In the shop recently was an '09 STi with a nice list of mods to the engine, suspension and braking systems. It sounded nice and has some unique lines and panel shapes that came out nicely with polishing. Also, the paint has quite a bit of flake in it that came back to life throughout this process. I had seen the write-ups from Dave, Phil, and others regarding sticky Subaru paint. Once I had the STi stripped and was ready to polish, I learned how truly difficult this paint is to work with. To top it off, this car was to be completed over the course of two very busy days for me forcing an all-nighter to get things done! For an added difficulty level, it was right around freezing so performing a deep clean on the car was difficult, cold and icy. Car was foamed with a mixture of Dawn and CG CW, with attention given to jambs and other tight areas with a SV brush. IronX was also used on the paint to remove any embedded metals. Arches/tires were hit with degreaser, wheels with Sonax and then the car was touchlessly dried with the Airwand. I used two types of clay in anticipation of the paint marring easily: Uber blue (fine) for upper areas, and CG gray (medium) for lower, dirtier areas. I settled on using my Flex DA with PO203S and a green uber pad and although the customer came in for a single stage polish, this paint would not finish down nicely with one step (shame on me for not realizing this prior), so I had to finish down with PO85RD and a blue uber. After a lot of aggravation and multiple passes with the 85RD and varying levels of IPA to remove all the sticky polish residue, the car was topped with two coats of Power Lock, roughly 4 hours apart. The car in its initial condition You know it is bad when you can catch this many swirls under a deep layer of dirt with only the camera flash! Sonax Full Effect doing its thing After Sonax, much better, but still some brake dust staining. Good enough as these are winter wheels only 845 frozen beads on my DD Getting into the weeds a bit... Jambs were filthy Snow foam Grime falling off with the foam Done with the wash, time to get inside as I was freezing my bag off! Post-wash swirl shots What happens when you mix snow foam, sonax, iron cut and let it freeze Onto the clay decontamination, a good amount was pulled off of the panels and glass Correction Shots Most of these are after 203S and have not been finished down with 85rd. Also, some deeper defects remained after power finish, keep in mind this was not a full correction. before After before after before after before after before 50/50 Hand polished the tight areas around the door At about 5am, I reached a level of finish that I was happy with Power Lock curing Finished shots, no direct sunlight, but I have included a few with camera flash and LED. Thanks for looking, Cs and Qs welcome! Inadvertant water drop showing the PL beading
Great job I have done quite a few of these (even owned one) so I know just what you mean the sticky paint.
You are talking to someone who doesnt let dirt sit on his car longer then a week LOLOL. again looks awesome
Nice work! Just got a DGM '11 sedan. Looks pristine now. Afraid to look at it under direct light after hearing about the difficulty polishing the tough paint. Car looks Dark Grey Metallic in the 'dirty' shots, and Obsidian Black Pearl in the afters. What color is it??:shead:
looks great. did one couple month ago. what was done to braking system? they look stock to me unless he got SS lines or something. didnt had problems with clear thought. i guess depends what products you use with it and what equipment as well (PC works better on sticky paint i think).
Thanks! I'm not sold on the look of them as far as being good looking, but I do appreciate that its look says 'I mean business'. Thanks Kody, that door panel 50/50 surprised me when I reviewed the photo later. Horrible amount of defects!
Thanks! Congrats on the new sedan. I think you would be wise to get some strong protection on it early on and use the best of the best wash technique and you can avoid it looking like this one. I am going to apply Opti-Coat after another round of polishing to this car in the summer, think it will really make the soft clear a non-issue. This paint was Obsidian Black Pearl. Thanks man! I believe he did Cryo pads and SS lines, but you are right, nothing to the rotors/calipers. Didn't have any 105/205 this time around, but would like to try some w/ my PC and not Flex next time around to see if it is any easier. Thomas- Our hose bibs were covered, so nothing froze. Did yours freeze up? Almost called you to come help out on this was as I was so crunched for time. Thanks for the kind words.
