paint surface not as slick as it should be

[twitch77]

Hi all.

I bought a used 2017 Q50 in October. Since then I've applied a few different products such as Meg's Hybrid Ceramic Wax, Meg's UFF and Opti Seal. The surface was never as slick as it was on my previous car. I chalked this up to being whatever the dealership put on it was keeping these sealants from acting as they should.

Well Friday I finally had a chance to give the surface more prep. I did a simple green pre-soak, wash, clay, OPT Poli-Seal via orange pad/DA then 2 layers of Opti-Seal. Previously (on prior car) this combo would have provided great slickness and not allow many contaminants to stick. This morning the paint is not slick and things such as a small flower from a nearby tree are sticking to the surface. There's no slickness to speak of at all.

Friday I applied the OS last in the morning, yesterday morning I applied the second coat in the morning as well. A couple of hours after yesterday's coat it did rain so I don't know if that's a factor.

Is there something that could have survived this process that's still causing products to act funny? Was this not enough surface prep?

I'm at a loss, any ideas?

Thanks.

[Scott in Houston]

I don’t know those products well, but I do know HCW and it doesn’t leave the surface very slick at all compared to other products. However, I love its protection.

I would try again on a test area.
Do a chemical decontamination and clay if needed. Then polish to remove any remaining producers.
Wipe down with an ipa or surface prep like Duplicolor.

Then the paint should be fresh.

Then add your products and see if it’s like you expect.
I would try this on the trunk or a side panel.

[Rsurfer]

Sounds like you have some fallout that wasn't fully removed with clay or polishing.

You may need to do a deeper decontamination (IronX/Clay) and compound.

Do a baggie test first and this will give you an idea of what's stuck to your paint. I doubt if the rain had anything to do with the OS not being slick.

[SWETM]

How was the feel when you clayed?
Did it start to have some resistance and then got smoother? Or did it not feeling smooth when you moved to the next section?

Is it uniform feel of no slickness on all painted surfaces?
Or especially on horisontall or vertical panels?

Little troublesome that the Poli-Seal did not get you a smooth feeling. May be that it was not aggressive enough to clean up the paint. What DA polisher do you have? And what kind of mf towels do you use to wipe off the polish. Do you know that Opti-seal is a wipe on walk away product. So you apply it very sparingly and wipe it on with an applicator and you are done. If you where to have a lot of residue left behind from the Opti-seal. You have used way to much of product when you applyied it and that could lead to a non slick feeling from the finish.

It can be that rain did something to the hydrophobic layer of Opti-seal. I know it's used as a drying aid by many but then you wipe it off as you dry. Vs apply and walk away. The older solvent based Ultima Paint Guard Plus is a WOWA product which I had a bad experience with it one time. Used their Paint Prep Plus to clean up the paint with a polisher. Then the evening came right after the application of the UPGP. And of cause the dew came in and it's said that the older version of UPGP was very sensitive to any water when applyied and when cureing. The next wash was like it where bare paint and no slickness and no beading and just a little sheeting from it. Compared to the first use of it with 2 layers that lived 6 months. I was very surprised to see this. A couple of washes did not sort it out either so used another LSP in the end LOL. If you applyied UPGP too thick the next wash would often get the slickness and beading back.

Have you washed your car after the application of Opti-seal?