New Car - prep before OptiCoat

[mwardncsu]

New to the forum - and my new car :) If this is in the wrong place, please excuse and help relocate.....


I took delivery of a 2015 Mazda 6 last week and I have an appointment in about 2 weeks to have paint protection film applied to the front bumper, partial hood and side-view mirrors. I want to ensure the paint is in as good of shape overall before the installation and I want to provide some protection to the rest of the car so I plan to apply Opti-Coat 2.0 on the car this weekend or early next week.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/86AEC65F-5FCC-49D8-ACF1-479EADD02509.jpg

I plan to prep the car with a wash to remove any existing wax, clay the car and before applying the Opti-Coat I will do an IPA wipedown (15%). I am trying to decide if I need to do any other paint correction before the Opti-Coat.

With strong sunlight or careful inspection there are some slight swirls, and then straight-line marks aloing areas like the A-pilliar or door frames. I am sure many of you could spot them straight off, but it does require the right sunlight or a spotlight applied to see them.

I'm trying to decide if it is worth taking the Porter Cable 7424XP to the car in an attempt to remove these slight swirls before the Opti-Coat - just hard to think of doing to a brand new vehicle.

I tried to get some pics of the marks - hard to get the swirls, but you can see some of the marks - what's the opinion - is it worth the time/effort to try and get this level out?

If so, I was planning on using Meguiars 205 with their Microfiber finishing disc, and if needed a white Hex-logic light/medium finishing pad. Would I potentially need a follow-up product after the 205?

Thanks in advance!

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/A13D479B-0BD6-4E7D-B7B7-634B6C33DFAF.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/81CA791B-B355-4385-B78D-2C4DF86D9C52.jpg

ignore the smuge on the left in this pic above the reflection of the florescent lights....
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/DA76BC8E-4ABF-4034-988B-F0BF6B52FF3A.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/30E41D91-5219-431B-B96D-CAE780DCC96C.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/3E4456A8-47F9-4D7F-A4E9-F9BBCAA611F2.jpg

[EVOlved]

:buffing:Swirled up time to :buffing:. Remember your coating the car and trying to preserve it at its best.

[dooyaunastan]

That should definitely be polished out before applying any LSP to it. Especially with how good the new 6's look.

[HUMP DIESEL]

I think you are on the right track, and I definitely would polish the car before applying the OptiCoat. What you have also seems to be a great combination to get the results you will want. M205 is a good polish and should get rid of what is in the pictures, then it would be a matter of putting the coating on per manufacturers directions. I feel you are well on your way to a really slick looking car.

Be sure to actually let the car cure properly before having the film applied.

HUMP

[Hazcat]

All the above ^^^. There is definitely room for improvement and I'd take advantage of it prior to applying a coating like Opti-Coat.

[VP Mark]

Pro installer here

Correct the paint, have the PPF installed, THEN opti-coat. You are going to lose many of the benefits of OC if you install the PPF over it.

[mwardncsu]

Pro installer here

Correct the paint, have the PPF installed, THEN opti-coat. You are going to lose many of the benefits of OC if you install the PPF over it.

Any issues with opti coating, then PPF and the applying a coat of Opti-coat to tend PPF (as I will have plenty). Seem to be reading conflicting answers if the Opti-coat could cause adhesion issues with the PPF - though I believe I've read at least one response from Chris at Opti indicating it would be OK - course is like to hear real-world results from others.

[mwardncsu]

Removing the small swirls has been fairly easy today. Started with a good bath with Dawn dish washing soap to help remove the existing wax, blow dry with the trusty leaf blower and then into the garage to be clayed front to back. Most of the car was not too bad - the roof seemed to be the worst.

Then I broke out the PC7424XP, the Meguiars 205 and micro-fiber finishing pad. :buffing: Started on the trunk lid so that if I proved to have no clue what I was doing I'd be taking a smaller panel to the body shop :)

Running the machine on 5, and applying medium pressure and making two sets if cross-hatched patterns seemed to do the job and take the minor swirls out. Perhaps not 100% but good enough for government work ;)

Still have the drivers side and roof to go after dinner or in the morning but it's coming along nicely and I'll get the Opti-Coat on tomorrow after wrapping up the polishing and doing an IPA wipe down.

Here's a pic in the sun after washing - a few water spots seen as well as the swirls - that line through the sun reflection is an artifact of my camera I believe - you'll see it in most of the pics but it's not present to the eye.

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/AF5A5357-394B-49BD-A0D4-4411F01062D6.jpg

Pic of the good under a LED flashlight after polishing
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/87DA71BD-A9F4-4D4D-A27A-A48181268AD7.jpg

A few side pics after polishing and removing the tape / paper protecting the trim and windows.
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/9F2B264E-6979-4880-9A0A-350D0174A940.jpg

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd309/ward0625/Mazda6/3364301E-4DCE-45C4-AD1C-74139B3D9277.jpg

[VP Mark]

Looks awesome sir! You are ready to coat.

Don't know about opti coat disrupting ppf adhering. Never seen or heard of it. I know it goes great on top of ppf.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using AG Online

[dooyaunastan]

Now that is how a new Mazda should look, nice and glossy. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

[RevitalizeAutoSpa]

Looks good! I don't have any experience with films, so I won't speculate on that one.

[Munich77]

My installer told me not to coat it before applying the film.