# - Lexus IS-F gets Swissvax detail! -



## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

I have been looking forward to this detail for a while now. :thumb:

The temps and humidity are starting to drop off here where I live (~35*c / ~80%-100%+ humidity, down to ~30*c / ~60% humidity). We only have two seasons here, are moving from 'Wet Season' into 'Dry Season', or as I like to call it, into 'Detailing Season!!!' 

So it's time to ditch those long lasting sealants, and go back to wax! And to celebrate this glorious occasion, I purchased Swissvax Reflexus to use on my Lexus IS-F! 

Over the stinking hot and humid 'Wet Season', I had used Prima Amigo and Naviwax Dark combo. I was very impressed with this, it gave a very nice inky black, glassy wet look to my Lexus IS-F's paint. This Amigo and Navi combo had lasted a genuine 3 months (no top ups or QD assistance) until I thought it needed a tidy up (now). It still looked ~100%, but the beading and sheeting were getting tired, and the dreaded water spots were starting to turn up. I could have used a spray wax etc. to extend the life out of it, but where's the fun in that?!?! 

The Prima Amigo and Naviwax Dark combo on my Lexus IS-F can be seen here: www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=250630

So on to the detail. I didn't bother with the wash pics as this was done the previous day. The Lexus was given the usual snow foam treatment, wash with Dodo BTBM, and the wheels cleaned with various brushes and car shampoo.

The Lexus was first given a wipe down with 3M Wax & Grease Remover, then a wipe down with CarPro Eraser to ensure all the Prima Amigo and Naviwax Dark was removed.

Swissvax Cleaner Fluid was the order of the day. As most detailers would say, vital to anyone using the Swissvax waxes, and well worth it.










The Festooligans could only dream of such a nice machine! :lol:

I chose to use the 'king' Flex PE14-2 150 rotary with a Lake Country blue CCS pad, and used minimum speed. I tried the Swissvax Cleaner Fluid by hand, but it was a pain to spread and remove. With the Flex rotary, I lightly worked the SV Cleaner Fluid, and wipe off was MUCH easier.










A little Swissvax Cleaner Fluid goes a long way, this stuff is really oily.




























I find the Swissvax Cleaner Fluid darkens a bit, adds nice depth, really amps up the gloss, and gives a very nice glow to the paint. I haven't really seen such a glow from a pre-wax cleaner / glaze before. I was very impressed.










Nice finish, nice sparkles! You can see the gold glass flake in the paint quite nicely!



















Polishing is polishing. Waxing is waxing. Detailing is getting all of the crap out of the cracks! :thumb:














































The interior was given a tidy up. The carpets were removed and vacuumed, the leather was treated to Optimum Leather Protectant (Protectant Plus), and all the plastics and door jams were treated to Swissvax Nano Express. The Nano Express gives a nice darkened matte finish to the plastics, and a nice gloss to the paint.























































Swissvax Reflexus. It's a hard wax, very nice to use, and smells gorgeous (passionfruit)! I applied using a foam applicator. It was fairly hard to load the pad, but easy to apply and remove.










After the first coat, I parked the Lex out in the sun for about an hour to cure. It looks really oily wet here in the full sun!














































The lexus parked back inside and left to cool down again for about an hour. It was given a second coat of Swissvax Reflexus, buffed off, then moved back outside.

I gave it a final buff using a minimal amount of Swissvax Quick Finish on a fluffy MF cloth. The tyres were treated to Swissvax Pneu, which was applied by brush. Failing light, the pics from the iPhone 4S aren't as good as they could be. 
































































Reflection shot! Black paint really is cheating! 










I popped the bonnet to give it a tidy, but not needed. I treated in here to 303 Aerospace Protectant about 3 months ago, and it still looks a million bucks! I just gave it a quick dusting, and thats it!

You can't see much with all the engine covers, but under there is 5 litres of Yamaha tuned V8 fury! :devil:



















Swissvax products used!










Thanks for looking! Stay tuned for Swissvax Onyx, Samurai, Mirage, Zuffenhausen, and Concorso! :wave:


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## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Looks good dude :thumb:


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## Sti_Brumby (Aug 19, 2010)

Very yummy. bet ya glad the rain is gone


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Sti_Brumby said:


> Very yummy. bet ya glad the rain is gone


The humidity dropping off is the best thing!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Concours Car Care said:


> Looks good dude :thumb:


Cheers Lee! :thumb:


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## dhiren_motilal (Apr 3, 2011)

nice one mate, love those reflections. Do tell about the stay tuned bit.....?


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

dhiren_motilal said:


> nice one mate, love those reflections. Do tell about the stay tuned bit.....?


Haha! I PMed ya, but you beat me here! :lol:

All I can say is stay tuned!!!


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## ronwash (Mar 26, 2011)

Car looks stunning,great work,i told you youll like Reflexus..:car:


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## The Cueball (Feb 8, 2007)

very nice, great work on a lovely looking car.... not quite sure about your feet though 

:lol:

:thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

ronwash said:


> Car looks stunning,great work,i told you youll like Reflexus..:car:


Cheers Ron. Yeah, it's quite nice. Still too early to give it my final thoughts, but it's good. I'll give it another coat tomorrow and see how I go. :thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

The Cueball said:


> very nice, great work on a lovely looking car.... not quite sure about your feet though
> 
> :lol:
> 
> :thumb:


My feet are awesome! :lol:


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## MAXI-MILAN (Oct 26, 2008)

Your car looks very shiny ! Stunning finish :thumb:


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## MidlandsCarCare (Feb 18, 2006)

That's a superb finish.


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## Mad Ad (Feb 7, 2011)

Thats awsome Type

Flex:thumb::thumb:


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## JBirchy (Oct 9, 2010)

That looks stunning mate. Love the finish and i bet it sounds incredible at full chat!?!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Fantastic finish


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

Well that looks bloody lovely mate! And like your summation of "detailing" :lol:

:thumb:


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## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Stunning finish! Very very wet looking :thumb:


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## Jochen (May 21, 2007)

That finish looks ridiculously good! Nice car also :thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

JBirchy said:


> That looks stunning mate. Love the finish and i bet it sounds incredible at full chat!?!


Cheers mate!

Yep, she sounds absolutely incredible when you tickle her just right! She goes from 0 - loose your license bloody quickly too!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

-PJB- said:


> Well that looks bloody lovely mate! And like your summation of "detailing" :lol:
> 
> :thumb:


Haha! I got that one off Mike Phillips! :thumb:


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## Scott_VXR (May 22, 2011)

WOW!  

Love your motor mate! Top job :thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

MAXI-MILAN said:


> Your car looks very shiny ! Stunning finish :thumb:


Cheers Nasser. Looking forward to the big Swissvax wax off!!!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

MidlandsCarCare said:


> That's a superb finish.


Did you call Swissvax yet Russ? I got a few samples on the way including 50ml Mirage like you were after.


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## Zetec-al (Feb 28, 2011)

Ohhh how i wished i lived in Aussie land!! on the otherhand great work buddy!


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## Kobeone (Dec 14, 2011)

Gotta say that is a stunning car and a stunning finish. The swissvax stuff is immense, due to do my mates Lexus soarer soon in black and hope to get as good a finish as you have achieved!! :thumb:


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## jamesgti (Aug 9, 2007)

WOW looks loverly mate.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Cuey beat me to it, but you have monkey feet :wave:


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## Bill58 (Jul 5, 2010)

Great work on a great car!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

stangalang said:


> Cuey beat me to it, but you have monkey feet :wave:


haha, their the best ones I've had so far!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Kobeone said:


> Gotta say that is a stunning car and a stunning finish. The swissvax stuff is immense, due to do my mates Lexus soarer soon in black and hope to get as good a finish as you have achieved!! :thumb:


Make sure you post a detail mate, I love the Soarers! Will you be using Swissvax as well? The Cleaner Fluid is well worth it!


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## Thorpy (Oct 7, 2008)

Car looks stunning mate, nicely done.


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## stangalang (Nov 27, 2009)

Seriously top work matty. That cf regular is the dogs on a finishing pad hey? What's your thoughts on the wax then, worth it?


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## IanG (Nov 21, 2007)

That is just stunning absolutely stunning! :argie:


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Looks fantastic


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

stangalang said:


> Seriously top work matty. That cf regular is the dogs on a finishing pad hey? What's your thoughts on the wax then, worth it?


Yep, love the Cleaner Fluid! By hand it was painful, but once worked a bit by machine, it's very easy to work with. you can see on the pad how much crap it was pulling out of 'clean' paint.

With the wax, I got to put another coat on today, but it's settled down into a nice look so far. Is it worth it? Only if you have a Lexus!  I'll still reserve my final thoughts for a bit, but I'm happy with it so far.


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## Damien (May 8, 2011)

Great looking job you did there. That's a lovely car too. V8 5L isn't it? Love the paddle shifters.


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Awesome finish on the car mate :thumb:

You should change your user name lol.. Unless you have a Type-R


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

AaronGTi said:


> Awesome finish on the car mate :thumb:
> 
> You should change your user name lol.. Unless you have a Type-R


Cheers mate. Yes, Honda driver from way back!  
They've really lost the plot lately though.....


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Damien said:


> Great looking job you did there. That's a lovely car too. V8 5L isn't it? Love the paddle shifters.


yep, 5L V8! The paddle shifters don't get used much, but it's fun when they do! Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde! :doublesho


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## Racer (Oct 27, 2005)

Great Work :thumb:


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## maya (May 14, 2011)

awesome work


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Cheers guys. I put another coat of wax on today, l have to throw up more pics!


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Good job there mate :thumb:


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## prokopas (Apr 29, 2010)

Amazing look. Well done


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Thanks guys! I'll throw the extra pics up tonight!


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## s3 rav (Apr 30, 2008)

Stunning car mate.


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## twink (Mar 31, 2012)

awesome mate


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## ArcticVXR (Apr 10, 2007)

Great work :thumb:


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## Dannypower (Mar 29, 2012)

Great CAR Great JOB!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Cheers guys!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

This is after the 3rd wax by hand with Swissvax Reflexus. :thumb:


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## AaronGTi (Nov 2, 2010)

Mint!!


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## Kobeone (Dec 14, 2011)

i love this game!!


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## Swell.gr (May 7, 2008)

Cracking finish! great work mate :thumb:

mike


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## th0r (Jun 16, 2011)

Looks very good and this car


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## dhiren_motilal (Apr 3, 2011)

mate that is just insane, you can see the flakes in some of the shots. jealous!


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

dhiren_motilal said:


> mate that is just insane, you can see the flakes in some of the shots. jealous!


cheers Dhiren. Yes, the flake really only comes out to play in full sun, it just looks black any other time. I love the colour! Thank god for clearcoat!!!


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## MAXI-MILAN (Oct 26, 2008)

Unbelievable flakes pop ! Purest finish :thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

MAXI-MILAN said:


> Unbelievable flakes pop ! Purest finish :thumb:


Onyx or Mirage next, hopefully I can get more wetness out of it! :thumb:


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## Kadir (Jun 14, 2007)

Beautiful IS.


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## ercapoccia (Nov 14, 2008)

Cracking job! That's really a nice car


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## davec (Mar 5, 2012)

looks as wet as an otters pocket. great job.


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## detaillover (Apr 25, 2011)

i want one!!!.... having to wipe off the keyboard im drooling so much lol 

Cracking job. swissvax is just a wee bit too out of my price range lol


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Thanks guys!


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## moosh (May 8, 2011)

WOW :doublesho that looks amazing! Lovely lex :thumb:


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## Kotsos (May 7, 2011)

Insane reflections 

Well done


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## Michael_McL (Aug 25, 2011)

Great job and a stunning car


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## shaunwistow (May 13, 2011)

Very nice, well done.


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Cheers! I've been playing around with different wax combos, I'll have to do a full detail soon!


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