I've always noticed my SWP has an inconsistent finish to it. Looks blotchy. I mostly notice mine on the hood in direct sunlight. I've always figured it was the fact that it's an inexpensive pearl paint, compared to my pearl white Audi. But now I wonder if my car was Opticoated since it was a dealer demo car for the first year and I did something like you when I polished it. Guess we'll find out when I polish it again in the spring and spend a little more time on it.

I've noticed the same thing, usually just the doors though. I would describe it as "cloudy" and "blotchy" too. Pretty noticeable after a wash/wax and when overcast. My detailer never pointed it out, so figured it was normal of the low quality paint.

I noticed a brand new graphite colored Crosstrek with the same blotchiness, so seems like it happens to other colors in the Subaru line.

Good. It's not just me. I'm not too bothered, though, because I intend on racing it for the majority of it's life so I'm sure the paint isn't going to be perfect forever. I'm not nearly as obsessed with the paint as I was on the single stage paint on my '91 MR2. That car was so rewarding to polish.

Finally had a chance to have my detailer, James from Sunset Detailing come out. He polished my entire car and applied the new Opti Gloss formula, must say it looks much better than the old version of Opticoat, and has an insanely slick feel to it.

He was able to polish out the imperfection seen in the first post, he says it was claybar that came off and got slightly embedded into the clearcoat, which makes sense to me because it changed as I clayed more. All gone now with a light polish.

Good to hear