Opticoat 2.0 discontinued, OptiCoat Pro sees price increase

[Flash Gordon]

S
Well, I got cesspools to suck. Bonus points for anyone who identifies the movie/tv references.

Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_xymI6AH6E

I have the utmost respect for Chad, I don't know who Zach is (sorry), but it seems from what I have seen is that part time detailers are the ones who are stopping their relationships with Optimum. I could be wrong though.

Some professional (full-time) detailers never did buy into Optimuns hype

Sometimes people here make me laugh when they criticize very experienced detailers who don't post here that much...like the best was when Anthony Orosco put his OC airbrush video up and people told him he didn't know how to apply OC...LOL!

Anthony's last post if I'm not mistaken

[Setec Astronomy]

Flash!

[RaskyR1]

the only thing i'm seeing from all of this is that they want the professional outfits who can actually sell product and uphold OPT's reputation to have access to it. makes sense. to have a nice and thorough nationwide auth installer list is nice but if a high majority of the guys aren't buying product, it does OPT no good. so, they restructured the program so the guys who can sell this program will be the only ones selling it. how the heck that suddenly translates to dealerships, hack shops and all the other worst case scenarios being thrown about in these internet threads, i don't know.

I disagree. I feel Optimum is clearly marketing OCP towards volume shops and dealerships now, and I'm not alone in this thinking. Many very reputable detailers, full time and part time, are dropping OCP and looking elsewhere. It's not because they can't meet the minimum monthly order either. It's the continuous lack of communication with it's installers, repeated massive price increases, no warning of such changes, and the forcing of a worthless warranty are the main reason myself and others have, or will soon be dropping OCP. Honestly, I personally think Optimum could care less about it as we are small time compared to the numbers volume shops and dealers pump out. My problem with this is that the prep work on cars will be very poor compared to the high end shops who take the time do Do It Right, and instead cars will be coated with existing defects, swirls, and likely holograms too, which I do not agree with. If Optimum wants to uphold it's reputation for Opti-Coat, I hardly think this is the route to go.

Optimum has never had any kind of marketing for OCP (at least none that I've seen) and to the best of my knowledge, OCP has never even been listed on Optimum's own web page as a product. Since it's release, the Opti-Coat name has become very well known mostly because of reviews, articles, videos, and click and brag threads, all posted from well know and established pro detailers over the years, many who are part time like myself. One would think they would care more about those who helped get them to where they are now....

Since this bomb has been dropped, I've removed all my Opti-Coat related YouTube videos, including the one that Dr. G himself asked me if he could use, and to which I provided him a copy with at SEMA 2011 via flash drive.

[builthatch]

My problem with this is that the prep work on cars will be very poor compared to the high end shops who take the time do Do It Right, and instead cars will be coated with existing defects, swirls, and likely holograms too, which I do not agree with. If Optimum wants to uphold it's reputation for Opti-Coat, I hardly think this is the route to go.

i haven't seen anything to indicate OPT doesn't agree with you here. that's my point.

i do not know why everyone would assume OPT is headed that way vs. what i said.

i see furor over the points you've made about price, communication, etc., which i can understand. that's fine.

but i can't understand why you or any of the other guys you are citing would think they are going to "sell out" to hacky volume shops and dealerships vs. just trying to figure out a way to actually make some money selling this stuff, with guys who do work better than those types of places but maybe aren't necessarily super duper high end...because let's be frank - super duper high end means low volume which means niche. this product doesn't have to be stuck in that niche. they can bolster their sales and program sustainability by assuring those who will move it will have access to it while filtering those who will not be using OPT's name and referrals to mainly sell competing products. that seems like a logical default instead of them for some reason whoring it out with no regard. come on, lol.

OPT doesn't make it super easy to be an auth installer. there was definitely some reputation reviewing going on behind the scenes, i'm sure of it. that was because they apparently had standards that are pretty high and required shops that can at least handle the requirements of the product, way above hack shops and dealerships. why would they sell to places that can't uphold those basic standards and would defy the very essence (and prep requirements) of the product? that doesn't make sense to me and like i said, i've seen nothing that correlates that thought process to OPT but a lot of people keep thinking that and acting as if it's true.

i think there is a lot of piling on here out of emotion. a lot of people are mad and think OPT is dumb and they aren't. they might be falling short with certain communication aspects and such but they aren't dumb or suicidal.

we'll see how this plays out but i think it will all be a bunch of emotion over practically nothing.

[RaskyR1]

i haven't seen anything to indicate OPT doesn't agree with you here. that's my point.

i do not know why everyone would assume OPT is headed that way vs. what i said.

i see furor over the points you've made about price, communication, etc., which i can understand. that's fine.

but i can't understand why you or any of the other guys you are citing would think they are going to "sell out" to hacky volume shops and dealerships vs. just trying to figure out a way to actually make some money selling this stuff, with guys who do work better than those types of places but maybe aren't necessarily super duper high end...because let's be frank - super duper high end means low volume which means niche. this product doesn't have to be stuck in that niche. they can bolster their sales and program sustainability by assuring those who will move it will have access to it while filtering those who will not be using OPT's name and referrals to mainly sell competing products. that seems like a logical default instead of them for some reason whoring it out with no regard. come on, lol.

OPT doesn't make it super easy to be an auth installer. there was definitely some reputation reviewing going on behind the scenes, i'm sure of it. that was because they apparently had standards that are pretty high and required shops that can at least handle the requirements of the product, way above hack shops and dealerships. why would they sell to places that can't uphold those basic standards and would defy the very essence (and prep requirements) of the product? that doesn't make sense to me and like i said, i've seen nothing that correlates that thought process to OPT but a lot of people keep thinking that and acting as if it's true.

i think there is a lot of piling on here out of emotion. a lot of people are mad and think OPT is dumb and they aren't. they might be falling short with certain communication aspects and such but they aren't dumb or suicidal.

we'll see how this plays out but i think it will all be a bunch of emotion over practically nothing.

If you were actually an authorized installer and had been a member of a lot of the private groups over the last 2 years, you would better understand where many of us are coming from. Right now you're just viewing this from the outside.

I don't deny being emotional over this change, but I've also been there from early on and stood behind a product I believed in (still do). I also played a instrumental roll in helping get the word out about the product, not that I expect anything from that, but I can simply no longer support a product when the company treats its installers the way it has the past 2 years.

[cardaddy]

i don't agree with this. the quota and such was announced to existing auth installers, meaning, they were already approved and jumped through the initial hoops required to get on that list AND were already blessed by OPT.....

You don't agree that they are wanting/gearing towards high volume? Really???
Seems exactly what they are trying to do.

The (existing) dealers may have "jumped through the initial hoops" but that doesn't mean that they want to, or are willing to commit to $3600 wholesale of product per year. Just too many other offerings out there these days to tie up your resources in ONE coating when your competition is selling 2 or 3.

.... and frankly, i don't think it really matters just as long as the reseller is committed to putting out a good product that satisfies their customers. ultimately, that is what OPT wants. they always have, from what i've seen. OPT has basic requirements for their products to work and to suddenly think with no concrete basis that they are going to just release the flood gates so everyone and their mother who does volume work can wave the OPT flag is not realistic or accurate!

Really?
Perhaps you've been privy to information that some of us haven't, if so I stand corrected. But I'm betting that any shop that has the 100K insurance and buys $300+ per month can (and will) have access to the product. But that doesn't scare me, not at all. What DOES concern me is high volume, lack of caring, typical car lot and dealership types now looking at a revenue stream based purely on the "exclusivity" of the Optimum product. (Although below I state why I doubt dealerships will buy into the program.)

...outfits who can actually sell product and uphold OPT's reputation to have access to it. makes sense. to have a nice and thorough nationwide auth installer list is nice but if a high majority of the guys aren't buying product, it does OPT no good. so, they restructured the program so the guys who can sell this program will be the only ones selling it. how the heck that suddenly translates to dealerships, hack shops and all the other worst case scenarios being thrown about in these internet threads, i don't know.

I couldn't agree more!
What they want, and NEED is a thorough nationwide list of installers.
OTOH How does that NOT translate to high volume and dealership sales? (Or at least far more than currently sell the product.) The real problem there however is that dealerships will NEVER pay $150 for a product that has a $495 MAP price. Hell, they pay $14.95 for crap that they sell for $495, you don't think they'll pay ten times that much for something that (in their eyes) has no real benefit, AND has substantially less profit margin(s) do ya'? Moreover, that also negates the small shop that has always geared their services towards perfection over and above sheer volume. Such shops may do 1 or 2 vehicles a week, but those end up with 5 times as many man hours in them as a dealership would put into a quick buff and smear. Literally you'll have 15~20 hours average per vehicle and there isn't a dealership ANYWHERE that'll put that many hours into one.

The latter (small and/or dedicated detailing shop) does more to (properly) promote the brand than the former in any viable scenario that concerns quality first and foremost.

There is one member here for instance with lots of show-n-shines that up until the last few months operated out of his in-laws garage in bare minimal conditions and successfully does high end vehicles, at high end prices all the time. (He has a shop now, had one in the past for that matter.) Yet he might not be willing to keep in stock the minimum inventory just to be able to put a sign on the wall. Especially as CQuartz (his bread and butter) and Modesta are already in his offerings.

...really?? look at the entire line. the enthusiast-accessible offering far outweighs the pro-only offering list. almost every product has been made to make enthusiast life easier.

Which is the point that I think most are trying to make. Building a market around very dedicated (sometimes to the level of severe OCD) customers has been very good for the company. The natural offshoot of that has been a dedicated albeit sometimes low volume network of (semi) and/or full time detailers that have proudly offered the product without cutting ANY corners to do so to their clients.

...i think there are too many assumptions being put out there about OPT's motives and people are losing sight of the big picture here about what OPT has always been and still is. this has gone waaaaay too far on the forums.

That is neither here nor there. Forums are (by and large) for the intelligent discussion of various products, processes, methods, thoughts, etc. AND.... in the last two decades have probably done far more several times over to help companies promote their wares than their in-house advertising could ever imagine.

I doubt anyone really feels that the company as a whole has cut any corners, or somehow shorted the quality of their products. Far from it truth be known. I'd say where the frustration is being seen is that there are people that wonder why the company as a whole has remained totally silent on what could be a yet another game changing product as well as a radically new company strategy. That combined with what has been a noticeable absence in not just their regular online forum presence web wide, but their OWN forum. Those two things combined I think are what have people most concerned.

But yes... I do remember my Mother saying: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Maybe there isn't anything nice to say?

FWIW, I do not have a dog in this fight, have installed OPT however. But... am not a current OPT installer, yet meet the qualifications, always have.

I disagree. I feel Optimum is clearly marketing OCP towards volume shops and dealerships now, and I'm not alone in this thinking. Many very reputable detailers, full time and part time, are dropping OCP and looking elsewhere. It's not because they can't meet the minimum monthly order either. It's the continuous lack of communication with it's installers, repeated massive price increases, no warning of such changes, and the forcing of a worthless warranty are the main reason myself and others have, or will soon be dropping OCP. Honestly, I personally think Optimum could care less about it as we are small time compared to the numbers volume shops and dealers pump out. My problem with this is that the prep work on cars will be very poor compared to the high end shops who take the time do Do It Right, and instead cars will be coated with existing defects, swirls, and likely holograms too, which I do not agree with. If Optimum wants to uphold it's reputation for Opti-Coat, I hardly think this is the route to go.

Optimum has never had any kind of marketing for OCP (at least none that I've seen) and to the best of my knowledge, OCP has never even been listed on Optimum's own web page as a product. Since it's release, the Opti-Coat name has become very well known mostly because of reviews, articles, videos, and click and brag threads, all posted from well know and established pro detailers over the years, many who are part time like myself. One would think they would care more about those who helped get them to where they are now....

Since this bomb has been dropped, I've removed all my Opti-Coat related YouTube videos, including the one that Dr. G himself asked me if he could use, and to which I provided him a copy with at SEMA 2011 via flash drive.

THIS!!!!!



Honestly, I don't think the conversation (from the manufacturer side) should be about full time / part time / 1 a month, half a dozen a year. It *should* be about who is willing to do the work to properly install the product the way it was DESIGNED to be. The fear (it seems) is that there will be some 'bastardizing' of the product due to more focus being on only high volume/mass purchasing rather than low volume high quality providers. That however is NOT for the public to decide. The powers that be at Optimum will do what they think best. Whether that is sell a bunch, or sell a little, only time will tell.

Any company can decide to market their product however they desire. Just that sometimes it doesn't exactly work out as expected. Anyone remember "New Coke"? My brother-in-law was a VP CFO (one of many) at Coke for a couple of decades, and there WERE HEADS that rolled over that little boo boo. And to think..... it was all in an attempt to make Coke taste more like Pepsi. In other words, trying to make their product be more like someone elses. And to think, folks have said CarPro is what people want to want to be.

Going back to those audio companies I referenced. One speaker manufacturer I represented had every opportunity to sell to specialty high-end audio stores, and had a number of them (11 that wanted to sign with me just from one show in Vegas) and by doing so his business would have increased 1000% literally overnight. Yet he resisted, sold only through 2 stores, and ended up losing them. Although he said he didn't want the "hassle". To this day, (over 13 years later) he sells exclusively "factory direct" a pair at a time, from $1300 to $13,000 and is perfectly content without the "hassle" of having to keep up with dealers all over the country. To this guy, his decision was and *IS* the only real decision he had to make. He still doesn't want to sell in boutique audio stores, although doing so would insure his success, actually cut down on the work he needs to do (as it'd keep him off the phone with customers asking dozens of questions if nothing else), and bolster his bank account ten fold. We never know why people make the decisions they do, but they make them none the less. Remember the saying your Dad may have told ya'; "Opinions are like a-holes, Everyone has one...... just that some stink worse than others."

[tdekany]

Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_xymI6AH6E



Some professional (full-time) detailers never did buy into Optimuns hype



Anthony's last post if I'm not mistaken

What is that hype?

[dooyaunastan]

Bear with me here, I read as much as I could stomach throughout the 300 replies but let me try and get this straight...

Optimum has discontinued OC 2.0 in an effort to further differentiate the "Pro installers" from the "hobbyists". Optimum has raised the price on the newer, allegedly weaker product, and reduced the amount of coating per unit sold by half for the hobbyist version.

Now if that's right (which I hope isn't the case), this essentially benefits those who detail for a living and pisses on those who are passionate about their cars but don't detail for money?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't want to be throwing stones but from what I've gathered, how could the enthusiast detailing community even fathom of putting up with that? I'd imagine in general that the market for those in the business side of things holds a greater share than those who detail as a hobby, but is it that clear cut of a difference in market share?

Like I said, I don't want to stir up a ruckus with my lack of understanding, if someone could try and clear this up in a concise manner I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Rayaz]

I wrote OPT to tell them of my disappointment with this move. They asked me to give the new stuff a try and I pointed out that I was content (thrilled even) with the 2.0 and that with a 2 year expected life, they were in competition with a host of proven products that cost less.

They replied with a steer toward the pro version if I wanted longevity. I replied that I can't buy the pro version and so far, crickets. This is why I feel that OPT is no longer interested in the hobbyist market or think the new "improved" product will suffice (at almost twice the price).

I still like Power Clean but just about everything else can be replaced by other manufacturers. The loss of my business probably won't impact the bottom line but I'm not seeing much love for this move from respected members of this forum.

[Flash Gordon]

What is that hype?

Uhhh, the word Permanent

If I had bought this coating as a consumer I would be filing a lawsuit against the installer/manufacture/retailer for false advertisement




@ Rasky. I tried to tell you