# 2008 Subaru STi, Obsidian Black Pearl w/ Gloss It



## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

The was a partial new car prep on this 2008 Subaru STi. The car had about 800miles on it and recently had some clear bra work done to the side fenders and lower body panels.

On with the detail...

Before pic, this is about 9am Saturday morning. It was well below freezing temps here in NJ and I saw all the water froze on my driveway during the pre-rinse and wheel cleaning steps. Thats when I knew I was going to ONR this bad boy inside the garage instead of using my normal sudsy wash routine outdoors.










As usual I started with the wheels, in this case some very spokey BBS'

Before










I used the P21s gel on these wheels to ensure no damage to the finish or more importantly the brakes, I let the gel dwell for about 10mins after the initial pressure wash using the Cam spray

I used an assortmant of brushes to get in every crevice of these intricate wheels.

boars hair brush
swissvax brush
wooden spoke brush (for the inner barrels)
oxo tire scrub brush
black agressve shmitt for the wheel wells

Heres me using the boars hair brush for the initial agitation of the p21s, this brush is great for wheels such as these. I used to just use the swissvax brush to go in and out of every spoke but now I can get about 85% of the wheels clean much faster with the large bristles on the boars hair brush.










I then cleaned the inners with a long handle spoke brush and re-worked all the spokes with the much more precise swissvax brush. Calipers were scrubbed as well

Tires/wells were scrubbed using APC 4:1

After










Another before, you can see the caked up brake dust settled in all the ridges of the wheel










After










Inners all squeaky clean










I then proceeded to thoroughly rinse the paint finish










Followed by a p21s TAW pre-soak










While I let the citrus soap dwell on the paint I used a designated siwssvax wheel brush to agitate the emblems and trim



















I rinsed the car once more...adding to the thick layer of ice forming beneath my feet due to the freezing temps and pulled the Subby inside for the ONR wash.

The fact that this car has 4wd gave me some piece of mind pulling it in the garage, it was very icy on the driveway that morning!

With the car still wet I used the 2 bucket method and began to ONR wash the car panel by panel using soft foam sponges from DD, there just like the ***** sponges I used to have and work very well with ONR solution










ONR working its magic










I dried each panel with CG miracle dryers and moved onto claying

Sonus fine green clay was used. The car still being new I felt there was no need to use anything more than a soft clay, as I expected the car was only lightly contaminated










Last touch QD 1:1 was used to lubricate the finish while claying

After claying I measured the paint using the PTG and began my inspection starting with the hood

The owner informed me he attempted to clay the car but unfortunatley the clay picked up a large particle or something which induced some heavy scrtahces on the hood scoop area.

These deep RIDS needed the use of an agressive polish/compound to remove where as the rest of the hood needed a lighter corrective polish

Heres what I mean.
Using the Fenix TK10 to show defects is a great tool for paint inspection, especially on metallics. Big thanks to Bob at Auto Concierge for introducing me to this little light. I cant do paint correction without it now!



















Now under the standing halogens



















I used Gloss It extreme cut on the cyclo with orange pads to cut out the defects and then followed up with the Evolution polish to refine the paint and bring out that last bit off gloss.

The result










I corrected the rest of the paint usning the Gloss It one step machine polish on the cyclo with green pads

The result after only 1 step, later the finished was jeweled on the makita










Remember that scratched hood scoop?










This is the final shot under the same Fenix LED light










I then corrected the rest of the car

drivers side rear quarter before shots, swirls and light RIDS



















After correcting the paint with the gloss it 1 step machine polish on the cyclo with green pads (15-20lbs of pressure before letting up to refine the finish was used on the cyclo)










The paint at this point was just about perfect and finished down 100% LSP ready. I decided to go one step further and I broke out the makita for some extra jeweling.

On the makita I used 3M Ultrafina with the Gloss It EVP prime on a blue lake country finishing pad.

Ultrafina seems to always leave a clean finish but it never really adds gloss or depth IMO on a finish that is already leveled and defect free but UF is just so damn consistant I decided to use it anyway.

I used the EVP prime on the LC blue finishing pad to allow me to repeatedly jewel and burnish the clearcoat to a very wet, deep finish. What the EVP does in addition to lubricating your pad is disperse heat. On the makita i wash polishing at about 1400rpm max but I was not limited to how long i could work the product. The EVP allows you virtually unlimited work time of most polishes. I kept burnishing down the finish till I got 900rpm and then I did some last slow passes.

The results of an extra 3hrs of jeweling the paint was very rewarding. I managed to bring out a deeper, wetter looking finish before even applying the LSP.

Here are some post polishing shots after jeweling and an IPA wipedown



















The hood, defect free under the infratech










No LSP yet



















The sun came out for a few minutes so I brought the car out after polishing, again a no LSP finish is shown here



















The plastic undr the winshield was treated with Gloss It TRV, the trim by the windows was treated with 1Z gummi pledge. Exhaust was cleaned using Noxon



















I brought the car back in for the finishing tocuhes including LSP application.

The LSP combo of choice was the following:

2 coats of Gloss Finish applied by hand (cured 15mins each)
1 coat of Gloss It Concourso Polish by hand (cured 30mins)

While the LSP's were curing I went on to clean the glass, trim and dress the tires etc.

Here is the Signature tire gloss soaking into the rubber while gloss finish cures



















Tires dressing fully soaked in and lightly wiped off, the flash gives it some more shine but in the next pics you will see how it looks in daylight, very natural










Doing my final walk around I spotted some dried polish in the front grill so I took out my little detail swab...




























Now for the afters...

Finished























































The depth and clarity came out very nicely, the hood had one of the most glassy reflections I have seen yet














































Of course the sun was no longer but the finish still popped under the clouds














































Heres the tire dressing in natural lighting





































Last one...










As always thank your for letting me share my work with you, hope you enjoyed! :thumb:


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Cracking Pics Dave, makes the new Impreza _almost_ good looking! 

Glad to see another person that obviously cant get along with the polishes :lol::thumb:


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## -Kev- (Oct 30, 2007)

fantastic


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## Darren.H (Dec 25, 2006)

Fantastic write up. Loverly colour that.


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## HC1001 (May 27, 2007)

Awesome!! Very nice work........:thumb:


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## starvekos (Jan 18, 2007)

Excellent work and great write up.


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## Rowan83 (Aug 21, 2007)

Absolutely fantastic!!

The reflection shots are some of the best i have seen, well done mate!


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## Trist (Jun 23, 2006)

Now thats superb, I want that car! :thumb:


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## pa_lav (Nov 6, 2008)

Great work the last pic is my fav.


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## O`Neil (Aug 13, 2007)

Very good write with top pics :thumb:


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## Cliff (Mar 4, 2007)

Very nice work and write up :thumb::thumb:


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## nudda (Oct 28, 2008)

top banana


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## nick_mcuk (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice job shame about the ugly car!!

Great reflection shots!!!


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## mouthyman (May 1, 2006)

cracking work, some lovely relfections :thumb:


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## jdoria (Sep 18, 2007)

Nice job. Where in NY are you? I am in Westchester.


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## ahaydock (Jan 4, 2007)

Looks amazing.


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## Piratez (Jun 28, 2008)

Nice work, superb result ...:buffer:


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## bannan (Jun 20, 2007)

good write up. Looks very good!


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## maxvaleting (Sep 16, 2007)

Now that is Detailing! Outstanding!


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## Fursecul (Sep 12, 2006)

Man o man that looks sweet :argie:

Great job :thumb:


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## PootleFlump (Jan 1, 2006)

Great work. Personally don't like the new Scooby but that doesn't detract from the superb job you've done on it.


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## Ibi_TME (Jul 20, 2008)

AWESOME results, great car and a great color

thanks
Ibi


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## wrx man (Apr 18, 2008)

Superb job there mate :thumb:

Well done


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

Clark said:


> Cracking Pics Dave, makes the new Impreza _almost_ good looking!
> 
> Glad to see another person that obviously cant get along with the polishes :lol::thumb:


Thank you Clark, and yea the car (after the detail) started to grow on me quite a bit.

And it was amazing how I got the polishes to work too, must have been a lucky shot:lol:


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## MadOnVaux! (Jun 2, 2008)

Stunning work mate, its very very wet 

I cant say im a huge fan of the latest Imprezas though....remind me of some sort of Proton!


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## ads2k (Jul 12, 2006)

Stunning , there growing on me, say one yesterday in the gym carpark obviously not in that league after all that work, but it did look good.

Great results :thumb:


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## scooby73 (Mar 20, 2007)

Excellent work, the reflections are superb!:thumb:

The shape of the new scooby is starting to grow on me.


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## pytru (Dec 8, 2008)

great car, great treatment, great pictures .. 

so great post :argie:


good work, and what a f**king car :thumb:


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## justin30513 (Dec 12, 2006)

Awesome work. And with just the Cyclo. 

Where did you get that cord reel at?

Again, nice work.


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## clarkie34 (Jan 27, 2008)

Brilliant reflections,but still dont like the new scooby.


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

justin30513 said:


> Awesome work. And with just the Cyclo.
> 
> Where did you get that cord reel at?
> 
> Again, nice work.


The cyclo with the gloss it 1 step was used for the intial correction and then I refined the finish with the makita at about 1400rpm


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## brian245 (Nov 20, 2007)

fantastic job.............pity the patient looks so hideous


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## Shorty (Jan 27, 2008)

Stunning job you have done there mate,

How do you find the new Impreza?


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## saxoboy07 (Oct 20, 2007)

Fantastic photo's:thumb: great results and stunning gloss to the paint


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## Wmffra (Oct 30, 2005)

Nice one :thumb:

I don't care what you lot say I love the new shape. I would take it over the old shape any day :driver:


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## rallying1 (Apr 23, 2007)

Awesome job bro, just a shame the new Impreza is such a pig ugly car!:lol:
Mind you I may be a bit bias as I had the old STi, couldn't wait to see the new one , then they rocked up with that minger, so I brought a Focus ST instead!!!!:thumb:


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## jasonbarnes (Sep 10, 2008)

strangely i actually like the new impreza more than the old one just don't like those rear lights, and cracking work by the way:thumb:


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## kiza132 (Oct 3, 2008)

one word... stunning... well done mate


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## Dream Machines (Mar 13, 2006)

What a magnificent job, another example of how good the gloss it products must be and how some raw talent and Gloss it can achieve such incredible results

Although same may not like the look which is fair enough, I would of machine applied my trim dream on the exterior moldings, instead of using 1Z as the result is permanent paint like finish

this EVP prime might be what I've always wanted, a polish working time extender as sometimes paints don't let me work them as long as I would like or the paint is sucking up the polish as it's still a little porous after deep cleaning


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

Dream Machines said:


> What a magnificent job, another example of how good the gloss it products must be and how some raw talent and Gloss it can achieve such incredible results
> 
> Although same may not like the look which is fair enough, I would of machine applied my trim dream on the exterior moldings, instead of using 1Z as the result is permanent paint like finish
> 
> this EVP prime might be what I've always wanted, a polish working time extender as sometimes paints don't let me work them as long as I would like or the paint is sucking up the polish as it's still a little porous after deep cleaning


Thank you! And yes the EVP prime is a wonderful product. I have been beta testing it for the last 2 months or so and found it really works well. Its great to be able to really jewel and paint finish for as long as you like and the best part is you can work a product at higher RPM without generating loads of heat. The proprietary blend of oils in the EVP disperse heat, so heavy correction work can be done at 2100rpm opposed to 1500 or 1800rpm.


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## shane_ctr (Dec 17, 2006)

have to say the new shape is growing on me, not another that i will part with mine,

Great work:thumb:


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## Jesse74 (Jul 19, 2008)

Car porn at it's best... nice work buddy!


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## Dan Clark (Jun 25, 2007)

Great detail & write up


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## Christian6984 (Dec 20, 2007)

nice work the finish is brilliant


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## Curtiz (Aug 11, 2006)

Great job, the reflections are crystal clear!


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## kings.. (Aug 28, 2007)

great write up fella... these new scooby's have really grown on me too!


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## rasamatazz (Nov 6, 2008)

Impressive......most impressive.
Excellent write up with some awesome pictures. Top job.


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## tucka (Dec 14, 2008)

wow excellent work, great skills, and very nice scooby


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

Curtiz said:


> Great job, the reflections are crystal clear!


Thank you! Im a big fan of clarity in a paint finish but if it lacks depth then it just looks sterile. Most sealants I have used offer excellent clarity but the depth perception just isnt there. Gloss It was the first product I have come across that gives carnauba depth and glow with sealant durability and clarity.

Again than you and everyone for the compliments, it makes these longer write ups well worth it:thumb:


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

I see alot of people commented on the Subbys new bodystyle. At first I though the car was awful, as I originally had plans to buy one I imediately went to the dealer to see it in person and it grew on me there but not entirely. After spending close to 14hrs on this one I really ended up liking it. The body was well shapen and well balanced. I think its a great car!


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

stunning finish - on this AND your A5 :thumb:

had no experience of any of the Glos It products but sounds like they might be one to watch in 2009  Is the EV Prime a pre-production product or is it fully available yet, as I havent seen it listed anywhere?


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## sayloday (Oct 5, 2008)

Brilliant work on the Scooby and the Write up.


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## Anzafin (May 18, 2008)

Wow, very nice work! :thumb:
Stunning car and especially stunning pictures!


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## Clark @ PB (Mar 1, 2006)

Bigpikle said:


> stunning finish - on this AND your A5 :thumb:
> 
> had no experience of any of the Glos It products but sounds like they might be one to watch in 2009  Is the EV Prime a pre-production product or is it fully available yet, as I havent seen it listed anywhere?


Watch this space, EV Prime will be available shortly :thumb:


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## dsms (Feb 1, 2008)

Clark said:


> Watch this space, EV Prime will be available shortly :thumb:


:thumb:

To everyone else, the EVP will change the way you polish. It really helps in the jeweling/burnishing stage


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## Dream Machines (Mar 13, 2006)

cheers DSMS. I love the jewelling stage. 
this is a product that has been needed for a long time, a working time extender and hologram preventer, no matter what skill level


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## andrewst500 (Nov 2, 2008)

stunning


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