My 05 Blue "Premium" Subaru Impreza WRX. "Hit from behind!". 2/29/16

[savage388]

It should only be as big as your wrx, the whole point of them was to directly compete with the base wrx from what I understand and to slot in below the evo x. Good luck with the sales rep, I hope you can work something out.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Decided to keep the WRX for a few years. Then when warranty is up, get something else.

Weather was beautiful yesterday. About 70 degrees and sunny for a couple hours. So I decided to start detailing the WRX. Cleaned the interior a little with Armor All. Still have a long way to go but it was too nice to sit inside the car. Detailed the tires with Armor All Gel. Stuff works so dang well. Also applied Rain X to the windshield.

After that I decided to clean the Cobb muffler which only took a few minutes with Mothers and Never Dull. Then worked on the trunk lock. The lock was very corroded and just nasty. I ended up having to use Never Dull, Mothers, a razor blade, toothbrush, 2,000 grit sand paper AND finished with 3M cutting compound. Yes I spent 45 minutes sanding and polishing the rear trunk lock. @Ibonibo will understand this.

When it gets warmer I will finish detailing the interior. Then start detailing the bodywork. There are quite a few scratches and chips. So I am expecting at least 6+ hours of work on the body to get it anywhere near as nice as my 04 WRX. I am also considering painting the wheels black like my other WRX.

Shiny tires.

Weapons of choice for muffler and lock.

Lock before

Lock After

Muffler before

Muffler before.

Before

After

After.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Never been a fan of Armor All on interior, makes things all greasy-like.

My favorite tire shine (or lack there of) was from Black Magic, it had a matte finish. I just like black tires, not so shiny. They don't make it anymore though.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Never been a fan of Armor All on interior, makes things all greasy-like.

My favorite tire shine (or lack there of) was from Black Magic, it had a matte finish. I just like black tires, not so shiny. They don't make it anymore though.

I like the shiny interior but I don't care much for the greasy feel to it either. So I am actually experimenting with some interior products and trying to find something better. I was using Black Magic on my other WRX and I ended up not liking it. It actually dried out my hands and the areas I applied the product. I tried it again Sunday and just don't like the results. So I am going to Advanced on my way home and see what other options I have. I like the Armoral wipes, just want them to be a bit more shiny. Maybe Meguiars will have something better.

I am also positive I will be painting these wheels satin black like my other WRX. I will also be painting the calipers black. I do not like the red calipers. In fact I just bought the black lug nuts.

 

[Ibonibo]

Looks like new That muffler and lock shine. Awesome 👍

I only ever used armor all for interior, because I needed something and was the only thing I found off the shelve avail. immediatly. And it's the first detailing product in years I used that really stinks bad.

I think matte black will suit the wheels well. Good work. Update us with the rest of the car when you done 👍

 

[DDastardly00]

The only thing I use on my Subaru's interior is a Swiffer pad and a very slightly moist rag (if needed), I use Meguire's Gold class leather products on the leather. I use special (electronics grade) soft cloth to wipe down gauges and dash instruments, stereo system etc, it won't scratch anything it touches.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Looks like new That muffler and lock shine. Awesome 👍

I only ever used armor all for interior, because I needed something and was the only thing I found off the shelve avail. immediatly. And it's the first detailing product in years I used that really stinks bad.

I think matte black will suit the wheels well. Good work. Update us with the rest of the car when you done 👍

TY. Very happy with the muffler and lock results. Also yes the matte black will look nice on the wheels just like how it turned out on my 04 WRX that I sold. Which reminds me the black lug nuts came in. Now I need to paint the wheels sometime in the next couple months.

The only thing I use on my Subaru's interior is a Swiffer pad and a very slightly moist rag (if needed), I use Meguire's Gold class leather products on the leather. I use special (electronics grade) soft cloth to wipe down gauges and dash instruments, stereo system etc, it won't scratch anything it touches.

After trying a few products I found Meguiars Surpreme shine works VERY well for the dash and other vinyl/leather/plastic surfaces. It does not dry out my hands or the surface. Very shiny and does not leave a greasy residue at all. It also smells like coconuts.

I detailed the inside of the car some more over the weekend. Also went around the exterior just doing my first initial wipe down, grease, bug, grime removal off the paint. Then started some prep work for when I start buffing/ repairing the entire car this summer. I buffed out a couple of the larger scratches by hand, now I need to get some touch up paint and start repairing the rest. Plus the car has a lot of fine "spider web" scratches that will need to be removed. Body / paint has a long way to go to be anywhere near my 04.

OH yeah and these came in.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Been a while since I posted an update. Here is a list of the few improvements recently performed.

1. Windshield. Had a couple chips that resulted in a huge crack directly in my line of sight. Since the windshield is electronically heated for the wipers, I thought it was going to be really expensive. But not too bad.
2. Cabin filter. This cabin air filter is deja vu from my other two subarus. Every single one looked like this. I am convinced no one EVER changes these in a Subaru.
3. Mobile 1 oil change and fram filter
4. Started buffing and detailing the body. It has a LONG way to go to be anywhere near as nice as my 04 WRX.
5. Painted wheels and calipers low gloss black.
6. Installed new black lug nuts.

 

[DDastardly00]

Looks good, the wheels look great with the paint job. From memory, it is recommended to change the cabin air filter at 30k and every 30K mile intervals after that. My wife's Forester was changed twice already and she is at 90K so it needs to be done again. My 2005 Legacy GT does not have a cabin air filter otherwise it would have been changed

You should install one of these Rocket engines next, just like in this Subaru GL:

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Looks good, the wheels look great with the paint job. From memory, it is recommended to change the cabin air filter at 30k and every 30K mile intervals after that. My wife's Forester was changed twice already and she is at 90K so it needs to be done again. My 2005 Legacy GT does not have a cabin air filter otherwise it would have been changed

You should install one of these Rocket engines next, just like in this Subaru GL:

Thanks about the wheels. Strange your 05 Legacy does not have a cabin air filter. Oh and I took your advice and added a rocket engine. Well not really but I did greatly improve the way this car runs now.



The turbo up pipe on my WRX has been leaking bad since before I purchased the car. So it was losing a lot of power. My neighbor finally had a chance to install my stainless steel up pipe for the WRX at his shop. What an absolute nightmare that part was to put on. 2 dealerships attempted and could not install it and ended up rounding off the nuts and bolts in the process. So my neighbor being the champ that he is, finally got it done. Also removed the cat and installed a flex pipe along with replacing all bots and nuts with stainless steel. What a huge improvement performance wise. Runs way better and just feels so much better to drive. Turbo is a lot louder and functioning the way it is supposed to. I also had him install at least 1 more exhaust bracket to help with any minor vibration. Common problem on these cars.

 

[Ibonibo]

With that installed you owe us a soundfile vid. Seriously !!!

Nice mods as always. Looks very clean 👍

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

With that installed you owe us a soundfile vid. Seriously !!!

Nice mods as always. Looks very clean 👍

Thank you.

So I had an interesting moment over the weekend. Had to travel for about 2 hours on the coldest day of the year so far. After about the first hour I started smelling something electrical burning or some sort of nasty burning smell. Checked the gauges everything seemed fine. All of a sudden I feel my butt burning!!! I pull off to the side of the road and sure enough, my heated seat had some sort of electrical fire right under my butt!!!! One of the wires must have broke and worked its way through the fabric. Burnt the seat, my pants, and boxers. All I could think of was the song from The Martian....."looking for some hot stuff!!!"

The bad news. Called around to get a new seat and they don't sell just a new seat. You have to order the parts individually. Now for the sticker shock. Just to buy the parts and replace the lower part of the seat myself, just the lower parts including cushion electric and fabric, is around $800.000!!!!

So with that said I will have to start searching around for a used seat.

 

[Ibonibo]

what a pain in the pants.

Most carmakers switched the layout of the heater grid in the mid 2000, because of just that. Luckily burning should not be a issues as the foam and fabric should be quite fireresistant.

Normally they just shortcut to the part where they broken, because they have one line doing serpentines. If it breaks on a point.... it just stops working... So in recent years, a "like honeycomb" layout gets used more. If it breaks, it just reroutes and still works. And as the resistance doesn't pike, it doesn't start burning

Looks like this:

Instead of this:

Maybe if you find a non heater second hand seat, upgrading to a futurproof variant might be interesting. Best luck of finding all the parts needed.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

@Ibonibo Thanks for the suggestions. Not sure what I am doing with the seat yet.

Friday the 12th I was stopped and getting ready to make a turn. Out of nowhere someone rear ended my WRX. Then fled the scene. My very first accident ever. Luckily I wrote down the license plate number. Then called the cops and my insurance company. Cops eventually tracked the driver down and issued several tickets. The damage to the rear bumper has been repaired and I have the car back looking even better than before.