Clearcoat imperfection pattern
 

Figured I'd post this here before I call my detailer and have him come assess it.
My car is opticoated, and I recently applied Carpro Reload. Yesterday after an ONR wash I noticed when looking down at my rear bumper from directly above I had what looked like some streaking and discoloration of my paint.

I thought it may have been some leftover Reload so I did an IPA wipedown and when that didn't work I used the Mother's claybar which is pretty mild. It seemed to have changed the pattern I'm seeing but didn't remove whatever is there. I never noticed this before using the Reload so I'm thinking that may be it. If anybody knows what this is/best way to remove it please advise! Thanks.

Attachment 99614

Since you just clayed, try polishing the surface. Do you own a DA polisher?

I do not. I'm getting in touch with my detailer who did my detail and opticoat to see what he thinks. My trunk lid and rear bumper both have some imperfections so I'm thinking maybe I should have him do a light polish and reapplication on the trunk and bumper, along with my new wheels.

Did you buy the car brand new? It honestly looks like a respray and a shotty attempt at color matching. I have a spot on my car that looks exactly like that. I didn't even notice it until I saw it under the gas stations led lighting.

Yep brand new, never sat on the dealer lot or test driven by anyone but me, picked up the day it came in from port so the possibility is very slim that it was resprayed. I look at my car very very closely and didn't notice this in the 14 months I've had it. I think it has something to do with the Reload I applied.

This is very interesting!

So the pattern changed when I clayed.
This makes me think it's just something on the surface. My detailer said it's possible the Opticoat is repelling the Reload and causing the strange pattern and streaking. He recommended using dish soap to strip the paint of anything that may be on the surface, so I'm going to try that when I'm home tomorrow night.

Anything dish soap will remove the ipa took care of.
If the clay changed the pattern it sounds like a polish should take care of it.

Sometimes they get damaged during initial transport from the factory and are resprayed before they even get to the destination port/dealer. Although, if this were the case I would think that Toyota might supervise it pretty closely and it would have a good colour match.

Shit gets resprayed all the time at the factory when someone messes up and damages the paint. An no, they don't have to disclose the information to the buyers/dealers.

@Hydaral @Kiske I'm aware of that. I just know for a fact that this hasn't been there before recently. I am extremely anal about the condition of my paint and I look over every inch from every angle when I detail my car.

Op, that looks like light sanding marks that weren't properly buffed out by your detailer.

looks like a factory rework, happens all the time, My dad works at a toyota manufacturing plant in Durban, Common occurance, careless workers scratch and damage cars on the production line all the time

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