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Painting My 2007 Subaru Legacy GT Wagon


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Only six months after buying my Subaru the clearcoat started to fail. The previous owner had some clearcoat work done in order to hide imperfections in the paint and sell the car faster. I was left with the dilemma of spending $4500 to repaint the car or just have a blotchy finish on my car. By this point I had added suspension modifications, turbo back exhaust, JDM hid headlights, Crawford AOS and other bits and pieces. So needless to say I was a bit disappointed that my new to me car was going to look like shit.

 

Thankfully a very good friend of mine who restores cars professionally took pity on me and offered to do the spray work if I did the prep. We started Friday morning at 9 AM and finished the base color 9PM last night.

 

We were meticulously clean. I have never done this before and it is a much larger amount of work than you could imagine.

 

The car has 4 coats of base color applied and gets sprayed with 4 coats the best clear available today. Then after it has had time to dry for 24 hours we will buff it and unwrap it finally.

 

Materials cost was a bit over $1200.

 

Here are photos of the process.

 

Just got done pulling headliner and roof rails.

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Clearcoat failure. 008768c9a5e76cfa560a311944ac1c92.jpgc64077e90c842f7ba6877737ebbd8006.jpg

 

Starting sanding after masking rubber.

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Ding repair and blemish removal.

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Masking all day.

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Masked, primed, and base coat sprayed. 12bea553d838b4deac9615592daaa8d0.jpg1080b4abc322168e21be0e8a087f989e.jpgb05108d17ae51f944b0441c5ac92fc94.jpg

 

I will add the final pictures tomorrow. My baby is going to be so clean.

 

 

 

 

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Edited by VespaGTS
typo
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It is a little late now, but you probably should have pulled the door moldings. Someone painted my Outback and the biggest issue I have with the paint job is they painted over the moldings which are now chipping.
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It is a little late now, but you probably should have pulled the door moldings. Someone painted my Outback and the biggest issue I have with the paint job is they painted over the moldings which are now chipping.

 

TIme will tell I guess?

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Looks great man, I had a wrx with BSM. I have an OBP outback now and live in California :eek: . The sun heats my car up and holds onto it so bad, last black car I ever own.

 

 

I swore off black cars many years ago. As a former car detailer I just know what a pain in the ass they are to own. But when they are clean, damn they look good.

 

 

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Basically done. Still need to use 1000 and 1500 grit to knock down any orange peel. Then buff it. Also need to source mesh for he grill. But she is looking good. Madrigs Hood95fcc785f2b45c14093540c1d8ad8046.jpg Scoop looks just awesome painted. a4d1adc09b5fffb0fd419145e1d86c0b.jpgb442ef4f2c0872ef73bf42ee1a99de69.jpgddd7e0a7045a41788f8bc54d9c331b89.jpg

 

 

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Looks great.

 

If you did all that, making a mesh grill should be easy for you.

 

Here's mine. It's mesh from home depot and bondo to hold it to the plastic grill.

 

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305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

Engine Build - Click Here

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Got her done. Except for finish sanding. Honestly I need a break from it for a few days. I was able to reuse the honeycomb from R-Rev carbon grill. 2a9a61c70042fdacd919b5e0259b23a0.jpg

 

Madrig hood scoop looks stock only bigger. Nice work Madrig!

 

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Glamor Shot because why not.

 

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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It is a little late now, but you probably should have pulled the door moldings. Someone painted my Outback and the biggest issue I have with the paint job is they painted over the moldings which are now chipping.

 

correct. you should pull door moldings off to paint them completely and the notch grove the moldings on the doors. if you don't paint the moldings completely (edge to edge), the paint will start to flake off on the edges. that's my 2cents.

 

also I'd recommend getting clear film on hood and bumper asap. a repaint will chip like crazy compared to the factory paint.

Edited by 05MNLGT
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