# Subaru Impreza 330S- Gleammachine.



## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Due to the weather today, it has allowed me a little bit of time to do this write-up from last week.
Booked in was this 3 month old Subaru sti 330s for a correctional detail, having fallen only once to the hands of a Handwash centre the defects were quite shocking.
When I did the original quote I was expecting the detail to be quite straightforward, with major sticky paint and 30+ hours spent, i couldn't have been more wrong.

*Before.*





































Alloys pre-sprayed with Espuma Revolution and rinsed,



















Resprayed again and cleaned using various brushes,










Shuts, arches and various trim cleaned using APC and soft detailing brushes,














































Vehicle foamed using APC and Citrus mix, left to dwell for 5-10 mins and rinsed,



















Re-foamed using a weak mix of Shampoo+ and washed using the TBM,










Dried using i4detailing Uber Plush towels,










Tardis applied to lower areas to remove tar and also to alloys where there was a sticky residue around the wheel bolts,



















Clayed using Sonus green and Dodo born slippy,










Some of the defects under lighting,














































Now at this point is where the pictures of the processes ceased and the fun began "NOT",
Anyone that has machine polished Subaru paint will tell you that it's not the most straightforward and often unpredictable, with my initial light approach on the test panel using a 3M polishing pad and Megs #205, the panel immediately became hot to the touch after just a few passes, but trying to remove the residue was near impossible.
Moving straight on to Menzerna 203s with exactly the same problem, next a waterbased polish was used as this sometimes seems to solve the issue, no such luck.
At one point I had every light-med pad and polish I own out on the side (10 polishes in all), having tried them all with no joy and starting to become increasingly stressed as the wife will vouch for.
At this point I thought I would get a 2nd opinion from my mate Bryan D&S, after discussing various polishes I'd already exhausted, it was suggested to try the new 150mm Festool sheepskin pad that I had yet to use- http://www.i4detailing.co.uk/acatalog/Festool_150mm_Pads.html
With the pad loaded with 203s I attempted the bonnet, absolutely minimal heat build up and the pad glided across the panel beautifully, not overly aggressive but certainly effective and an average of 2um's clearcoat removal,










Good stuff but still a problem removing the residue, so panel by panel this was followed up using 3M Ultrafina on a RB finishing pad at slow speed and equally slow passes.

*Before.*










*After.*



















With the machining finished at the end of Day 2 the vehicle was pulled back outside and foamed and rinsed again,










Once dried an IPA wipedown was given to remove polishing oils,



















Then called it an evening.

*Day 3.*

Britemax #4 blackmax glaze was then applied by hand, knowing that this is easy on/off it was ideal and reduced the chance of any marring to the paint,
Alloys pre-cleansed & sealed using SV Autobahn and inners/calipers sealed with Nanolex spray sealant,
Arches & tyres dressed with SV Pneu,
2 layers of SV Best of Show to paintwork and shuts,
Plastic and rubber trim dressed using CG New look gel and residue buffed of after 1 hour,
Chromework polished with Briliant chrome & hot enviroments,
Glass cleaned throughout using Briliant anti smear glass cleaner and sealed externaly with Carlack glass sealant.
A final wipedown some hours later using Dodo Red Mist and the vehicle was complete, ducking in and out between the rain some final pictures were taken.

*Results.*













































































































Thanks for looking and comments welcome as always.:thumb:


----------



## Ultra (Feb 25, 2006)

quality job as always :thumb:


----------



## Nanolex (Jun 8, 2008)

Great turn around on that one!:thumb:


----------



## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

That looks the dog danglies Rob :thumb:

Great work yet again .


----------



## colarado red (Jun 5, 2008)

awesome work there


----------



## Cullers (Sep 29, 2009)

Lovely job. Funny thing is, a short while ago, if you'd have tried to explain the trouble you'd gone to with the polishing, I'd have nodded and just thought 'yeah whatever - new car, new paint - what kind of problems can that be?'. Now though, sheesh, my eyes are well and truly opened.
Well done and thanks for sharing


----------



## Jim W (Feb 3, 2007)

Well in Rob. I hate the feeling you get when you don't know which direction to head.. Credit to you for sticking it out and the results speak for themselves.

Hope the owner was pleased.


----------



## ayrtonsenna (Jun 7, 2007)

excellent results with tricky paint. good for you for keeping your cool and getting advice.


----------



## spitfire (Feb 10, 2007)

Only someome who's experienced Subaru paint will know how tiresome and frustrating it can be. Interesting that the wool pad did the trick:thumb:


----------



## hotwaxxx (Jul 12, 2007)

Incredible detail and wholeheartedly agree with Subaru paints.

I've done a dozen or so Subarus in my time and they have all had very differing paintworks from thin to thick paint, from soft to hard paint and from sticky to very workable paint.

Luckily, my Scooby Impreza has very workable paint, a little thin but quite hard so keeping it swirlfree has been a breeze compared to the old Honda CTR.

Back onto the main topic, great detail and the finish looks fantastic.


----------



## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

Looks ace. Wool pad for the win! Such a shame that people are so scared of wool pads, since they are so good nowadays.


----------



## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

sounds like a right mare! great job, lovely car 

drew


----------



## chillly (Jun 25, 2009)

1 visit to hand car wash:doublesho great work fella. Curious what do you think of the new scoob?


----------



## adam87 (Dec 11, 2008)

Stunning work there mate! Superb results :thumb:


----------



## toni (Oct 30, 2005)

Rob, stunning work, write-up and results!

Must have been extremely hard but the end result speaks for itself!


----------



## CupraRcleanR (Sep 2, 2007)

Always a top job from you. Thanks for sharing


----------



## John-Cupra_TDI (Apr 13, 2009)

Looks awesome, was in some state for a 3 month old car!


----------



## menis (Nov 5, 2009)

wow what a brilliant result mate car looks stunning now.top job


----------



## HeavenlyDetail (Sep 22, 2006)

stunning result , expect nothing less really...


----------



## ianFRST (Sep 19, 2006)

suberb mate.

so how come the wool was LESS aggressive than foam?



Porta said:


> Looks ace. Wool pad for the win! Such a shame that people are so scared of wool pads, since they are so good nowadays.


ill hold my hand up to that :lol: i dont own a wool pad, apart from the one that comes with the makita rotary :doublesho


----------



## Guest (Nov 16, 2009)

great finish


----------



## Guest (Nov 16, 2009)

Looks stunning Rob, I hate doing Subaru's myself due to the horrible paint.

Got another Sti booked in the end of the month so should be YET another fun few days lol.

Paul


----------



## Rasher (Mar 6, 2006)

nice job


----------



## Clb Ltd (Apr 24, 2007)

Brilliant job and some stunning pictures


----------



## moshinho (Nov 4, 2009)

Looks good!

Great work!


----------



## gioprivatemove (Nov 5, 2008)

Nicely done Mate.
nice pictures and write up.


----------



## Stallion (Mar 21, 2009)

John-Cupra_TDI said:


> Looks awesome, was in some state for a 3 month old car!


was thinking the same - shocking for 12 weeks....

However bet the owner was chuffed to bits with the :buffer: :thumb:

Top Job


----------



## gotamintvtr (Sep 25, 2006)

excellent work


----------



## WHIZZER (Oct 25, 2005)

Nice detail - tricky paint by the looks of things though


----------



## rsdan1984 (Jul 31, 2009)

a noticable improvement in the after pics. i do have to say though, im not a fan of the new scooby shape


----------



## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Thanks for all the comments guys, much appreciated.:thumb:



chillly said:


> 1 visit to hand car wash:doublesho great work fella. Curious what do you think of the new scoob?


Thanks, I've never been a huge fan of Subaru's or Japanese cars in general, more a fan of german cars, but it does look good from the front and in general I prefer it over the saloons.



ianFRST said:


> suberb mate.
> 
> so how come the wool was LESS aggressive than foam?


Thanks Ian, the wool can be more aggressive or less depending on which polish and technique you use, the Festool sheepskin pads are not like your traditional wool pads, they are very thin and almost like attaching a piece of cloth to your backing plate, at first this can seem daunting but with caution they can be used to great effect, there is very little heat build up which is ideal when tackling these sticky paint issues, also with the right polish they will finish down nicely without leaving too much to do with the finishing polish stages.:thumb:



spitfire said:


> Only someome who's experienced Subaru paint will know how tiresome and frustrating it can be. Interesting that the wool pad did the trick:thumb:


As above really, the heat build up is kept to a minimum with the sheepskin pad.:thumb:


----------



## Porta (Jan 3, 2007)

ianFRST said:


> ill hold my hand up to that :lol: i dont own a wool pad, apart from the one that comes with the makita rotary :doublesho


That´s aa 4 ply twisted wool pad and it´s very aggresive. Get a foamed wool pad or similar. Use it with like Menzerna super finish and see how you like it. I think you will be surprised how easy it´s to polish with a nice wool pad. :thumb:


----------



## Offyourmarks (Jan 4, 2006)

thats a lovely write up there rob - car looks stunning, really good!

i think i am one of a handfull that actually likes the look of the new scooby - it looks awesome in my book, and now all of a sudden a heck of a lot better :thumb:


----------



## Exclusive Car Care (Jan 14, 2007)

very nice mate, cant say I have seen one of thos on the road


----------



## Leemack (Mar 6, 2009)

Nice work rob

A pita but the final pics are well worth it mate


----------



## Gleammachine (Sep 8, 2007)

Offyourmarks said:


> thats a lovely write up there rob - car looks stunning, really good!
> 
> i think i am one of a handfull that actually likes the look of the new scooby - it looks awesome in my book, and now all of a sudden a heck of a lot better :thumb:


Thanks Matt, yep definately prefer it over the saloon style, serves more of a purpose now IMO.


----------



## GSVHammer (Feb 7, 2009)

I've gone back for a second look at the finished pictures. A truly inspiring finish Rob, every car you detail seems to look better than the last one you've done. How do you keep improving on perfection? 
I wish I could achieve that quality of finish on my car.


----------



## MarkSXI (Jan 27, 2009)

Looks excellent. Superb turn around.


----------



## Miglior (Feb 12, 2006)

looking good mate, i cant believe how that looked for a 3 month car, pretty shocking.

anyway, top job!


----------



## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Nice work on tricky paint! The results are stunning!:thumb:


----------



## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Looking good mate :thumb:


----------



## Jorge (Oct 12, 2009)

Great Job!!!! 

What a work,

That Subaru looks stuning :argie:

Best regards,

Jorge


----------

