What is the shelf life of Opti Poli-Seal?

**frosty** · 09-26-2011, 07:35 AM

Just curious as to what the self life would be of this product if stored in the house a closet shielded from light?

Thanks.

**yakky** · 09-26-2011, 09:48 AM

I've had a bottle for 2-3 years and its still fine.

**BobbyG** · 09-26-2011, 09:58 AM

Optimum Opti-Coat has an infinite shelf life as long as moisture is not introduced according to Dr. G.

**frosty** · 09-26-2011, 11:07 AM

I'm asking because I have 1 gallon of Opti Poli-Seal that I purchased probably 1 to 1.5 years ago. It's capped in the house in a closet and went to pull it out and now it's a bottle of water with chunks floating around.

All my other products, WGPS, Menzerna polishes, Power Gloss, SIP, 85rd, Megs 105 & 205, detailers, dressings etc are fine.

All stored in the same place.

I'll post a pix of the bottle if I remember when I get home.

I definitely won't be buying another gallon size but what I need as I go.

I'm just curious as to why all my other products are fine but the Opti Poli-seal looks like water with curdled milk chunks floating around in it.

**Setec Astronomy** · 09-26-2011, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by frosty

I'm just curious as to why all my other products are fine but the Opti Poli-seal looks like water with curdled milk chunks floating around in it.

It seems a lot of people are having this problem with the newer formulations of the Optimum polishes. I have some early ones from 5 years ago that were fine the last time I used them (solventy smell), and I know 5-6 years ago they were having some chunky problems (brought the blending in-house after that), but it seems like the newer formulations don't have the shelf life that some of us have become accustomed to for polishes.

**Jimmie** · 09-26-2011, 11:14 AM

Originally Posted by frosty

I'm asking because I have 1 gallon of Opti Poli-Seal that I purchased probably 1 to 1.5 years ago. It's capped in the house in a closet and went to pull it out and now it's a bottle of water with chunks floating around.

All my other products, WGPS, Menzerna polishes, Power Gloss, SIP, 85rd, Megs 105 & 205, detailers, dressings etc are fine.

All stored in the same place.

I'll post a pix of the bottle if I remember when I get home.

I definitely won't be buying another gallon size but what I need as I go.

I'm just curious as to why all my other products are fine but the Opti Poli-seal looks like water with curdled milk chunks floating around in it.

Exact same time frame and experience with my 32 ozer of Poli-Seal. Only product to do that. Shame because I liked using it, but now have a new AIO.

**Chris Thomas** · 09-26-2011, 01:00 PM

Poliseal can separate after only a few months, but only needs to be shaken to regain usability. If you cannot get it to go back together and it's been less than 2 years or so...just send it back and we'll replace the unused portion.

A good rule of thumb is despite the value of buying in bulk, only order products you plan to use within a year or so. We have sizes for everyone 8oz, 32oz, 128oz and soon we'll be selling 64oz. This should cover everyone from novice to pro.

**Setec Astronomy** · 09-26-2011, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by Chris@Optimum

Poliseal can separate after only a few months, but only needs to be shaken to regain usability. If you cannot get it to go back together and it's been less than 2 years or so...just send it back and we'll replace the unused portion.

A good rule of thumb is despite the value of buying in bulk, only order products you plan to use within a year or so. We have sizes for everyone 8oz, 32oz, 128oz and soon we'll be selling 64oz. This should cover everyone from novice to pro.

You know normally, I would say 2 years is fair, but I'm sure you remember the thread from that other forum where Accumulator shared that he had products from the 80's that were still fine, and I can say the same. I did have some Meguiar's glaze (#5, I think) that was so old it was in the clear bottle, and that turned to chewing gum, and I have some SSR2 from 2004 that's starting to do the same, but I have plenty of stuff from the 80's that's still good.

I can only presume that VOC laws have made these products more aqueous and more prone to "going bad"? You know as well as I do that forums like this one are geared to create the flavor-of-the-month thing and that hobbyists wind up with a ton of stuff, even if it's in small bottles. (I'm not trying to say that Optimum does this, BTW)

**frosty** · 09-27-2011, 03:50 PM

I emailed Optimum and got a response like Chris recommended here. I had shook it but 5 or 10 seconds at a time.

My email response indicated that I needed to shaken it for 1 to 2 minutes. After about 2 minutes it started to thicken back up.

FYI. I asked the shelf life of the products before purchasing them and was told quite a long time if kept in doors. I wasn't sure how much I would use it and actually poli-seal wasn't my favorite sealant so I ended up not using that much of it.

However, I'm getting ready to try Opti Coat and my understanding Poli-Seal is a recommended way to try and get a little more shine out of Opti Coat. So I went to pull it out and found it had separated.

Kind of worries me a little but it's back to being thick now. I'll see how it does and go from there.

**Setec Astronomy** · 09-27-2011, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by frosty

My email response indicated that it I needed to shake it for 1 to 2 minutes. After about 2 minutes it started to thicken back up.

Kind of worries me a little but it's back to being thick now. I'll see how it does and go from there.

That's great news...that makes it sound like it was just clumping of the polymers or abrasives and not some sort of biological activity. That makes me feel a lot better.