Mini rant! Suggestions welcome...

Im sure a few of you have seen my write up on detailing a Obsidian Black Pearl Subaru Legacy Spec. B... It turned out very nicely. It was my second experience of polishing with a rotary and it turned out very well

So, it ONLY makes sense that I am having the biggest PITA time with a OBP 07 WRX.

Well, the leggy is made in Lafayette, IN... where as the WRX is made in Japan. Im only guessing the clear coat/paint is different when it comes to quality and hardness. Then again, Subarus are know for crap paint.

First and foremost, this is BY FAR, the worst, most hammered paint I have ever seen on a car with 40k miles.... Pics will come soon

I have tried nearly every combo of padolish that I have at my disposal. Using both the Flex and the PCXP... No matter what I tried, I could not get the paint to finish down nicely. It would be very hazy, or look even worse. The crap weather he had today didnt help

I have:
M105
M205
D300
Nearly all the Menzerna polishes
Uber pads
Adams polishes
and im sure some other stuff....

The only thing that I could to to get decent results was......... D300 (which I love BTW) and Menzerna Finishing Glaze.

Thats it! nothing else... And some of the swirls/RIDS are somewhat visible unter intense lighting.

This paint seriously looks like it was polished with a brillo pad... or waxed with butter and left out in the sun....

I tried every technique. started off with least intensive then worked up... got to M105 and Uber yellow.... the paint went back to square 1.

its just annoying that its the same manufacturer and color of vehicle as the specB... and this just wont have any of it...ugh

I guess i feel bad or like i failed because Im having to resort to a glaze because i just cant do anything to get the paint perfect... should I feel that way? To be honest, Ive never even used a glaze till now. Fortunately it jsut came in with my last order.

Rant over!

 

I have done a gazillion STI's and Leggy's all colors. When you run into a situation like this you NEED PATIENCE. The haziness tells you that material removal is happening, but if the paint hazes up really easily with something like M105 on a polishing pad or finish pad, that means you should need an even lesser step to correct the haziness to finish down.

I have gotten consistent results fast using a bunch of different combinations. I work in a slightly variable environment and have yet to experience such frustration that everyone complains about. I think with this paint you just need some patience.

Did you go through your corrective steps then try something like 85RD on a white pad? Sometimes the Uber(Buff and Shine) are a bit too soft, therefore a bit too grippy for this paint. Something like Orange to blue might get you somewhere.

These paints don't like pads that drag stuff over them, the like firmish pads with mild products...by the way by firm, I do not mean a given cut, just a firmness lol.

Something like M105 on a polishing pad with a dot of 205, followed by 85RD or 106FA on a polishing pad should put you in a decent spot.

Also, stick with the PC . I wish I could give you my experiences with these paints man.


EDIT: Also, if you find the finishing glaze helps you finish out, you can add it to your polishes. For the quality that glaze ISNT(I was never impressed at all or noted any real filling from it) you might just be providing lubrication for the pad to do a little improvement to get to you where you want to be. If needed, you can sub in a paint cleaner, a non mechanical AIO or something to this effect since you know a polish itself might haze on you if its that bad.

 

most of the pads I used are Uber. They are a little grippy for my liking. What pads would you recommend?

I have some LC pads as well. I gave menzerna polishes all the time they needed to break down and turn clear. when using M105/205, i only used it for a few passes. About 45 seconds at a time.

i worked my way up from least aggressive to most on the PC. Then I reached for the rotary and it just wasnt worth it. The pc was giving better (yet not perfect) results.

 

Some pics of the car in question.













This is only washed and clayed, havent gotten to these panels yet

 

I've also had problems with Subaru paint before, and after speaking with mike @ auto aesthetica, I figure out a way to deal with the annoying Suby paint.
Here's my suggestion:

1. Mix a stronger Menz polish (SIP, IP, or PF) with 85RD @ 3 to 1.
2. Suby paint becomes a PITA when it's hot, so you'd need plenty of lubrication. What I did was spray ONR directly onto my pad, not so much as to prime it, but to provide lubrication, and don't work the polish forever and then some, this only heats up the paint more (I had the advantage of having Scholl Concepts A15, which is a medium polish that breaks down very fast. In fact, it breaks down in just 3 passes)
3. Before you wipe off the polish residue, spritz your mf towel with ONR, this will again provide lubrication and decrease the chance of marring.
4. Suby paint is so soft that when you use too much pressure to wipe off polish residue, it mars. So what I did was I used a short nap mf towel (The towel I used was the pak shak edgeless).
5. Remember, don't let the paint heat up, and lubrication is key!

This is what I had to deal with, and the entire car looked like this,


And this is what the car looked like some 10 hours later,

 

Thanks for the advice, but it's like 45-50 degrees out right now. Are you talking about the heat from the polisher against the paint? Or outside temp?

 

Heat from polisher against paint.
With A15 from Scholl breaking down so fast (and not overly aggressive), after 3 passes the paint was barely warm.

 

+1 on the heat comments. I have learned that with really finicky clears if you wipe the residue as soon as you're done polishing, you can mar the paint since the panel is still a little warm. So, if you do end up working the polish for a little bit, I would not wipe the residue away instantly.

Also, polishes that are really oily are great for polishing and having long working times, but they can sometimes cause marring when you wipe them away because they typically need to be wiped a little more (due to them being oily) than a water-based polish.

-Kody-

 

Something like M105 on a polishing pad with a dot of 205, followed by 85RD or 106FA on a polishing pad should put you in a decent spot

^^^I agree with the above sentence.

Paintence is a vertue here.

And that car is F***in' hammered!!

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

Yeah, the car is really bad. BTW, those arent finger prints on the panels. Its just messed up

 

Great advice here on dealing with difficult paint. Are you using halogen lights while detailing?

 

I was using that brinkman dual xenon light

 

Another tip for these cars, I type this as I work on yet another STI is that the bumpers and plastics typically are harder paint-wise. They are considerably less finicky and in my experience with all colors on them, are absolutely pleasant to polish.

If you can dial in your process on the bumpers and plastics first, stepping down a halfnotch will make life much easier when you get the to metal panels. Not to mention you will learn how the polish works on the plastics versus having your hair fall out on metal panesl(which will be softer) and going at them bald .

 

OP, how did you end up doing the car?

 

hmm, Ive never looked at it that way. When I polish, I always choose a metal panel as a test point so i can see what it will take to do a majority of the car. Maybe ill start off on the bumper next time. Thanks Mike!

BTW, you mentioned that you found the uber pads to be too grippy. Ive been feeling the same way about them as well recently. What pads would you recommend i should try out?

Well, I ended up sticking with the Megs DA MF system. Although I couldnt find a combo that would make the paint perfect, i was on a shorter time line than I wouldve preferred and the D300 worked the quickest and easiest.



I followed up with Menzerna's Glaze and Powerlock. The car belonged to a buddy of mine and I reduced the price of the detail for him because I wasnt completely satisfied with how it turned out. he loved how it looked and I told him that I was able to get about 80% of the defects out then topped it off with a glaze. He still loved it and said he wants to come back in the Spring to get all the nasty crap from the roads off of it.

One funny thing is, I knew exactly how the car got messed up without him telling me exactly. I was having small talk with him and asked where he was living now. he said he was living in an apartment with his wife.

"I guess youre not allowed to wash your car in the parking lot right?"

"nope"

"So, you probably take it to a coin operated do-it-yourself place, huh"

"Yeah actually!"

(REMINDER: He is a good friend of mine)

"...... You use that foam brush dont you......."

"............................................................................................................................................yeah?"

"DONTYOUEVERUSETHATF****INGBRUSHAGAINYOUHEARME!?!?!?!"

"ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok ok"

 

LMAO! Did you at least tell him about ONR and maybe gave him a sample?

 

I did tell him about it. He asked me to build him a kit he can order from detailersdomain/autogeek/etc.. For some products he can use at the apartment

 

I was about to say - try the MF pads, I see you did and they worked. Tip - drop the speed on the PC to 4-4.5 and do a panel. See if that works better, and clean (compressed air is best) the pad very often.

 

The MF system worked the best but only took out about 80% of the defects.

I wish I had an air compressor but I just use the conditioning brush as often as I can. I brush it off a couple times between panels.

 

You will wonder how you lived without an air compressor after you get one. I got a little 6 gallon Porta Cable rig that does everything I need. Small and fits well in the garage out of the way. Only issue is it's noisy when running, but that keeps the wife/kids away and lets me work, so maybe that's NOT an issue heh heh!

Secondly - Optimum is supposed to release their version of MF cutting pads real soon, unlike Megs, these are supposed to work well with a rotary too. I'm going to get some and hope the iniatial reports were accurate.