Products that allow you to work forward?

[steelwindmachine]

Other than Optimum are there any other product lines that will allow you to work forward without having to wipe off/chemically clean between each step?

[Setec Astronomy]

I like Optimum a lot, but honestly I think the "synergy" that they promote is more of a marketing tool than anything else. Unless you are talking about the idea that the polishes don't leave any residues behind that would interfere with Opti-Coat.

Maybe you should tell us what part of the "synergy" you are talking about. I mean, for instance, I'm not sure that you would really have a problem if you went from, say, Menzerna FG400 without wiping off the residue, right to SF3800. Or for coatings, if you stepped through a couple of CarPro polishes that way and then used Essence and right to CQuartz.

[steelwindmachine]

What I mean by "synergy"/working forward is that you apply the compound, then go to polish and then go to your LSP without doing any wipe-off, IPA or other cleaning procedure between products/processes.

[rlmccarty2000]

CarPro Essence is the only one I use that way.

[Setec Astronomy]

What's to stop you from say, using Wolfgang Uber Compound, going right to Wolfgang Finishing Glaze without wiping off, and then going over that with WDGPS over the FG residue? Nobody ever said that wouldn't work. (did they?)

[steelwindmachine]

Of course there is nothing to stop anyone from doing that. I just wondering if there was a product line other than Optimum that conveyed that moving from one step to another didn't require a wipe-down of some sort in between product application steps.

Ultimately, I'm looking for a process that would allow one to go step to step without having to wipe off/clean down the whole vehicle between each step.

[WRAPT C5Z06]

I like Optimum a lot, but honestly I think the "synergy" that they promote is more of a marketing tool than anything else.

Maybe you should tell us what part of the "synergy" you are talking about. I mean, for instance, I'm not sure that you would really have a problem if you went from, say, Menzerna FG400 without wiping off the residue, right to SF3800. Or for coatings, if you stepped through a couple of CarPro polishes that way and then used Essence and right to CQuartz.
100% agree. There is no way you get the best results without removing polish residue before going to a different polish.

[Setec Astronomy]

Of course there is nothing to stop anyone from doing that. I just wondering if there was a product line other than Optimum that conveyed that moving from one step to another didn't require a wipe-down of some sort in between product application steps.

Ultimately, I'm looking for a process that would allow one to go step to step without having to wipe off/clean down the whole vehicle between each step.

I don't think I've ever heard any other mfr. promote doing that. But IMO, Optimum didn't "design" their product line that way, I think it developed more organically. Maybe it was Dr. G being lazy while he was testing stuff, and found it worked. Maybe it was that the first gen of the Optimum polishes were mere lubricant based and pad-dependent and didn't leave much residue or lent themselves to essentially being buffed until they disappeared that led someone like Scottwax or Anthony Orosco to skip the wipeoff to try to save time.

I'm sure in the Opti-Coat era, some thought was given, during the reformulation of the polishes, to not having any ingredients that would interfere with Opti-Coat. I just think the "synergy" practice is more of a "hack" than a "feature". Again, I'm an Optimum fan and I have a ton of their products, I just view this more as a process than related to the products, and I'm pretty sure it would work with other lines (although probably not all).

[WRAPT C5Z06]

I don't think I've ever heard any other mfr. promote doing that. But IMO, Optimum didn't "design" their product line that way, I think it developed more organically. Maybe it was Dr. G being lazy while he was testing stuff, and found it worked.


No chance Dr. G developed the polishes to work that way. As far as I'm concerned, optimum polilshes will work no better than any other brand polish using the synergy process.

[steelwindmachine]

so what exactly is the synergy process?

[Setec Astronomy]

so what exactly is the synergy process?

A marketing technique?

[WillSports3]

What you're thinking of is Meguiars. If you go from their compounds to their finishers, you can go right to their LSPs without an IPA wipe off. In fact, the oils in their polishes actually promote better bonding between their waxes/sealants and the paint. That's the only one I know. Optimum Synergy used to be straight from ONR to Glosscoat, the solvents in Glosscoat got rid of the ONR polymers. But at the same time, after they came out with their paint prep spray, they don't seem to mention that anymore. Take it for what it is, or with Optimum its always been use one of their LSPs such as Optimum Spray Wax as a drying aid/claying lube and then buffing it off and you had a washed, clayed, and waxed car. Same thing with optiseal. Synergy are products that work together. If you try using Eraser with Mckee 37 Paint Coating, it'll have bonding issues and be wonky due to the lubricating agents in Eraser. I know a lot of their videos and podcasts go on about Optimum Synergy such as Hyper Polish, spray the pad once and go but really, you can put a spray nozzle onto any liquid enough polish and get the same thing. Technically most of these products have some kind of synergy together.

Don't focus too much on what products can give you short cuts, there really is not that many. Most products are designed with a specific purpose in mind. I mean if you want a real short cut, Wolfgang Ceramic Coating. Use it on paint, rims, glass where as most coatings are made just for paint. At the end of the day, there really aren't too much shortcuts you can take without compromising what you're doing. Real synergy are seperate products that have a factor together that produce the best results because of the combination of properties of the individual products. For example, Cquartz coatings and Essence, or really most SiO2 coatings and Essence. Or look at M205 and Meguiars LSPs, where the oils in 205 actually promote bonding. Optimum Synergy is not real synergy because you're not skipping any real steps that you would with any other product. Look at Nanoskin Shock Spray Sealant, you can clay with one of their towels using the sealant as the lubricant. After you buff it off, you've clayed, dried and protected your paint, no different from what Optimum promotes. But don't forget that doing that doesn't really compare to many of the other LSPs or coatings out, 3 or 4 month from a spray form LSP is not bad but it doesn't exactly stand out that much from the others.

[WRAPT C5Z06]

so what exactly is the synergy process?
I was referring to not removing polish residue, then going over with a different polish. You will not get optimal results.

[steelwindmachine]

What you're thinking of is Meguiars. If you go from their compounds to their finishers, you can go right to their LSPs without an IPA wipe off.... Look at Nanoskin Shock Spray Sealant, you can clay with one of their towels using the sealant as the lubricant. After you buff it off, you've clayed, dried and protected your paint, no different from what Optimum promotes. But don't forget that doing that doesn't really compare to many of the other LSPs or coatings out, 3 or 4 month from a spray form LSP is not bad but it doesn't exactly stand out that much from the others.

Thank you and all for the enlightenment :)

My personal intent is to use the same brand of products for groups if not all of the car care steps... washing, decon, paint correction, paint protection, interior. Then I was looking for methods or products that could cut down time by not having to repetitively go over the surface area between each product step.

Some of what Will pointed out are products that are multi-purpose. I certainly like that and want to develop an arsenal of products that can be versatile in either consecutive application processes like wash, clay lube, wax or in multi-surface applications where a product like Opit-seal can be used on all automotive exterior and most interior surfaces except for tires (I believe that's correct).

In this vein I had actually emailed Levi at TRC to find out if they had or could develop some sort of application flow chart for the Optimum line that would make it easier to decipher what of their products to use when [and they don't have many], where and their respective surface/use diversity. He was kind enough to say it was something he'd look into, but I'm not expecting it to happen. Of course the short-cut to this would be to get on the phone.

If you're starting with zero, it can be very overwhelming to select a "system" when you've had little to no experience with "pro" grade products.

[Setec Astronomy]

I'm pretty sure Optimum has a podcast on their product "synergy".