2016 WRX Limited ISM New Car Prep and Optimum Gloss Coated!

[Whiplash Willy]

Here is my 2016 WRX Limited 6MT in Ice Silver Metallic. I factory ordered it, and when it arrived, it came with 4.5 miles, and I asked all of the plastic wrap to stay intact, and not have the dealer touch it!

Here it is at the dealer, the day of pickup!





About 2 weeks after I picked her up, I took a week off work to do a new car prep/coating.
Before the car arrived, I wanted to make sure that I never would have water spotting issues like I did with my past cars. After a lot of research, I decided to build my own CR Spotless System, which ended up costing less then $100.

It is basically 2 Pentex Big Blue 10” housings (CR Spotless uses generic Pentex knockoffs), some PVC/Brass Fittings, a HM Digital DM-1 In Line TDS Monitor, Some Refillable Cartridges, and Resintech MAG-MB Mixed Bed Resin. This is the resin that CR Spotless uses.

https://www.resintech.com/products/ion-exchange-resins/mixed-bed/magmb

If you do it yourself you can save a ton on the initial unit and Resin!



For the Coating, I decided to give Optimum Gloss Coat a shot. I have had good experience with Optimum products. Several years ago I applied Opti-Coat 2.0 to my 2012 VW Golf. About 2 years ago, I had Opti-Guard Applied to my 2013 4Runner.

I only kept my Golf for about 1 year after it was coated, but the coating held up well. I had the Opti-Guard on my 4Runner for about 2.5 years. It was very similar to the Opti-Coat 2.0, but after about 1 year the sides and rear of my 4Runner lost it’s sheeting/beading properties. I tried doing some OPC washes, and clay barring, but it was never restored. I never wanted to polish it, because I was more interested in the protection, then the properties, and didn’t want to pay to have it re-applied again.

After reading up on Opti-Gloss, I figured it would be a good fit for me. It should be easy to apply, and can be layered. It also has good properties. I was initially turned off by it not being a permanent coating, but I figure that every year after the coating, I will do a complete maintenance on it, decon, polish any scratches, and apply another coat. This should both provide protection, and keep it looking good.

On to the New Car Prep/Coating:

First I did a thorough wash with a pressure washer using DI water for everything. After drying, I did notice some light scratches around the boarders of the plastic protective wrap, but other then that the paint was in really good shape.

Next I used Iron-X to remove any embedded particles. It was hot out (90*F) so I couldn’t let it dwell long. I just did a panel at a time, and made sure to rinse
well I did the whole car, even though it didn’t appear to have much or any iron in the paint. I am not sure if it is because there wasn’t any, or I didn’t let it dwell long enough. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to schedule around the weather.

I followed it up with another DI wash, and then Clayed the car using a Nano Skin bar, and ONR diluted to a QD Ratio.
I then took care of the minor scratches using Menzerna Final Polish, and a White CCS Pad on my PC 7424. It made quick work of the minor scratches. I only polished the scratches out. The rest of the paint was so good, I ended up just leaving it.

Following that I used Optimum’s Paint Prep, because I figured product synergy would be a good thing!

After that I was ready for the Coating! I got the 20ccs figuring it would be enough to put 2 coats on the car, do the wheels, and have some left over.
I applied it using the provided blue foam pad. I tried using the Carpro Suede cloths, but I found it really hard to tell it was being applied, and when more product needed to be added. The Provided Blue Foam Applicator makes it really easy to apply, and it starts to grab when more product is needed.
Having a Silver car made the application process very difficult though. It is almost impossible to see the product going on, flashing, or any high spots. I felt like I had to apply it blindly. Because of this, I probley ended up using a lot more product then I needed, because I couldn’t really see the product wiping on, so I applied the product to the pad more frequently, and heavier. After wiping it in to a section with 3 passes, I would wait for several min, then do a very light wiping pass of the area with the provided microfiber towel. I ended up using all 20 ccs, however I was able to put 2 full coats on all painted surfaces (I even did door jams), the Headlights & Tail Lights, and the rear black bumper trim, the Front Cowl, and the wiper blade arms. I will have to get some more and do my wheels at a future date.

I also used Ultima Tire and Trim on my rubber window trim, and some of the black plastics under the hood:



Here are some pictures a few days after the coating:












So far, I am really liking the properties of the coating. It is very slick to the touch, and it does seem glossier then the Opti-Guard or Opti-Coat 2.0. I have yet to wash it, but I believe it will shed dirt and water very well. It has rained a few times since the coat, and water beads up very well on the flat horizontal surfaces, and sheets off the angled surfaces. Also after driving it home in the rain, when I pulled into the garage, the car was almost dry! Just the wind from driving had blown off most of the water! I am excited to see how it holds up!

[fly07sti]

Very nice. Thanks for the info on the water filtration as well. Now get out there and enjoy driving it.

[coles_paint_correction]

Nice job and nice car man. I'm looking to buy a paint coating as well and unsure as I've only used wax for my lap.

[Gray Bishop]

Awesome ride, did you get her tuned yet?

[Understated]

Great job! You can also apply gloss coat to windows. When my parents bought their silver 335i I polished it and applied gloss coat. I know what you mean. Silver is very hard to coat!

[BudgetPlan1]

Nice. Dropped some WG Uber ceramic on my black 2016 WRX last month. After polishing out the dealer installed swirl marks of course.

Wash, clay, WG Total Swirl Remover, WG Finishing Glaze, WG Paint Prep, then the Uber Ceramic. Uber is *So* easy to apply, not even I could goon it up.

Maint going forward just wash and/ or hit with WG Uber Rinseless Wash in QD dilution. Easy as can be, looks great, no scratches/swirls.

Subaru paint is so 'tender'; before getting the coating on there, just looking at it the wrong way seemed to cause scratches/swirls/marring.

[Jomax]

Do you by any chance have a parts list? I'll be making a water filtration setup like this ASAP!

Car came out great btw!

[Mike@DedicatedPerfection]

Congrats on the new car! Looking good.

Thanks for sharing.

[Whiplash Willy]

Do you by any chance have a parts list? I'll be making a water filtration setup like this ASAP!

Car came out great btw!

Thanks for the great feedback guys!

I will post a detailed list of the parts I used for my unit. I went through alot of trial and error with different fittings. Ill post it up later today or early next week.

[Whiplash Willy]

Here is my parts list for my DI Filter setup. After re-looking at all of the parts, it was more then $100, but still much cheaper then the CS Spotless systems! Also, here is the nozzle the CS Spotless includes with the system:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They say you need to use it on the fan setting to keep the GPM low enough for the system to continuously put out DI water. One thing I learned is that the reason you want to have more, or bigger filters with DI resin, isn't so you don't have to change the resin as often. It is because the water needs a certain amount of contact time to become 0 TDS. The more and/or larger filters you have, the more contact time your water will have with the DI Resin, which means you will be able to produce a higher GPM flow, the more resin your system has. I use this setup with a 1.3 GPM Karcher electric Pressure washer, and have had no issues continuously producing 0 TDS water. Those who need a higher GPM rate, can use the 20" Housings, but they may become hard to deal with (heavy). If you wanted to put a sediment filter ahead of this system, it may help extend the life of your DI Resin, because cleaner water won't exhaust the resin as quickly. It isn't necessary though.


2x Pentek 150469 3/4" #10 Big Blue Filter Housing
$31.26 ea
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2x Filter Housing Bracket for Big Blue Housings
$12.62 ea
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

HM Digital DM-1 In-Line Dual TDS Monitor
$31.74
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2x 10" x 4.5" Refillable Water Filter Cartridge
$8.14 ea
https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-...cartridge.aspx

Resintech MBD-30 Nuclear Grade Mixed Bed DI Resin, 5LB
$48.90
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

*Note This type of resin can also be used for DI car washes, but what CS Spotless uses is MAG MB Resin. Also, 5lbs was enough to completely fill 1 filter cartridge, and 90% of the other. I have used my system filled like this several times, and it produces 0 TDS water no problem.
https://www.resintech.com/products/i...ixed-bed/magmb

Fittings

*Note: For the fittings to connect the 2 filter housings, I used the ¾ NPT to ¾ PVC adapters, and connected them with ¾ PVC pipe & PVC Glue. This way, I could thread the fittings into the housings all the way, then connect the housings and adjust them so they lined up

*Note: For the inlet and outlet piping/fittings, I used the ¾ NPT to ¾ PVC Adapters to thread into the filter housings, then connected them to the 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. x 1/2 in Tees with ¾ PVC Pipe. I then used ¾ PCV Pipe to connect the ¾ PVC to ¾ NPT Female PVC Fittings, which the Brass hose adapters connect to. For the TDS Probes, I use a ½ NPT Male to 1/8 NPT Female Hex bushing, to screw into the PVC Tee, and connect the ¼ John Guest to 1/8 NPT Male fitting into that, for the TDS Probe. I used Teflon tape on all threaded connections.

Dixon BA776 Brass Fitting, Adapter, 3/4" GHT Male x 3/4" NPTF Male
$4.28
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Dixon 504-1212 Brass Fitting, Adapter, GHT Female Swivel x 3/4" NPTF Male
$8.79
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2x John Guest Male Connector NPTF Polypro - 1/4 x 1/8 NPTF
$0.96 ea
https://www.freshwatersystems.com/p-...x-18-nptf.aspx

2x 3/4 in. Schedule 40 PVC Female Adapter
$.50 ea
DURA 3/4 in. Schedule 40 PVC Female Adapter-C435-007 - The Home Depot

3/4 in. x 10 ft. PVC Schedule 40 Plain-End Pipe
$2.86
JM eagle 3/4 in. x 10 ft. PVC Schedule 40 Plain-End Pipe-57471 - The Home Depot

4x 3/4 in. Schedule 40 PVC Male Adapter
$0.37 ea
DURA 3/4 in. Schedule 40 PVC Male Adapter-C436-007 - The Home Depot

2x 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. Schedule 40 PVC Reducing Tee
$0.98 ea
DURA 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. Schedule 40 PVC Reducing Tee-C402-101 - The Home Depot

2x 1/2 in. x 1/8 in. Lead-Free Brass MIP x FIP Hex Bushing
$4.18 ea
Sioux Chief 1/2 in. x 1/8 in. Lead-Free Brass MIP x FIP Hex Bushing-930-15200201 - The Home Depot