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New Car Prep + Product Testing: 2014 Subaru Forrester


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As I ramp up development of new products here at AP again I've been seeking out cars for detail service that will make good testers for specific products. This 2014 Subaru Forrester was perfect for what I needed this week. Purchased recently, new, right off the lot it was the perfect candidate to test a variety of new products including new soap formulations, a one step polish, different pads, coating primer spray and of course a coating.

I'll be following the progress on this car pretty closely over the coming weeks. We have a good amount of snow in the forecast and the owner plans to run it thru touchless washes a few times before it heads back for a refresh so I'll see exactly how the coating is holding up to the abuse.

 

The interior needed nothing more than a quick dry towel wipe to remove some light dust. It may be getting more substantial treatment in a subsequent visit, but the owner is going to enjoy the new car smell for now.

 

Started the detail out as you would with any, a thorough cleaning of the wheels, tires, undercarriage, and a wash. The tires/fender liners were sprayed with full strength APC and scrubbed. Wheels were hit with Deep Wheel Cleaner and then agitated with a wheel brush. The wheel woolie was used for the inside of the wheels.

 

I used a pressure washer to help speed things up and tested a new formulation of car wash that I've started working on. Stay tuned for updates on this...

 

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After the wash was complete, the exterior was decontaminated using a 1:1 dilution of Deep Wheel Cleaner to remove ferrous metal particles from the finish, surprisingly next to no rail dust was present. After that had a chance to do its job I clayed with the big blue clay bar to remove the remaining contamination.

 

I did a fast secondary wash to remove the residues from claying

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I dried the exterior with the master blaster and a great white drying towel, then moved onto inspection. There were a few isolated RIDs that needed to be addressed, otherwise the finish was a perfect candidate for a one step polish as the swirls were minor. The customer requested we remove the dealership stickers, so before polishing those were addressed.

 

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As you can see on this up close shot, the isolated RIDs weren't anything horrific, but they were more than your average swirl. We identified about a dozen marks of similar depth all around the car so these were marked with tape and addressed first just so they weren't overlooked.

 

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Went to work with the prototype one-step polish and an orange pad. I was pleasantly surprised to see that even the deeper RIDs were able to be removed with this combo on the Flex so I would be able to take on the entire car with one setup. 

 

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Once the polishing was complete it was time to test our prototype coating primer/paint cleanser. This product is designed to remove polishing oils, waxes, sealants, and anything else on the surface prior to applying a coating. It also deposits a quartz primer that should, in theory, equate to easier application and better performance from our coating. Testing continues.

 

After inspecting the paint and completing the primer wipe-down I moved to the actual coating application. It went on very effortlessly and aside from being difficult to see on this silver metallic paint was great to work with. Durability tests will continue in the coming months. Since this product is still in the testing stages it was applied to all paint, glass, wheel faces, and trim to test durability on the various surfaces.

 

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Wrapping things up I dressed the tires with Tire Shine and addressed the wheel wells with Invisible Undercarriage Spray. As we were running out of light we couldn't resist playing with the hydrophobic properties of the coating - I'll add videos to this later... the water flat refused to stick and this was all on a hood that was parked on an UPHILL ramp, making it only a few degrees from level.

 

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Lastly we rolled out to the front to get some final shots as the sun set, just in time for the owner to take delivery of their clean, polished, and coated rig - just in time for a winter storm to hit us this weekend too!

 

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Even the boss was floored by the gloss when he was leaving -

 

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Dub Magazine pose for good measure ;)

 

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Thanks for reading. I'll update this thread with durability info as we see this car again.

Edited by The Shine Doc
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Just curious Dylan, and I'am sure the results vary, how long does it typically take Adams Polish to release a new product after an initial test?

It seems to vary.  Tire shine was well over a year while rinseless seemed to come out of the blue.

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Hard to believe you're in shorts and T in Colorado.  Nice warming spell y'all got treated to last week!

QUESTION: What are RIDs?  Even after a quick search of the forums, couldn't find that reference.

Random isolated deeper scratches.

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Nice write up.  Looking forward to your updates.

 

 

Very nice job Dylan.  Interesting to see that the coating is a spray.  Have other application methods been tested such as the foam block and suede towel that other coatings use?

 

Application reminds me of DP and Black Label coatings.  The block and suede can still be used with spray coatings.  Curious as well to hear Dylan's pro's and cons for going the spray delivery method.

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Application reminds me of DP and Black Label coatings.  The block and suede can still be used with spray coatings.  Curious as well to hear Dylan's pro's and cons for going the spray delivery method.

Exactly what I was getting after.  I find I can better keep track of where I applied it when using a block.

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Very nice job Dylan.  Interesting to see that the coating is a spray.  Have other application methods been tested such as the foam block and suede towel that other coatings use?

 

Yes... and I'm testing multiple versions as well. This one we liked in another application test, now testing the viability of it as a spray for easy application. This chemical levels really well and buffs off easy, so spray application really was a good way to go. Tested this way for application purposes, but also to see what the long term effect would be on the sprayer after having coating pumped thru it. Need to make sure it doesn't clog, doesn't cause the sprayer to fail, etc.

 

Just curious Dylan, and I'am sure the results vary, how long does it typically take Adams Polish to release a new product after an initial test?

 

Completely depends on the product. Keep in mind - you guys only see what I post about. Much more happens than what you guys see on here or other outlets before, during, and after. I've had development cycles that were months, I've had others that were years. Just depends.

 

Also, there are dozens of products I've tested that you guys have never seen... either b/c they were way too far from approval or didn't do what we wanted. Theres a lot going on behind the scenes when I'm involved in testing.

 

Hard to believe you're in shorts and T in Colorado.  Nice warming spell y'all got treated to last week!

QUESTION: What are RIDs?  Even after a quick search of the forums, couldn't find that reference.

 

Its been unseasonably warm... high 50's and low 60's for weeks now... just today (sunday) finally seeing some winter weather with snow and temps in the 30's - 40's.

 

RIDs = depends on who you ask, but acceptable definitions IMO -

Randomly Introduced Deeper Scratches

Randomly Introduced Damage

Random Isolated Deep Scratches

Random Isolated Damage

 

Doesn't matter too much what you technically want to define the acronym as... the idea is the same:

Scratches that are deeper than swirls, kind of random in placement.

Edited by The Shine Doc
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Heres a quickie shot of the water behavior on the hood of the subaru that our video dude Joe put together

 

 

We'll be putting together the rest of the footage this coming week to give you a better idea of what was going on, but in the meantime:

 

The ramp where we do most of our detailing runs uphill, so unlike many examples of water shedding you see we are actually compensating for the natural downward slope and gravitational effect of the hood, basically forcing the coating to shed the water without much help from gravity. Far too often you see these tests or proof of concept videos on FB or forums and the person putting them up fails to point out they are pouring water on a vertical panel or something with a 45* angle to it... almost anything will run on that kind of slope. We repeated this test over and over... placing a few small drops at the cowl area and watching... they would sit still for only a moment, then begin to roll gaining speed.

Additionally, unlike a non-coated surface, these drops didn't leave a trail. The paint 100% shed the water till the end of the hood. Cool stuff for sure.

Edited by The Shine Doc
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