Why doesn't everyone use Opti Coat?

**Old Tiger** · 02-08-2013, 05:32 PM

If you want to protect your clear, you cant approach what a coating does. It is a sacrificial barrier. There are many products to amp up the gloss without degrading the coating. ReLoad, Permanon, G|Techniq 1.5. Aladdin Double Shield, G|Techniq EXO and CarPro Hydro 2 come to mind. These give me the ability to putz around when I feel the need.

**SRTSean** · 02-08-2013, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by Blk5.0

Opti coat is great. I only used it on a reprinted hood of mine due to the paint was super soft. Opti coat helped prevent marring and swirls 200%.

I personally enjoy buying products and tying the out on my car.

Exactly what I did on my car after having the hood re-sprayed and I have had fantastic results at keeping swirls away from the soft paint.

Opticoat is a fantastic product, but for my personal car I just enjoy the hobby of polishing/waxing/etc for me to bother with it. But I definitely recommend it to friends and people who don't have a garage to park in.

**Kaiser37** · 02-08-2013, 07:32 PM

I feel that the long term look of OC isn't as great as applying wax's/sealants. Maybe even the short term look. Hehe

I also don't like the end stage of the product. If you are not sure if the OC is at its end, then you might have to buff off the product. Who is to tell when you are taking off clear coat or OC.

My original thought was that it would be awesome if every year I was only eating at the OC rather then the clear coat while buffing. Then I could apply more OC. But I guess proper practice is that you get rid of all of the previous OC, which brings us back to how tricky that can be.

**Lim3** · 02-08-2013, 08:59 PM

Don't buy lava. ! I'm sure other can second that

**Flatlander** · 02-08-2013, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by Bill220

Are there any downsides to Opti Coat?

My car is Opti-coated and the rear bumper is coated with C-quartz UK Edition.
So I have some experience with both. I have been impressed with the ability of both coatings to release dirt. They are amazing in that regard. I have been a bit disappointed with the "hardness" of the Opti-coat. Within the first three months you have to be VERY careful with washing techniques. I had to re-polish the entire car b/c the Opti-coat ended up covered with light swirls from 1 wash. I buffed it off and re-applied two coats. It seems to be holding up better now.
The bumper was replaced recently so I applied Cquartz UK to it to see if that would fare better. So far, so good. I have been VERY careful and washing with the most gentle pressure. The Opti-coat looks great and I would recommend it strongly. It is truly the ONLY permanent coating.
The Cquartz is really beautiful. I love the look and it seems to be a bit better at resisting marring, IME. I don't know about the durability of the CQuartz yet. I would recommend this coating as well.
As far as topping goes, I have tried a lot. They tend to add some slickness but don't last even a month. Honestly, I don't mind because I enjoy "testing" products on the Opti-coat.
Hope this info helps.
- Mike

**sulla** · 02-08-2013, 11:28 PM

When I first installed opti coat 2.0 I expected it to be more resistant from washing marrs..my car paint is soft enough for ONR wash and wipe to marr it. Opti coat 2.0 didn't have enough thickness to give enough cushion to my paint (Toyota Black Mica). So after two months I repolish the car and apply opti-coat 2.0 again and now I use two bucket methods with very light pressure to wash and blow+pat method to dry. This prove to be better at preventing washing marrs, I've washed for a month and no marring washing this way. So in regards to withstand wash-marrs opti-coat is just the same as sealant/wax and so one reason not to opti-coat your car.

Opti-coat can still etch and needs weekly washing..I believe Chris Tomas once said not washing for a month is "neglect" and thus defeated opti coat's performance. Since I have only two hours a day to detail my car, upon my first wash my car hadn't been washed for two weeks (first wash after 1 week is recommended for most coatings). The underpanel took a beating and was quite dirty from rain and mud splatter. Expecting opti-coat to release dirt easily I simply foam up,rinse,and dry..The result is very satisfactory for the upper vertical panels but the underpanels still had dirt films, I tried removing them with qd and onr but to no avail...so I guess the two weeks muds build up has etched and require clay or polish to remove. The hood looked clean after foaming and rinse uder shade but after driving it a day under the sun it was apparent that i didn't clean thoroughly.. I had to repolish and reapply opti coat 2.0. The film in my underpanels hasn't gone away even after repeated washing. Although heavy rains help clean my car and dusts buildup is less, etching still occurs. It's a mixed up feeling so another reason not to opti-coat.

My personal feeling is that it's still a good product, it's a better clearcoat (clearcoat that beads, repels everything better) but not a supershield. Opti coat pro version should give you better result, being thicker it should have better washing marr resistance and durability.

Originally Posted by blk 5.0

Opti coat is great. I only used it on a reprinted hood of mine due to the paint was super soft. Opti coat helped prevent marring and swirls 200%.

I personally enjoy buying products and tying the out on my car.

I'm not sure about the 200% part are you using opti coat pro or opti coat 2.0 ?

**Da Fats** · 02-09-2013, 01:33 AM

Well with proper prep and application to my parents car it has lasted over 2 years and is still going strong... Looks great too but the car is a gold color with flake so others with a solid color might have different opinion. Durability is top notch... dirt releasing is top notch... only thing I wish it felt more slick to the touch but its a trade off. It will go on my GF's new car ASAP and if I didnt have a garage full of products to use up I'd put it on my truck.

Anyone not getting excellent results needs to talk to Dr G. at Optimum or pay someone to apply it for them.

**ihaveacamaro** · 02-09-2013, 01:57 AM

Originally Posted by Flatlander

My car is Opti-coated and the rear bumper is coated with C-quartz UK Edition.
So I have some experience with both. I have been impressed with the ability of both coatings to release dirt. They are amazing in that regard. I have been a bit disappointed with the "hardness" of the Opti-coat. Within the first three months you have to be VERY careful with washing techniques. I had to re-polish the entire car b/c the Opti-coat ended up covered with light swirls from 1 wash. I buffed it off and re-applied two coats. It seems to be holding up better now.
The bumper was replaced recently so I applied Cquartz UK to it to see if that would fare better. So far, so good. I have been VERY careful and washing with the most gentle pressure. The Opti-coat looks great and I would recommend it strongly. It is truly the ONLY permanent coating.
The Cquartz is really beautiful. I love the look and it seems to be a bit better at resisting marring, IME. I don't know about the durability of the CQuartz yet. I would recommend this coating as well.
As far as topping goes, I have tried a lot. They tend to add some slickness but don't last even a month. Honestly, I don't mind because I enjoy "testing" products on the Opti-coat.
Hope this info helps.
- Mike

Good info!

I actually am in the process of polishing off all my opticoat after ~8 months. Why? Because I have light swirls I want to get rid of and too many waxes to try out!

**Bill220** · 02-09-2013, 03:03 AM

Originally Posted by Lim3

Don't buy lava. ! I'm sure other can second that

I already have a container of it. It goes on and comes off fairly easy but doesn't seem to add anything in the way of shine or depth. I tried using only Blacklight and V7 on one panel and couldn't tell the difference between it and the other panels that I layered with both plus Lava. To be fair, I haven't had it out of the garage to see what it looks like in natural light.

As for the Opti Coat, I'll probably pass on it for my car but try it out on my wife's car when she gets a new one. Like a lot of you, I enjoy shining up my car and would miss doing that. Plus, my car spends most of its life in the garage. Annual mileage might be 6-7,000 miles. I also wasn't aware of the 3 month cure time.

**oldmodman** · 02-09-2013, 03:10 AM

An old friend of mine that NEVER takes care of her cars just bought a new Blue Prius.

I washed, polished, and O[pti-coated her car and it should look pretty good for at least a year. She hardly even washes it. Even after I gave her two buckets, grit guards, MF's and Honeydew soap.