Subaru paint quality

[speed-wiz]

Originally Posted by rayman0690

The interior is where you can control EVERYTHING and you can always keep it pristine by setting strict guidelines.

Can't control fading caused by the sun, unless one of your guidelines is "no daytime driving"

There are things you can do to reduce it, though.

[DommerEOD]

I hope it's nothing like Toyota's paint quality.. my ride has changed an entire shade and it's only 5.5 years old. It's a better shade, but still!

[StevenDavisPhoto]

my 06 scion tc has pretty good paint from what i can tell. i got the flint mica (dark gray) and it still looks new after a wash. though there are a lot of chips in the front bumper. that's to be expected though.

[Veloist]

Hi I'm from the FR-S forums really but they get pretty anal there if you start a new thread without searching so here I am.

Anyways is there anyone who can account for having both Toyota and Subaru paint? I clean my car once a week and started noticing that my Corolla's beginning to develop some hairline scratches that accumulated from the consecutive washes. Since it's now garaged, I might cut back on the washing until I get an FR-S.

That said, is the Subaru Paint/ Clear Coat layer as susceptible to swirl marks or just the same as Toyota's? It's likely I won't be able to garage my future FR-S so I'm curious.

My paint looks great, don't get me wrong, it's just under certain light conditions if you look close it you can spot swirls.

[ashtray]

Re: hairline scratches. Washing a car is no easy task. Well, it's not tough, but there's definitely a right way and a wrong way to do it.

Minimal:
3 wash mitts (soft)
Clean bucket of clean water
Proper car wash

Rinse the large particles off your car from top to bottom using a light to medium spray. Nothing too heavy or you'll be forcing dirt into your paint.

Wash the top first and work your way down. Rinse often. Overlap zone. With the first mitt, wash the roof, windows, hood, trunk, and halfway down the doors/fenders. Uses second mitt to wash the bottom half and front of the car where you'll find more debris. Wheels get their own mitt.

Don't ever drop the mitt on the ground!!! And wash the mitts out before dunking them back in your clean wash water. Inspect the mitts before starting too - dig through them to make sure there's nothing in there.

Use a proper CLEAN drying cloth to wipe the car dry afterwards.

That's the very basics. Follow that and you won't have scratches from washing your car. There's more advanced techniques of course (open all doors, hood and clean out anything painted with proper cleaning agents and cloths), detailing the front grill, wheel wells, etc...

I've had my silver Subaru for 9 years, and the paint is ok. Front end will get some rock chips on any car if you don't clear bra. Using a decent wax on the front hood often will help a bit too.
Drying cloth

[dori.]

Hopefully it's better than the paint on my current Honda... its like they sprayed the front bumper ONCE.
And the clearcoat is already peeling off the hood (albeit in tiny areas). Car is still less than a year old.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by dori.

Hopefully it's better than the paint on my current Honda... its like they sprayed the front bumper ONCE.
And the clearcoat is already peeling off the hood (albeit in tiny areas). Car is still less than a year old.

You should take it back to the dealer while its under warranty if its peeling. I can't speak for current practice, but Honda repainted my 1977 Civic CVCC wagon even though I was the second owner and it had 60K miles on it back in 1980 or so when the paint started peeling. It had to be approved by the district service manager, but they did a great job of supporting me on it.

[Turbowned]

+1 to what ashtray said.

-Take the time to look up what a proper car wash consists of.

-Wash your car frequently enough that dirt and road debris doesn't accumulate too heavily. Built up crap on a car is an open invitation to paint damage and rust.

-Buy the necessary materials and don't cheap out.

-Avoid washing your car in direct sunlight to minimize water spots burning themselves into the paint.

-Clay bar and wax the car once a year

-Newer cars do have weaker paint; I've seen numerous 5-yr old Toyotas with front bumpers covered in hundreds of rock chips. Even the expensive cars have this happen: I took an '07 RS4 with 38k, originally $72,000 in on trade and the front bumper was all chipped up. Also, we repainted the entire nose of an '09 911 with 18k that was covered in rock chips.
It's up to you, but I know I'll be putting a 3M clear bra on my car. If it starts to go yellow, I'll have it removed and replace it. It's probably best to have it done someplace other than the dealer to save $$, but make sure the product you buy comes with a proper warranty.

[Sportsguy83]

I have a question regarding the clear bra. While you put the clear bra over the bumper and hood, that means that that paint will not be waxed/polished while the bra is on. So, the fading because of the Sun will not be able to be corrected. Also, the parts of the car with no bra will be waxed/polished regularly. Won't this make the areas over time look different in color?

[Turbowned]

Originally Posted by sportsguy83

I have a question regarding the clear bra. While you put the clear bra over the bumper and hood, that means that that paint will not be waxed/polished while the bra is on. So, the fading because of the Sun will not be able to be corrected. Also, the parts of the car with no bra will be waxed/polished regularly. Won't this make the areas over time look different in color?

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...-FAQ-Consumer/

Doesn't exactly answer your question, but I think that because the sun will be beating away at the clear bra and not the paint underneath, if anything the paint underneath will be less affected by sun fading than the rest of the paint on the car.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by Turbowned

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...-FAQ-Consumer/

Doesn't exactly answer your question, but I think that because the sun will be beating away at the clear bra and not the paint underneath, if anything the paint underneath will be less affected by sun fading than the rest of the paint on the car.

From reading along, I think the wax on top of the film will protect the paint from the sun exactly as if it was applied directly over the paint.

Thanks.

[blu_]

While the above is probably true, it still beats have a sandblasted front end of the car after 2 years.

Also, Japanese car paint for the most part is going to be pretty bad, especially since they changed over to water based paints.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by dori.

Hopefully it's better than the paint on my current Honda... its like they sprayed the front bumper ONCE.
And the clearcoat is already peeling off the hood (albeit in tiny areas). Car is still less than a year old.

I'd take that in to the dealer. It shouldn't be that bad already.

[stateless]

Originally Posted by sportsguy83

I have a question regarding the clear bra. While you put the clear bra over the bumper and hood, that means that that paint will not be waxed/polished while the bra is on. So, the fading because of the Sun will not be able to be corrected. Also, the parts of the car with no bra will be waxed/polished regularly. Won't this make the areas over time look different in color?

Most plastics by nature like polycarbonates block UV rays (often close to 100%) and so offer protection. If anything the covered part will fade less than the rest. Over time the UV rays affect and degrade the plastic itself, just not what's underneath.

On a side note, anyone who buys glasses with plastic lenses (which is nearly all) and then pays for a UV coating is getting ripped off for the same reason.