Chris had phoned me up on the Saturday with a view to getting his Subaru Impreza STi C-Spec detailed on the Sunday. He explained over the phone that the car suffered from swirl marks which showed up predominantly under street and petrol forecourt lighting and that he wanted the car looking spot on as he had spent a small fortune on importing this rare beast from Japan.

Chris arrived on Sunday morning with his mate and I heard the Impreza coming from a long way away. The car was sporting an aftermarket exhaust (Roger Clarke ‘Team Ice’) and all I can say is it was very loud and quite terrifying as it roared down the street. As it was pulling onto the drive, I can quite easily say this is the loudest engine note I have ever heard. Chris and I then went around the car with Chris pointing out a few minor scratches here and there. He also explained that the car suffered from swirl marks all over although it was difficult to see anything in the dull weather. Chris then left with his mate and said he would return upon my call.

I began the detail by rinsing the wheels and applied Meguiars All Purpose Cleaner diluted 4:1 and worked the same into the gold alloys with a range of wheelbrushes. The wheel arches also received a dose of APC and were scrubbed clean with a long-handled brush and rinsed clean. The car was then rinsed over and washed with Meguiars Shampoo Plus together with a small blob of APC to give the wash some bite as the car was very dirty from the winter road salts and finally, rinsed clean. Onto the next stage of the detail and the Impreza was clayed with Meguiars Quik Clay with the aid of Meguiars Last Touch diluted 1:1 acting as lube. The clay bar removed a load of embedded contaminants and left a lovely, smooth finish to what was a rough to the touch car to begin with. The car was then rinsed over and dried with a couple of Sonus Der Wunder Drying Towels ready for polishing.

I wheeled the Impreza into the garage (a process in itself as the engine noise was simply frightening) and set up the halogens to see what all the fuss was about. The car was, as Chris had confirmed, covered in severe swirl marks and there were a few quite noticeable scratches here and there which were showing up on the now clean bodywork. Having worked on a Mitsubishi Evo VIII with very tough paint, I was expecting something similar with the Impreza and was not to be disappointed. I started off with a Meguiars Soft Buff Polishing Pad sporting Menzerna Final Finish PO85RD with the Porter Cable 7424 on speed setting 5 and hit a small taped up area on the bonnet - nothing.

I then moved up to Menzerna Intensive Polish PO85RD 3.02 on the same pad with improvement. However, I was not happy and decided to bring the Metabo Rotary into play and worked the same pad and polish combination and was delighted with the instant correction using 1100-1500-1800-1100 to break down the polish. The results were very pleasing although the Menzerna was really playing up in places as I worked on the remainder of the bonnet. Not happy with the heavy dusting, clogging and buffer trails, I decided to give Meguiars #83 Cleaner/Polish a go on a Sonus SFX-2 Polishing Pad and was much happier with this pad and polish combination as I gave the bonnet a further hit to remove the buffer trails. I then proceeded to work my way around the Impreza using the same pad and polish combination. The lower sills, rear spoiler and plastic bumpers were worked with the PC7424 sporting a Sonus SFX-3 4" Cutting Pad and Menzerna Final Finish PO85RD which did the trick. The polishing stage took a good 5 hours - the paint really did not take too kindly to being machine polished at all.

Onto LSP and Chris had asked for a wetlook over durability as he had invested in some waxes and wished to top-up on a regular basis himself. Swissvax Best of Show was an option but I finally decided on the Clearkote Twins (Yellow Moose and White Carnauba). The Yellow Moose was applied first with an applicator pad and buffed clear. The White Carnauba was then applied and allowed to cure for around 30 minutes before being buffed clear. The combination worked a treat and left an unbelievable wetlook finish to the paintwork - the photos do not do the car justice under the dull lighting of the garage. The two Clearkote waxes in unison are really something and I recommend these over anything else for pure wetness. Durability is about 10-12 weeks which is reasonable.

The wheels were next and the gold alloys and Brembo brake calipers were treated to a couple of coats of Chemical Guys Wheel Guard which brought out some amazing flake which can be seen in the photos below. The tailpipe also received a coat of Wheel Guard. The tyrewalls were dressed with Chemical Guys New Look Trim Gel and the arches with Meguiars All-Season Dressing. Finally, the interior and exterior windows were polished with AutoGlym Fast Glass and the detail was complete.

Soonafter, Chris arrived and he was delighted with the removal of the swirl marks and surface scratches and could not believe the wetness and clarity of the paintwork. His mate was impressed and commented on how well the car looked after a good wash and polish. After explaining what was used in the detail and how best to care for the car in the future, Chris duly paid his invoice and left in his detailed Impreza STi C-Spec.



The photos - click thumbnails to enlarge