New Subaru

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Isewake

New member
My wife is getting a 2015 Subaru Forester. Bluish color. Anybody know about the Subaru paint whether it's hard or soft?

I am planning to polish with Hd polish (Pink or White CCS pad on GG), then BF Gloss Enhancing Polish (Blue CCS), BF Crystal Coat Paint Prep, BF Crystal Coating. Is there any advantage to using the BF Wet Diamond Shampoo over any other shampoo since I'll be using the Polymer Spray every few weeks?

Now onto the headlights. I was thinking of using Opti Lens. How long does it last and when reapplying, does it have to be polished off? What type of polish? Or would it be better to get a protective film like a Lamin X , the application looks like the ZAGG Invisible Shield screen protector used on cell phones and ipads.

Thanks for your help.
 
Some will say there is a "synergistic" approach as far as staying with one line. As far as soap is concerned IMHO a quality soap that rinses clean should be fine
 
Isewake said:
My wife is getting a 2015 Subaru Forester. Bluish color. Anybody know about the Subaru paint whether it's hard or soft?
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Like most Japanese cars, Subaru paint tends to be soft.

Isewake said:
I am planning to polish with Hd polish (Pink or White CCS pad on GG), then BF Gloss Enhancing Polish (Blue CCS), BF Crystal Coat Paint Prep, BF Crystal Coating. Is there any advantage to using the BF Wet Diamond Shampoo over any other shampoo since I'll be using the Polymer Spray every few weeks?
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RE: polishing steps - Which machine are you using? With which pad size - 5.5 or 6.5? And like Ron said, as long as you're using a quality shampoo I wouldn't be overly concerned about strictly using BF Wet Diamond for maintenance washes.

Isewake said:
Now onto the headlights. I was thinking of using Opti Lens. How long does it last and when reapplying, does it have to be polished off? What type of polish? Or would it be better to get a protective film like a Lamin X , the application looks like the ZAGG Invisible Shield screen protector used on cell phones and ipads.

Thanks for your help.
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On a brandnew car, protective films are the way to go.
 
Planning on using 5.5" on Griots Garage polisher.

My other shampoo is Mr. Pink although I'll probably be changing when I run out.
 
Isewake said:
Planning on using 5.5" on Griots Garage polisher.

My other shampoo is Mr. Pink although I'll probably be changing when I run out.
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Cool, your choice of pads should be fine with a GG. Let us know how it goes!
 
congrats on the new ride. after the hd polish, you can probably just skip the bfgep since it is primarily a chemical cleaner with some fillers. the bfcc prep will clean up everything after the polish.
 
Blackfire renames products now and then, and I presume they reformulate 'em too. But FWIW, the BF shampoo that came with their All Finish Paint Protection was pretty harsh, enough so that I quit using it.

IMO everybody oughta just buy a five-gallon jug of HD Pink when it's on sale. Great stuff and the cost-per-ounce of buying it that way just makes it a no-brainer. I still mix a bit of Griot's Car Wash in with mine for added lubricity, but even then it sure beats buying little bottles of shampoo.

My Subarus had thin paint, so I sure wouldn't want to be taking off much clearcoat, either when new or during subsequent upkeep.
 
Thanks for the info about the paint. Will rethink my idea of polishing first. Maybe go with the BF Gloss Enhancing Polish instead.
 
Isewake said:
Thanks for the info about the paint. Will rethink my idea of polishing first. Maybe go with the BF Gloss Enhancing Polish instead.
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The BF GEP is basically a paint cleaner that leaves some fillers behind. Nice and safe, but it conceals rather than corrects. Not that there's anything wrong with that IMO, just put something durable over top of it.
 
Accumulator said:
The BF GEP is basically a paint cleaner that leaves some fillers behind. Nice and safe, but it conceals rather than corrects. Not that there's anything wrong with that IMO, just put something durable over top of it.
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Would I be correct in assuming that the BF Crystal Coating Prep will remove the fillers? If so then the that would leave the BF GEP as just a cleaner which would be the same thing as the Coating Prep. Is that correct? Will use the Crystal Coating over it.
 
One other thing is the leather seats. We didn't really care for them but came with the package we wanted. How to protect them from my kids spilling things them? Is there a protectant or get seat covers? I guess I also have to worry about the UV rays affecting the leather.
 
Isewake said:
Would I be correct in assuming that the BF Crystal Coating Prep will remove the fillers? If so then the that would leave the BF GEP as just a cleaner which would be the same thing as the Coating Prep. Is that correct? Will use the Crystal Coating over it.
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Sorry, I just don't know. I have zero experience with their Coating system. My (*utterly uninformed*) wild guess is that using the GEP might be unnecessary if using the Coating Remover, but I don't really know.

Being a bit cynical, I wouldn't be surprised if a company (any company) sold you two "!necessary!" products, with the second simply removing the first and the first thus being a complete waste of time ;)
 
Looks like I'm not going to use the BF products. Had problems with shipping costs of that and DP APC gallon size. Didn't feel like paying close to $50 for shipping to Hawaii. So I cancelled the order and will stick to Sonax PNS. I put it on my truck about 10 months ago and there is sill some beading. Not as strong as when I first put it on but still pretty good. So I'll use that on my wife's Forester.

But reading on the BF GEP, it does have fillers and the coating prep does remove fillers so it seems like it would have been a waste of time to use the BF GEP.
 
Isewake- IMO there's nothing wrong with just sticking with an approach that's working for you. Sounds like the Sonax works for you.
 
Accumulator said:
Isewake- IMO there's nothing wrong with just sticking with an approach that's working for you. Sounds like the Sonax works for you.
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Just when I thought I knew what I wanted to do, I thought of a couple of things

1) It's harder to plan future detailing on her SUV since she's out and about doing shopping and things. She doesn't like driving my truck.
2) She's not that careful with the paint. I've seen her put boxes on the hood, when she needs to move stuff around.

PNS doesn't offer scratch protection. Would CQuartz or another glass coating be better? Or is their minor scratch resistance hype? Plus how hard is it to remove the coating whe you need to recoat in two years?

So, what do you think would be the best in my situation. I don't mind trying new products if it'll work better for my situation.

Thanks
 
Isewake- Heh heh, you won't like this...but my honest-to-God advice is to convince her to not damage the paint. I mean, seriously...damaging stuff just isn't the way to go through life and if it matters to you then it matters (just as anything that matters to *her* matters). OK, end of lecture.

I don't know if the coatings would provide enough marring-resistance, but people seem to think they do.

The "how to clean it up when she's always out and about" is tricky, it just takes a bit of time. What about incorporating a (cheap) pressure washer into the routine? I find it a big time-saver.
 
I have a 15 forester too so I'm curious as to the answers. I throw a product at you that I just used on my wife's KIA Koup and it worked fantastic. HD Speed, check out some of the threads on it. The car is new so it shouldn't need that much work or correction and Speed can take out the minor stuff easy. The stuff is so easy to work with and leaves the car feeling like velvet!

Just a thought
 
Went ahead and used Sonax PNS after a decon and claying. Did a Prep All wipedown to get off the wax.

Was looking at Speed in the future. What is the durability on it?
 
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