# Invisible Touch Detailing - Lexus IS F



## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi, here we have the detail of a stunning Lexus IS F, booked in for a stage 2 paint correction and engine bay treatment.

Walking round the car...














































Checking the enine bay



















The car was jetwashed down and the wheels were sprayed with bilberry and aggitated with brushes




























The tyres were sprayed with APC










The wheels were rinsed and the car was snow foamed



















After 5 mins this was jetwashed off and the car was washed by 2 bucket method and shampoo plus










Door shuts and fuel cap were sprayed with APC and aggitated





































The car was then dried and clayed using last touch as lube. Doors and lower arches being worse off










Washed again using the same process as before and brought inside to be dried and inspected under halogen and led lighting






















































































































A section on the bonnet was taped off. I used the Makita rotary and initially tried a 3M polishing pad with menzerna 106FA but wasnt expecting this to do the job. Which it didnt so i switched to the same pad but 3M fast cut plus.










Producing this














































Onto the other half of bonnet





































Moving round to the rear door























































Much better



















Switching to a sonus polishing spot pad for the front wings and A pillars



























































































Things were starting to take shape now










Moving round to the boot





































The paintwork was then dusted down and i changed to a meguiars finishing pad and menzerna final finish. Such a lovely polish




































































































I then changed to a 3M finishing spot pad for the front wings, boot and A pillars










The car was then taken outside to be inspected in natural light




























Time for the engine bay. This was rinsed down with warm water and shampoo plus, sprayed with APC, aggitated and jetwashed off














































The car was then jetwashed and snow foamed due to the huge amount of polishing dust from the fast cut!



















It was then dried inside. The engine bay was then treated with aerospace 303, protecting all rubbers and plastics










Leaving this





































Poorboys wheel sealant was applied, along with endurance tyre gel




























The car was then taken outside to be checked and to take some photos while the sun was out













































































































Dodo juice lime prime lite was then applied by applicator pad per panel at a time and buffed straight off



















I then applied 1 application of Victoria Concourse wax, which as always was lovely to use










I then applied a second layer of endurance tyre gel










All exterior rubbers and plastics were treated with bumper care, including all door seals



















The interior/boot was then hoovered and wiped down with poorboys natural look










The air vents were dusted with brushes and cotton buds




























I then went around the car removing any wax residue from badges and small cracks



















These were the final pictures of the car




































































































and of course the service book 










Lovely car to work on and i think ive now chosen a colour to have the Supra sprayed in....

Thanks for looking, Christian


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## deeds (Aug 18, 2009)

Detailing in every sense of the word ! and an excellent read , thanks for the post.


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## Detail My Ride (Apr 19, 2006)

That is absolutely stunning. Looks fantastic, great write up too. :thumb:


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## liam99 (Dec 29, 2009)

Top work and good write-up.


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## AM8 (Jan 3, 2009)

Wow!..great looking car and a top job...looks stunning, well done and I'm sure the owner was delighted


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## FrazzleTC (Jul 4, 2009)

That's superb work on a pretty unusual car. Very nice indeed!


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## Carlo86 (Apr 21, 2010)

Beautiful work!
the service book :argie:


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## HC1001 (May 27, 2007)

Great work, write up and pic's....................:thumb:


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## Jorge (Oct 12, 2009)

What atention to the Details! :thumb:

Great report and great Photos! 

Best regards.


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## RandomlySet (Jul 10, 2007)

cracking work!


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## jashton (May 15, 2010)

Very impressive work, do you always pressure wash your bays after cleaning with APC? I'm guessing you felt safe due to the large plastic coverings? I have had a few bad experiences with individual coils shorting out due to water getting into the connections somehow (this is with covering with foil). Maybe I have just had bad luck, but what do you wash down a bay with (after cleaning) on say a lamborghini with more sensitive electrical components?


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## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi Jashton, The bay wasnt jetwashed at pressure. It wasnt even turned on, so just a very small amount of pressure and water. Some cars you can get away with more than others. As a general rule you are only using this method for rinsing, not cleansing. Any dirt has already been well worked off by aggitating with brushes, a small amount of water from a hose or watering can would do the job equally well. You have to make sure water doesnt collect in certain places on certain cars, and its wise to start them straight after and leave to run for 5 mins. But i've never had a problem after washing any engine bays.


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## burger (Feb 10, 2009)

Very nice car ... great work.
Humberside police have one of these in white all stickered up looks georgeous!


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## Reds (Jan 14, 2009)

Cracking work Christian and I love the idea of the service book for the detailing work. Mind if I steal that particular idea


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Nice paint correction, big improvement. 

Final Finish to Fast Cut was a big jump, how did you find the paint hardness and removal rates on this Lexus with the Fast Cut? 

Looking at the bonnet shots before, there looked like some sanding or similar pigtails in there as well, as if it had seen work previously - good job in sorting these out, they can be quite severe depending on how they were put in!


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## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi Dave, and thanks.

The FC worked well on this Lexus. Its strange that ive used FC more in the last couple of weeks than in the last 6 months, it was also very useful for the Stag i recently did. I had hoped that 106FA would do the job, but didnt for a second think it would, especially after using the 106 on a Lexus LS very recently, just didnt have the level of cut needed as there were some quite severe defects as you say. The bonnet and boot being worst affected and i think they had definetly seen some evidence of someone trying to rectify these before!

I didnt find jumping from FC to FF an issue, i'd managed to get a reasonable finish with the FC, and i really wanted to use FF on this car as i knew it would finish down great with this paint colour, and it did  The boot saw the highest removal of around 5 microns as i really had to work the defects in this, but as an average it was around 3-4 for the remainder of the car.


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## fozzy (Oct 22, 2009)

amazing work, with a superb write up, something for us hobbyists to aspire too.


well done mate:thumb:


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## Dave KG (Feb 23, 2006)

Invisible Touch said:


> Hi Dave, and thanks.
> 
> The FC worked well on this Lexus. Its strange that ive used FC more in the last couple of weeks than in the last 6 months, it was also very useful for the Stag i recently did. I had hoped that 106FA would do the job, but didnt for a second think it would, especially after using the 106 on a Lexus LS very recently, just didnt have the level of cut needed as there were some quite severe defects as you say. *The bonnet and boot being worst affected and i think they had definetly seen some evidence of someone trying to rectify these before!
> *
> I didnt find jumping from FC to FF an issue, i'd managed to get a reasonable finish with the FC, and i really wanted to use FF on this car as i knew it would finish down great with this paint colour, and it did  The boot saw the highest removal of around 5 microns as i really had to work the defects in this, but as an average it was around 3-4 for the remainder of the car.


Yes, I would say looking at the before shots that someone somewhere down the line has been out with something - I've seen these pigtails a few times, thought they looked a bit like DA sanding marks, and our neighbour in the bodyshop agrees and says it comes from either too much pressure or a bit of grit being picked up... removing them is not always easy, so good job in getting them out 

I remember using FC+ on an IS a wee while back, it was a Jap import, and it removed a significant amount of paint: was needed though going by the leaf and bird etchings, its a wicked compound is the old FC


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## ash888 (Apr 29, 2010)

excellent!


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## T25DOC (Jan 11, 2010)

As always, a cracking write up - well done fella....lovely looking motor


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## alankharrison (Nov 27, 2009)

Looks Fantastic!

The service book is a really good idea aswell... Adds that final touch. Where did you get them done? if you don''t mind me asking?

Alan


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Tango's IS-F...stunning results there mate :thumb: Can't believe how bad that paint was, the car isn't even that old! :doublesho


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## Tango (Apr 19, 2007)

Pezza4u said:


> Tango's IS-F...stunning results there mate :thumb: Can't believe how bad that paint was, the car isn't even that old! :doublesho


The previous owner obviously didn't have a clue, and according to the reg book it was the local Lexus's Dealer Principle. Guess that means it was his Company car then


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## *MAGIC* (Feb 22, 2007)

The car looks nice mate but I am just left wondering why the massive jump from FF to FC+ when there are so many great polishes in between that would of done the job, like IP?

Robbie


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Nice work fella, looks like you got lucky with the alloys, the ones I have done suffered badly from metal filings from the pads.


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## Invisible Touch (Mar 5, 2008)

Hi Rob, cheers, the alloys were certainly in good condition. I take it this model suffers badly from the manufacturers pad choice then?


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## chris king (Apr 26, 2010)

Looks great, really nice looking car. Is this owned by Wheels In Motion? Been there before, great place.


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## Guest (Jun 2, 2010)

thats come up lovely, nice job !!!


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## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Invisible Touch said:


> Hi Rob, cheers, the alloys were certainly in good condition. I take it this model suffers badly from the manufacturers pad choice then?


Pads aren't really up to the job, a lot of clients I know that have owned the ISF get the wheels replaced under warranty as it's a common issue, also a lot of the fillings end up down the side of the car.


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## JasonPD (Jan 8, 2010)

Cracking result and a great write up :thumb:


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## Tango (Apr 19, 2007)

> Pads aren't really up to the job, a lot of clients I know that have owned the ISF get the wheels replaced under warranty as it's a common issue, also a lot of the fillings end up down the side of the car.


It's not just the IS-F as the IS250/350/220D suffers from excessive brake dust that go through the coating and causes pitting of the aluminium alloy.
There were so many complaints that Lexus produced a ceramic based front pad for the second generation IS series, but only in the USA. I upgraded my IS250 front brakes by fitting IS350 calipers with the new low dust pads and hey presto, no dust. Also have non OEM 19" rims that aren't susceptible to pitting.
The wheels are so good on my IS-F (the one Christian detailed) because I suspect they were changed before I purchased it, so are practically brand new. What I don't understand is that the wheels are of German BBS manufacture yet suffer from the same problem as the Lexus/Toyota rims.
I know some owners wash their rims every outing and re-apply protectorant every week-end. There are alternative front pads available (e.g.Hawk) but using these would probably invalidate my 3 year warranty, so until Lexus bring out a similar low dust pad as they did for the IS250/350 (extremely unlikely 'cos of the low numbers), I'm stuffed


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

chris king said:


> Is this owned by Wheels In Motion? Been there before, great place.


It's Tango's, he's a member of the forum hence the sticker :thumb:


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## Ultimate Shine (Jun 3, 2008)

very nice mate havent read your posts before but well worth the read.

Well done and nice pics:thumb:


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## JimC64 (Mar 17, 2009)

Lovin it....great detail!
The detail "service book" is an excellent idea to go with the car and I'm sure will also get you repeat business. It just adds that finishing touch to something that special:thumb:


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## -Raven- (Aug 26, 2010)

Invisible Touch said:


>


Absolutely stunning! :argie:

If mine looks 1/2 this good after I give it the once over, I'll be happy! Well Done! :thumb:


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## MAXI-MILAN (Oct 26, 2008)

Beautiful work :thumb:


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## Obi- Dan Karnubi (Jun 16, 2011)

amazing reflections!!
love the service book aswell


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## bigslippy (Sep 19, 2010)

very nice work there:thumb:


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Fantastic.

Really love the touch of a detail record for the owner.


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## DMH-01 (Mar 29, 2011)

Great work there mate.


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## wish wash (Aug 25, 2011)

Car looks great


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## alcarp (Apr 28, 2010)

Car looks great. I maybe doing a mates Lexus so gives me a good pad/compound to start with.


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

indeed it does look great - or did when this thread was posted two years ago :lol:


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## sutti (Nov 8, 2011)

Brilliant work, looks fantastic


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## gb270 (Aug 22, 2008)

Stunning work looks great


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