# 2011 WRX STi Type UK



## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

This is a 2011 STi Type UK owned by a good friend of mine.

Unfortunately the head gasket went recently, so he decided it was a good opportunity to go for a major engine re-build, the full works, forged pistons etc. It's a lovely car and now running circa 370bhp and 400 +ib/ft torque.

It was however very dirty and having been sat in the garage yard for a few weeks while the engine was worked on meant it was in need of some TLC.

The idea was to give it a really good clean and do a one stage machine polish to get rid of any light swirls and marks to bring back some gloss and shine. My friend had some Auto finesse products which he bought with him for me to use.

So, some befores, pretty dirty, especially the door shuts etc.











I gave the wheels a good wash first, sadly they were a bit of a mess, lots of curbing, some oxidation and lots of scratches. I decided that I'd clean them up best I could and then talk my mate into getting them refurbished! 

AF Imperial, Iron out and various brushes and AF Revolution used to clean wheels













Calipers and arches also cleaned









Not forgetting the mud flaps



Tyres scrubbed with AF Verso and a Chemical Guys stiff brush.



Dried off with an Air Force Blaster



Before washing, I foamed the STi with AF Avalanche





Various areas cleaned with an AF brush







The door shuts were absolutely filthy and needed some Meguiar's super degreaser as well as Citrus power, plus plenty of work with various brushes.







Then washed with Meguiar's Shampoo Plus using the two bucket method.





Then on to the decontamination stage, first up AF Iron Out











Followed by AF Oblitarate, left to dwell and the wiped, this got rid of any remaining tar spots









Foamed and rinsed again, then dried off and into the garage for claying





AF clay and glide used to clay the car, to be honest, the paint was now pretty clean after the decontamination stage, with very little else coming off the paintwork



The rear of the car and the back window the worst area



Then onto polishing. The paintwork was actually pretty good, just light marks and some swirls generally, there were some deeper scratches, but overall not bad at all.





I used Meguiar's Ultimate compound on an orange Chemical Guys 4" pad for the rear of the car, using the DA. I then switched to Sonax EX 04-06 for the rest of the car on a 5.5" green hex logic pad, this seems to work well as a one step and leaves the paint nice and glossy.







AF pad prime used to prime the pads during polishing.



After polishing, the car was given a good wipe down with Gyeon Prep



We decided to use AF Tough Coat for protection, this looks great on white, lasts well and is very easy to apply. As my friend already had some Tough Coat it made sense to use this as he can then top it up with a coat or two himself.

First I used Tough Prep, I applied this by hand using a microfibre applicator.



This was followed by Tough Coat, I applied three coats of this in total by the time I'd finished.



Gloss black rear spoiler given a couple of coats of AF Illusion, just because i love this wax and it looks great on black





The exhaust was a state, in fact i first thought it was actually black and not chrome as it was so dirty!

AF Mercury, a tooth brush, wire wool, some cloths and a bit of patience, it came up pretty well.









Before



After



I then treated the exhaust tips to a coat of Wolf's rim shield



Exterior plastic trim treated with Wolf's nano trim coat, I like this, worked well on my car and nice and easy to apply with a cotton pad











Headlights polished with CarPro Ceri Glass





Tyres finished with CarPro Perl, really like this stuff, I've never really found a tyre dressing that I'm 100% happy with, but I really like the finish this leaves





I also used Perl on the mud flaps



Then onto the interior:

All the mats out and cleaned with AF Total and a stiff brush, same for interior carpets.





Interior plastics, pedal etc. also cleaned with AF Total, a great allrounder this, even used to lightly wipe down the alcantara on the seats.











AF Hide leather cleaner used on leather parts of the seats and also the steering wheel.









Leather the treated with AF Hide leather conditioner





Interior plastic dressed with AF Spritz





Interior all finished, came up really well









Final touch, an AF air freshener



Sills were very stained and dirty





Came up a treat with AF Tripple



Having seen the bill for the recent engine rebuild, I wasn't happy about going at it with a jet wash, so gave it a general clean up by hand the best i could and then dressed it with AF Dressle. Not perfect and I would have liked to have got it cleaner, but it did look a lot better.





Finally finished, must admit it really did look good finished with Tough Coat, the metallic white paint is lovely. It was a lot of work but I'm happy with the way it turned out.

Thanks for looking.

The afters



































Little video clip, water just sheets straight off the paint now :thumb:



Parked up with my Megane Renaultsport :thumb:


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## mcfc1987 (Aug 12, 2008)

Absolutely brilliant write up dude!


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## JwilliamsM (Dec 20, 2011)

awesome photos and products. i use a lot of them myself


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## jackzx84 (May 9, 2015)

:argie: Love these STI's! How long did all that take? Top work :thumb:


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## adamb87 (Jan 13, 2012)

Thats gotta be one happy friend you have. Great work &#55357;&#56842;


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## Hereisphilly (Nov 17, 2014)

Wow what a write up, cracking work! How long did the whole process take you?


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## turbosnoop (Apr 14, 2015)

Lovely jubbly!


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## Sicskate (Oct 3, 2012)

Wow lucky lad!!

You you an af rep or something??


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## JMorty (Apr 25, 2011)

Nooooiiiiiiieeeeccceeeeee!!! :thumb:

The Scoob it cool too! :thumb:

Jokes, the Scooby is LUSH


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## TimmoUK (Jul 13, 2015)

Good photos and car looks awesome!


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## AdamC (Jan 31, 2013)

Very nice write up. Great car too, top job.


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## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it :thumb:

My mate left it with me for the week while he went on holiday, but I reckon I spent 20 plus hours on it in total.


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## Stu Mac (Aug 18, 2014)

What a job mate, stunning car and superb attention to detail. Well worth all that time you spent, bloody brilliant.
Just a quick 1 do you apply Perl neat on your tyres or mix it 50/50. I really like the finish it gives me but it doesn't seem to last a great deal of time


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## camerashy (Feb 9, 2014)

Great job, enjoyed reading the write up and images I bet your mate was over the Moon when he returned from holiday
Dave


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## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

Stu Mac said:


> What a job mate, stunning car and superb attention to detail. Well worth all that time you spent, bloody brilliant.
> Just a quick 1 do you apply Perl neat on your tyres or mix it 50/50. I really like the finish it gives me but it doesn't seem to last a great deal of time


Thanks mate, using the Perl neat on the tyres, durability isn't amazing but certainly a lot better than some of the others I've been trying lately.


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## luke w (Dec 11, 2012)

Brilliant write up and cracking work!

Cheers!


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## alfajim (May 4, 2011)

Old skool write up and mega deep clean, love it.


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## sprocketser (Aug 4, 2012)

You did a great job on the Subby mate !


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## techman56 (Aug 10, 2013)

Great post. Must get some of those products.


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## stonejedi (Feb 2, 2008)

*SUPERB!!!*,Thanks for posting:thumb:.SJ.


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## S3LDM (Apr 17, 2013)

Fantastic job there fair play, I use the same products for my White Impreza only following Tough coat I use Soul

Lovely car with some tasteful mods, love the Alcon brakes and belled discs


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## potter88 (Apr 12, 2014)

That is an absolute cracking write up there pal. Stunning results too.

On a side note though i'd be a bit concerned that it had a headgasket go on a 4yr old car


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## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

potter88 said:


> That is an absolute cracking write up there pal. Stunning results too.
> 
> On a side note though i'd be a bit concerned that it had a headgasket go on a 4yr old car


Thanks mate :thumb:

I believe there have been a number of engine problems on this model and it is a known problem.

My mate plans to keep the car for a while, so has spent some serious money to make the engine bullet proof with forged pistons etc. I know what you mean though, I wouldn't be happy with that going on a 4 year old car with 30k miles on the clock....


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Great work, although teh head gasket going is inevitable rather than unfortunate. The 2.5 hatches are infamous for it!


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## Big Buffer (Jan 1, 2011)

Enjoyed the write up. Nice work and very crispy...


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## LSpec (Apr 7, 2013)

perfect job, thanks for sharing


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## Suberman (Aug 16, 2010)

Stunning work on an equally stunning car mate! :thumb:

I used to have an 08 hatch STI myself and still miss it. 

You must love fast hatchbacks.


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Great work and write-up


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## Nozza (Mar 1, 2006)

Lovely job on a lovely motor, someone I know has one and the engine went pop on 39k miles, so common unfortunately.


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## djryan25 (Dec 19, 2014)

looks amazing pal. some steps there. going to have to try some of the products out. :buffer::thumb:


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## bazz (May 15, 2007)

great write up and what a great job


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## dancoupe (May 8, 2012)

Wow amzing work just makes me want to go out and clean my scooby now haha


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## Alfieharley1 (Jun 8, 2014)

This is one Beautiful Job!


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Great work:thumb:


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## leehob (Jul 9, 2014)

That's a great write up mate, car looks stunning, use a lot of AF products myself, really do like the results you get :thumb:


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## Sc00byurabus (Sep 30, 2014)

Great job mate - ready for a hooning!! :driver:


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## Rennelch (Jun 4, 2009)

Great work. Respect.


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## Demetrios72 (Jun 27, 2011)

Great work :thumb:

Lovely motor!


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## Supermario (Jul 8, 2014)

Where did you purchase your lights that you used to hunt down the swirls mate? Been on the hunt for a while for them now


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## Scooby0775 (Dec 17, 2014)

Fantastic work looks stunning as for engine problems tell me about it I had a 2008 hatch . Hope he had extended his warranty


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## Demetrios72 (Jun 27, 2011)

Back to looking it's best

Great work :thumb:


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## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

Cheers guys :thumb:


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## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

Supermario said:


> Where did you purchase your lights that you used to hunt down the swirls mate? Been on the hunt for a while for them now


Just got the lights on eBay mate, builders halogen site lights, 30 quid


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## Supermario (Jul 8, 2014)

Scoobr said:


> Just got the lights on eBay mate, builders halogen site lights, 30 quid


Take it they work well mate?

Thanks :thumb:


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## Scoobr (Jan 9, 2008)

Supermario said:


> Take it they work well mate?
> 
> Thanks :thumb:


They work fine for me mate.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331059698724?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT


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## Supermario (Jul 8, 2014)

Thanks for the link mate. Take it these were the same ones you used in the Ferrari detail too? Cracking work btw :thumb:


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## tonyy (Jul 26, 2008)

Great work :thumb:


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## zippo (Mar 26, 2008)

That's one of the most detailed write ups I've read and enjoyed for a while .Outstanding result too 10/10
Daz


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