2012 DGM Subaru WRX STI - Paint Enhancement + Coating

10secdream

10secdream

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A few month`s ago a member of the local Subaru club contacted me looking to enhance & ceramic coat the paint on his DGM 2012 Subaru WRX STI. After various scheduling conflicts we finally found a date that suited the both of us.

Process
Exterior:
Wheels: Griots Heavy Duty Wheel Cleaner with various brushes
Tires: Zep Formula 505 Cleaner & Degreaser
Wheel Wells: Zep Citrus Cleaner (4:1)
Pre-wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss & APC via foam cannon
Wash: CG Citrus Wash & Gloss via 2 Bucket Method
Decontamination 1: CarPro Trix
Decontamination 2: CarPro PolyShave Towel
Dry: Waffle Weave Towels
Tape: 3m Automotive Tape
Paint Thickness: Taken using Digital Coating Thickness Gauge
Polish: Meguiars M205 w/ White Buff n Shine Pads via Rupes LHR15ES (5.5” pads) and GG6 (4” pads)
Surface Prep: CarPro Eraser
Paint Protection: CarPro Cquartz UK
Glass Protection: CarPro Flyby30
Wheel Protection: CarPro HydrO2
Tire Dressing: Optimum Optibond
Trim Dressing: Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant
Glass: Sonax Clear Glass via Glass Towel
Exhaust Polishing: P21s Polishing Soap

Engine Bay:
Engine Components: Zep Citrus Cleaner (4:1) with various brushes
Engine Dressing: Sonus Trim & Motor Kote

Before Photos:

The owner drove about 8 hours through rain so the vehicle arrived rather dirty.

















Wheels were really dirty with lots of caked on dirt and brake dust







Exhaust tips had a heavy build up of exhaust soot



Engine Bay was in need of lots of love





During Photos:

Started with the wheels, tires and wheel wells.





Carpro Trix on the wheels



Heavy contamination on the paint.



Vehicle was then foamed to help loosen up the dirt





Wheels were sealed with CarPro Hydr02





50/50 shot of the exhaust tips



After the paint was decontaminated and washed it was time to see the true condition of the paint. Minor swirls found throughout.





Paint thickness measurements were taken to ensure it was safe to polish the vehicle. It was interesting to note that near the bottom of the doors the paint was very very thin (80um). Overall the vehicle had average paint thickness for oem paint.



Here is my test spot on the front fender. Swirls are removed and the paint looks great.



50/50 shot of the hood after correction



50/50 shot of the door after correction



The rest of the vehicle was corrected and then the vehicle was prepped and coated with CarPro Cquartz UK

After Photos:































Thanks for looking and enjoy
 
Excellent work on that Subaru. and even Mr Sun thinks the same as it shown brighter once the finish product was shown to the world....keep up all the great work
 
Outstanding work on that Subaru! I can understand his 8 hour drive to have his vehicle given your TLC. Thanks for sharing.

Having a dirty vehicle to transform makes a perfect canvas for before and after pictures.
 
Outstanding work, write-up and pictures! A pleasure to follow, and glad to see results reaching such high level. Congratulations, mate.

Kind Regards.
 
Based on the first picture I thought the car might have been wrapped lol. Great work you brought the shine back to that subie!!
 
That was an insane before and after. Looks like the owner was using the car for what it was built for though! Nice job.
 
Man that engine bay was dirty!Well done, great job!
 
Once again, a top notch turn around. I really like how you break down what you use, very nice, and that one picture from the rear quarter on the right side....BAAMMM! UK doing its thing in that one.

HUMP
 
jamesboyy said:
Excellent work on that Subaru. and even Mr Sun thinks the same as it shown brighter once the finish product was shown to the world....keep up all the great work
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Thanks for the kind words. The sun did cooperate and came out to play for the after photos.

Mike@DedicatedPerfection said:
Outstanding work on that Subaru! I can understand his 8 hour drive to have his vehicle given your TLC. Thanks for sharing.

Having a dirty vehicle to transform makes a perfect canvas for before and after pictures.
Click to expand...

I agree the transformation is quite incredible given that the vehicle was very dirty initially.

Tato said:
Outstanding work, write-up and pictures! A pleasure to follow, and glad to see results reaching such high level. Congratulations, mate.

Kind Regards.
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Thanks for the kind words it means a lot.

EVOlved said:
Based on the first picture I thought the car might have been wrapped lol. Great work you brought the shine back to that subie!!
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I looked back at the photos and I swear I never removed any wrap.....:dblthumb2:

af90 said:
Great job!
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:props:

Marc08EX said:
Amazing job!! That's one heck of a turnaround.
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Thanks. I think this may be one of my best turnarounds yet.

haris300 said:
That was an insane before and after. Looks like the owner was using the car for what it was built for though! Nice job.
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His vehicle is actually a summer only vehicle with very few kms that only sees sunny days and track duty. Driving 8 hours from up north (oil country) will make any vehicle dirty.

vdevan said:
Man that engine bay was dirty!Well done, great job!
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The engine bay was very gross. I am glad I through that one as an extra for the customer.

HUMP DIESEL said:
Once again, a top notch turn around. I really like how you break down what you use, very nice, and that one picture from the rear quarter on the right side....BAAMMM! UK doing its thing in that one.

HUMP
Click to expand...

:dblthumb2:

Zelfiris said:
Massive improvement, great job!
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Thank you.
 
^^ Probably does not help that the before pictures were not in the sun and the after pictures were in the sun. Camera settings were similar for both photos as well.
 
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