Subaru Paint

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imported_edschwab1

New member
Can anyone tell me about the quality of Subaru paint. Preferably from the mid to late 90's Impreza.



Also, did Subaru use single or clear coted red paint in that era? I know I can check by ising paint cleaner in the door frame, but wanted to hear from others.



Eric
 
I've got a 1996 sti in Silver (406). The paint is chip-tastic! You only have to show it a stone and it falls off! From what I gather it's very thin. I had most of the front end re-sprayed about a year ago, and have only got one small chip in the laquer since....Maybe luck....Maybe the paint quality is now just a damn sight better.



As far as I know, all Subaru's colours are clearcoat.



Cheers.

Alex :).
 
Don't get me wrong though. If the paint is in good nick the finish can be amazing. The actual paint quality is pretty good, it's just a shame it's so thin!
 
Yah, it chips real easy and to top it off, the sheetmetal is super thin! I have dents in all my doors! If you sneeze in the general direction of the car, it's gonna be dented all over the place!
 
I've worked at a Sube dealer since 1991. during that period, we all noticed that Subarus were very suseptible to acid rain marring (we are in northeast PA, where coal is burned by many homes for winter heat, so we even have acid snow). "Paint sealing" the cars as soon as they arrived (we don't charge for it, it's so we don't have to try to sell spotted cars, and we even clay bar them first) helped a lot, and for a few years now they come covered with plastic instead of transit coat. AFAIK, they are all clearcoated.



Most of the last 10 years I haven't been interested in detailing, so I've only thought about it from a warranty claim standpoint, otherwise I haven't paid attention. I hope this helps.



Mosca
 
WRXemALL said:
Yah, it chips real easy and to top it off, the sheetmetal is super thin! I have dents in all my doors! If you sneeze in the general direction of the car, it's gonna be dented all over the place!
Click to expand...



I noticed the same: thin sheet metal and thin paint. I already have four different dings, some with scratches.
 
I have a 1997 Outback Sport and yes, the paint is thin, the sheet metal is real thin, but...that thing sure details up nicely. I have the brisbane blue (+clearcoat)and with zaino the shine is simply outstanding.

I've also had great results with SMR and Griot's Best of Show carnuba.

good luck with yours

JonT
 
I've got an '02 and the midnight black paint (really a very dark blue) is a PITA. It chips and scratches VERY easily. And in a small hail storm last year, I was the only one who had dings in the roof and hood out of a bunch of cars in my parking lot. Thin metal, thin paint. :mad:
 
WRXemALL said:
Yah, it chips real easy and to top it off, the sheetmetal is super thin! I have dents in all my doors! If you sneeze in the general direction of the car, it's gonna be dented all over the place!
Click to expand...



Don't get me started on the dings...I have noticed that I haven't gotten any new ones since installing Rammat60 sound deadening. might be fluke but I bet it helps some at least.
 
White 2.5GT- When checking for clearcoat/single-stage, note that Subies don't always have clearcoat (or even COLOR coat) in out of the way places. I THINK that all models used the same paint, my white Outback from that era was clearcoated. BTW, some Subaru paints are a lot harder than others, but yeah, they all seem to be thin.
 
Even though I own a Nissan, I share your pain since the A33 Maxima (2000-2003) is very chip-friendly. I recently spent $75 getting paint chips out of mine.
 
We have owned many new Outbacks and my experience with the paint has been the opposite of those expressed so far, we have been very pleased with the finish, and have found it to be no softer than any other vehicle we owned.



However the people at SOA are another story.
 
Oops, I did forget about a bumper paint issue on our 98, the paint literally would peel off in strips. But again, metal paint issues have been a non-issue with us and 5 new Outback wagons. Maybe we were lucky..
 
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