Since I bought my crosstrek brand new in June 2018, I’ve been using Meguiar s ultimate black trim restore on all exterior trim. Over the past five years the trim has faded so horribly that it is irreparable. I took it to the detailer, The detailer said it was too far gone. He recommended I take it to an auto-body shop to see if it can be painted. The auto-body shop owner said it’s too far gone and it all needs to be replaced at a cost of almost $2800. Does anyone have a similar experience? Please help because Maguires is refusing to compensate me for the damage and it’s the only product I’ve used on the exterior trim. I’ll post a few pictures.
Issue with black exterior trim fading on my 2018 crosstrek
- Thread starter Jeffro
- Start date
You've been using this product, right?
The European Crosstrek (named XV -2023, will be named Crosstrek 2024-) has sprayed-on black trim and/or body cladding, at least this is what I observed yesterday looking at a 2019 XV's rear bumper, I didn't look around wheel archers or at side skirts, nor the front bumper, unfortunately. However, to me your wheel arch looks exactly the same to me judging by your pictures, do you know, or can you confirm for me if indeed that's the case, i.e. all the black trim around your Crosstrek is sprayed on, and not actual physical plastic, separate add-on pieces?
Meguiar's says this on their website:
- Ideal for all exterior plastic, vinyl, and rubber trim such as bumpers, moldings, door handles, rearview mirror housings and windshield cowlings.
From reading the above, my assumption is that they refer to actual hard plastics, like ABS, not sprayed-on, thin-coated protective body cladding and/or body trim. I looked at the list of ingredients in the Maguiar's product, I'm not a chemist but at first glance at least they don't specify any abraisives in their list, although could still be the case that some ingredient is reacting or disintegrates Subaru's choice of application. I was actually surprised to see such a solution, I found irregular edges and overall finish of the sprayed-on black trim, almost like they masked the car down poorly in the factory prior to applying the protection, an easy tell for me to see it wasn't an actual plastic piece.
Here's the ingredient list, see below:
www.meguiars.com
The $2800 is most likely because whole body parts needs replacing to restore the finish, as the black trim is not their own physical and removable parts, that's the massive downside choosing a solution like this over having real ABS attached over your otherwise painted body. Still unclear to me how the 2024 Crosstrek will look, they changed the body completely and all the black trim altogether, it certainly looks like real plastic parts this time, but will need hands-on inspection to really determine.
This sucks man, I have no real solution for you, obviously the car would not have ended up looking like that if you would have avoided using that product from Meguiar's, so seemingly to me it seems you should be able to claim damages against them, being the US and all, where you sue left and right, $2800 can be spent better. Have you shown them the car physically? Did you walk back to Subaru trying to assess what the white, seemingly matte color that shows really is? Is it some kind of undercoat, unpainted hard plastic, or just a dulled matte finish that removed the gloss from the original surface?
What tool and/or applicator did you use to apply the Meguiar's?
I feel your pain, really do, would have walked over waters for this, lol.
The European Crosstrek (named XV -2023, will be named Crosstrek 2024-) has sprayed-on black trim and/or body cladding, at least this is what I observed yesterday looking at a 2019 XV's rear bumper, I didn't look around wheel archers or at side skirts, nor the front bumper, unfortunately. However, to me your wheel arch looks exactly the same to me judging by your pictures, do you know, or can you confirm for me if indeed that's the case, i.e. all the black trim around your Crosstrek is sprayed on, and not actual physical plastic, separate add-on pieces?
Meguiar's says this on their website:
- Ideal for all exterior plastic, vinyl, and rubber trim such as bumpers, moldings, door handles, rearview mirror housings and windshield cowlings.
From reading the above, my assumption is that they refer to actual hard plastics, like ABS, not sprayed-on, thin-coated protective body cladding and/or body trim. I looked at the list of ingredients in the Maguiar's product, I'm not a chemist but at first glance at least they don't specify any abraisives in their list, although could still be the case that some ingredient is reacting or disintegrates Subaru's choice of application. I was actually surprised to see such a solution, I found irregular edges and overall finish of the sprayed-on black trim, almost like they masked the car down poorly in the factory prior to applying the protection, an easy tell for me to see it wasn't an actual plastic piece.
Here's the ingredient list, see below:
Meguiars Product Ingredients | Meguiar's
The $2800 is most likely because whole body parts needs replacing to restore the finish, as the black trim is not their own physical and removable parts, that's the massive downside choosing a solution like this over having real ABS attached over your otherwise painted body. Still unclear to me how the 2024 Crosstrek will look, they changed the body completely and all the black trim altogether, it certainly looks like real plastic parts this time, but will need hands-on inspection to really determine.
This sucks man, I have no real solution for you, obviously the car would not have ended up looking like that if you would have avoided using that product from Meguiar's, so seemingly to me it seems you should be able to claim damages against them, being the US and all, where you sue left and right, $2800 can be spent better. Have you shown them the car physically? Did you walk back to Subaru trying to assess what the white, seemingly matte color that shows really is? Is it some kind of undercoat, unpainted hard plastic, or just a dulled matte finish that removed the gloss from the original surface?
What tool and/or applicator did you use to apply the Meguiar's?
I feel your pain, really do, would have walked over waters for this, lol.
The wheel archers do come loose, see video below.You've been using this product, right?
The European Crosstrek (named XV -2023, will be named Crosstrek 2024-) has sprayed-on black trim and/or body cladding, at least this is what I observed yesterday looking at a 2019 XV's rear bumper, I didn't look around wheel archers or at side skirts, nor the front bumper, unfortunately. However, to me your wheel arch looks exactly the same to me judging by your pictures, do you know, or can you confirm for me if indeed that's the case, i.e. all the black trim around your Crosstrek is sprayed on, and not actual physical plastic, separate add-on pieces?
Meguiar's says this on their website:
- Ideal for all exterior plastic, vinyl, and rubber trim such as bumpers, moldings, door handles, rearview mirror housings and windshield cowlings.
From reading the above, my assumption is that they refer to actual hard plastics, like ABS, not sprayed-on, thin-coated protective body cladding and/or body trim. I looked at the list of ingredients in the Maguiar's product, I'm not a chemist but at first glance at least they don't specify any abraisives in their list, although could still be the case that some ingredient is reacting or disintegrates Subaru's choice of application. I was actually surprised to see such a solution, I found irregular edges and overall finish of the sprayed-on black trim, almost like they masked the car down poorly in the factory prior to applying the protection, an easy tell for me to see it wasn't an actual plastic piece.
Here's the ingredient list, see below:
Meguiars Product Ingredients | Meguiar's
The $2800 is most likely because whole body parts needs replacing to restore the finish, as the black trim is not their own physical and removable parts, that's the massive downside choosing a solution like this over having real ABS attached over your otherwise painted body. Still unclear to me how the 2024 Crosstrek will look, they changed the body completely and all the black trim altogether, it certainly looks like real plastic parts this time, but will need hands-on inspection to really determine.
This sucks man, I have no real solution for you, obviously the car would not have ended up looking like that if you would have avoided using that product from Meguiar's, so seemingly to me it seems you should be able to claim damages against them, being the US and all, where you sue left and right, $2800 can be spent better. Have you shown them the car physically? Did you walk back to Subaru trying to assess what the white, seemingly matte color that shows really is? Is it some kind of undercoat, unpainted hard plastic, or just a dulled matte finish that removed the gloss from the original surface?
What tool and/or applicator did you use to apply the Meguiar's?
I feel your pain, really do, would have walked over waters for this, lol.
Head over to your Subaru dealer and ask for a quote.