I just want my car to look good. I don't mind some work, but spending 8+ hours in a day on my "day off" becomes more work than fun. As a daily driver that sits outside since I don't have a garage at my current home, I determined it was too much effort to do multi step processes at least twice a year for a car that takes so much environmental abuse.
What do you mean by blah? You actually enjoy the work, or it turns out better with temporary products?
Two reasons I'm not crazy about coatings:
1. I think it turns out better with temporary products, or different may be a better description. Some waxes, sealants, glazes, can add a different look to your paint. Some add gloss, some depth, sometimes just a look that can't be described.
I totally understand not wanting to spend a lot of time detailing and want the best results for the invested time. But for a lot of us, trying out new LSPs is interesting and a high point of detailing.
Like now I'm looking forward to layering Dodos Blue Velvet Pro under Purple Haze Pro over Black Hole to try and get a darkening effect on my light blue SUV. Now I have Naviwax Ultimate which is very glossy. Eventually looking forward to trying Black Ice over BFWD.
Maybe because I get a lot of days off and hate having nothing to do. I don't know. Coatings also make you forgo the ability of polishing your car with a finishing polish every 6 months or so to make your finish look its best.
Of course you could reapply the coating, or try not to (guess not to) polish through it, but you never know. I just think a car looks best with a fresh coat of a good carnauba wax and maintenance done to the paint twice or year or so.
Of course, coatings have a lot of benefits. They (supposedly) mar less and release dirt better. You only have to apply them once every few years.
2. Really the main reason I'm not crazy about coatings is that your never 100% sure they are still there protecting the paint. Car wash shampoo, waterless washes, rinseless washes, quick detailers, and spray waxes all can cause water to bead on a surface. Who's to say your coating is still in place? With a wax you re-apply it periodically. With a coating, who knows when its gone - unless your going to limit yourself to products that cause no beading. But even if you wanted to do that, how would you know what causes beading and what doesn't?
That's exactly what happened to me. When OptiCoat first came out I gave it a try. I did all the prep by the book, including several strait IPA wipedowns. Since it was OptiCoat, I wasn't worried about any "toppers" messing with the coating.
So I topped it with spray waxes and quick detailers every time I washed, about once a week. I used gloss enhancing shampoos and rinseless washes with carnauba. The water beaded well. Then one day, I decided I wanted to try topping it with a paste wax. This was about 6 months in. So, I washed it with a stripping shampoo and did an IPA wipedown, and guess what? All the beading was gone. The OptiCoat vanished.
I rewashed it and clayed it, still no beading. The best I could tell, the coating vanished. Why? Who knows? When? Who knows? Maybe the car was beading all the time from spray waxes and quick detailers. Who knows? You can call me crazy, but I'm not the only person whose coating "disappeared" extremely prematurely.
I'm not saying these products don't work. I'm saying they usually work, but for whatever reason sometimes they don't last. I'd rather just stuck with products that work 100% of the time, then to have to worry about and deal with that again. When I apply a wax or sealant I know what to expect, and about how long it will last. No surprises or disappointments.
Oddly enough, the Opticoat on the wheels of both my vehicles seems to be holding up great. The wheels bead and sheet water just like OptiCoat should. They are easy to clean and dirt doesn't stick to them. But the wheels don't see quick detailers or spray waxes. If the OC goes away, I likely would be able to tell.
A lot of other coatings want you to use their special shampoo and their "maintenance spray wax" or "coating repair" product. That limits the products you can use and you never really know if the beading is from the coating or from their maintenance spray wax product.
IMO if the coatings are so tough, you should be able to wash your car with strait APC and it shouldn't matter. If you have to "maintain" the coating with special soaps and spray waxes, you may as well just use a conventional LSP and whatever maintenance products you like.
