Impreza Detailing Advive

[lollybazil]

dear all

i have a 2006 sti and am looking for some advice or tips on keeping the paintwork in good shape . there are very few swirls or scratches but think it could do with a final polish with very minor abrasives . i have considered investing in a d/a polisher like meguiars or a das6 , also looked at menzerma polishes for final detailing ,

maybe somone can post on what they use or results that they have got .

many thanks andy

[MarkJHarris]

I would take it to a place that does it professionally. Honestly, I have an orbital polisher and firstly I would say steer clear of any battery ones- they never last long enough. I have two batteries and stil lcan't get round the car to polish it!!

You do need to really be an anal ******* to do it properly.... My 2006 is showing signs of rust on the back panel- look under the rear bumper at the gap behind the plate/number plate lights and you'll probably see yours is a but yukky too. That's my first target.

Subaru's are thinly painted and the underseal is done here on import I believe. VEry important to keep the arae around the rear boot seal clean- they are prone to rust there. Also damage needs attending to as they can rust quickly with scratches on the arches, etc.

I have had paint on mine on one side and I had the boot area fixed and painted properly. The whole of the inside of the shell is only electroprimed and only gets any colour from overspray. How they expect 6 yrs is beyond me. But the electroprimer is quite thick.....

I use Autoglym and as it's been so wet in the Noth West haven't managed to do more than wash the poor car all year.....

[esoxlou86]

using an orbital polisher will remove light scratches/marks etc yes but its not something I would recommend doing on a regular basis as even with a very fine compound like 3M finnesse etc it is VERY easy to do more damage than good such as burning through the paint. Especially on subarus as they seem to be very skimpy with the paint in the factory lol. My recommendation would be maybe to take it to a detailer/valeter for a one off machine polish and then simply keeping it cleaned and do a regular hand WAX yourself approx once a month but not a polish as wax will cover and protect the paint wereas a polish is designed to cut into the paint and if used too often can actually cause alot of damage. As far as the wax goes I swear by Meguiars gold glass carnauba plus. its not very cheap at £30 a bottle but its a case of trial and error until U find the wax u personally prefer. hope this helps mate this is just my opinion and expeirence's over the past 7 years working in a bodyshop lol but Im sure others will have other views.

[davey l wrx]

I use menzerma 3M cutting compound with an orbital polisher to remove the swirl marks and then the 3 bottle Workstat acrylic kit on the hawk. No wax needed as the Workstat gives it the finish it needs. I was told that by the guys at Polished Bliss (a nice 5 minutes from my house).

The finish works for me

I did the car once last year and then just used the Workstat kit after a wash to give it the protective layer it needed.

The paint is decidedly thin on scoobs as has been said but if the cutting pad and agent are fine it should be ok.

Edited January 6, 2013 by davey l wrx

[wingy1990]

Hi I have got my own valeting business if you want a perfect but fairly cheapish machine work then I would suggest that you go for the autoglym paint pro kit and get your self a dodo juice spin doctor machine polisher I use these and found they are just as great as m3 products the autoglym paint pro kit will remove all light swirl marks and light scratch marks aswell and it will leave the showroom finish you are after I used these on my classic impreza and also on my van and they both are swirl and light scratch free so yeah if you are looking for a great :-)starter kit then I would definitly recommend these over and over again it is a faultless piece of kit