Polishing opticoat leaving stains

**tlaspec** · 10-18-2014, 02:51 PM

Hi,

I recently purchased a used infiniti and the dealer had put some sort of coating over the entire car. The coating seems to be opticoat but it was applied very poorly with streaks and high spots all over the place.

The car also has some swire marks on the coating so I tried polishing with a DA with white LC pads with poorboys ssr2.5.

However, after each section the paint had a sort of stains. I removed some of these stains with a orange pad but it took lots of passes. Some photos are attached. Should I go with a more aggressive pad/polish combo? At this point I would just like to remove whatever coat that the dealer put but I do not want to burn into the clear coat.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

**Rsurfer** · 10-18-2014, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by tlaspec

Hi,

I recently purchased a used infiniti and the dealer had put some sort of coating over the entire car. The coating seems to be opticoat but it was applied very poorly with streaks and high spots all over the place.

The car also has some swire marks on the coating so I tried polishing with a DA with white LC pads with poorboys ssr2.5.

However, after each section the paint had a sort of stains. I removed some of these stains with a orange pad but it took lots of passes. Some photos are attached. Should I go with a more aggressive pad/polish combo? At this point I would just like to remove whatever coat that the dealer put but I do not want to burn into the clear coat.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Cannot open pictures.

**Setec Astronomy** · 10-18-2014, 02:54 PM

Your pictures aren't working for me. I would be very surprised if a dealer used Opti-Coat.

**tlaspec** · 10-18-2014, 03:54 PM

Hopefully the picture loads this time. I'm not sure either if its opticoat or not. But there is for sure some kind of coating put on very poorly over the paint as it beads water even after claying. They also had that coating smeared over some chrome pieces that I could only remove by a plastic razor blade.

These marks initially showed up only after I started lightly polishing trying to remove some minor swirls.

**aim4squirrels** · 10-18-2014, 04:03 PM

Hard to tell on the phone here, but those marks appear to be high points on whatever coating the dealership used. The shiny spots in between are likely low points or valleys, while the roughed up spots are the peaks. Several passes with an orange padprobably knocked down everything to level or removed the coating entirely, which is why they appeared to vanish.

One other thing to check up on: if it's an older used Infiniti, check the paint code just to be sure you aren't dealing with their "self-healing" paint. You can Google that topic here for more information.

**Billand** · 10-20-2014, 09:32 AM

If this is Opti-Coat Pro you should have a warranty card. Contact the dealer and find out what coating they used. If it is Opti Caot Pro find a local dealer and talk to them. If you are doing the work your self set aside several night OCP is hard to get off you need compound and a pretty good cutting pad and lots of time.

**tlaspec** · 10-20-2014, 02:31 PM

I called up the dealer and they said it's diamond kote nanocrystal that they applied over the car.

I did make some progress by using a LC yellow pad with menzerna FG400. It took about 16 passes (after 8 section pass I added more product) to get rid of the dull spot, as the coating was poorly applied some sections took even more passes to completely get rid of the stains.

Suprisingly the section after polishing still beads water which tells me that the coating was not fully removed. I have 40% of the hood done and hopefully can finish on next weekend.

I'm now hesitant to polish any other parts of the car as even light polishing results in the dull spots appearing on the coating and tremendous efforts are needed to completely get rid of the dull spots.

**cardaddy** · 10-20-2014, 05:25 PM

Good LORD!

I agree.... knowing dealerships, that IS NOT Opti-Coat (pro or otherwise). Looks more like polyurethane varnish!

It is easily the worst looking "coating" I've ever seen. Hope the price was heavily discounted for such a trashed up paint finish.

**asalesagent912** · 10-20-2014, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by tlaspec

I called up the dealer and they said it's diamond kote nanocrystal that they applied over the car.

I did make some progress by using a LC yellow pad with menzerna FG400. It took about 16 passes (after 8 section pass I added more product) to get rid of the dull spot, as the coating was poorly applied some sections took even more passes to completely get rid of the stains.

Suprisingly the section after polishing still beads water which tells me that the coating was not fully removed. I have 40% of the hood done and hopefully can finish on next weekend.

I'm now hesitant to polish any other parts of the car as even light polishing results in the dull spots appearing on the coating and tremendous efforts are needed to completely get rid of the dull spots.

Just because you polished doesn't mean it is not supposed to bead.
As a matter of fact you will get beading after polishing