Opti-Coat haze

R

rexrock

New member
I had a customer come in with a new Impreza over the weekend for a polish and Opti-Coat application. Two panels on the car were repainted but the rest of the car was the factory clear. The panels that were repainted came out perfect, but the factory painted sections have a very fine haze when you look at a certain angle in direct sun left over by the OC. I prepped the vehicle with 2 good wipe downs of Erasure and applied the OC in very small sections to try and eliminate the problem, but the haze is still there. It isn’t high spots like you normally see. Also, the Subaru factory clear is very tacky which I thought could be the problem. Anyone else having an issue with these cars?
 
I have a subaru WRX and I can tell you the paint sucks on them. I don't have the haze that you are talking about, might have just been a bad paint job from the factory. Did it polish out at all?
 
trapped oils, I had it happen once on an impreza last year. I ended up using mineral spirits followed by, prepsol followed by erasure after i polished it again just to make sure. After all that it was fine. I only had issues with the hood, the rest of the car was fine.
 
Yes, it polishes off fine and looks good without the OC. Once the OC is put on you can see the haze. I'll try it one more time. Funny, my issue is with the hood as well.
 
This one is a darker red. Going to try Bryan's method before I just go ahead with just a polymer sealant. Taking worked polish of these cars is like trying to wipe honey off.
 
Alfisti said:
In what way, just in case i get one!
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Polishes refuse to wipe off of them. On the grey one, all that would work was Meguiars #205, the blue, Optimum G-P-S. Seems like the more aggressive you get, the harder it is to remove what you use. Its a real struggle if you are going to coat one, any real effort to wipe something off mars the paint up.
 
I have done about a dozen BRZs, all of which needed polishing and haven't had the issues you guys are mentioning. I did have problems on two cars with hazing ( neither one a Subaru ), but since following Scott's advice and switching to Optimum Hyper polish as my last polishing step, no issues at all. Either something was applied to the paint at the dealer which wasn't removed during the wash procedure, or there are polishing oils still on the paint.
 
That leads into another question. Are there other vehicles that have the same problem...Infiniti, Honda, etc? So far this is the only one I have come across. (knock, knock)
 
detailfanatic said:
I have done about a dozen BRZs, all of which needed polishing and haven't had the issues you guys are mentioning. I did have problems on two cars with hazing ( neither one a Subaru ), but since following Scott's advice and switching to Optimum Hyper polish as my last polishing step, no issues at all. Either something was applied to the paint at the dealer which wasn't removed during the wash procedure, or there are polishing oils still on the paint.
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The problem isn't the BRZ, pretty sure Toyota paints them. Its the WRX and STi that have been a nightmare. I know one detailer who was 100 hours into a correction and Opti-Coat application on a black STi.
 
Scottwax said:
The problem isn't the BRZ, pretty sure Toyota paints them. Its the WRX and STi that have been a nightmare. I know one detailer who was 100 hours into a correction and Opti-Coat application on a black STi.
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I actually talked to Rick (i think thats who you're refering to) about the situation and he was extremely helpful. Thank goodness we both are dealing with customers who were understanding.
 
Scottwax said:
The problem isn't the BRZ, pretty sure Toyota paints them. Its the WRX and STi that have been a nightmare. I know one detailer who was 100 hours into a correction and Opti-Coat application on a black STi.
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Yikes!!!!!
 
Scottwax said:
The pearl white one I did wasn't a problem but the blue and grey ones were pretty horrifying to work with.
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got a blue one lol, but it was brand new and I told the dealer to not touch it, so they taped up the entire front of the car, mirrors, etc all up. I brought it back from NY and did a single stage correction with Menzerna IP IIRC and an orange pad. It came out nice. It was OC'd immediately after. Since then I have gone over the hood and roof and applied 2 more coats after polishing the old OC, but not off, just to brighten it, which it did do.
 
This was after I had 1 coat of OC on my bumper, polished it a bit with 2500 with meg's yellow pad and then with Menzerna's SF 4500 with a blue pad. 1 coat was then added over it and then I waited 3 hours or so and coated it again. This was the end result.



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A shot of it back in the garage:

IMG_5203.jpg
 
Happened on a frz, but the issue was that I didn't use IPA. Once I switched, all was good. Was it humid? How long ago was it painted?



rexrock said:
I had a customer come in with a new Impreza over the weekend for a polish and Opti-Coat application. Two panels on the car were repainted but the rest of the car was the factory clear. The panels that were repainted came out perfect, but the factory painted sections have a very fine haze when you look at a certain angle in direct sun left over by the OC. I prepped the vehicle with 2 good wipe downs of Erasure and applied the OC in very small sections to try and eliminate the problem, but the haze is still there. It isn’t high spots like you normally see. Also, the Subaru factory clear is very tacky which I thought could be the problem. Anyone else having an issue with these cars?
Click to expand...
 
Thomas Dekany said:
Happened on a frz, but the issue was that I didn't use IPA. Once I switched, all was good. Was it humid? How long ago was it painted?
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Not humid at all. Actually is was probably the nicest day here so far this year...we finally hit 60deg and I always do my coating applications indoors in my heated garage is necessary. Not sure what repainted sections you are refering to. The panels that were repainted at a body shop were done about 2-3 months ago. I had no issues with those panels at all. The car is a 2012, so I would say about a year for the factory paint. Thats the paint that was the issue. I think its just a matter of 'thats just the way it is.' Trapped oils makes total sense.
 
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