Subaru's sticky paint + 1st time DA'ing it... tips?

J

jojo69

New member
OK, It seems that I have my work cut out for me... Scottwax mentions "sticky clear Subie" paint and "separates boys from men"... :think2



So, before I start on my 2012 WRX WRB colored, I'd welcome any tips to make this first Machine Polish as fun as possible.

Car sits outside unfortunately, and has seen it's 1st winter in Maine. It lives on a dirt road and typically sees ONR washes every other week. Car was hand prepped for winter in Mid September with 2 coats of #845. Beading is still going but significantly reduced on lower panels of course.



Objective: Not looking for mirror finish, but would like to reduce/remove finer swirls/marring through the use of the DA. Will likely use hood to try different combos.



Products available:

Yellow clay

1xOrange/4xGreen/4xBlack/2xRed HD Foam pads

HD Speed, Meg's UC, Meg's 3-step system

M#16 wax, #845, NXt waxes

IUJC, ONR



Ideally I would like to stick with HD products and would be willing to get any other HD polishing (Uno?) product that may help.

But if someone has seen good results with a non-HD product that would work well, please let me know.



This will be my 1st machine detail on this car. It's a DD, i don't expect perfection (eventually when i am more familiar with all the pads/compounds/methods I will likely do a more thorough correction). for now I would like to clean up the paint from the winter's harshness and beautify it during the process would be nice.



If you have experience, please let me know what product you use, and any other tips that may be helpful (# of passes, DA speed settings etc...)



Thanks.
 
You will just have to experiment with pads and polishes until you find one that works. Start off at the low end of aggressiveness to see if that is giving you the look and correction you want. Then adjust accordingly. On one, the only polish that would wipe off was Meguiars #205, the other was Optimum G-P-S.
 
Thanks. Pwaug-- Pics are worhtless at this point as front, rear and side panels are caked in mud. I could take pics of hood but it would mostly be water etchings and dirt.



Scottwax-- thanks. I was talking to pwaug who has been very very helpful and i think you are right, at this point I just need to actually do it and test.

First I would like to get the Valugard ABC decon system to maximize a clean paint. I'd probably do a light clay afterwards, wash and then start with greenpad/HDspeed combo and see what results I get. I may try a orange/HDspeed combo depending on what i get with the green pads.



My 'autopianess' is getting the better of me and making it want to do it perfectly the first time and is kinda getting in my way. At this time, but as soon as I get the ABC kit, I just need to 'do it'! :)



thanks! I will update post w/ pics as soon as I do it.

Thanks for all replies thus far!
 
Hi Mate



I've been working on sticky suby's since 2003.

Using an RO is the best option, a forced rotation can work but may need to increase your arm speed to prevent the stickiness from starting up



As far as rotary goes if, keeping the speed below 1250 or even 1000 can help a heap



my best weapon for sticky paint is using High Tech Polish, which is like water, really thin and wet and adding a drop or two of Diggers brand parrafin oil on the pad to prevent the stickiness from occurring. its the same stuff that goes into many polishes



one drop or two per every two to four sections done. reapply with every pad change or clean of same pad

Don't overuse as it means more effort to remove the residue. Much better as a lube than glycerin as that makes you think you still have lubrication from the polish when it's all dried up and stuck to the paint
 
You need to have ColorX or Meg's DA301. I just worked on legacy B4 here, paint is freakinly sticky even 205, HD Polish caked/hazing up.



Only ColorX or DA301 works well for me. Newer subaru should be fine with 205, but depends. Better try one product if not working then try another. But I recommend those 2 products.



Thanks
 
here is an excerpt from an email i just received from Scholl Concepts...



we developed a new concept of combining certain products which allows us to work on problematic, heat sensitive and very soft paint surfaces. We call the system “Soft Paint Detailing”. It provides incredible results on mentioned surfaces.



For both steps we use our new NEO Polisher (Art. 30015)



Step 1:

Sandwich Spider Pad (Art. 20363) in combination with S3 Gold (Art. 103011)



Step 2:

For finishing use our S30+ (Art. 103301) in combination with the NEO Spider Pad (Art. 20333), alternatively you can also use our standard orange Sponge Pad (Art. 20253).



For further visual explanation, please visit the following link. There you will find a video showing the mentioned process of Soft Paint Detailing:







Detailing of Soft Asian Clear Coats with SCHOLL Concepts S3 Gold... - YouTube
 
Never heard of that company or they're products... But seems interesting... Anyone have ever used these products/pads?

How do they compare with HD products on Subaru paint would be very enlightening



Thx for the replies ya'll!!



Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
jojo69- I'm sure you already know about my enthusiasm for the ABC ;) Once you've done that I doubt you'll need to do any claying.



I *really* like your idea of merely doing the car with Speed! I've had sticky-paint issues where removing the polishing oils was a *HUGE* PIA, and I'm pretty confident that you *won't* have such problems with the Speed; I've never had any of my AIOs bite me in that regard when used on such paints.



You can always tackle problem areas with the Meg's UC, just use plenty of IPA wipes to ensure that you clean things up afterwards (I really prefer TOL's PrepWash, or whetever they're calling it these days... but that's a whole 'nother order to place and wait for).



The worst troubles I had with this issue were with M205, a product I would never again use on sticky paint.



FWIW, I've not such had issues using Uno and wouldn't expect to have them with other HD products.



One more thing, don't trust the Speed to clean up after the UC. Those Meguiar's Trade Secret Oils can be very resistant to even the best-cleaning AIOs.
 
Accumulator - I am very curious about the ABC system. The last time i clayed my subaru (and first time I tried the sandwich bag test), it did not pass... It felt buttery smooth on my hands, but once i added that plastic layer, i was very surprised as how much 'imperfections' i could feel... My autopian heart felt very discouraged but I went on with my detail nonetheless... but what a dissapointment... Enough to say that I am very curious as to how well the ABC system will be at cleaning up the paint of ocntaminations. I don't know why, but the notion of starting your detail with 'as clean as chemically possible' paint base sounds oh so good!



And yes, as hard as it is for me, I am forcing myself to start 'simple' with only the HDspeed and see what results I get. I can always up the anti once i have more experience under my belt. As they say, you have to start somewhere! I will leave the various Meg's pdcts for another time...



JohnKleven - Thanks for the heads up! Looks very promising, similar in a way to Scholl (just based on a their seeming use in those videos).

For now, I will work with what I have, or soon to have, which is the HD pdcts.



Thanks for all the replies! :P

J
 
jojo69 said:
Accumulator - I am very curious about..as to how well the ABC system will be at cleaning up the paint of ocntaminations. I don't know why, but the notion of starting your detail with 'as clean as chemically possible' paint base sounds oh so good!..
Click to expand...



Yeah, it oughta clean things up quite well, especially if you agitate a little while it's dwelling and maybe repeat the "B" step if necessary.



And it's soooo safe! Just doing a series of washes, no worries about..say, marring with clay.



See how it goes with just the Speed, I like the way you're approaching this :xyxthumbs
 
Well... Finally attacked the beast today. Starting at 9:30-ish... Wash, clay, hdspeed with green pads. Easy enough to use and took care of all water spots. But did leave some swirls... Decided to try orange pad + hdspeed... A little more correction but didn't quite restore the paint to swirl free condition. Since I didn't have HD sample bottles with me, I didn't try uno or cut to see how they worked... Decided to continue with orange pad. It is now 7pm and I still didn't do the front bumper and hatch! ... I will have to resume tomorrow morning and wax... I was thinking of using M#16 as LSP...



Next time i do a "full" detail, I will try HD uno or cut and see if I can get rid of more swirls. But for now, given the time it took, hdspeed +orange pad worked just fine!



I did notice 'dusting' which I think must be due to too much product used although I followed the recommendation of 4 pea size on new pad and 3 pea size drops on for every new section. Did 3 passes left-right & up-down with medium pressure and a couple more passes on 3 to finish. Then wipe with MF.







Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
jojo69 said:
5 for initial



Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...



Don't be afraid of speed 6, just have to be careful that the pads don't overheat--someone here suggested using 2 sets of two pads--after a couple of sections clean pad 1, set it asside and use pad 2--then switch back and forth between the two pads for half the car then move on to the second set of pads. Worked well for me using speed 6 on the GG DA
 
I'll try a test spot on the roof area with speed 6, orange pad and hdspeed. I do think I would get more cutting ability with a different product (uno, polish or cut). But since I'm getting all the water marks (which was the major eye soar) out and a nice gloss, I'm quite happy for now, especially as a first time using a DA.



Really trying to hone my technique and keep it simple! :-)







Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
No before pics, poor lighting and cell camera didn't really do such a good job, but here are some after pics















 
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