New Car, need polish suggestions before Opti Coat

**wax4ever** · 07-10-2012, 10:05 PM

I'm waiting arrival of my new BMW X3 in Vermillion Red.
I want to prep the paint before applying a Opti-Coat 2.0 permanent sealer.

I'm assuming the paint will most likely have towel marks and very light hazing areas as what most new cars have after leaving the dealer.

I have a Porter cable DA polisher. Only used it once on white car. So I am an absolute novice.

I need recommendations for pads and polish for my situation.
The polish should have no type of protection, wax, or fillers. I'll do a quick IPA wipe then the Opti-coat sealant.

Thanks in advance

**Setec Astronomy** · 07-10-2012, 10:08 PM

Well...I like your optimism that the dealer handling will only leave "towel marks and very light hazing" as opposed to severe swirls and RIDS. I would ask them to not touch the car.

Two, if you are a novice, it might be better for you to seek out a professional forum member to prep your car and apply the OC. Also, a "quick IPA wipe" is probably not the optimal prep for a permanent coating. I would use some sort of APC clean (Optimum Power Clean is recommended by Optimum) followed by the IPA wipe if desired.

**mwoolfso** · 07-10-2012, 10:10 PM

Assuming you wash, clay and decontaminate first.... green pad w/ Menzerna SF4500, followed-up with a Grey pad (same product). This assumes you have visible swirls. If not, then skip the green pad.

**swanicyouth** · 07-10-2012, 10:21 PM

Wait until you get the vehicle to assess what you need. A lot of dealers are butchers, but not all of them. You may be pleasantly surprised. BMW paint is usually fairly hard and doesn't mar super easy. It may come delivered to you just fine.

**builthatch** · 07-10-2012, 10:30 PM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Well...I like your optimism that the dealer handling will only leave "towel marks and very light hazing" as opposed to severe swirls and RIDS. I would ask them to not touch the car.

Two, if you are a novice, it might be better for you to seek out a professional forum member to prep your car and apply the OC. Also, a "quick IPA wipe" is probably not the optimal prep for a permanent coating. I would use some sort of APC clean (Optimum Power Clean is recommended by Optimum) followed by the IPA wipe if desired.

x2 on having the dealer not prep the car sans the basic required mechanical prep. this is how i picked up my latest car in May.

there is tons and tons of info on here about applying opti-coat 2.0; i wouldn't necessarily fear the process, but what you might want to do is ONE panel from start to finish. this would mean washing, claying, polishing to absolute satisfaction then prepping the substrate for the coating with a very thorough IPA solution wipe down...and then coating. i can't speak about doing much more than a thorough IPA wipe because i use optimum polishes exclusively and ~20% IPA wipes work wonderfully to prep for 2.0. if you can just keep it in a garage or something, then it might be worth doing the whole vehicle in one shot but the learning curve for getting it right, as a noob, from start to finish likely will take a long time so it might be worth just getting the hang on one panel and then moving forward with the rest a bit later when you are comfortable with your process.

**wax4ever** · 07-11-2012, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by swanicyouth

Wait until you get the vehicle to assess what you need. A lot of dealers are butchers, but not all of them. You may be pleasantly surprised. BMW paint is usually fairly hard and doesn't mar super easy. It may come delivered to you just fine.

I'll cross my fingers

but I'm sure the Vermillion Metallic Red won't display and mirror the scratches as a black car, right?

**wax4ever** · 07-11-2012, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by mwoolfso

Assuming you wash, clay and decontaminate first.... green pad w/ Menzerna SF4500, followed-up with a Grey pad (same product). This assumes you have visible swirls. If not, then skip the green pad.

I'm having a hard time defining and identifying different "swirls". So a new car with dealer towel marks are swirl marks too or just hazing?, I can just use the grey pad for this type of light marks?

What Brand of pad do you recommend?

**wax4ever** · 07-11-2012, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Well...I like your optimism that the dealer handling will only leave "towel marks and very light hazing" as opposed to severe swirls and RIDS. I would ask them to not touch the car.

Two, if you are a novice, it might be better for you to seek out a professional forum member to prep your car and apply the OC. Also, a "quick IPA wipe" is probably not the optimal prep for a permanent coating. I would use some sort of APC clean (Optimum Power Clean is recommended by Optimum) followed by the IPA wipe if desired.

Will doing a post wash with Dawn be as effective?

**wax4ever** · 07-11-2012, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by builthatch

x2 on having the dealer not prep the car sans the basic required mechanical prep. this is how i picked up my latest car in May.

there is tons and tons of info on here about applying opti-coat 2.0; i wouldn't necessarily fear the process, but what you might want to do is ONE panel from start to finish. this would mean washing, claying, polishing to absolute satisfaction then prepping the substrate for the coating with a very thorough IPA solution wipe down...and then coating. i can't speak about doing much more than a thorough IPA wipe because i use optimum polishes exclusively and ~20% IPA wipes work wonderfully to prep for 2.0. if you can just keep it in a garage or something, then it might be worth doing the whole vehicle in one shot but the learning curve for getting it right, as a noob, from start to finish likely will take a long time so it might be worth just getting the hang on one panel and then moving forward with the rest a bit later when you are comfortable with your process.

I think I've watch every video I could find on OC 2.0 applications. But now, I'm worried or most concern with getting the paint free of any marring, swirls or hazing (most likely from the dealer) so I don't lock in those imperfections under the OC 2.0.

So IPA should be fine after 'Menzerna SF4500' or Optimum Polish? Which Opti Polish do you use?
OR should I consider a post wash with dawn or something like Optimum Power Clean?

**Setec Astronomy** · 07-11-2012, 11:03 AM

I'm sorry, I guess I wasn't clear, my complaint was about the "quick" IPA wipedown, a "thorough" one should be fine. I think it's been stated that the Optimum polishes don't leave much behind to interfere with OC.