Lightning Red Subaru WRX - Detailed by Lawrence

[lawrence]

2 Subarus in a row....and this one is red (which I just love polishing).... so I was really in my element And the fact that the owner had taken the time to come and spend a few days with me to make sure he knew how to properly maintain it afterward, made the detail all that more meaningful for me. Any detailer will tell you there is nothing more satisfying than turning a car around for someone who truly appreciates it!!!

Cleaning the engine bay was not in the scope of this detail, and so I started with the fender wells, tires and wheels - remember to always ensure the wheels are cool and that you use the appropriate cleaning products for your type of wheel (and braking components).

Fender wells : Carchem Citrus APC @ 1:5 though a foaming spray nozzle | Autofinesse Dressel
Tyres : Mothers tyre brush | Carchem Tyre and Trim Gel
Wheels : Valet Pro Billberry @ 1:5 | Valet Pro Citrus Tar and Glue Remover | Carchem Revolt | Wheel Woolies | Daytona (large & small) | Autofinesse Hogs Hair Brushes | MF wash mitt | Gyeon Wetcoat





Door Jambs : Carchem Citrus APC @ 1:5 though a foaming spray nozzle | Autofinesse Hogs Hair Brushes | MF wash mitt | Autofinesse Tripple





Here is what the car looked like before it was washed









Foam : Valet Pro Advanced Neutral Snow Foam
TFR :Valet Pro Citrus Prewash
2BM wash :Carchem Luxury Shampoo



The car was then decontaminated and much to the owner's surprise was full of iron contaminants and still felt very rough via the baggie test thereafter.

Iron removal: Carchem Revolt
Tar Removal :Valet Pro Citrus Tar and Glue Remover
Clay :Shield Heavy Duty Clay | ONR

This is what the bare paint looked like



And here are some pictures of the correction process which was a 1 step using Flex 3401 | Menzerna SF4000 | White Lake Country Hybrid Pads | Gyeon Prep







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Exterior plastics
Clean - Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and Rubber Cleaner
Protecant - Optimum Optiseal.

Exhaust tips
Clean - Carchem Citrus APC @1:5
Polish - Meguiars NXT All Metal Polish

Door and window rubbers
Clean - Shield Heavy Duty Vinyl and rubber cleaner
Protect - Aerospace 303

Glass
Clean - Autoglym Fast Glass, multiple MF towels

Badges & Emblems
Clean/polish/protect - Autofinesse Tripple, Q-tips, MF towels





Interior
Vacuum - Flex VL35C
Interior Plastics - Carchem APC @ 1:20, various brushes | Optimum Optiseal
Interior Carpets - Brush, vacuum, Mothers Carpet and Upholstery cleaner, brush, vacuum
Pedals - Carchem APC @ 1:20, various brushes

The paint was then protected using Collinite 915

Some pictures of the completed car



























Total time taken 30 hours

As always, thanks for looking and any comments or questions are welcome.

[rustedgolf]

It is amazing what the cars look like afterwards. Well done!

Looking at this makes me lus to bring my car for some tlc. Also makes me feel like a rookie at car wash.

[Zak108]

Wow Lawrence. Brilliant work as always. Love how deep the red paint looks after.


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[Rsi huntered]

You that paint was soft what a turn around

Just need some info. .......

This was not followed up by a black pad?

Was this cause you got enough out of the SF4000 and hybrid or this was not catered for in the price?

[uzzi777]

nice one buddy.

[Saiendra]

Great work Lawrence, was the bootlid previously repainted?

[francois_gti]

Wow

[DotDubb]

What a transformation, wow, your work is absolutely incredible, looks like a brand new Subaru.

[DINODENASH]

Like brand new
Wow

[lawrence]

Thanks very much for all your kind words guys

You that paint was soft what a turn around

Just need some info. .......

This was not followed up by a black pad?

Was this cause you got enough out of the SF4000 and hybrid or this was not catered for in the price?

Using SF4000 on a black pad didn't provide quite enough cut, so I switched to a slightly more aggressive white pad, and once I had made some adjustments to the polishing process, I was able to get that combo not only to cut enough, but to finish out well enough that then following that with SF4000 again on a black pad became somewhat pointless.

It would have removed some more paint in order to eek out another 1% or 2% gloss, and in the bigger picture this was not the best thing to do for the car. Remember the owner (although having learnt 'how-to') will invariably cause some swirling through washing and drying, and so at some point in the future, the car will need to be polished again, and it makes more sense to leave sufficient paint on the car now, for that to happen then, instead of getting things 100% perfect now, and suffering later.

Great work Lawrence, was the bootlid previously repainted?

Thanks - not as far as I am aware - why do you ask?

[GaVeN]

Excellent work there.
I just wish we could educate more people on the do's & don'ts of car washing to avoid swirling & damage like that. Especially on soft paint like the Scooby's.

Car came out fantastic man

[Uvy]

RED FTW
LA FTMFW

Without sounding like a knob.. when you use Carchem Citrus APC @ 1:5.
What is the 1:5 ratio.. is it like 100ml liquid to 500ml water ..

[lawrence]

Excellent work there.
I just wish we could educate more people on the do's & don'ts of car washing to avoid swirling & damage like that. Especially on soft paint like the Scooby's.

Car came out fantastic man

Thank bud. Yeah educating people about the proper way to look after their cars is just as important to me as actually detailing them.

RED FTW
LA FTMFW

Without sounding like a knob.. when you use Carchem Citrus APC @ 1:5.
What is the 1:5 ratio.. is it like 100ml liquid to 500ml water ..

Thanks bud.

So the dilution written out as 1:5 means 1 part APC, and 5 parts water. So let's say you are mixing into a 600ml spray bottle.... the maths is: 600ml divided by 6 parts (1 of APC plus 5 of water) = 100ml per part. So you would put 100ml of APC and 500ml water to give you 600ml.

If the bottle is 1000ml then you go 1000/(5+1)=166.6ml part, so 166.6ml APC and 833.3ml water

Hope that helps

[Uvy]

thank u so much for that LA.
makes sooo much sense now..
Did I metion Red FTW lol

When are you in JHB again LA ?

[lawrence]

thank u so much for that LA.
makes sooo much sense now..
Did I metion Red FTW lol

When are you in JHB again LA ?

Pleasure bud

Honestly not sure when I'll be up there again bud, but hopefully there will be another detailing day with Crazy Detailer in the not too distant future

[Uvy]

how many details can you do in a week LA. Monday to Friday ?
What if we got you up here and you detailed a few cars

[N3mo]

nicely done..

these softer paints annoy me, but really satisfying once done.

[crumbs]

[mikhail117]

Solid work bud, what a transformation!

[Slick]

What a great job Lawrence. Highly impressed!

[lawrence]

Thanks for all the kind words gents