Review and Extreme Testing: Opti-Coat 2.0 and CQuartz

[LegacyGT]

Amazing Corey ...

[Chris Thomas]

Great job, again, Corey. The only thing I can add is that you would have had an easier application on that hood had you used the larger foam pad. Also, spreading Opti Coat can be done much faster, and you don't have to be so careful...but you'll get that with a few more uses.

[silverfox]

Fantastic review...!....it would drive me crazy applying the products the way you demonstrated it. I would hope that a much larger foam application pad would work, and one will be recommended. I would get very tired doing an entire vehicle in that manner and once I get tired, I start making mistakes...at least that is how it works with me.

I particularly like the scratch resistance and I could see that being the only selling point for me if I were to do this to my own car. I would surely not get these products for ease of use, or for that "killer" look...that deep, warm shine that only a non-coating type LSP can give you (however these products were not designed to get that "show car" looking result, but for protecting your paint and making it almost maintenance free.). As far as sheeting goes, it was impressive, but I don't see these products as being much better than you can get with something like Reload or other similar products.

I was ready to buy the Cquartz, but honestly, I'm going to sit this one out for the time being. If I were doing this on my wife's car, or perhaps for a client, maybe...but I'm not so sure I would do it to my own car simply because I enjoy doing routine maintenance on it, and trying out new products...and I still want that killer show-car look. The one thing that would sway me is the awesome protection it would give my paint, and in time, that may trump everything in my case as my car gets older.

Thanks for letting me see why these products are dominating car forums lately...they truly are so different from anything most of us have used. In time, I'm sure I'll be trying these out for myself...but right now, I'd settle for a day that's not in the low 40s and snowing.

[FUNX650]

Cee Dog: Oh the exuberance of youth!! [I know I am not willing to expend the time or effort to conduct testing of this nature]. Thanks.

From reviewing your: Review and Extreme Testing posting and the other reviewing/testing postings in regards to these products; and, knowing that independent lab/OEM approved protocol testing can be very costly/time prohibitive; I can see where your, (along with the other detailers that have reviewed/tested these products), write-ups are of paramount importance to those who might be inclined to use such products.

{BTW, does this mean you have over come your "fear" of products that purportedly will 'etch' the paint?} j/k

[CEE DOG]

Thank you for all your hard work doing the testing but ALSO for taking such great pictures and the investing the time it takes to put together a thread like this with

• Pictures (not to mention how long it takes to process pictures)
• Videos
• Text explaining everything

Until someone does everything you've done to create a thread like this they have no idea how much time is involved and it's a ton of time. So thank you for over the top efforts...



Somewhere on MOL I have an article about the problems with the "Hidden Code" associated with copying and pasting from MS Word into BB Code like vBulletin uses.

Thank you Mike! I appreciate that. If anybody would know how long it takes to put together it would be you. LOL at the Hidden Code thread. That can definitely be a pain for posting to some sites. I'm going to take a look at that thread later.

Wow! That has to be the best review I've seen to date! Well done Corey! I'm in the process of doing an article on Opti-Coat and now I almost don't want to finish it seeing how good yours is!

Great job bro!

Thank you Chad! It means a ton coming from you. Btw: thanks for being the reason that I started to edit video (your mf pad review). I'm sure people appreciate not seeing me hold a hose for 5 minutes without speeding up the tape! LOL

Now I'm really glad I got this up when I did. If you had posted first I would have been in your boat! LOL I look forward to your article

Wow Corey........Right when you think you have seen the best reviews in the world of detailing....you come out with this !!! I cannot imagine the hours spent on this project....You should be nominated as a product reviewer for some of the detailing web sites.......I have both of these products which I will be using on 2 separate cars ( just waiting for a stretch of warm weather with no rain) can't wait to try them out....Again, Your review has taken reviews to a whole new level

Thank you Wendell! "2 seperate cars..." I can't wait to do it that way myself!

Amazing Corey ...

Thank you Bill!

Great job, again, Corey. The only thing I can add is that you would have had an easier application on that hood had you used the larger foam pad. Also, spreading Opti Coat can be done much faster, and you don't have to be so careful...but you'll get that with a few more uses.

Thanks Chris! Also thanks for all the time you and David spent answering my questions. I should have asked a few more before I got started rather than after I was done. Sorry about that. Yes, the applicator I really overthought probably. That particular foam seemed like it was less likely to absorb product. After the learning experiences I would try the regular foam pad with OC next time. Have you tried it with an MF square applicator?

LOL, I did get a lot less careful later and originally I even mentioned that in the article but it ended up getting edited out.

Fantastic review...!....it would drive me crazy applying the products the way you demonstrated it. I would hope that a much larger foam application pad would work, and one will be recommended. I would get very tired doing an entire vehicle in that manner and once I get tired, I start making mistakes...at least that is how it works with me.

I particularly like the scratch resistance and I could see that being the only selling point for me if I were to do this to my own car. I would surely not get these products for ease of use, or for that "killer" look...that deep, warm shine that only a non-coating type LSP can give you (however these products were not designed to get that "show car" looking result, but for protecting your paint and making it almost maintenance free.). As far as sheeting goes, it was impressive, but I don't see these products as being much better than you can get with something like Reload or other similar products.

I was ready to buy the Cquartz, but honestly, I'm going to sit this one out for the time being. If I were doing this on my wife's car, or perhaps for a client, maybe...but I'm not so sure I would do it to my own car simply because I enjoy doing routine maintenance on it, and trying out new products...and I still want that killer show-car look. The one thing that would sway me is the awesome protection it would give my paint, and in time, that may trump everything in my case as my car gets older.

Thanks for letting me see why these products are dominating car forums lately...they truly are so different from anything most of us have used. In time, I'm sure I'll be trying these out for myself...but right now, I'd settle for a day that's not in the low 40s and snowing.

Thank you!

You can definitely use the normal foam applicator with OC as it is what is recomended and even included.

I'm not these coatings can't give you a show car shine. In my opinion they look incredible as long as the paint is perfectly polished first. I didn't spend the time to get the paint to it's zenith in this article (as mentioned). There are plenty of threads that I've already seen that show perfectly polished paint with the coatings on.

I'll be sure to update you on the scratch resistance.

Cee Dog: Oh the exuberance of youth!! [I know I am not willing to expend the time or effort to conduct testing of this nature]. Thanks.

From reviewing your: Review and Extreme Testing posting and the other reviewing/testing postings in regards to these products; and, knowing that independent lab/OEM approved protocol testing can be very costly/time prohibitive; I can see where your, (along with the other detailers that have reviewed/tested these products), write-ups are of paramount importance to those who might be inclined to use such products.

Youth, Whats that?

{BTW, does this mean you have over come your "fear" of products that purportedly will 'etch' the paint?} j/k

[Tom Weed]

That is quite simply amazing... I have both coatings and am getting ready to use both for the first time, after this review I feel much more confident and you answered any questions I had... Thank you!!!

[Setec Astronomy]

I'm curious why these products didn't help with the textured black bumper trim. I know that GTechniq makes a separate product for this, but I understood that the Opti-Coat would also "restore" this kind of trim. Is this a prep problem or is it just that (as the OP suggested) there are so many variables of trim material and condition that it will work on some but not on others?

[RaskyR1]

I'm curious why these products didn't help with the textured black bumper trim. I know that GTechniq makes a separate product for this, but I understood that the Opti-Coat would also "restore" this kind of trim. Is this a prep problem or is it just that (as the OP suggested) there are so many variables of trim material and condition that it will work on some but not on others?

I've seen the OC darken the color on the plastic trim, which was in good condition already, but I don't think it's meant to be much of a "restoring" type of product for trim.

[C. Charles Hahn]

Corey.... dude.... you're INSANE!

Awesome thread!

[Audi X2]

Corey your detail, focus and patience is incredible!

Another amazing review that is very helpful considering the relevance of the reviewed products at this point in time.