Re: My 2005 WRX STi
Alright guys sorry for keeping you waiting. I've had an insanely busy week between work and car troubles (Not the STi, but the STi isn't being driven right now and I've had to do some work on a few other cars). I also puled the STi's headlights apart, cleared them, and painted the charcoal piece inside Obsidian Black Pearl to match the car, and then converted the indicators, brakes lights, parking lights, reverse lights, license plate lights and interior lights to LEDs. I did some stiffening as well, I added front and rear strut braces and subframe a H-brace. I haven't driven the car yet so I can't report on if they actually make a difference or not.
Here's the pictures I promised, they aren't fantastic, the background isn't great but I'll be getting some nicer pictures sometime in the next few weeks. You can still see the differences.
Engine bay before:
After:
Interior before (I actually detailed the interior about 2 months ago and I just haven't had a chance to get pictures yet):
After:
Paint before:
Paint After:
I've never worked with paint like this to be honest. the clear coat is so soft and at times the paint almost seemed "gummy." I finally got it all sorted out that and I'm fairly happy with the results.
For anyone interested, these are the steps I took in detailing the car:
Interior:
Mats- Resolve and a good scrubdown/spraying off.
Seats- Vacuum and "Tough Stuff" stain remover.
Carpet- Vacuum
Windows- Invisible Glass
Engine Bay:
Cleaning- I covered the alternator with aluminum foil and sprayed everything down with Simple Green, let it soak, scrubbed the more stubborn areas and then rinsed.
Protecting- 303'ed all the rubber and plastic.
Exterior:
Wash- Regular car soap, whatever I had in the garage.
Claybar- Zaino Z-18, Mother's Cali Gold Detail Spray as a Lubricant
Paint Correction- using a Porter Cable 7424 and Lake County CCS orange pads with Zaino ZPC abrasive polish, then a Lake County CCS white pads with 3M Perfect-it III Machine Glaze.
Sealing: (Note: Z5 and Z2 polishes were both activated with Zaino ZFX Flash Cure Additive, and I did a Z6 Gloss Enhancer Spray wipedown after buffing off each layer of Z5 and Z2.) 3 layers of Z5, followed by 3 layers of Z2, followed by ZCS (Clear Seal) and a final Z6 wipedown.
The windows and side mirrors were Rain-X'ed and the wheels were cleaned with generic wheel cleaner. I applied Armor All to the sidewall of the tires.
Headlights- Baked, amber pieces removed, plastic colormatched to the body color and lenses polished.
Before:
After:
Chassis Stiffening- Front and rear strut braces, Subframe H-brace. The pInk was supposed to match the STi pink but it didn't so I painted the stuff that can be seen on the car Obsidian Black Pearl to match the body color.
