club.liberty.asn.au

Hi folks, had this '09 Gen4 for a few months now and wanting to tidy up some of the minor body issues. Mostly it's just light scratches and scoffs, and the annoyingly obvious key scratches when the last owner opened/closed. So annoying for a remote central lock. Can I have some advice on the best types of polish and technique to assist with these? The last two photos of the lower door above the trim are the worst, looks like some hardened type of road scratches caused by lots of gravel driving.
The paint is otherwise in great condition, since I bought it just been 2 bucket washing with Autogylm, and waxing with Meguiars Quik Wax. These scratches are starting to show through now, I guess the last owner did a good job covering them up. Thanks!

Surprising the amount of damage considering the car looks absolutely 110% mint in your profile picture!

I had great success using a polish from Germany by the name of CarLack 68 Nano worked great on the water base OEM Subaru paint .Where are you located I still have 2L if you close you can pop around and we can give it a go. I also have some other tricks

seanmau5 wrote:Surprising the amount of damage considering the car looks absolutely 110% mint in your profile picture!

yeah it was detailed up amazingly well at purchase, just a lot of little wrinkles to iron out now. but i'll give it a good go.. Most of the issues are on the same door, I think that door may require professional help.

I'd invest in a DA polisher, if not borrow one, and use Swirl Remover 2.0 all over to remove all the fine swirls whilst you are it.

Once done, inspect the paint for scratches that are still clearly visible. You might need to use Fine Cut Cleaner on the swirls that aren't so fine, and possibly even Medium Cut Cleaner for the nastier scratches.

I will post photos up when I'm done with my paint correction project. So far I've used Ultimate Compound with a DA polisher and it's been great, but only for the VERY fine swirls. Don't waste your time with hand polishes. I've actually started stocking up on Iron X and Menzerna products too for stage two of my paint correction project - stone chip correction. With all of this rain in Melbourne, I can't even wash the car and keep it clean for even a day

Start with the not so aggressive compounds and work your way up if unsure and then work back down with the finer stuff for the final mirror finish.

Good luck with it all.

Some excellent advice above from Alister.

Hand polishing is not only tough bloody work when trying to remove swirls, it's not nearly as effective as DA polishing, let alone rotary.

Typically if we receive a client's car with shocking swirls, we'll do a cut with the rotary to reduce them, and then work down with the DA and a lighter compound, ensuring we get everything.

Alister is spot on as well - make sure you work from least to most aggressive, and once you've found a sweet spot that is doing the job, work back down.

Cheers

Alex

definitely agree with whats already been said however from what i can see theres some pretty deep scratches on there that might not be able to be corrected and will require a respray to be properly repaired.

DA or Rotary polisher will get rid of any swirls or surface scratches so thats a start.

also need to consider thickness of paint on the panel(s). if it has been detailed previously before and someone with a rotary polisher has hacked away at the clearcoat, it would make things more difficult.

if all of this is a little too much, you could probably apply a glaze with filling properties to 'hide' some of the scratches which is probably what the last owner had done. this is a temporary fix so you will need to consider you options.
also remember you will need to seal the glaze in afterwards otherwise the glaze will wear out quickly.

dle wrote: if it has been detailed previously before and someone with a rotary polisher has hacked away at the clearcoat, it would make things more difficult.

I literally cringed, haha!

You are correct - how much clearcoat you have to work with is crucial. For example, BMWs come with approx. 270 microns of depth these days, compared to Audi's which can have as little as 110. Mind you, most German manufacturers have been using a ceramic clearcoat for some years now which does make the clearcoat much tougher (and much slower to cut) than previously.

thanks for the tips everybody
@buddha i'm in WA thanks for the offer to help
I am going to follow the advice and invest in a DA, as i'll looking after a few other cars in the family.
The Liberty as a long term investment, so will probably eventually get professional advice on the deeper scratches on that lower door panel. Everything else i'll experiment carefully as suggested

Considering the DAS6-Pro here
http://www.carcareproducts.com.au/produ ... y/menzerna

kimono wrote:thanks for the tips everybody
@buddha i'm in WA thanks for the offer to help
I am going to follow the advice and invest in a DA, as i'll looking after a few other cars in the family.
The Liberty as a long term investment, so will probably eventually get professional advice on the deeper scratches on that lower door panel. Everything else i'll experiment carefully as suggested

Considering the DAS6-Pro here
http://www.carcareproducts.com.au/produ ... y/menzerna

For best bang for buck I'd go DAS6-Pro or Concours 900. Both pretty much spec for spec at around same price. IIRC, the concours has 880w compared to 850 on the DAS6-pro

dle wrote:

kimono wrote:thanks for the tips everybody
@buddha i'm in WA thanks for the offer to help
I am going to follow the advice and invest in a DA, as i'll looking after a few other cars in the family.
The Liberty as a long term investment, so will probably eventually get professional advice on the deeper scratches on that lower door panel. Everything else i'll experiment carefully as suggested

Considering the DAS6-Pro here
http://www.carcareproducts.com.au/produ ... y/menzerna

For best bang for buck I'd go DAS6-Pro or Concours 900. Both pretty much spec for spec at around same price. IIRC, the concours has 880w compared to 850 on the DAS6-pro

+1 to the both of ya.

For little chips the best advice i have heard is to get the paint number and go and get a spray can worth.... Say 35 bucks at super cheap.
In one hand have the can and in the other a cloth soaked, but not dripping in thinner. Spray the scratch and wipe off immediately with the thinnered cloth.
The scratch will hold the paint but the good paint will wipe clean. May need a second go and of course the scratch will still be there...but not the colour difference..l. And they will be hard to spot anyway....