PO85RD and Opti-Coat 2.0

[LegacyGT]

I started out yesterday morning expecting to just do a quick two bucket wash, and ended up putting in about 8 hours on the car :nomore: Since I had only expected to do a Wash & wax I did not take any before pictures, however after the wash I found some new areas of clear coat failure and I decided that action was necessary.

The wash consisted of a 2 bucket method w/ girt guards, using Dodo Super Natural shampoo with a splash of ONR. I also decided to include a video showing how I use the grit guard to mix up the soap solution after a discussion I had with a few others about a week ago.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjRfn9KUnvw]YouTube - ‪Wash Media Preperation‬‏[/video]

The wash was pretty non-eventful, though it did reveal some water spotting on the paint. The LSP had been Wolfgang Fuzion, with a coat of Liquid soveran over top, so I am not sure what caused the water spotting.

I decided that it would be a good day to play with a few new products, namely the Flex PE14-2 Rotary, and the Opti-Coat 2.0 system. Since the clear is obviously starting to fail in a few places, I wanted to be gentle, yet also bring out the full potential of the paint before I entombed it under OC. I chose the Flex Rotary, Gold CCS pad, Menzerna PO85RD and went to town.

The car had been polished out a few weeks prior (see my other recent thread) so it was in good shape, except for the waterspots which were did not remove with IPA or Vinegar.

The experience with the rotary was very pleasant. I found with the super soft jeweling pad (very carefully centered) I started to get the hang of controlling the rotary. I only had problems when I was over-extending to hit the hard to reach places such as the center of the roof. The backing plate I was using was the Meguiars W66 which has a very soft foam backing.

The pad was primed with 85RD, then a small bead was applied to the 2x2 sections and 3-4 machine weight passes were made before wiping off and moving on. I was polishing at 600rpm and was very surprised and happy at how quite the Flex rotary was. No ear plugs necessary and I could hear my Pandora playing over it with no problems.

Watching the 85RD work was exciting. I was not expecting to see much of a difference, however, 85RD really took the paint to 11. Even after stripping with IPA, it still looked really amazing. I skipped polishing the back of the trunk, as I plan to de-badge it before polishing and applying OC to it sometime in the next week. The difference between the two surfaces is pretty apparent.

Now for the pictures:

This is the surface polished with 85RD on the rotary, after an IPA wipe down:
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-74w286s/1/X2/IMG7997-X2.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-8c63Mt2/0/X2/IMG7999-X2.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-TDsSXKG/0/X2/IMG8001-X2.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-cj3dFh3/0/X2/IMG8003-X2.jpg

The flakes were really popping after the jeweling!

Then I applied OC 2.0 to the car. I had just OC'd my wife's car a few days previously, and I found that applying on black was much easier to see the coverage. I went very very thin on the application, using a yellow foam pad and both a circular and straight line pattern to make sure I got everything. I then touched up any areas that didn't flash with the yellow foam, and then looked for streaks and gently buffed with a MF.

Pictures after the application of OC 2.0
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-C9ZxPJk/0/X2/IMG8006-X2.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-Wj4b4Qc/0/X2/IMG8007-X2.jpg

It was very hard to see and photograph, but I ended up with a few hazy streaks in the surface, not sure if this is normal, but these ended up set before I got to them.
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-54fPPnB/0/X2/IMG8008-X2.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-kkKpwmz/0/X2/IMG8016-X2.jpg


http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-mmRqZpr/0/X2/IMG8017-X2.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-nTkKMpr/0/X2/IMG8018-X2.jpg

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-PzB2tT4/0/X2/IMG8020-X2.jpg

This is how much OC I used to do two cars, and one set of wheels ... like I said, I applied it thin (new tube on top, used on bottom)
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-FcFQ2HD/0/X2/IMG8023-X2.jpg

Today I was lucky enough to get some sun shots, and re-visit some of the streaky areas I found after the application:

http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-JF7bRrq/0/X2/IMG8030-X2.jpg

The streaky areas are almost completely gone ... I guess they just needed to cure in.
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-wCkHJ2H/0/X2/IMG8032-X2.jpg

This is the same area as the earlier shots with the bad streaks.
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-ZTRWpvv/0/X2/IMG8033-X2.jpg

My clear failure ... :( This is the spot that I had known about for the past 6 months.
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-WmcMHjD/0/X2/IMG8034-X2.jpg

This is one of the new spots I found on a different panel
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-G6SWXsN/0/L/IMG8037-L.jpg

I also saw something interesting - I did not air off the rotars while washing, so they rusted. This happened just from pulling the car 10' forward out of the garage.
http://www.smugmug.com/Cars/Subaru-Opti-Coat-2011/i-7XrjvJ5/0/X2/IMG8012-X2.jpg.
I guess the iron really goes a lot further than we realize.


Thanks for reading Im the MAN Happy Fourth to everyone!

[dougaross]

Are you aware that you can probably polish those cured streaks away using poli-seal and a gray/black pad

[CEE DOG]

Thanks for sharing another wonderful thread with the rest of us Bill! You've inspired me to put jeweling the sky with my Flex Rotary on the short list!

[93fox]

from my experience with po85rd and the rotary... i get best results starting at 1200rpm then bumping it down to 1000rpm and the last final pass to 600rpm. I use a crimison HT pad or black pad.

[CEE DOG]

from my experience with po85rd and the rotary... i get best results starting at 1200rpm then bumping it down to 1000rpm and the last final pass to 600rpm. I use a crimison HT pad or black pad.

Have you tried any other pads with 85RD and rotary? If so which ones?

[LegacyGT]

Are you aware that you can probably polish those cured streaks away using poli-seal and a gray/black pad

Good point, this is the reason I went with OC, so it could be polished in the future. The streaks are almost completely gone after a day of curing (and they were very hard to see before) so I am going to give it a few days until I think of doing anything.

[93fox]

Have you tried any other pads with 85RD and rotary? If so which ones?

Hey there Corey! So far ive only used HT crimison pad or a gray pad. Ive also heard that the blue pad is also good. But i liked it alot better how it looked with the crimison pad. Try it with your rotary, you will see a HUGE difference between using po85rd with a rotary than a DA.

[eanelson]

Funny enough I just did a 2 step polish and OC 2.0 on my wife's 2008 Legacy today. I also found that I used VERY little of the OC. It's a small car and it spread very easily.

This was my first time compounding, polishing, and applying opticoat 2.0 and I thought OC was the easiest part of it all. It goes on like a breeze and is very easy to see streaks if applied outside.

Your results are fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

[fancyfootwork]

Bill, your nuts but I love your work and your car! Great write up!

[LegacyGT]

Bill, your nuts but I love your work and your car! Great write up!

I take that as the highest compliment :dblthumb2:

[Marc08EX]

Thanks for sharing your experience with PO85RD and Opti-coat! Your in-depth write-up is enticing!

[LegacyGT]

Funny enough I just did a 2 step polish and OC 2.0 on my wife's 2008 Legacy today. I also found that I used VERY little of the OC. It's a small car and it spread very easily.

This was my first time compounding, polishing, and applying opticoat 2.0 and I thought OC was the easiest part of it all. It goes on like a breeze and is very easy to see streaks if applied outside.

Your results are fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like a great job! I had thought that I would be able to apply the OC outside, I had a nice overcast day to see the reflections, but then it started to rain :( so I ended up applying in the garage.

[BobbyG]

Outstanding results and photography Bill!! :props:

Let it shine!! :dblthumb2:

[LegacyGT]

Outstanding results and photography Bill!! :props:

Let it shine!! :dblthumb2:

Thanks Bobby :)

[LegacyGT]

Thanks for sharing your experience with PO85RD and Opti-coat! Your in-depth write-up is enticing!

Thanks Marc, I am excited to see the sheeting properties, it may rain tonight (this may be the first time I have been excited for a freshly detailed car to get rained on).