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Comments
Sandy has the aftermarket moonroof, so the offspring would all have them too!
Maybe a little baby AWD roadster?
-juice
..Mike
Ross
Randy
At the dealerships,if you catch them early,you can see the full-on "Culligan-man" tanks on a dolly being rolled around as they hose off the cars on the line.
The Miele dishwasher line has that feature. A screw-off lid inside the tub takes rock salt to recharge its own mini softener...no spots on the Waterford that way
But what would that H2O do to your lawn/plants?
Ross
Not a psychologist, an assoc. prof in Counselling Services at U of W, so I do a combo of psychotherapy, crisis intervention, and career counselling.
And to bring this back to Subies, sort of, I think the relationship between Subie owners and their cars is certainly psychologically interesting, although this anthropomorphic gender-bending stuff is getting a bit weird.
Course, that's probably why I feel so at home here!
Randy (but you can call me Dave if you need to)
The car came out covered with milky streaks and spots. The carwash naturally blamed the paint, calling the problem "scorching."
Have any of you heard of this condidtion and what is the best way to fix it?
Long term appearance maintenance on the roof rack & other plastic, vinyl, rubber addons on her "S" '01. She kept her last car, which she liked just "alright," for six years. This one she likes "a lot," and wants to keep it "a long time." Which may mean a LOOOOONg time.
I'm thinking I should be taking periodic steps to protect all the black stuff on the car. I've been using Maguire's Shine & Protect (it doesn't leave a high gloss and has a UV protectant). Good idea? Or?
What about the lower body cladding. Any special treatement other than a wax?
I'm especially interested in any feedback from people who've had theirs for "a long time," like maybe 110 years or so.
I'm going outside now. I want to try to see if I can figure out the gender of the Forester. Since it's blue, maybe it's a boy. Do I have to buy stogies?
Take care.
Joe W.
I doubt your Legacy'93 has problems with original paint. It's most likely either a poor repaint or something with car wash.
abhidharma are you at University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada?
what kind of Subaru do you have?
ash
If that's a nose job, does that mean the front strut tower brace is a miracle bra?
Arenacious - good word! Her name in Portuguese is "areia".
This is great - we're talking about washing with filtered water! Maybe it would prevent the streaking (which I get to a lesser extent). I'm also going to try my new California Dry Blade that Ken recommended.
Wonder if a touch of vinegar would help. I'll put some in the solution next time I use the pressure washer.
Joe: the main thing is to keep it clean. You don't want a layer of filth, bird poop, and tree sap to bake on it. The lower cladding on the S is painted, so wax it up like any other painted surface.
My L has the plastic cladding, and two years later it still looks good. It's very easy to wash if you keep up with it, and I've used no special additives (just elbow grease).
-juice
I'm at the U of Winnipeg.
I sold my '92 Subaru Legacy Turbo Touring Wagon back in April, due to high mileage (for me, anyway -- 180000km).
I thought I was going to be replacing it with a slightly used Forester, but I was 45 minutes late with closing the deal. At one time I thought a
'00 Outback would be the ticket, but with the AT, found it to be too slow.
Our main car is now the Acura TL, which we love; I am intrigued by the H6, although the price seems high for the level of comfort and amenities. I will test drive one when it appears.
I hope your Subaru story is improving. Our Subie was quite reliable, major problems were the turbo at 175000km (which is normal replacement time) and the AT at around 160000km (which isn't normal, and which annoyed me, especially because the dealer and SOC acted like it WAS normal!)
I'd buy another one, but so much is dependant on your local dealer, especially when little annoyances come up. I'm not such a true believer
that I'd put up with anything. Subes are nice, but they're sure not gifts from the gods!
Anyway, take care. Do you work or study at a University?
Randy
They have agreed to strip the hood and repaint it. That has satisfied my worries about their service level, but the paint (Blue Ridge Pearl) seems very soft and easy to scratch. I came back from the gym on Sunday and a cardboard box was rubbing against the front bumper from the wind. It left white marks like sandpaper might. They aren't deep, but I would have hoped the surface was a bit more resistant to paper.
Is the paint on these cars this susceptible to scratching? Is this something that will polish out after a polish and wax? I've only had the car for 10 days.
Thanks,
Ryan.
Gone are the thick, solid enamels of yesteryear -that any good polishing compound and wax job could restore to like new. What you see are light scratches in the clearcoat (that I think is rather thick as compared to my previous car). These can be removed by gently using a "cleaner" wax or "clearcoat" polish. The cleaner wax is less abrasive, so start with that. If you can't get them out, then try the "clearcoat" polish product. _NEVER_ use any heavy duty rubbing compound. Be careful, if after a few light attempts the scratch still appears, then leave it alone, it may be too deep to remove. If anything, the wax will make it look alot better anyhow.
As far as stripping and refinishing the hood, you might want to reconsider. Factory paint is always more durable and consistant than aftermarket, unless the body shop is top notch and has the proper clean rooms and equipment.
If the defects are really bad, then go for the repaint, otherwise, leave it as is.
Hope this helps,
-TonyL
Yours is new so get a coat of wax on there quickly. Keep it clean, weekly if you can, and wipe of any sap or bird droppings whenever you see them.
I've done that on my Forester and there isn't a single paint chip or visible scratch.
Plenty of friends have RSs, and some of them drive pretty hard on gravel/dirt roads. If you plan on doing that, consider some bigger mud guards to protect the lower body, since gravel and rocks kicking up can create dings in the paint.
If you're doing any mods, hop over to the Modifications topic to chat. We have a pretty good Canadian contingent.
-juice
Anyone in SF Bay Area knows where to get California car blade at a reasonable price?
I go to get a $2 gallon of milk, and end up with a lifetime supply of scotch tape for $40!
-juice
-juice
Boy, she really deserved her name! I took a photo of the sand that came from the undercarriage - it was enough to write on!
Had to get her up on ramps to do it right. The skid plates work wonders to keep those parts clean, both front and rear diffy protectors were sweet.
-juice
Try Pep Boys or Kragen. Both should carry da Blade.
Ken
-juice
No complaints from backseat passengers. Could've used a little more legroom, but they all liked the high seat position and headrests. Also would've like to recline. Hopefully SOA is listening.
Also found a great site: here. First try at HTML for posting, so it probably won't work.
Brett
Vince
Wetness of rubber under driver's glass is really small, it's just a few drops squeezed in, but still I wonder if this is something to complain to a dealer about... or is it something to be expected from power-washing?
High pressured water can penetrate the first seal, but usually not the 2nd. Just make sure that is the case.
Even a lowly electric pressure washer can produce 1300 psi of pressure, which is enough to strip the surface of wood!
-juice
Now the problem. You know that nozzle on the washer has a rotating end that changes setting from a single focused stream to a thin-layered wide spray (with angle of ca. 60 degrees).
However, the last time I noticed that in the "single stream" mode nozzle produces 2 streams with some thin spray in between (angle is about 5 degrees between two sprays). In the thin-layer mode, it's not working well either: I'm not getting that thin beautiful layer of water, instead it's a mixture of weaker streams.
I guess something went wrong with a nozzle. Any ideas how to adjust it?
If you look closely, there are two metal blades that press together with progressively more pressure. If you spread them, there should be a single, round stream of water. If you press them together, the stream of water goes flat and gets wider and wider.
WalMart sells replacement parts - you may want to consider a new tip. Or go to Campbell Hausfeld's web site and ask for a replacement under warranty.
-juice
http://www.chpower.com/
Mine is a $99 electric model, but 1300psi is more than enough.
Congrats, too. What color, options, tranny, etc?
-juice
Thanks!
--Jay
P.S. My intention is *not* to start a religious discussion about the best brand of wax, etc.. I'm still recovering from cloth vs. leather :-)
My guess is it would be OK to wax it now, before winter.
Meanwhile, keep it clean until that coat of wax is on there to protect it. Any non-abrasive carnauba wax will work.
-juice
At the same time, the six weeks allows all sorts of air crud to settle on the paint. Some people insist on clay to get it ready. Click & Clack once said, though, that the clear coat is good enough and there's no sense in expecting to have wax make it look any better than the clear coat already does. The wax will just be there to protect it.
Finally, I've found a neat trick that makes it easier to dry the car w/o drips, spots and streaks. After the wash I run a steady stream of water (no resistance from a nozzle at all) over the car so the water streams off, then I fire up the leaf blower (no kidding!) and let the 80 mph wind blow the rest off ... fast, neat, no lint ... and my neighbors get one more piece of evidence that I'm wacko.
Take care.
Joe W.
Ross
Some times I actually just drive it real fast!
Though that tends to leave streaks running the length of the car!
-juice
WD40 works like a charm. I used that to loosen them, and then a razor to shave the gunk off.
In both cases, there is absolutely no trace left.
-juice
Bit
I just waxed old Loyale and hubby's Accord last weekend. On Loyale, I applied (as usual) AutoFom from Blue Coral. On Accord, Meguire Gold Class liquid wax. I still like AutoFom better. Much easier to buff off, and the silkiness of the surface is incredible. Also, Meguire is not easy to get out of rubber/vinyl parts of the exterior trim.
To my knowledge, AutoFom has been discontinued :-( :-( .
1) Anyone knows if there is another wax that also contains Fomblin A?
2) How to get Meguire's wax out of black vinyl/rubber parts of the trim?
I can usually rub it off, try a damp cloth.
-juice
a) No dry spot-free car wash (Blue Coral) -- it does leave spots anyway, but most important -- it does not clean well! I have to go over the same spots over and over again, it just does not pick up the dirt!
b) Rain-X glass cleaner (not confuse with Rain-X glass protectant). I like Rain-x glass protectant, in fact I use it all exterior windows of all 3 cars. I hoped Rain-X glass cleaner will be also a good stuff. It's not. First, it does not clean well: cleaner liquid beads up and rolls down the window, leaving dirt where it was. Second, it leaves haze that requires a lot of elbow grease to remove.
I prefer to clean windows with traditional cleaners and then apply Rain-X protectant rather then using that Rain-X glass cleaner.
-juice
Skippy's of JIF??????????????
-juice