Hate to teach you genetics Juice but aftermarket is not inheritable. It has to be OE factory-installed. Like if you get a nose job (not that you need one :-), do you really expect your (future) numerous children to inherit the Daddy's new nose?
(he says psychologically). Rufus is male and I know how I know. Too far away for beeding however. Too bad. By the way Juice, Sandy may prefer to be called Arenaceous on formal occasions. She is a lady after all. :-)
available as I remember. There was a company which advertised a device you could screw on the end of a garden hose. It ran the water through the equivalent of the material in a water-softener (zylene?). Can anyone recall seeing it for sale? 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?
No, not Dave, but I think I may change my name so I don't feel quite so much like an outsider on the Subaru boards!
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!
Though my name is not Dave, and my (wife's) Forester is celibate, I'm hoping you strange, fine folk can help me out with advice ....
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?
with Carfax on this one. After 7 years, it's a bit hard to blame it on the paint if it IS factory paint. Carfax may tell you a bit of the history on your new Sube. Was it repainted? I'd raise a ruckus with the car wash if I were in your Sube.
Paint on my old Soob (Loyale'92) is just fine, most other cars of the same age do not look as good, finish-wise. My old soob was never garaged spent most of the time under scorching CA sun, and went through many many quick car washes (I'll never do this to my new Forester, I promise).
I doubt your Legacy'93 has problems with original paint. It's most likely either a poor repaint or something with car wash.
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).
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?
Hi, I've just bought a 2000 Impreza RS. I took the car back to the dealer today for what looked like a paint repair done to the hood between the scoop and the grill. It's a patch of silver flakes closer together than in other parts of the paint, and the clear coat pooled around the location leaving a slight ridge.
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.
Ryan, I think the Subaru paint is as durable as any basecoat/clearcoat put on any car these days. 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.
The pollution police made automakers stop using the harsh chemical solvents, hence paint quality went down hill for a while, and is just getting better again now.
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.
I went to local Costco (San Leandro, CA), in hope to get that California Car Blade KenS recommended. No such luck. No car blade in the store. Bought instead $160 worth of groceries and household items that I did not need in the first place... arrgh! Costco is devil's invention and as such should be banned from the planet of Earth.
Anyone in SF Bay Area knows where to get California car blade at a reasonable price?
Just got back from a 5-hour road trip in 00 OB w/ 2 brothers and father. 3 over 6' and over 900 lbs total. Car drove great. Definately less oomph than when I drive alone, but handled I5 grapevine with relative ease. My dad was surprised it was a 4-cylinder, as we cruised uphill at 75 mph, which provided me a great opportunity to talk about merits of the Phase II engine. 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.
When I power-wash my Forester, I noticed that rubber stripe under the glass of driver's window gets a bit wet. However, rubber under all other windows remains dry.
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?
Kate - I think it's OK. Look closely and there are two seals on each window. The outer edge of the window presses against the rubber, and then there is a 2nd seal further from the edge.
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!
I've bought the same that you've recommended a few months ago. I've enjoyed it greatly: all of sudden car washing became fun not a chore.
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?
They are machined so precisely that I'd just get a new one.
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, what brand of pressure washer had you recommended? By the way, I picked up my new Forester S Premuim yesterday, FINALLY!!! 'Got to get ready for that first wash!
Any opinions on whether the new OB should get a coat of wax right now, or is there any merit in waiting awhile. I remember something several years ago about the paint still 'hardening' for awhile. On the other hand, the salt season is about to be upon us...
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 body shop guy says that the paint can set for about six weeks before it gets waxed -- that allows all the various coats to harden, I guess. My guess is that it's well over six weeks from mfgr. to your garage!
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.
Chamois cloth is also a really good way to dry a car quickly without leaving streaks. Probably not as fast as a leaf blower! (but still has amazing results)
Just finished scrolling through thousands of posts in Waxes and Polishes sections of Edmunds... A lot of pro-zaino enthusiasts, but it sounds like one has to work really hard on the car, to go through all those Z-steps.
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?
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.
I do a lot of detailing and usually when wax gets on and drys on black plastic or vinyl I use peanut butter. Sounds silly but the the oil in the peanut butter wets the dried wax and makes for easier removal. Take a small dab and rub it on the area then wipe off. If the area is textured use a toothbrush to rub it in. Then get some I believe its either Meguires or Mothers 'Back to Black' protectant and dress up the vinyl with that or Vinyl 2000 a good UV blocker. Don't use armor all for vinyl. For auto wax I use Liquid Glass polish/wax goes on easy and comes with little or no buffing and leaves no dust. Its a polymer so bird droppings just come off easily.
Tried it, its ok but I believe that its bought only through mail order its not sold in stores. Also it's expensive. Zaino wax is a polymer based wax as is the Liquid Glass, which is what I prefer. My garage used to look like a Pep Boys display of waxes, I would buy a wax and use it once then try another till I was in a detail shop and saw them using LG and I was hooked.
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