I picked up my Sprinter van back in May. Knowing that it will not be garaged and the time involved to clean such a big vehicle, i decided to give Opti-Coat a try. During paint peperation I did some light polishing with Optimum Polish II on a soft pad and I noticed the blue vehicle paint is transferred to the pad and the microfiber cloth. At the time I did not think much of it, guessing that it's a single stage paint, but moved on with the process. After the Opti-Coat is put on I was really hoping that it would give it a good protection and easier to keep clean. I did have to polish out some spots to even out the high spots of the Opti-coat, still noticed some vehicle paint being transferred to the pad and cloth, and I started to question the effectiveness of the coating, whether if it is being rubbed off.
After about 3 months of ocassional car wash, I noticed that there are water spots all over the van. I worked my way up from the least aggressive methods (quick detailer, clay, Poli-Seal) with no luck. It will only come off with a good polish (still have to really work it). I used HyperPolish with my DA polisher and it finally came off.
Thinking that the Opti-Coating is probably gone, I put a layer of Opti-Seal finishing it off with OCW. It may be over done but I am getting frustrated with the paint. Other cars that I've worked with in the past do not have that big of a problem with water spots. E.g. I didn't get to clean the roof of the van after a rain storm. After 2 days the leaf left it's imprint on the roof. I didn't bother polishing it out but I was not happy at all.
Just today, I noticed that a portion of the panel that I worked on is lighter in color. I find it hard to believe that a new vehicle has such a thin layer of paint. It can't even last 3 passes of polishing.
I am running out of ideas on how to maintain the paint. The questions I have are:
1. From the way the paint behaved it is a single stage paint right?
2. Does that mean the vehicle came with a super thin layer of paint?
3. Obviously polishing will take the paint off, how can I clean the paint?
4. Is there something I did wrong? I used the same procedure with my other car and it turned out great.
Thank you for the feedback guys.
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