So, I've got another Subaru in my garage this weekend. Look, the'yre brothers! http://www.detailingbliss.com/forum/show-shine/20791-black-legacy-gt-requires-many-pictures.htm No, seriously, the owners of these cars are actually brothers. I hate them both equally for buying Subarus with terrible paint to work on. The 22 year old MR2 was easier. For starters, who knew polish would gum up so easily on this paint? I didn't. Moreover, silver is not easy to spot defects on. This thing is a nightmare! Air freshener is very necessary. So is the gold jewelry. Can't even tell if it's dirty or not! I think this is actually pretty cool. My friend pointed out it's huge for an OEM muffler. TO THE WASH PROCESS! I discovered these are actually chips instead of road grit stuck on the paint. What is this on the door handle? My god, the paint is gone. Previous owner must've had acid fingers when opening the door. Degrease that engine bay with Meg's super degreaser! Took the front plate off and found this friendly surprise as well. We got some nice, very specific orange peel here too. It's all in a line. WONKY Okay I've actually got no more pictures of the wash process, because I didn't want to reach for the camera that often with my dirty gloves. Wheels got P21S wheel gel Meg's super degreaser for tires and wheel wells Pressure washed it off Majestic solutions SGS for the trim and any crevices where dirt would build up Majestic solutions Ultra gloss for wash (I ran out of any other soap D I think it looks better with this blue tape mascara. My feeble attempts at trying to capture swirls. I TOLD YOU THEY EXIST! HAHA THEY DO! Okay, back to work. My friend was complaining that this headlight housing is awful. Turns out, it is! So I gave it some M105 on DD orange and M205 on DD blue. I think that helped a little. AIYA what is this?! Corrected! M105 on DD yellow and M205 on DD blue Before 2 passes of M105 and M205 later Okay there were a bunch of deep scratches here. And then they disappeared. I swear they were there! That's one silvery quarter panel 8) These will get M105 and M205 treatment too It actually is captured much better in person. Silver paint :/ SUBARU PAINT FUUUUUUUUU After two and a half long days, I finally finished polishing this gummy mess of the paint. That nasty stuff is on the inside cause some water leaked in. Tire shine is the Gloss-it one. Polished with #0000 steel wool and P21S polishing soap. Cleaned it off with some ONR, and it is now shiny! All the trim was dressed with Meg's hyper dressing at 4:1. After this, I really hope I never see Subaru paint that needs polish for another year. I'll stick to BMWs.
nice work Being a proud 2004 sti owner for now 7 years, I can tell you that you don't need acidic fingers to melt the paint from the handle It's the way it's designed, you can't help but rub you finger (sounds dirty) against the handle every time you open it.
Good deal dude! Pictures turned out great. I have to agree it is hard to capture swirls on silver, my MK4 is silver. I haven't touched a Subie in 2 years and I am so thankful for that, it was a nightmare!
Hahahaha, terrible Subaru quality! I've dealt with those too. I'd gladly take a Jet Black BMW over any sticky Subaru paint. Sticky paint is the hardest thing to work on that I've come across. It's infuriating how quickly your polish dries up! There's only one solution.... respray. The whole car. Thanks! It was pretty impossible, so you saw that I gave up on the other side of the car, haha.
You should try messing around with some 2000 grit on the headlights (wetsanding of course). I find they come out a lot better than just a heavy polish and it's very easy to get 2k grit sanding scratches out. Nice job, tail pipe looks great.
^^^^^^ YES THEY ARE, but the results can be stunning when carefully done right I've seen the most extreme swirling on Jet Black than on any other car....you really need patience and a gentle touch when workin with JB
I will give this a try. Thanks for the tip! I've been wanting to give wet sanding a try for a while now, just never really put in the time to learn. You are right. Jet black is much more rewarding than silver is. You can also see your progress as you work rather than trying to burn your retina to see a few scratches on silver paint.
Nice work! Suby paint is awful! I liked doing the Jet Black BMW over the two Suby in black I did last year, the paint maybe hard as h377 on the BMW but the compound doesn't stick!
