Subaru Uses Industrial Flooring to Preserve and Protect
Automotive dealers face a range of challenges daily. With sales, service, and maintenance happening within the same facility, a one-size-fits-all floor coating simply won’t suffice. Automotive sales are an extremely competitive business, even among dealers representing the same manufacturer. A well-designed, aesthetically pleasing showroom can keep prospective buyers lingering longer. These showrooms also provide the perfect backdrop for internet sales teams to photograph vehicles.
Service center drive lanes welcome customers and give them confidence in your team’s ability to maintain their vehicle. After all, the way you maintain your facility reflects how you’ll care for their car. A clean, welcoming service center puts customers at ease while their vehicle is being serviced. Designing industrial floors that are durable and low-maintenance is a critical step when building or upgrading your next dealership.
The team at Liquid Floors has worked with architects, general contractors, and directly with automotive dealers to address flooring challenges. Our client list includes Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge, Honda, Toyota, and Subaru. Using the same skill set we bring to industrial manufacturing clients and municipal service garages, we streamline flooring projects with expert guidance and execution.
For a new Subaru dealership in Savannah, GA, the focus was on the customer service entry and the service center. As a large dealership in a major market, customer volume was a top concern. The three-lane service drive would see constant traffic, from new car deliveries to daily customer drop-offs. To ensure a long-lasting surface, we began by shot-blasting the concrete to remove dust and debris while opening the pores of the slab. Since moisture levels are often elevated in new concrete, we applied a urethane cement overlay for its moisture tolerance and impact resistance.
The surface was then broadcast with silica sand for added durability and slip resistance. To lock in the broadcast media, we applied a 100% solids epoxy grout coat. Finally, a high-traffic urethane topcoat was installed. This aliphatic urethane offers UV protection from direct sunlight, resists hot tire marks, and is easily cleaned using an automatic floor scrubber.
Subaru has a long-standing commitment to environmental responsibility. Their Subaru of Indiana Automotive facility is the only U.S. automotive production plant designated as a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. Additionally, all Subaru vehicles are built in zero-landfill production plants. For this reason, polished concrete was chosen for the dealership’s service center due to its environmentally friendly attributes.
With polished concrete, no material ever needs to be demoed or sent to a landfill. The surface can earn LEED credits and contribute to long-term sustainability. After the slab is densified and refined using diamond tooling, a polish guard sealer is applied for added stain resistance. The result is a durable, attractive floor that benefits both the dealership and the environment.
Since the grand opening, sales and customer maintenance traffic at this location have been incredible. With such heavy usage, we’re looking forward to conducting a follow-up visit to report on the long-term durability of the flooring system. Be sure to subscribe to our blog for updates on this and more articles from the industrial flooring world.
