protection, we applied a ceramic coating, Opti Coat Pro Plus. This ceramic coating is harder and thicker than the factor clear coat. With just an easy wipedown wash, the car will stay looking great for years to come and itll never need to be waxed.
Looking at the photo below, you can see that about 90 percent of the scratches were removed. I was very happy with that, and even more so was the customer! Once the hood was completed we polished the entire vehicle, and as you can tell from the photos below, the results of gloss enhancement were amazing! And, it’ll stay looking great since we topped it off with a permanent ceramic coating.
Learn more about our ceramic coating services here… https://www.autodetaildoctor.com/ceramic-coating-columbus-ohio/