If you’ll notice, I was replying to Ganthrithor‘s comment about the paint being unbelievably shitty on these cars... not to the OP about the clearcoat

Yeah guys, sorry. I was just dumb and did a very dumb thing. Still quite upset, but I will get over it and get it fixed (at some point, can't really justify swinging the cash right now as much as it hurts me) and move on.

yes but what you are referring to in that post is in fact the clear coat, everything you talk about in that reply references what is actually the clear coat. it has nothing to do with waterborne paint and everything to do with subaru using shit materials and not enough of it.

I found a few light scratches on my trunk and roof.
I think a critter crawled over my car.

I washed the surface.
Then I hand compounded (20 seconds max)
Then I hand polished (20 seconds max)

Obviously, I didn't remove much clear by hand,
but there was no paint on my buffing pads.

Something is up with your car.

I polished mine by hand but use a very low cut compound (basically just off the shelf Meguiars Ultimate Polish) and it had brought my car back to glass gloss after 4 years of neglect.

This eco friendly bs paint has been around for over a decade, I think it's due to the lack of lead that makes it less durable. :iono:

I don't even want to machine apply anything on this car since the panels are quite thin and flexy.

I haven't had a problem using Meguiar's M205 (their lightest compound) and a Porter Cable Dual-Action polisher (PC7424XP) on quality cutting pads. Ultimate Polish faired well too, and its fairly aggressive.

OP didn't post the tools he used. There are much more abrasive products out there.

No, lead has nothing to do with it. Water-base has a little bit to do with it, but there is a bigger contributor.

<-- currently working as an engineer in the paint industry

The problem is the transition to 2-wet and 3-wet processes. Formerly, each coat of paint was cured individually during the paint process. E-coat, color, clear. Three ovens is a lot of line space and a lot of energy consumption. The paint and pretreatment companies came up with a was to reduce the length and number of ovens, which cuts down dramatically on energy consumption and reduces the total line length. It also (in a kind of backwards way) cuts down on paint defects that occur during the painting operation.

However, it results in less total paint being applied and modifies how the paint cures.

This is the issue.

Either get a clear wrap job or just give up. It's going to be a while (5 years) before we get good paint again. It takes time to develop.

I would get a 2 part clearcoat like USC Spray Max 2k clearcoat spray paint. Prep the surface by cleaning it, mask the surrounding area adding an additional 6 inches outside the work area so you can blend it. Spray it and then buff and polish it to blend in with the rest of the car. Shouldn't be to difficult if you know what you're doing.

A) he buffed through the clearcoat by hand.

B) he has already had a body shop fix it and now has issues with the fix.

C) too

Yep. It all goes back to the international agreement on VOC reduction back in 2011. The problem is they changed the paint and coating but not how it is applied and cured. Several manufacturers (surprisingly Ford is a leader in this) have updated the process and have fewer issues now but some older plants such as Gunma are still a ways away from improving the process. They should have all their ducks in a row just in time for the rules to change again.

Ha, I think I am going to leave the fix be. Going to go crazy being this meticulous about paint on a DD :bellyroll:

https://media.giphy.com/media/7SWL6F...PmJh/giphy.gif

Mazda's stuff after they left ford is really good as well, my 16 CX-5 has been buffed several times to take some odd scratches out on the rear and still has some nice clear-coat depth in those parts. and it's paint is still it's glorious soul red color.

Didn't see that he had a body shop do work on that repair. Personally I would just fix it myself but I've done similar work before.



But yea I would just have it resprayed by a professional if you're new to painting and repairs.