Just some minor Details

As always, when you pick up a used car, you must first make sure all the maintanence and safety inspections have been done. Secondly, always clean the car well. No one, not even dealerships, will ever be able to get all of the filth and grime out of the car built up by the previous owner.

Thankfully, the STI that I have bought only has 15,000 miles on it, which means only 15,000 miles worth of sweat, food, and other odors that may have accumulated over this time. However, the previous owner did not know how to properly wash a black car, and it was delivered to me with millions of swirl marks and "cobwebs" all over the clear coat.

You think this is bad? It looks even worse in the sun!

It was inevitable, I had to do something about this! I proceeded to use the same line of car care products from the Camaro.

Weekend of detailing.

If you read my previous detailing post, you would know that detailing takes time, and has many steps. First you have to wash the car from top to bottom. The cleaner, the better. Secondly, your car SHOULD be under cover, but not completely necessary. Next, you start the clay bar process. This will prevent any micro particles from being polished along the surface of the car while you run the polisher.

Clean claybar.

DIRTY CLAYBAR, JUST AFTER ONE PANEL!

Next run the polisher, and cut the clear coat to the amount that you want. This made the black paint look really rich and deep. Finally, you wax and seal your clear coat, and your car should look really sharp!

I also took this opportunity to debadge the rear of my STI. When you debadge a car, especially a used car, you will be left with some badge ghosting. The reason this happens is because the area under a badge is in perfect paint condition, while the rest of the surface is exposed to the harmful effects of nature, weather and car washes. After you remove your badge, you can see the contrast between the good and bad surface.

Since I was polishing out the blemishes, it was a perfect time to debadge!

Before: Badges are on, and the surface is very scratched up.

After: Debadged, polished and waxed.

Close-up shot of where the "Impreza" badge should be. Like a mirror!

Close-up shot of where the "Subaru" badge should be.

So much cleaner in the back without badges, much easier to wax and polish.

I have a couple of DIY videos coming up for you guys to watch in the next couple of weeks. The debadging will actually be an episode, and I have a few more tips that could save you money. You won't even need to buy any "Goo-gone" or any adhesive remover. More on that later.

Adam's, absolutely astonishing

This is going to be a fairly long post, mostly because it took me quite a long time to finish what I am about to talk about: taking proper care of your car. When it comes to maintaining your car, proper cleaning is a big part of it. When I first got my car, I wanted to make sure it was kept as perfect as possible, so I bought a proper detailing kit. Obviously, over the months, I've gotten rock chips in the paint, and other damages, so it was far from perfect. This made me a bit less motivated to keep it nice. However, since winter is coming, and my car is mostly parked outside, I wanted to make sure it was properly protected, so I spent the weekend detailing my Camaro.

Soon after I bought my Camaro, I joined a Camaro forum, and many of the members swear by the Adam's Polishes line of car care products. So I thought, "Hey, why not give them a shot?"

Conclusion? I love it.

The full detailing process took me about 20 hours, spread over three days. I took some pictures of my process, hope this may be helpful for some people:

Friday - I gave my car a proper wash. Hosed down the whole car with water, knocking off all the loose debris. Secondly, I used my foam gun and soaked the whole car in soap. I let all the soap soak and drip off the car. This lubricates the whole car and as the suds slides down the car, it brings more dirt off with it. Rinse all the soap off with water. Then foam gun the car again, and wash the whole car with the two bucket car wash technique with Grit Guards (You can search this online). Make sure you use two seperate wash mitts: one for the top half of the car, and the other for the dirtier bottom half. Rinse again with water, and dry.

Saturday - I spent half the day using the claybar on the whole car. Look at the above picture: Clean claybar on the left, and the dirty claybar on the right. That crap is what came off the car AFTER my long car wash! If your car doesn't feel as smooth as glass after you are finished claybarring, then you didn't do it properly. After the claybar process, my car felt so clean. You don't know clean until you have claybarred. Also, do not forget to claybar your windows, it makes all the difference. You'd be suprised at the amount of crap that stays on your windows after your wash.

Sunday - This was my longest and most tiring day. I spent the day cutting, polishing and waxing my finish. I won't really get into the details of this, but let me tell you, this is the first time I've done this, and there is nothing to worry about. If you do this properly, you won't screw up your surface. Heck, I own a black car, so if I'm not scared, you shouldn't be scared either.

Look at this picture, no trick photography here. This photo was taken with my iPhone 3GS, it doesn't even have a good camera, and it can pick up the scratches in the 'Before' picture. After cutting and polishing the finish, it looked flawless. Wow, thumbs up for Adam's products!

After the polishing, I went into the final step: waxing the car. With Adam's Machine Super Wax, it was a breeze. I waxed the whole car in 30 minutes.

Results? 110% satisfied.

I'm not getting paid for praising Adam's Polishes, it's purely beneficial for you readers. If they had sold me some bad products, believe me, I would be on their tails, especially if it had ruined my car. The honest truth though? Adam's Polishes has MY trust, and MY loyalty from this day forward. Great products, great customer service. Like I have said before, I am 110% satisfied, and the only way I feel I can pay them back is by spreading word of mouth. Also, if you need any more convincing, just remember that this is my first detailing attempt, and I did it on a black car.