Optimum Polish - Less than Optimum....

S

SuperBuick

Member
I recently purchased both Optimum Polish and Optimum compound to "refill" my polish stock, which consisted of Menzerna IP and FPII. Based on the reviews and results posted here, it seemed like a viable alternative, and I enjoy trying new products, so I decided to try them.



Last night, I removed the cover off of my Silver 2007 Corvette as I was intending on putting on a second coat of UPP. I took the cover off, inspected for any micromarring from the cover, and found a little bit on the top part of the hood - no big deal I thought, I'll polish those right out with the Optimum Polish and a white pad, and be on my merry way. I shook up my brand new bottle of OP, pulled out a brand new 4" white spot buffs pad, attached it to my porter-cable, lubed the pad with a spritz of QD, applied a small amount of polish, spread it over the area (approx 1 foot x 1 foot), and began polishing. The polish had a nice feel to it and good working time. Then I pulled out a new (but washed once with Micro Restore) MF towel from Properautocare and wiped off the polish. What I saw was a nightmare. The optimum polish left strong hazing that could be seen under incandescent lighting (not under flourescent though) and the slight micromarring was still there.



I pulled out the Optimum Compound, a new Orange 4" pad, and lubed/spread/etc. (same process as above) and tried this to see if it would cut the marring (I thought maybe I had done something wrong, that maybe a piece of sand or dust or something had jumped up off the ground and onto my pad at the last second before I started polishing). After the using the Optimum Compound, the results were worse. The hazing was more evident and the swirling got worse.



At this point I was very frustrated at the thought of having just turned a section of my hood on a car with 200 miles into swirl/haze city. I pulled out a new white pad and applied Menzerna FPII. I worked the FPII as I normally do, and after wiping off nearly all the haze/swirling that was caused when I used Optimum Polish/Compound was gone. At this point I was a bit tired so I re-covered the car and headed to bed, but I'm still very confused and upset about the Optimum Polish/Compound.



I can't figure out why these products worked so awfully on this paint - Corvettes are known for having clear coat that is 50x harder than diamond (;)), but I wouldn't expect a reputable polish such as Optimum to turn it into a swirly, hazy mess. I'm lucky that I had some Menzerna left, but I honestly thought these products were pretty equal to eachother. Did I perhaps get a bad batch of both OP AND OC? (pretty unlikely) Do they not play well with 4" pads? Are they just no good for Corvettes (anyone else use them on a newer Corvette?)



I've tried to think of all the variables that could have caused the swirling - but after using the same type of pads, the same process, and the same MF towel with the FPII, the only changing variable is the polish itself...



Help me out - I WANT to trust that OP/OC will work fine, but I'm far too leery to use it on any of my customers' cars after last night...
 
How long did you work it compared to the Menzerna? I've never used anything other than Optimum so far, but from what others have said, the Optimum products need to be worked longer than other brands to get the abrasives broken down properly. I did have hazing using Hyper Compound on my black GM car, but the Polish worked great afterwards on a white pad.
 
I worked it probably for 4-5 minutes. I also made multiple passes with the optimum, wiping off in between and checking my results. The menzerna I worked for maybe 2-3 minutes and only made 2 passes.
 
SuperBuick- I too have had some issues with the OCP, which I chalk up to my lack of experience with the product. I suspect you might've used a little too much and then not worked it long enough. As I understand it, with the Optimum you hardly need *any* product and if you use too much it'll take forever to break down.



FWIW I simply can't get a perfect finish on my M3 with OCP/rotary/LC white :nixweiss



Used with the PC/Sonus white 4" I got a pretty good finish on Audi clear (this was the middle step of a spot repair). That time I hardly used *any* product, just enough to not be "dry buffing" and I worked it forever and a day. But even then it wasn't *quite* what I wanted so I had to follow up with 1z Pro MP. Maybe I could've got it better with the OCP and a finishing pad :nixweiss



Heh heh, the regulars here know that I'm not a fan of products that require a lot of "mastering", so we'll see how much I struggle with the OCP. Dunno if this was of any help, but I at least wanted you to know you're not the only person who's found OCP a little problematic.
 
I used Optimum Compound this past weekend with a 4" cyclo green pad on the PC. I agree with Accumulator on my experience that using very little product and working a very long time produces pretty good results. On the parts where I didn't work it long enough to break down completely, there was more significant hazing. But the part that I did correctly, it was almost micro-marring free but still very very sligth micro-marring under incandescent light in a dark garage. I think it is hard to use in the sense that it's hard to gauge when you've finished buffing.. seems to take forever..
 
Less is more and never more true as it is with Optimum. Odd that you would get significant hazing on Corvette clear though. :nixweiss
 
Thanks to those who responded so far - Accumulator it sounds like we had similar issues - I think using such a small amount of product was even more difficult because the car is silver, in other words its nearly impossible to see the product on the car in the first place. However - how can too much product cause hazing? Gumming maybe, but hazing?



XinKid, Scott, if indeed it does take some time to buff when using a PC - then what is the advantage of using Optimum polishes? I can understand where a longer working time is a benefit, but a MANDATORY long working time seems detrimental....:work:



Scott - I also found it interesting that it would react that way on diamond, er, corvette clear coat....
 
Accumulator said:
SuperBuick- I too have had some issues with the OCP, which I chalk up to my lack of experience with the product. I suspect you might've used a little too much and then not worked it long enough. As I understand it, with the Optimum you hardly need *any* product and if you use too much it'll take forever to break down.
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This was exactly my problem with OC and OP the first time I used them. WAY to much product. I did work them for a long time though.



SuperBuick said:
However - how can too much product cause hazing? Gumming maybe, but hazing?
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If there is to much product, you can't work it long enough for the abrasives to properly break down. So, you get hazeing as a result.
 
SuperBuick said:
Interesting...I assume you n eed enough to "coat" the surface of the pad though, no?
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No, you don't need to coat the surface of the pad, but you do need enough to coat the surface that you are working on. However, it needs to be a pretty thin coat. Getting the right amount of polish is what makes it hard to master Optimum. The pad will work the polish whether it is coated or not.
 
from what i have read the optimum line is best used with a rotary not a da. people have had sucess with optimum and a da but from what i have read it is ment for rotary.
 
Very strange. I'm able to finish down even with OHC to an LSP-ready level on light colors...



This is the typical amount you need on a primed pad:



DSC00320c.jpg
 
Yes, for example when we take Tamás' Jetta as an example, the shown amount will go a half hood easily, but the hood on that VW is relatively small. And he is able to finish the OHC down to LSP-ready too.



I was thinking Escalade when I wrote "big hood", so set your scale accordingly. BTW, on permeable, old finishes, the paint may absorb a bit more, so you have to use a tiny bit more. I think that it is easy to fine tune the needed amounts.
 
I've had good results finishing with OP when I use a finishing pad (black LC) on a rotary. So far, I've had none of the hazing issues you've come across. Give it another couple tries... if that doesnt work, maybe going back to Menzerna is the best solution.
 
Bence said:
Very strange. I'm able to finish down even with OHC to an LSP-ready level on light colors...
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Bence- Not surprised that you get a better finish with [given products] than I do ;) Not only do you have more experience with them, but you're more highly skilled than I am too.



I don't want to slam OP, it's just that I like a nice steep learing curve, steeper than I encountered with this product. If somebody wants to chalk it up to my needing fairly idiot-proof products, well, OK. Fortunately I have stuff I can turn to if the OP doesn't perform for me, but I'll continue to play around with it and see what it's good for besides increasing the working time of other products.
 
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