2011 WRX STi Type UK

This is a 2011 STi Type UK owned by a good friend of mine.


Unfortunately the head gasket went recently, so he decided it was a good opportunity to go for a major engine re-build, the full works, forged pistons etc. It’s a lovely car and now running circa 370bhp and 400 +ib/ft torque.


It was however very dirty and having been sat in the garage yard for a few weeks while the engine was worked on meant it was in need of some TLC.


The idea was to give it a really good clean and do a one stage machine polish to get rid of any light swirls and marks to bring back some gloss and shine. My friend had some Auto finesse products which he bought with him for me to use.


So, some befores, pretty dirty, especially the door shuts etc.

















I gave the wheels a good wash first, sadly they were a bit of a mess, lots of curbing, some oxidation and lots of scratches. I decided that I’d clean them up best I could and then talk my mate into getting them refurbished!


AF Imperial, Iron out and various brushes and AF Revolution used to clean wheels




















Calipers and arches also cleaned














Not forgetting the mud flaps





Tyres scrubbed with AF Verso and a Chemical Guys stiff brush.







Dried off with an Air Force Blaster







Before washing, I foamed the STi with AF Avalanche

 

Various areas cleaned with an AF brush



















The door shuts were absolutely filthy and needed some Meguiar’s super degreaser as well as Citrus power, plus plenty of work with various brushes.

















Then washed with Meguiar’s Shampoo Plus using the two bucket method.










Then on to the decontamination stage, first up AF Iron Out





















Followed by AF Oblitarate, left to dwell and the wiped, this got rid of any remaining tar spots
















Foamed and rinsed again, then dried off and into the garage for claying





L]

 

AF clay and glide used to clay the car, to be honest, the paint was now pretty clean after the decontamination stage, with very little else coming off the paintwork





The rear of the car and the back window the worst area





Then onto polishing. The paintwork was actually pretty good, just light marks and some swirls generally, there were some deeper scratches, but overall not bad at all.








I used Meguiar’s Ultimate compound on an orange Chemical Guys 4” pad for the rear of the car, using the DA. I then switched to Sonax EX 04-06 for the rest of the car on a 5.5” green hex logic pad, this seems to work well as a one step and leaves the paint nice and glossy.











AF pad prime used to prime the pads during polishing.







After polishing, the car was given a good wipe down with Gyeon Prep





We decided to use AF Tough Coat for protection, this looks great on white, lasts well and is very easy to apply. As my friend already had some Tough Coat it made sense to use this as he can then top it up with a coat or two himself.


First I used Tough Prep, I applied this by hand using a microfibre applicator.





This was followed by Tough Coat, I applied three coats of this in total by the time I’d finished.





Gloss black rear spoiler given a couple of coats of AF Illusion, just because i love this wax and it looks great on black










The exhaust was a state, in fact i first thought it was actually black and not chrome as it was so dirty!


AF Mercury, a tooth brush, wire wool, some cloths and a bit of patience, it came up pretty well.














Before





After





I then treated the exhaust tips to a coat of Wolf’s rim shield

 

Exterior plastic trim treated with Wolf’s nano trim coat, I like this, worked well on my car and nice and easy to apply with a cotton pad



















Headlights polished with CarPro Ceri Glass








Tyres finished with CarPro Perl, really like this stuff, I’ve never really found a tyre dressing that I’m 100% happy with, but I really like the finish this leaves








I also used Perl on the mud flaps





Then onto the interior:


All the mats out and cleaned with AF Total and a stiff brush, same for interior carpets.








Interior plastics, pedal etc. also cleaned with AF Total, a great allrounder this, even used to lightly wipe down the alcantara on the seats.

















AF Hide leather cleaner used on leather parts of the seats and also the steering wheel.

 

Leather the treated with AF Hide leather conditioner








Interior plastic dressed with AF Spritz








Interior all finished, came up really well














Final touch, an AF air freshener







Sills were very stained and dirty












Came up a treat with AF Tripple









Having seen the bill for the recent engine rebuild, I wasn’t happy about going at it with a jet wash, so gave it a general clean up by hand the best i could and then dressed it with AF Dressle. Not perfect and I would have liked to have got it cleaner, but it did look a lot better.

 

Finally finished, must admit it really did look good finished with Tough Coat, the metallic white paint is lovely. It was a lot of work but I’m happy with the way it turned out.


Thanks for looking.


The afters























































Little video clip, water just sheets straight off the paint now :thumb:





Parked up with my Megane Renaultsport :thumb:

 

Cheers guys

I did only have a very quick drive round the block in it and as the engine is only just run in I took it very carefully. It definitely feels very quick and it's a lovely car, the clutch is a new uprated item and felt very heavy. My immediate thought jumping straight back in the Megane was how light and nimble it felt in comparison.

I do love the Scoobs though, after selling my Clio Williams back in the day, I went on to own 6 different Impreza's, so will always have a soft spot for them. In fact, I met this mate at an early Impreza meeting back in 1997, must have been 20/30 people there, me, him and two others have stayed in touch ever since.

I had all the old photos out when he came round (no iPhones etc. in those days :rolleyes



We couldn't find one of our first cars parked together, but he had a green MY95 and I had just bought a brand new silver MY'97





One of his V5STi and my MY02 STi Type UK

 

Cheers Ed, I think I have a long way before my skill levels are up to yours though!:cool: