Advice on Optimum Gloss Coat vs. A Brutal Winter

[deadliseven]

Hello all, first, I owe it all to your collective knowledge for becoming the "pro-sumer" detailer I am today. I'm a longtime car guy that starting taking things seriously, and by no means am I a pro, but with patience, I've got some pretty nice paint for a DIY-er! So Thank You! (my fiancee also thinks I'm nuts!!)

I took delivery of a gorgeous black 2015 GMC Yukon last fall, which had unfortunately been subject to a few dealership washing, spray downs, dry blades, and other garbage. Needless to say, the paint was pretty hammered for a brand new truck.

I put nearly 22 hours into a full decon & paint correction followed by the new Optimum Gloss Coat. I achieved about a fantastic correction and I let her cure for 48 hours in my heated garage before subjecting her to life in MN as a daily driver.

I've done my absolute best with 2 buckets, grit guards, wool wash mits, using AMMO hydrate to gently dry, etc, but I've noticed some light marring again. As careful as I have been, when your paint looks like a chalkboard because it's covered in salt, someone brushing up against it sounds can be a detailing disaster.

It's my understanding that I can lightly polish these coatings, but I'm at a loss as to a good pad/polish combo that will be gentle enough as to not strip the coating, but perhaps clear some of these imperfections? Nothing appears really deep, so I would imagine the marring is limited (hopefully) to the Optimum GC layer. I've included photos of when I finally pulled her out of the garage after the initial correction, and don't get me wrong, she still looks great-just not as great....

Any advice or prior experience?

Original Correction:
-CG Citrus-heavy concentration
-CarPro IronX
-CarPro Spotless on roof, hood, under mirrors from dealer spraydowns
-NanoSkin 6" Fine Pad
-Menzerna FG400 on MF pad (only on a PC polisher)
-Menzerna PF2500 on Orange
-Menzerna SF4500 on Black
-2X IPA wipedown
-Optimum Gloss Coating

[FUNX650]

...to AGO!

deadliseven...Interesting forum name...
Hmmm: Wonder which one of the below pertains to this
thread's subject matter?

*********************************************

The Seven Deadly Sins:

Proverbs 6:16-19
"There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

-haughty eyes,
-a lying tongue,
-hands that shed innocent blood,
-a heart that devises wicked schemes,
-feet that are quick to rush into evil,
-a false witness who pours out lies
-and a person who stirs up conflict in the community."

********************************************

Bob

[ihaveacamaro]

...to AGO!

deadliseven...Interesting forum name...
Hmmm: Wonder which one of the below pertains to this
thread's subject matter?

*********************************************

The Seven Deadly Sins:

Proverbs 6:16-19
"There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:

-haughty eyes,
-a lying tongue,
-hands that shed innocent blood,
-a heart that devises wicked schemes,
-feet that are quick to rush into evil,
-a false witness who pours out lies
-and a person who stirs up conflict in the community."

********************************************

Bob

Or it could be that it's referring to James Bond, b/c the license tag has 007 in it

[ihaveacamaro]

OP, I don't know what is light enough to polish the scratches out but leave the GC intact. In fact, I wonder if that is even possible. GC might be (personal guess, no scientific source) adding a few microns to the paint and even simple polishing takes off more than a few microns...

My recommendation would be to continue washing as softly as you can and when the scratches become unbearable to see again, recorrect, and reapply GC.

[Meticulous-Detail]

Contact Optimum and ask them for there recommendation on product and pad.

[BlackRam]

Deadliseven - I am in the same boat - I did my ram last may and it was a beauty. after just under a yr living in the northeast and it also being my daily driver - and as i haveacamaro states - it has become unbearable - it will become a sight for sore eyes- everyone tell u it still looks great - but you will notice every stratch, nick, tick, marr etc - best of luck - in on thread

[builthatch]

my take: try least aggressive first until you figure out what removes the damage...and re-coat no matter what. if you are going past anything than a light finish polish or all in one, you'll surely remove the coating. i posted a video on youtube here that helps illustrate when coating has in fact been removed through polishing, so, you can check to see, but imo it pays to do the correction to that area then either 1. finish polish the whole thing and re-coat the entire panel or 2. finish polish the area around the correction and coat a little past that. gloss-coat is so easy to apply. but, you might not have any extra, so i can see how that might suck if that's the case.

i'm 99% sure Optimum will tell you to correct the area, finish polish everything and re-coat the whole panel but i have done "spot repairs" and can't notice a difference in any light or any difference in how the area behaves down the line...just not on black and that might be the wild card.

[Mask]

Nice c63 builthach

[deadliseven]

Gentlemen, as a followup, I received the below response from Optimum after emailing them my original post:

"I would recommend a cleaner wax as your safest option - something like Optimum Poli-Seal or G-P-S. If that doesn't get the desired results then Hyper Polish is the next best choice. If you use an aggressive polish or compound you may remove more Gloss-Coat than you want and need to re-apply to that section."

Frankly, I might just take it all down CQuartz it. Worst case scenario, it only looks marginally better and I get some more experience.

Now...only to find the time...

[Audios S6]

I haven't polished gloss-coat, but I have polished opti-coat 2.0 on multiple vehicles. I used hyper polish on a red LC pad and things came out great with the coating still intact.

If gloss-coat is an 'improved version' of OC2.0, then it seems reasonable that you could do the same with gloss-coat. If it's a completely different formulation, then all bets are off.

I'd be glad to help you knock down that 22 hours to something a little less.