Review: Optimum Opti Clean

[CEE DOG]

Review: Optimum Opti Clean

Product Description (from AG website):
Optimum Opti™ Clean is the ultimate one-step product. It cleans and protects all automotive surfaces in one step. Use Optimum Opti™ Clean on paint, vinyl, rubber, metals, plastics, and even glass! You'll save time, effort, and money while achieving a clean, well-protected vehicle. Optimum Opti™ Clean does it all!

Initial Product Observations:
1.- Packaging: Not available
2.- Directions: Simple to follow
3.- Consistency: A thin liquid with a fluidity just barely thicker then water
4.- Color: White
5.- Scent: Very similar to the old formula of ONR
6.- Size: 32 oz.
7.- Current Price: 15.99
8.- Price Per oz: $0.50 (based on 32 oz. bottle)
9.- Price Per oz after diluting:$0.13 (based on 32 oz. bottle)
10.- Additional sizes: 128 oz. (39.99 or $0.31 per oz)
11.- Ready-to-use size: 8 oz. ($8.99)
12.- Manufacturer: Optimum Polymer Technologies, Inc.
13.- Made in: USA

Additional products used for prep, during application, or removal:
1.- MF towel
2.- Spray bottle

Introduction:
I just became aware of this product a few weeks ago and found it very interesting. I have a sense of trust in the products Dr. G sells that have anything to do with paint care so having not tried any products marketed as this one is thus far I was looking forward to purchasing it at some point in the future. Probably would have been a couple months from now. Anyway, Jim (Old Tiger) contacted me a little over a week ago and told me he’d like to see a review on a few particular products. He also offered to send me samples of all the products he would like to see reviewed. Well, I had to take him up on it obviously! Fast forward to this week. I received a big box that contained healthy portions of some great products including this one... Enough Opti Clean to make 32 oz in fact! Thank you Jim for your generous gift! More on the other products in their respective reviews…
I had to get out of work a few minutes early Thursday night to stay ahead of an incoming thunderstorm (Sky was with me). Anyway since I got home early I decided I had enough time to start checking out this product. My first victim would be my green Saturn, which is overdue for a real car wash. This car is out 24/7 and is my DD. It wouldn’t be receiving a bath until Saturday and was certainly overdue. As such it was dirtier then what should probably be attempted with this type of product but I figured I’d jump in with both feet. I wanted to test its limits and my DD is always willing to sacrifice in the name of science.

Method of Preparation:
I mixed 8 oz. of product with 24 oz. of water.

Method of Application, and noted Observations:

Paint:
After taping a line down the center of the hood I shook the mixed product and applied it liberally to the drivers side of the hood. Next I wiped my MF towel gently across the hood one time. Then I flipped the towel and repeated on another dirty area. After getting the initial grime off the car I sprayed it down again and with a fresh side I wiped it down again a little more forcefully this time. Finally with a little less product, I wiped it down one more time and buffed it off with a clean dry side. In contrast to the way ONR beads on the surface when sprayed, Opti Clean seems to lay flatter across the surface. Initially I thought it lay flat because the car was so dirty but after the subsequent applications on the clean surface it continued to lay flat when applied.
With one side of the hood clean and dry I turned on my LED light to look for any scratches I may have caused from this test. While I did have a little shedding from my towel there did not appear to be any marring caused by the Opti clean. With the car as dirty as it was I was impressed with the results. The paint was left clean, fairly slick, and glossy. There was also no streaking in any of the lighting I subjected the paint to. Friday I would inspect again in the mid-day sun. I would expect a product that doesn’t mar the finish and does leave some protection to be somewhat oily but OOC is not at all oily. In fact OID is much more oily then OOC. The question for me is if I could get the same results using the same method while using ONR-QD as a substitute for the OOC.
Friday, after my morning jog I pulled out some ONR, OID, OOC, and IPA for some further testing. I took some ONR-QD (old formula) and cleaned a small area on the dirty side of the hood using the same method as I had with the OOC. As with the OOC when using the ONR method there was no streaking and no induced marring that I could tell. Granted I did only test a small round spot with the ONR. The difference I did see which I did not expect was that the OOC side was slightly glossier then the ONR test spot. I took some OID and sprayed the ONR test spot to see OID would equal or rival the gloss of OOC. It looked about equal to me.
The next test would be to identify if there was indeed some protection left by Opti Clean. The only way to observe this I thought would be to test the sheeting/beading of Opti Clean compared to a clean surface. I taped off 2 areas on the side of the hood I had already cleaned with Opti Clean. I then cleaned both of these taped areas with IPA to remove the Opti clean and wax beneath it. Next I applied Opti Clean to half of that area and buffed it dry. Then I got a bottle of pure water and sprayed, then poured water over the 2 test areas to see how the water would react to the OOC.

YouTube - Optimum Opti Clean 1.AVI

Pouring water over the area did indeed show a difference and the water sheeted off the OOC side better. Afterwards I wiped the ipa area with OOC to add some temporary protection. The next morning after washing the entire car with a regular car wash I made one more video to see if you could still see a sign of protection from the Opti Clean side.

When you watch the video you will see that it sheets differently and if you look for the circular test area on the passenger side (most visible around 0:55) where I used ONR and OID you will see it sheets similarly to the OOC (drivers side). So the Opti clean did leave something behind that the bucket wash did not remove. The ONR/OID test spot did also. What exactly did each product leave behind? I’ll be asking Dr. G exactly that and report back during the week.

Glass:
For my glass test I sprayed a couple times on half of the windshield and wiped it clean. There did appear to be streaking but after a quick flip and one swipe with the dry side of the towel it was clean and streak free.

Interior:
I cleaned one side of a dash with straight water and the other with OOC to see if it left gloss. It surprisingly does not leave much gloss at all on vinyl. In fact I found the dash to be a little dry. I think this has to do with the age of the dash. In other words, OOC cleaned the dash nicely but didn’t really add any color or gloss. That may be good or bad depending on your preference. This dash had seen a lack of protection for over 10 years until the past year and a half. A well cared for dash would have come out with a nice matte finish. The reason I make that statement is the following. On the rest of the interior, (which hasn’t seen the same UV damage as the dash) the finish came out just fine with a clean almost matte finish. Throughout the interior I found OOC to work nicely removing some grime from the insides of the doors and other places without much effort. It left absolutely no streaking and I’m not sure I could have made it streak if I tried. I did not have the opportunity to use it on leather since there was none on this interior.

Door Jambs:
I tried out the OOC on doorjambs and sills as well. Normally with filthy doorjambs and sills, I put the hose setting on cone and hold it real close to the rubber gaskets to spray out behind them. Between that, a mitt and some brushes the jambs come out nice. I tried the OOC on some pretty bad jambs and it worked great on the rubber as well as the painted areas. It saved a lot of time and there was no streaking on any of the surfaces. For doorjambs OOC is a great solution!

Please see the pictures and rejoin me afterwards to see the listed Pros, Cons, and Summary.

01.- Before


02.- Application


03.- Application




04.- After




05.- Before


06.- After


07.- 50/50


08.- 50/50


09.- 50/50


10.- 50/50


11.- 50/50


12.- Dew 50/50


13.- Dew Opti Clean side


14.- Products


15.- Optimum Opti Clean


16.- Optimum No Rinse


17.- Optimum Instant Detailer


18- Dash 50/50


19- Dash 50/50


20- Dash 50/50


21- Interior 50/50



22- Interior 50/50




23- Interior 50/50


24.- Door Jamb (Before)



25.- Door Jamb (After)



26.- Door Sill (Before)



27.- Door Sill (After)



28.- Door Sill (After)



29.- Sky After



30.- Sky After



Pros:
1.- Versatile (Use on paint, vinyl, rubber, metal, plastic, and glass)
2.- Great pricing (as always with Optimum products)
3.- Time saver (Cleans and protects mar free in very little time)

Cons:
1.- Have got to do something about these names J

???:
1.- I was surprised to see how thin the Opti Clean is. I expected something thicker but it actually seems thinner then Optimum Instant Detailer.
2.- Another interesting thing is it smells very similar to the old ONR formula. Meanwhile the new ONR formula smells much different. So OOC smells like ONR and ONR smells like something tasty now. So why can’t this smell tasty?

Final Observations and Summary:

Can you forget about a bunch of other products and let this replace them? Yes you can. Will you? Depends on who you are. What I mean is: To the enthusiast that likes using different things, you will probably continue using other products. However I think this product will earn a place on your shelf and will be taken off that shelf for use often. Personally this will now be my go to product for removing fresh bugs after a drive, doing doorjambs, and I will use it to wipe down a car that’s not too dirty. For detailers that make money by saving time and spending less on products this may indeed replace some of your other products.

And the product link: http://www.autogeek.net/optimum-opti-clean-32.html

[Rob T]

Great review my friend, thanks.

As for the smell, I *much* prefer the smell of the old formula ONR vs. the new, so I am glad to hear this smells like the old ONR.

[DARK HORSE]

As always Corey absolutley outstanding review! Thank you for taking the time to do it for us! You are and always will be the "Master of Reviews"...

[yeebiz]

Great review as always Cee Dog.

Nights are now cool where I live. Condensation forms on my car overnight. I have to seal my car early in the morning to allow a proper amount of cure time. I needed to wash my car at night so I didn't disturb my neighbors early on a Saturday morning.

I decided to use Opti-Clean to wipe down my car the next morning. I can't really speak on it's cleaning properties but I found it very easy to use with no streaking.

There is one thing I was wondering about though. Will the polymers in Opti-Clean have any negative effects on the curing of my sealant?

Keep up the great reviews. I always look forward them.

[Pats300zx]

Awesome review. Thanks for putting that together.

[svs]

One of the best reviewers on the forum!
Great work Cee Dog! I just got my order of opti-clean and am super excited to now use it.

[tuscarora dave]

Great review!! I am glad to have seen it and sure do appreciate all the time you put into your reviews. Thank you.

[Cliffnopus]

Thanks Cee Dog, great review as always.

Based on previous reviews I had ordered a 32oz OOC. I just mixed up the same ratio as you did and used it today on my motorcycle. I had some areas that were slightly (emphasis on the slightly) more dirty than others; I used my OID on the cleaner portions and the OOC on the dirtier ones. They both worked as advertised and left the finish slick and wet looking. (the finish had Optimum Sealer and two coats of Liquid Souveran spray wax already in place).

I may use OOC as my new OID replacement. I can't see having two products so similar in my arsenal; they both clean, they both leave a nice protective coating and they both work (on and off) similarly.

Thanks, Cliff

[CEE DOG]

Originally Posted by Rob T

Great review my friend, thanks.

As for the smell, I *much* prefer the smell of the old formula ONR vs. the new, so I am glad to hear this smells like the old ONR.

Thank you for reading it and for your comments! I don't have any problem with the old ONR and the OOC smell (fresh, soapy scent) but to me the new ONR smells better. Different smellers for different fellers I suppose Smell is just icing for me. I would never actually let that affect any decision.... consciously anyway

Originally Posted by DARK HORSE

As always Corey absolutley outstanding review! Thank you for taking the time to do it for us! You are and always will be the "Master of Reviews"...

Thanks for taking the time to check it out Tad! You comments are much appreciated.

Originally Posted by yeebiz

Great review as always Cee Dog.

Thank you!

Nights are now cool where I live. Condensation forms on my car overnight. I have to seal my car early in the morning to allow a proper amount of cure time. I needed to wash my car at night so I didn't disturb my neighbors early on a Saturday morning.

I decided to use Opti-Clean to wipe down my car the next morning. I can't really speak on it's cleaning properties but I found it very easy to use with no streaking.

There is one thing I was wondering about though. Will the polymers in Opti-Clean have any negative effects on the curing of my sealant?

Keep up the great reviews. I always look forward them.

I completely agree on the no streaking issues.

As far as your question I'm betting it will depend on the sealant you used... If it is compatible. I bet Optimum Car Wax is compatible and I'd bet a few others are by coincidence. I'm sure it does have an effect of some sort. How long has it been since you sealed and what have you noticed so far in the way of slickness and reaction to water? What sealant was it? I'll ask Dr. G this question as well.

Originally Posted by Pats300zx

Awesome review. Thanks for putting that together.

Thanks so much!

Originally Posted by tuscarora dave

Great review!! I am glad to have seen it and sure do appreciate all the time you put into your reviews. Thank you.

Thank you!! I really appreciate the comment and thanks for reading it!

Originally Posted by Cliffnopus

Thanks Cee Dog, great review as always.

Based on previous reviews I had ordered a 32oz OOC. I just mixed up the same ratio as you did and used it today on my motorcycle. I had some areas that were slightly (emphasis on the slightly) more dirty than others; I used my OID on the cleaner portions and the OOC on the dirtier ones. They both worked as advertised and left the finish slick and wet looking. (the finish had Optimum Sealer and two coats of Liquid Souveran spray wax already in place).
I may use OOC as my new OID replacement. I can't see having two products so similar in my arsenal; they both clean, they both leave a nice protective coating and they both work (on and off) similarly.

Thanks, Cliff

Thank you for the compliment and for your comments and observations!

[yeebiz]

Originally Posted by CEE DOG

I completely agree on the no streaking issues.

As far as your question I'm betting it will depend on the sealant you used... If it is compatible. I bet Optimum Car Wax is compatible and I'd bet a few others are by coincidence. I'm sure it does have an effect of some sort. How long has it been since you sealed and what have you noticed so far in the way of slickness and reaction to water? What sealant was it? I'll ask Dr. G this question as well.

I stripped my car and applied a layer of Blackfire Wet Diamond last week. I finished it late at night and didn't take the oncoming condensation into consideration. About 1/2 hour after I buffed it off, condensation starting forming. Realized I would probably having curing issues.

Decided to add another layer this morning. Gave it a wipedown with Opti-Clean and applied the BFWD directly after. It didn't seem to have an effect on looks and slickness of the BFWD. I'm hoping it won't effect the bonding and curing.