Flawless Fitment: LX470 - Stock, Clear Coat Removal and cleanup.

I've always loved the LX470, reliable, well built and I guess a little bit of nostalgia associated with it that lead me down the path to getting one. I came across a decent deal and going back and forth with the previous owner the major fault of the car was the paint.

This 2000 LX470 was family owned with extensive service history from Lexus, in fact the owner kept records, receipts etc of everything which was a folder full! The body and chassis was very clean and dent and rust free. Usually you can see the bolt heads have some oxidization and rust formation but there were none. Didn't see any major leaks and the service records showed new valve cover gaskets replaced in the past 20k miles, new alternator, radiator, timing belt etc were also done. It was also a family commuter between Oregon and Virginia so even though it had higher miles @ 260k I wasn't too concerned about the motor. The main issue as mentioned previously was the paint. The clear coat looked like it was delaminating. It was all original paint so the delamination was even all over. On doing a little bit of research this was a common issue with the color Smoky Topaz Micah on these cars. Weighing the pros and cons I opted to get it because clean bones, service history and price outweighed the failing clear coat issue.

Just out of curiosity I wanted to see if I could strip the delaminating clear coat off by pressure washing it. I used my electric pressure washer with a 15 degree tip and it was definitely taking the clear coat off.

My neighbor has a blasting business (dustless and water pressure washing) so he walked over and told me I'd be out here all day trying to pressure wash it off and subsequently offered to lend me hispressure washing rig which I happily obliged. His trailer has a 500 gallon tank setup with two 50hp industrial gas pressure washer setups. Lets just say that I didn't use a 15 degree tip because it can cut into plastic ask me how I found out, lol. This was stripping the clear coat off and in about 20 minutes or so I was done.

Went ahead and used my pressure washer to clean off the underside and chassis as well.

This is how she sits after the cleanup.

The interior was not bad either, it had the obvious seats that were worn in the right places and the stitching giving way on some of the seams but it was complete, not broken and nasty. Sure it was a little messy with some dog hair etc but all in all for a 20 year old car not bad at all.

The engine bay was fairly clean too, there was no signs of them cleaning the engine bay for a sale which is what I prefer. This way I can kind tell where it is or was leaking etc. Could tell there was a valve cover leak, a shiny new alternator and newer not factory radiator.