Longevity and "look" of Opti-Coat

[Dan]

The pic of beading on bare Opticoat....how old was the Opticoat at that point? If I took a pic of the beading on the hood of my car you probably wouldnt believe it. It looks completely different than your pic of Opti (on what Im assuming is a roof?) Granted, my car isnt parked outside everyday, but it has gone thru 2+ years since Opticoat-ing and that included all of last winter without being washed once.

When the picture was taken, it was a little over a year old. The car is a DD parked outside 24x7. FWIW, the car in both pics has several weeks of dirt on it, and that's beading from rain. When it is clean it does bead up quite a bit better, about on par with Optiseal that has been on a car for about a month.

 

[Guitarist302008]

When the picture was taken, it was a little over a year old. The car is a DD parked outside 24x7. FWIW, the car in both pics has several weeks of dirt on it, and that's beading from rain. When it is clean it does bead up quite a bit better, about on par with Optiseal that has been on a car for about a month.

With the 476S on it, how many washes had it gone through? I'm a bit more of a fan of the DG105 or 915

 

[tguil]

Another Question about the look and longevity of Opti-Coat 2.0. Will Optimum No Rinse Wash and Wax add gloss and slickness to Opti-Coat?



Tom

 

[Dan]

With the 476S on it, how many washes had it gone through? I'm a bit more of a fan of the DG105 or 915

At least two I'd guess, at that time of year it was still warm.

Another Question about the look and longevity of Opti-Coat 2.0. Will Optimum No Rinse Wash and Wax add gloss and slickness to Opti-Coat?



Tom

Yep, ONR works great on top of OC. Makes it a bit more slick and adds a good bit of gloss.

 

[Guitarist302008]

Another Question about the look and longevity of Opti-Coat 2.0. Will Optimum No Rinse Wash and Wax add gloss and slickness to Opti-Coat?



Tom

In my experiences with it it does for a little bit. It's also very slick so it helps to not mar the paint when washing... or not as likely at least as long as you are washing it properly.

 

[Nitax]

I recently started topping my OC'd car with Optimum Spray Wax. In my opinion it definitely adds very nice depth, slickness, and is so quick and easy to apply after an ONR wash.

 

[Guitarist302008]

I recently started topping my OC'd car with Optimum Spray Wax. In my opinion it definitely adds very nice depth, slickness, and is so quick and easy to apply after an ONR wash.

I think i'm gonna have to do a full wash, decon, polish, re-opticoat (just rough the current OC up a little bit) and see how that turns out.

 

[tom p.]

I think the key to OptiCoat is getting enough applied. I believe that's why I've had issues with it. It's been tough to judge how much I've been getting on the surface...they've generally been light-colored cars.

 

[Guitarist302008]

Honestly Tom, i've been wondering that myself about my car. Since i've done my car, i've done about 7 or 8 cars with OC. What I did one day I went over the hood and roof with Menzerna IP and then the FP 4500, The surface still didn't feel like bare paint, but I didn't do long passes... just enough to rough up the old OC and remove and minor swirls though there were hardly any. I coated the hood and roof as normal, waited about 5 minutes after I was finished and removed excess from where I started and just removed it like that, so it had 8-10 minutes of time to flash off, even though it doesn't take that long in my experience... either way I waited for 4 hours and went out and coated them again. The beading has been much much better, but is still starting to become more relaxed again. I just liked knowing I had 2 coats on it.

 

[Envious Eric]

I would rather a car NOT bead...too many water spots to remove when that happens! I like things to sheet off. Plus, beads dry faster than huge pools of water!



22PLE > opti-coat in the looks department by far!



opti-coat is "permanent" - poor marketing IMO because just like clear coats were supposed to be permanent, those fail. NOTHING is permanent and I hate when companies overexaggerate claims. Just like when chemical guys or meguiars claims their have a wax made for black cars...it will look the same on all colors but people buy into it. Just like a certain product manufacture claiming to have a $$$$ wax when in reality, its just their $$ wax with a different scent and color in a "nifty" case...poor ethics IMO.



I cant stand the looks of opticoat, hence why I offer 22PLE, and no one goes 2+ years without detailing their car, so whats the point of permanent anyway?

 

[Envious Eric]

menzerna fast gloss and a orange pad followed by 106 on a hydrotec tangerine pad will remove opticoat. I did that with an M3 and switched it to 22PLE. Owner was blown away by the look difference from the start, and thats not even after its fully cured! Sounds like a pitch for 22PLE, but its not. just facts!

 

[Guitarist302008]

menzerna fast gloss and a orange pad followed by 106 on a hydrotec tangerine pad will remove opticoat. I did that with an M3 and switched it to 22PLE. Owner was blown away by the look difference from the start, and thats not even after its fully cured! Sounds like a pitch for 22PLE, but its not. just facts!

I'm sure 22PLE is very good as has been stated by Rasky and a few others. However, for me personally. I OC'd my car about a year ago now and though I chose to redo the hood and roof, this was just because I felt like the water didn't really come off when driving like it had. Since doing the recoat that I stated above ... so far the water still does run up the hood well. I won't say AS good, but well enough that it does eventually all get blown off. I have no problem with detailing my car once every year or 18 months and recoating it, but right now I have a bad back and so using something that lasts longer (as opti-coat has proven itself there) helps since I cannot do all of the bending, stooping, etc. without spending at least 2-3 days in bed with heating pads and pain killers.



IF I had the money I would give the 22PLE a shot, but with having a baby in 2 months ALL of my extra money goes into an account for my Wife's time off of work to recover.

 

[tom p.]

I'm getting ready to try the 22ple product. I've been more than impressed with the fotos we've seen. While I luv the utility value of OC, I find it just a bit neutral in appearance. I'd like to find a similar product with more gloss and I believe the 22ple is it.

 

[Guitarist302008]

Hey, i'll endorse the hell out of it if someone wants to send me a sample and it lives up to what many claim in the looks department. Other than that... paying 80.00 for the pro version is just something i'm not able to do right now.

 

[Scottwax]

I think the key to OptiCoat is getting enough applied. I believe that's why I've had issues with it. It's been tough to judge how much I've been getting on the surface...they've generally been light-colored cars.

Even with a small car you need to apply 6-8 cc's of product.

 

[Scottwax]

opti-coat is "permanent" - poor marketing IMO because just like clear coats were supposed to be permanent, those fail. NOTHING is permanent and I hate when companies overexaggerate claims. Just like when chemical guys or meguiars claims their have a wax made for black cars...it will look the same on all colors but people buy into it. Just like a certain product manufacture claiming to have a $$$$ wax when in reality, its just their $$ wax with a different scent and color in a "nifty" case...poor ethics IMO.



I cant stand the looks of opticoat, hence why I offer 22PLE, and no one goes 2+ years without detailing their car, so whats the point of permanent anyway?

Opti-Coat should last the useful life of the paint. While not permanent, that's usually a pretty long time given that most factory paint jobs will look good with minimal care for 10-15 years.



As far as looks, I really like Opti-Coat. Looks wet and glossy and so far, all my customers have been really happy with the look. I haven't used 22PLE so I can't compare the two directly but with OC even on my own metallic tan paint, my car practically glows.



Pretty sure I won't be detailing my car any time soon if I don't have to. That's why I went with it on my own car. I got better things to do after I detail other people's cars all day than detail mine too. Just ONR wash and wax and I'm good.

 

[Guitarist302008]

Opti-Coat should last the useful life of the paint. While not permanent, that's usually a pretty long time given that most factory paint jobs will look good with minimal care for 10-15 years.



As far as looks, I really like Opti-Coat. Looks wet and glossy and so far, all my customers have been really happy with the look. I haven't used 22PLE so I can't compare the two directly but with OC even on my own metallic tan paint, my car practically glows.



Pretty sure I won't be detailing my car any time soon if I don't have to. That's why I went with it on my own car. I got better things to do after I detail other people's cars all day than detail mine too. Just ONR wash and wax and I'm good.

With all respect to you Scott because you do great work, I cannot agree that OC looks neither wet, nor glossy in any way.

 

[Dan]

With all respect to you Scott because you do great work, I cannot agree that OC looks neither wet, nor glossy in any way.

I dunno, it looks pretty glossy to me:

Those pictures are from a car that was driven 350 miles and a few rain storms

 

[Guitarist302008]

I dunno, it looks pretty glossy to me:

Those pictures are from a car that was driven 350 miles and a few rain storms

It's white, so it's hard to tell... that is also not what I would consider glossy. I consider glossy more of 2-3 coats of DG105.

 

[David Fermani]

That's not gloss.......that's GLOTH!!!