Clearcoat Options For Surfaces Without Clearcoat

[Agribuff]

This is my first post here so hopefully this topic hasn't been discussed already.

I own a detail shop up here in Ontario that specializes in Highway Tractors, Farm Machinery and Industrial Machinery. Here is our website if it helps to give an idea what we are doing. Agribuff - Making the Old Look New Again! (http://www.agribuff.com/)

So the problem we are currently running into is a large majority of the machines we clean do NOT have a clear coat. So many of the red machines we do begin to fade fairly quickly if left outside without the proper waxing needed. We right now do a 4 step buffing process and when we are done they look fantastic.

So what we are looking for is a product that we can wipe on to provide a longer lasting protection then what we currently get with wax. A lot of the products I have seen out there are for going onto a clear coat and not a paint surface. Was just wondering if such a product exists out there ?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

[davidc]

Here is one and I am sure more will follow. Can't verify but states at least a year of protection.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/watermark.php?file=94121

Dave

[davidc]

Another, same manufacturer only liquid

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/watermark.php?file=94123

Dave

[Agribuff]

Thanks there David.

I was really hoping there would be a product available out there that would last several yrs but maybe that's not possible. Any thoughts ? Like a product like opti-coat, that's supposed to last for several yrs but I believe it's meant for on top of a clear coat.

[davey g-force]

I'm sure others will chime in, but I'm pretty certain coatings like Opti-Coat are fine for use on single stage paints as well.

Don't forget, clear is just paint, only it doesn't have any pigment. So working on clear coat is generally the same as working on single stage paints. :)

[BillE]

I'm sure others will chime in, but I'm pretty certain coatings like Opti-Coat are fine for use on single stage paints as well.

Don't forget, clear is just paint, only it doesn't have any pigment. So working on clear coat is generally the same as working on single stage paints. :)

:iagree:

Thinking along the same lines.

Bill

[Don M]

My red car is a single stage paint and I have found that as long as it has been polished out properly before being waxed, the paint stays deep red and shiny for months. (I use Meguiars Ultimate Paste Wax).

[builthatch]

Chris Thomas confirms that Gloss-Coat is fine for single stage.

It is SO easy to use - i would install that in a heart beat.

[Mike Phillips]

This is my first post here so hopefully this topic hasn't been discussed already.

I own a detail shop up here in Ontario that specializes in Highway Tractors, Farm Machinery and Industrial Machinery. Here is our website if it helps to give an idea what we are doing. Agribuff - Making the Old Look New Again! (http://www.agribuff.com/)




Very cool.

Which guy are you? Tim, Mike or Cody?





So the problem we are currently running into is a large majority of the machines we clean do NOT have a clear coat.



That's normal for farm equipment. It cost less to squirt large machine like Combines with a single stage paint system then to use the same basecoat/clearcoat paint system used on cars.

The manufacturer knows that most farmers are more about tilling up the land, not maintaining a pristine show car finish so single stage paints make good business sense and match the customer base.





So many of the red machines we do begin to fade fairly quickly if left outside without the proper waxing needed. We right now do a 4 step buffing process and when we are done they look fantastic.



Something about the pigments used to make the color red makes them fade and oxidize more readily than other pigments. To be honest I don't know why I just know the pigments used to make red are more susceptible to accelerated oxidation.





So what we are looking for is a product that we can wipe on to provide a longer lasting protection then what we currently get with wax. A lot of the products I have seen out there are for going onto a clear coat and not a paint surface. Was just wondering if such a product exists out there ?

Any help would be very much appreciated.



Dr. David Ghodoussi, the chemist behind Optimum Polymer Technologies is a PhD Organic Chemist. He's actually worked for out 2/3rds of the major paint companies in the world and was one of the chemists behind the creation of modern clearcoat paint technologies so he's more than qualified to both make paint and make the products we use on paint.

In my how-to book on page 34 and 35 I explain what oxidation is and how it happens. Finding a way to seal a surface for water and air will help to slow the process down. A car wax or synthetic paint sealant will definitely help but these are not 100% fixes for the problem.

A coating on the other hand would on paper appear to be a better fix or at least a longer lasting fix.

The thing to do would be to correct a horizontal panel on a tractor or some other farming machine and then do a test by only applying the coating to one section while applying your normal wax or sealant to an adjacent section and perhaps leave a control somewhere on that same panel.

Then return the machinery back to service and monitor the results over time.


Dr. David Ghodoussi is one of the few chemists I know that you can actually cal or e-mail and talk to as he's a heck of a nice guy.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/data/722/Dr_G.jpg


:)

[Mike Phillips]

I don't tend to buff out things like large heavy equipment, nothing wrong with it I just gravitate towards cool cars instead.

That said when I used to be a Scoop Operator for a Pulp Mill before I left the company I would polish the paint on this Scoop. That's me in the hard hat.


http://www.showcargarage.com/gallery/files/1/ScoopDriverMike01.jpg



Last fall we buffed out a John Deere Tractor....

Pictures: 1947 John Deere Tractor - Show Tractor Makeover! (http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/pictures-autogeek-s-car-week/86314-pictures-1947-john-deere-tractor-show-tractor-makeover.html)


http://www.autogeekonline.net/gallery/watermark.php?file=83974


:dblthumb2:

[builthatch]

OT: that scoop pic is awesome!

[Agribuff]

Thanks Mike Philips and everybody else that has commented so far. My name is Tim and my picture is on the website I posted earlier. We tend to use a spray on product for most of the industrial machinery because they aren't very buffer friendly as a whole. But Tractors we stick to buffing because the finish can't be matched by any spray on product.

Do you have a phone number for this guy there Mike ? I definitely appreciate any other comments you guys have. Does auto geek provide any lage quantity product with the durability of opti-coat ? I'd like it to ideally last for a couple years. Our John Deere customers are usually good with just a synthetic wax but the Case IH guys need something much stronger. A lot of our customers don't wax at all so they rely on us to keep them looking sharp.